New 1984 300SD

I wish I took a class in that school of thought, because it's true. Thank goodness the lifted paint happened on the Cavalier, and not of the Benz.

I think there is a Haynes manual for that model, just to get you started. Also get a parts catalog from Performance products featuring a blowup of all systems, parts and prices......good luck......Rick

Benz service CD is better than Haynes manual

Bad photography, no prices, but I agree more information (Mercedes photographer must have been a relative)

Some Asian imports have plastic lenses instead of glass....even the Bosch yellow boxes are made in Malaysia

Probably a really bad deal. Contact me and I'll give you $100 over your purchase price just to take this lemon off your hands and save you a lot of grief.

Had to be in the last four years cause that's when I bought the car. It could have been possible my local dealer (S. CA) had some in stock but I doubt it since I had to wait several days for them to arrive. Maybe I'll check with them to see if they have any more. Could be a fantastic eBay item!

Wonder what the implications would be of making good copies of these original factory manuals and offering them for sale? The pictures alone are worth loads.

I think the biggest problem with the photos is that the whole cd is scans from the books, and they aren't the best scans in the world either. If you start looking at them at about 300% things start to clear up though.

You know, I really don't know. All the same information is still available from Mercedes on CD, but the CD's aren't nearly as good as the books (not the greatest scans in the world, harder to navigate, and oddly my CD doesn't cover brake pad and brake rotor replacement).

Wow! Just checked the site suggested above and they really get a price for those books. Service manuals are obviously the most expensive. I have:

1. Service manual Engines 615, 616, 617.91 about 800 pages!
2. Service Manual Chassis and Body, Series 123, Volumes 1 & 2, at least

1,300 pages for both,

1. Servicew Manual Heating, Air Conditioning Automatic Climate Control Model

123, approx 400 pages. All were published by Mercedes-Benz of North America, Inc., One Mercedes Drive, Montvale, NJ 07645, and have been an incredible source of information.

"Martin Joseph" wrote in message news:2005042123393550073%mercedes@barknaturalpetcom...

I agree. Original Glasomax (sic?) is still the best paint I've ever seen. You would not believe the paint jobs I was able to produce in Germany with this paint in the early '60s. Don't know if those enamels are even available in Germany anymore. In any event here's a trick we used in the fiberglass industry to put a finish polish on molds and I know it works on cars because I've done it. After doing all of the rubbing, polishing, etc., we did a finish polish with baking soda mixed with plain ole water into a paste and used to remove any remaining polishing scratches. There are similar compounds used by really good paint/body shops that can probably do a similar job. In any event I remember one guy in our shop sliding a dry polishing rag from one end to the other of a fairly long "plug" used to make female fiberglass molds. It slid up hill from the stern to the bow with a flick of the hand. Have not seen anything as shiny since with the possible exception of that $500k+ MB McLaren at our local MB dealer last week. I'm too old to do any serious polishing anymore but if I really wanted to have a car polished out right I'd take it to a reputable auto body shop and ask them if they have someone who might be interested in polishing out my car. You might be surprised what they can do in a relatively short time. And I wouldn't worry about going through the paint if it hasn't been polished much in the past. The biggest mistake people usually make is too much polishing and not enough waxing. Polishing removes paint, waxing protects it.

Spoken like a pro.

So you're saying to take a MB with dull paint to a body shop and have them use polishing compound on it, then wax?

Mia

Glasurit is the paint. I don't think it's the same stuff as it used to be since IIRC it is now water based and used to be alcohol based. Also, it is sadly still produced using a method that is illegal in the US, so you cannot have your car repainted in the US using it. At the same time, I've seen American paint jobs that are amazing, so I think it coms down to just using a good shop.

I don't think it was the photographers fault? Looks to me like it's was the printer that was in the family, or maybe this is only on the CD version.

Marty

Yeah, they basically scanned printed half toned material. This produces really crappy looking scans. Too bad, as this is kind of big problem with these manuals.

Marty

Well, even in the books, the pictures tend to be underexposed, or perhaps just printed that way, and I think they should have done, not in ever instance but in some, what BMW did and draw some of the "pictures" because sometimes it's much easier to show something in a drawing (like when showing something that is behind something, the MB photographs make you lose perspective while the BMW drawing allow you to see through the object in front, while still providing an outline for perspective.

That would be my choice since a good rub out takes a lot of work and is normally a 3 or 4 step process. I'd do the wax job myself since that doesn't require nearly as much manual labor as the rub out, and you won't run into the possibility of rubbing through the paint on the convex surfaces such a protruding corners, etc. Body shop personnel who have done this for a while have the tricks down pretty good and avoid rubbing through paint. Can you imagine listening to a painter who has just rolled a new paint job out of the booth and had an underling rub through in a single spot. It can take many hours of repeat labor just to clean up such a spot. They just don't do it or they're looking for another job real quick.

I have only dealt with one BMW manual and one Benz manual, so be warned about my generalizations :~)

The BMW manual was incredible. I would pay $250 in a heart beat for a comparable manual for my 190e... Too bad there isn't one.

Marty