.......as with all (the ones i've seen anyway) there is one job that just has to be completed but we all put it off.

Anyway I'm off work for the next couple of weeks and yesterday I decided to give the engine and compartment a proper clean (I'll add some pictures tomorrow) I all full waxed the car and then tis morning will finishing off I had the boot (trunk) open and there it was staring at me, yes thats right the dreaded rust around the boot release.

Well not anymore, a few hours and it now looks like this



a closer look



The fluorescent lighting in my garage doesn't do it justice.

 

looks a good job mate....been lucky this problem has`nt occured on mine (yet).....

 

Having now done it I wouldn't say it's a difficult job, if you know the basics about paint work and have a Halfords that can mix paint.

Here's another new addition to the car

 

Oh and another thing I discovered the other day while tinkering under the bonnet (Hood) is that our little monsters have 12 Spark Plugs

 

was a panelbeater all my working life (now retired) so have an idea whats what.......colour coded my grille using halfords mixing scheme aerosol and must say the colour match was very good and depth of paint was good as well...

 

Still got it Chris

Jon

 

I've got to get some prices tomorrow to paint my bonnet, front bumper and rear bumper. I guess better take the Vaseline with me

 

hi jon...still got it.... when i can remember where i left it.......how you doing still following the &rse i hope, went on saturday same old same old, take time for new players to gel, carzorla looked the business, about time we saw that lovely white crossfire at a meet somewhere...

 

Hi Chris. Yes, still following the boys from my arm chair. Your right, I must get out more. My Crossfire only did 1000 miles between MOT's last year. Must get myself in gear.

See you
Jon

 

Talking of jobs been putting off! Hard work & Meguiar's Plast rx

 

Here's a better picture of the boot, the other make the paint look flat (which it isn't)



I decided to update the front lamps today, the old yellowish lamps make the car look soooo old





and a bit more cleaning

 

Dal You must of put in a lot of hours cleaning your Xfire , your car looks fantastic.
I have the dreaded rust on my boot release.
Was it an easy fix?
Have you resealed the wing on the boot lid?
I think water leaking through that area is the cause of the rust?

 

The process is quite simple, but wasn't as bad as some i've seen, I should have taken some before and after pictures but I didn't think of it at the time.

The only rust on mine was on the outside the inside was as good as new. I think one of the reasons for the rust is water ingress through the spoiler (mine has the fixed spoiler) as you mention, When I bought my car about 6 weeks ago, I noticed the seal was not seated correctly, so this was the very first job I put right. I also had water in the boot floor, but the water was very clean and so hadn't been there long, I put it down to the dealer valeting the car (although not to my standard ). One thing you will notice about these cars when you start poking around underneath is that Mercedes put drain plugs all over the place. The other thing I noticed about this area is the metal is very thin (less than 1mm) and very sharp, I think this adds to the problem because the paint doesn't seal the metal and leaves the edges exposed.

So, back to getting rid of the rust. Firstly I scraped the surface clean with a blunt chisel, I then rubbed it back to clean metal with 240 Grade paper, then moved up to 800 grade, I then used primer filler to build up any inconsistencies, flatted that black primed with grey primer, flatted back again, then I applied about 5 light coats of paint, allow to dry between coats and flat back if necessary the paint will look lighter than the surrounding area, don't worry it darkens when you apply the lacquer. I applied about four coats of lacquer, allowed it to dry over night and then flatted it back with 2000 grade paper and compounded it and finally polished.

Simples ......

 

You can certainly see the benefits of your labour there, good job

 

Thanks Dal - I must admit to being surprised just how much difference it made - it did look as though it was on the inside of the lamp - if this helps others I will be happy

 

I have gone and ordered some for my headlights, CHEERS

 

Dal Thanks for the write up for rust on the boot lid .
I will be resealing my spoiler and tackling the rust issue very soon followed by some pics.

 

Hi there what light bulbs did you buy and where from , i much prefer the new light colour i read somewhere certain main beam bulbs will fail the mot

 

Certainly puts my engine bay to shame nice job

 

Hiya, I've put 6000K HID's in the Dip Beam and Fog Lights, LED side lights (the LED sidelights put the bulb warning light on the dash, although this can be overcome by fitting resistors, but it doesn't bother me it reminds me the lights are on lol) and I've fitted 600k bulbs to the high beams (they don't look much different to be honest) so I might look at those again.

It is suggested that HID's fitted without headlamp washers or auto height adjustment will fail an MOT, so all I'll do is refit the standard bulbs for the MOT. Simples