2006 Mercedes C230 SPORT Restoration

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Introduction - I bought this C230 from a kid who's father was a Big Fish catcher for the local High End Casino. The little car was parked under a tree, broke, for almost 2 years before I bought it. Numerous repairs have been completed already but all the headlight wiring was shorted (the insulation within the lens dry rotted), numerous times it was drove over a parking stop (very low front end) tearing the bumper cover up, the sun has eaten the clearcoat to the point of burning in several places too. Now my Healing Hands are resurrecting this cool little ride for a Grocery Getter. This will reduce the mileage on my Silverado's both of which I bought new, have high miles, I have taken meticulous care of, and don't want to go out and buy a new one with the market as upside down as it is. More to come on this as I started the plastic bumper repair today.

Should be another good project to follow. :popcorn

:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn:popcorn, I am gonna be stuffed with popcorn following all these. :Rofl

Looks like a fun grocery getter

I had to put my little car in the shop a couple of weeks ago the Computer was Toast. Well only a Shop that licenses the Mercedes software can replace a computer with all the anti-theft programming involved. Mercedes Dealers will not work on a Mercedes older than 2008 so that forces owners of older cars to Secondary Tier shops for anything connected to the Anti-Theft system.

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The reason the front bumper cover had to be removed was to remove the two Headlight Fixtures. Since I have a fresh Computer I ran a diagnostics with my I-Carsoft MB 3.0 Scanner. It returned shorted wiring in the lighting circuits. Well when I popped the cover off one of the fixtures and positioned my mirror so I could see inside the crumbling internal wiring insulation was revealed. Also a code was set on the Fog Light wiring and LED turn Signal wiring in the two Side View Mirrors.

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The Mirror Covers were scorched from the sun, peeling Clearcoat, burned Basecoat, I wanted to fix while they were off. These have been repainted with PPG Deltron DBC Pearl paint, color match mixed and 2 coats of 2K Urethane Clear. After a few days I will scuff the Clear and shoot on 2 more coats. The Basecoat - Clearcoat paints have all the UV Inhibitors in the Clearcoat. Since by inspection these show more damage extra clear will be applied so I don't have to do it again.

Very nice.

I had a Call Out this morning early so I didn't get in the shop till this afternoon. A replacement AMG Bumper Cover that fits my car from Mercedes is over $700. Aftermarket (Rock Auto) $250 both before freight. Since all the damage is so low to underneath the bumper repairing the cover seems a better use of resources and time.

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So I never liked the front license plate holder it takes away front the front body lines. the mounting holes must be wiped. You can see the Sunburn, the mirror covers were worse. On the Passenger side driving in Diamondhead I went down a steep driveway straight and the bumper scraped off quite a bit of the cover. That must be built back up.

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I stripped the bumper cover first, then not seen (started the blog after this point) is all the tears and deformation to the bumper cover since I took a heat gun and reshaped everything. You can see in the picture a pair of vicegrips flat flange type clamped on the bumper cover. That is holding the last of the heat gun work straight while the bumper cover cools. A Finishing DA (very tight orbit) with 80 grit was used to gently rough everything up where epoxy would be added.

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I keep empty water jugs for mixing containers, cutting in half with scissors, works well. The first skimming needs to be wet and sticky so 406 thickener is used as well as 410 Microlight. The 410 is used sparingly but helps make the resin sand reasonably well.

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Tomorrow I will sand and skim coat again. Repair the front license plate holes too.

I seem to remember asking you about the distilled water jugs some time ago. Makes sense now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BuckeyeCrappie

I seem to remember asking you about the distilled water jugs some time ago. Makes sense now.

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A quart mixing container at Lowes $1.57 a gallon of distilled water at Walmart $1.17 I get to make coffee with the water then use the jug in the shop. Between resin based projects they build up but when I'm working on a boat they get wiped out. Good Memory I may need you to share it with me sometimes!

Good job