How hard is....
...it do to a complete colour change?
My 460 is metallic green, I quite like it. However, the long haired general quite likes black or silver G's (this is a HUGE step forward from her initial comments on the truck when I bought it)
Either way, mine needs a rub down and a respray (I was going to keep it green), but if it makes her happy(ier)... and she then doesn't mind coming out in it, I'd plump for colour change. I suppose it's just "remove every last little piece of trim,dash,everything" then rubdown more, then spray?
Seeing as I want to change the awful two tone brown interior anyway, I'll be removing all of that.
Anyone done this? any pifalls or tips you can share?
cheers
Jamie
I have done a complete colour change , i went from silver to black. I had never sprayed before , so it was a bit of a gamble for me but i think it paid off ok. its a lot of work but if you take car and spend a lot of time prepping and masking its not too bad. the good thing with black is its a stable colour with little in the way of variation. i sprayed all my panels ( doors and wings 0 off the car at different times to each other and split the main shell into different areas. The G has lots of pronounced seams which lend themselves to natural masking points. this lets you spray the car in sections , a bit at a time. Use a decent primer and a good two pack top coat...put plenty on to give you a margin to hand flat any imperfections and you will be surprised how good a finish is possible. One word of warning though black is very unforgiving of surface imperfections so do spend the extra time prepping, If you have a look in the galley at mine , it will give you some idea what is possible to do DIY.
SK
To do a convincing job colour changing a W460 you need to paint the interior metal surfaces too. Windscreen frame, door frames, doors etc. A very big job. Anything short of a perfect finish inside and out is going to devalue your G in my opinion. Far too many G's have been DIY colour changed to black, usually badly done.
I recently saw a freshly repainted W460 in it's correct Cypress Green Metallic. It looked stunning. With all the trim, bumpers. wheels etc refreshed at the same time, it looks factory new and stands out to a far greater extent than "yet another" black G. I will take photos when I next see it.
Just my 2 cents.
Eddie.
To do a convincing job colour changing a W460 you need to paint the interior metal surfaces too. Windscreen frame, door frames, doors etc. A very big job.
Anything short of a perfect finish inside and out is going to devalue your G in my opinion. Far too many G's have been DIY colour changed to black, usually badly done.
Eddie.
Yup & Yup....
And beyond the interior metal surfaces: Do you want to see the original colour when lifting the bonnet? A convincing colour change requires stripping the car, that makes only sense if you intend to use the opportunity to do all necessary/ desirable renovation work as well. Once your general understands the extent of this exercise, my guess, she sees metallic green in a new light. In my opinion, black is not quite right for a 460, silver may be, but green, red or blue give the car character.
leave it STD after a respray that green will really POP
My thoughts exactly. I wish I had taken photos of the Cypress Green Metallic. I will make it a priority, just to convince "The General".
I have arranged to take some photos of it tomorrow. This is what it used to look like.
Wrapping or rapping seems to be all the rage at the moment and the prices are coming down no doubt....
Just a thought a matt black wrap would look pretty cool.
Tim
Wrapping or rapping seems to be all the rage at the moment and the prices are coming down no doubt....
Tim
Yes, probably a fair bit cheaper than a re-spray too. Does anyone know how much protection wraps afford?
None and they will trash the paint underneath - don't believe anyone who tells you different! I know from experience.
One small advantage of it is that AFAIK you don't have to register the change of color with the DVLA.
It can start to look tatty pretty quickly though (bird crap likes matt black too!)
In contrast 2-pack is certainly the most durable, but If you are spraying it (which you will probably have to since you shouldn't find a commercial sprayer who can do so legally any more) then you should invest in a air-fed full-face mask. They aren't cheap (£250 - you might be able to hire one), but Isocyanates are bad news and can be absorbed through the skin which is why organic vapor respirators are not sufficient protection.
I'm with others here - if you are going to change it then do it properly and strip down. The job isn't that huge - from experience I think you'd strip most of it within a day and it would give you the opportunity to address corrosion etc, Maybe you could go to a very dark green metallic as a compromise?
None and they will trash the paint underneath - don't believe anyone who tells you different! I know from experience.
Interesting, generally only ever hear how wonderful wraps are, I must say I've always been a bit suspicious.
http://www.itsawrapuk.com/vehicle-colour-change.php - they claim that the paint is not damaged
But they then show this (I would guess it had been touched up in the past)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/itsawrapuk/sets/72157629338365680/
They quoted £900+ to matt black my CLK55. Matt black is more expensive than standard colours.
None and they will trash the paint underneath - don't believe anyone who tells you different! I know from experience.
Interesting, generally only ever hear how wonderful wraps are, I must say I've always been a bit suspicious.
[quote=IanA2]
[quote=fcp]
It depends, there is a wide range in terms of quality of the foil and craftsmanship. Race-teams prefer foil over paint for weight reasons, the sponsors still want a glossy look (it looks always ok on a photo but not necessarily in real), top-end specialist deliver, they can even give the glass a golden or silver colour. You will see a lot more foil in the coming years, Mercedes is undertaking a ten-year study to test the durability of foils.
I did a full 2 pack respray (well except the roof .. which is a right pain as very hard to get up there) and you need to remove windows, doors, bonnet, inner and outer wings, front section between inner wings. This still leaves a little of the bulkhead that you cannot get to but you can do a fair job. This allows you to fix all the rust issues and get a clean reliable car (oh and use epoxymastic water proof paint on any rust, which should be sand blasted). Took me 2.5 years I think! Need the air feed mask, 2 compressors, heaters, dust free closed in area, hangers for doors, bonnet, panels etc Paint now is probably £400 just in material cost.. So hard to justify unless you want a depreciation free asset that needs no real TLC after that (and the other £3k for parts). I missed out the water proof paint.. and failed to fix my damp shed so 5 years on I need to repeat it
I enjoyed this on the subject of paint http://youtu.be/37Hd6rPBRkY
This will work manually - how graz does it
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Thanks all, great info!