I have a 98 SLK 230 with a white paint finish. I am thinking of removing the badges but am worried about possible difference in the shade of the paint under them. I know it was gargage kept from purchase. Should I be worried?

Also I would like to know if there is an easy way of removing some of the small nics in the paint without going to a body shop. I am a true novice in the paint area so the simpler the better.

 

The paint under the badges on a '98 car will look like brand new paint. How does the rest of the car's paint look? Brand new? I doubt it.

I've never seen a good DIY repair job for paint nicks. It's like the guy who wears a really good toupee. You tell him it looks "natural," but he might as well be wearing a sign. I've never heard of an easy way to repair them. It's best to leave small nicks alone.

 

hmm... yeah i kinda figured that with the badge..
With the nics tho... i looked closer at them and there are a couple down to the metal... best way to prevent rust then?

 

Buy touch up paint using your paint color code. Wash the nick area with dish soap and warm water and allow to dry. Sand off any rust in the nick using very fine sandpaper. Try not to sand outside of the nick so you don't make the problem worse. Apply paint in very small amounts using the end of a paper match. Apply multiple thin coats to build up enough paint to the thickness of the existing paint. It will look like crap, I promise. It will stop any rusting, though.

You could also forgo the touch up paint and keep a coat of wax on the nicks. You still want to remove any rust, however.

 

Lugnut is 100% correct, There are nick repair kits available. I watched a nick repair segment on a SPEED TV and as Lugnut said the trick is to build up the touch up to the thickness and even a bit higher then the nick, in case you get carried away with the sanding, I would start with 2000 grit sand paper and work down to 1600 grit, then a aggressive good polish to bring up the shine, then a less aggressive polish to smooth everything out,and then wax. I do some practice first, someplace where it is not to noticable. It there is some rust, I bought a "rust remover pencil" from www.griotsgarage.com. It is made for small rust spots and works very well IMHO.

If you are shy about doing this, a lot of body shops have people who are trained in these repairs, but you have to get away from the "your entire panel needs painting." One other point if it is down to the metal, then get a pro, if you can rub your finger nail and feel the scratch, then it might need a pro to paint it

Good advice Lugnut, about not sanding outside the nick and or scratch, the first time I did that, and what a mess. I was able to retouch it with paint and it looked OK, early this past summer I had a body shop blow in the section and you can't tell the difference fromthe oem and where the blow in repaint was done.

 

Thanks a bunch. From the look of it because it was garage kept the nicks that are to metal are still metal.. not rust, at least.. I havent seen any yet but one panel has like 5-10 1/8-1/16 inch nicks running from gas to tail light.. might be best to have a body shop play on that one.

 

You can do a descent job touch-up on the nicks, my roommate work at a detail shop for years.. He got into a wreck, and had this "flake" (size of a nickel) come off his car, he touched it up very well.

The key is like they said, to layer it.. Make it higher than the paint surface, and then you can take 2000 gritt paper and sand it smooth.. Even if you sand spots around the nick its ok. The 2000 gritt will putt scratches in the paint, but nothing that can't be buffed out.. Get a good buffer and the Meguiar's 7 step, use the number 5 or so to start, then work your way down. Then wax it.. You should be set.

Just don't be scared of it, alot of people don't realize that MOST scratches can be buffed out very easily.. DO HOWEVER BE SCARED OF THE HIGH SPEED BUFFER.. YOU CAN BURN EDGES OF THE PAINT TO THE METAL VERY EASILY.. Keep it flat and keep it movin!

 

i would like to remove my badges as well and my car is new how would i do this?