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**ronniejay** · Oct 6, 2013, 12:50 PM

Re: Hello and Help with old Merc!

Welcome to MOL. What products do you have access to? Can you get a dual action (DA) polisher? Inspect the door jams to see if it has been repainted and whether it is clear coated. A little compound on a terry towel here will show color if it is not clear. will you be working indoors in a heated space?

**gavinm** · Oct 7, 2013, 02:07 AM

Re: Hello and Help with old Merc!

thanks for the welcome.

I just purchased a meguiars paint restoration kit contianing a gold class shampoo, ultimate compound, a clay bar, quik detailer and gold class carnuba wax. I can borrow a DA polisher and some space inside a warehouse for a few hours to stay dry.

I have a garage but this old girl is currently sitting in it waiting for some love.....

**ffboy** · Oct 7, 2013, 05:57 AM

Re: Hello and Help with old Merc!

UC no doubt is a good product, but you may need something more aggressive or additional steps (a bit of wet sanding can be tried first on a small, hidden area to see the results), maybe the DA Microfiber kit or failing that, maybe rotary buffer M105(?) with a wool pad, then burgundy pad, then M205, then Wax. If no improvement or the improvement doesn't last, you have to respray. Nice cars by the way... I actually prefer the Merc over the Porsche..

**C8N** · Oct 7, 2013, 06:00 AM

Re: Hello and Help with old Merc!

The MB has some deep scratches... not sure if all of them will come out but UC will definitely make it look better.
Looks like the OP has a lot of work ahead of him.

**PureArt** · Oct 7, 2013, 09:25 AM

The paint looks single stage to me. It also looks like it's cracking.

A MF pad, DA, 105/205 should bring out a good amount of shine.

I wouldn't wet sand, however. Unless you know what you are doing.

Are you just looking for some extra shine, or your looking for a show car finish Gavinm?

Not sure if it got brought up ^,but inspect the paint to see if you need to clay first.

When you said old Merc I was thinking a 1950's Mercury Bomb lol

Good Luck and Happy Detailing!

Art

**PureArt** · Oct 7, 2013, 09:30 AM

Oh and also, since the paint looks old and fragile in some areas. You might want to be careful, because it could be really thin. So maybe a compound and polish might be to much.

On the crack paint areas, you might want to do a small test area. With the wax you choose. For example: a white wax could really stand out on darker colored cracked paint. So you might want to look for a darker wax.

Just trying to help...

**mis3** · Oct 8, 2013, 06:03 AM

Re: Hello and Help with old Merc!

How about some professional help from a reputable local detailer?

You can try clay, UC, wax and while they may improve the appearance, they will not remove the deep scratches. I think other than repaint, wet sand is your only hope. However if you don't know what you are doing, wet sand may further damage the paint.

**Michael Stoops** · Oct 8, 2013, 08:12 AM

Re: Hello and Help with old Merc!

First off, welcome to MOL, Gavin!

Great looking couple of cars you have there!

The 380SEL may very well have clear coat since the Germans really were the first to make a heavy move in that direction, and by the mid '80s they had transitioned to it with the majority of colors. Looking at the images of the heavy swirls it certainly appears to be a clear coat system. Unfortunately, looking at some of the other pictures it appears that the clear is beginning to fail in some areas. Of course, in some areas the scratches are quite deep and has been pointed out previously, they may not be fully correctable.

What experience, if any, do you have using a buffer to polish paint? While you can make some improvement working by hand, this looks like one of the reasons that power tools were invented in the first place! Given the state of this paint, the very first thing we would do is confirm beyond a doubt that this is a clear coat paint system. A little cleaner wax applied with a white cotton towel will tell you soon enough - if the towel turns the color of the paint you've got a single stage paint system, but if the towel remains white you have clear coat to work with. Of course you want to make sure your test area is free of any loose dirt, and maybe even clay it first just to make sure you're not pulling up dirt and making the towel turn color with a false positive. After that it's decision time on how to proceed.

The following recommendations assume that this is a clear coat paint system: Given the level of defects shown we'd go straight to the DA Microfiber System on a DA, but even then you're going to be seriously challenged by some of these deeper scratches. Couple that with the very real possibility that a clear coat this old may be extremely hard and therefore resistant to buffing. If you've never used a buffer before, the challenge will obviously be greater as this is some seriously aged and neglected paint. Not everything can be fixed with a buffer so you really need to ask yourself what you want from this vehicle. If it's totally original and you want to keep it that way, what level of patina are you willing to live with? Do you want to fully restore this car to a high standard? If so, it's a great vehicle to learn on since you'll have to repaint it anyway to bring it to a high standard.

Originally posted by PureArt View Post

When you said old Merc I was thinking a 1950's Mercury Bomb lol

Man, I've been watching too much Top Gear, Fifth Gear, and Wheeler Dealers - these days when someone says "Merc" even I think Benz!!!!

**PureArt** · Oct 8, 2013, 01:09 PM

Originally posted by Michael Stoops View Post

- these days when someone says "Merc" even I think Benz!!!![/QUOTE]

It must be am age thing, love those shows btw

Art

**gavinm** · Oct 9, 2013, 10:46 AM

Re: Hello and Help with old Merc!

Thanks for all the welcomes and positive replies.

Some really useful tips there!

to answer some questions, I have absolutely zero experience with buffing machines etc

The car will at some point in the next two years get a full respray with lovely new paint so what I want now is just to try to give it a bit more shine for fun. I don't mind os much if I make a mistake or don't get it perfect as I know the current paint job is a temporary one. There are some small rust areas that will need to be worked on at the same time so it's going to be quite an expensive job that I'm putting the money away for gradually!

As we don't have many Mercurys in Europe saying Merc usually means a Benz!

As I've already purchased the kit I have I think I'm going to start with that and see what happens after a proper wash, clay bar and a work over with the compound and a borrowed power buffer.

I'll post some pics of the progress and work so you can let me know if I've made a right mess of it or make some encouraging noises!

Thanks

Gavin

**PureArt** · Oct 9, 2013, 11:34 AM

Well... If you want to just have fun and experiment.

You can buy some clay, some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, and Ultimate Polish.

You can do this all by hand,
but it will give you Incredible Hulk muscles lol.

Or what I would do, is just get the Meguiar's DA, which is really user friendly. Get Meguiars microfiber cutting and polishing pads. Then go have some fun Detailing your car!

Since it's going to get repainted and you just want to go have some fun. I don't see any harm in that.

After your done polishing it, you will want to seal it. Meguiar's Ultimate wax is a nice choice. You could even top it (add an extra layer) with Meguiar's Gold Class Carnauba.

Good Luck and have fun with your new Merc!

Art

**PureArt** · Oct 9, 2013, 11:37 AM

Oh you have the kit already^

There you go...

Art

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