Almost 2 decades of tired old paint and finally...!

[yusuke280]

So the car's been with me for almost 2 decades, it was bought brand new from my dad and for some reason they never sold it and so I luckily took the car.
Obviously, the car was a bone stock one for.. long until I decided to at least give it a decent look...

And so.. After many years I've decided to go for a exterior C43 conversion and to Arctic White (605) along with the beige interior.
http://imageshack.us/a/img546/3468/30387068.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img718/1204/58257510.jpg

Ironically, I also have a Golf IV VR6 (red with beige interior)..
http://imageshack.us/a/img638/2403/17814699.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img685/2928/90576631.jpg

And.. hopefully after a month everything will be all good!
http://imageshack.us/a/img827/4126/97565284.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img828/7026/10364100.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img577/1175/23768057.jpg

Yep all that dent from the past X years!

FYI, a lot of you would be wondering what the specs are.
It's a C220, with H&R Cup Kit with 18" AMG reps (8.5 (215) and 10 (255)), full remus exhaust, etc.

For those who are have told me why respray, and why not keep the red.. Photos can be a real scam.. the car in real life is faded, and will have rain spots all over the car during a humid/rainy season.

Car's located in Hong Kong!

Thanks for looking!

[MikeD]

This will be quite the transformation. I can already tell I'm going to like this!

[Denlasoul]

Looking forward to the finished project.

[JRE320]

Nice rims!!

[dokotela]

It's gonna look sweet

[wichipong]

nice wheels!

[97C28O]

OEM Kit?

[yusuke280]

Thanks all for the input!
Just went in today to check things up, finally the front bumper on!

97C280, take a wild guess ;)

[yusuke280]

Update #2

What was surprising that there was full of rust built the entire trunk line (where they flow water out the tail lights) and wanted to remind all owners to keep that area dry after a wash or so.
http://imageshack.us/a/img809/4650/18932966.jpg

And finally front bumper on!
http://imageshack.us/a/img202/1971/c14y.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img62/5709/40970388.jpg

And a closer look in the rear area
http://imageshack.us/a/img826/1338/c11do.jpg

Top
http://imageshack.us/a/img834/2879/26462371.jpg

And all the stripped out parts!
http://imageshack.us/a/img837/8658/c13ps.jpg

[kowalski]

did you buy new AMG spoiler kit from MB dealership?

all that rust in the tail light area, is it rust on panels behind trunk liners or around tail lights inside part where they are screwed onto panel?

that red color is hot!
you should have kept it red

[yusuke280]

It literary started behind the trunk liners (so you can't see) until they actually spread onto the upper area. I would recommend all users with heavy rain areas to get their area checked so it won't leak.. which mine did :P

And yea.. the red.. I just wanted something new and it's been red for the past 18 years haha! And would be pointless paying all that money into the same color :)

[kowalski]

are you ripping out complete interior?
when doing a a full body respray you have to paint over all previous red color into white color.
are you painting engine bay, A-B-C pillars in white?

you foggot to tell me, did you buy complete new AMG body kit from stealership?

[yusuke280]

The car is having a complete respray (ex- parts of the engine bay) as I will not be taking out the engine out. The car is professionally resprayed so everything should be fine :)
I am not painting the A-B-C pillars white as I will keep everything in an OEM matter.

It's not bought from AMG, but from another source :)

[kameraguy]

Looking forward to how this turns out. Good luck!

[yusuke280]

Thank you!
And just a picture of all the years...!
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/7172/202history.jpg

[n1_na1]

Looks good buddy..Keep it clean~!!

[yusuke280]

Almost there

http://imageshack.us/a/img266/826/c15s.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img109/3894/c16sq.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img801/5461/c19ri.jpg

[anf6789]

Looks great!

[biomansalisbury]

thats gonna look so cool

[biomansalisbury]

am in the process of changing over my stock bumpers for a C43 kit on my w202 c250 td estate..
1060

[yusuke280]

Thanks all!

biomansalisbury, why not do a full conversion?

[wichipong]

good choice on color! :D

[biomansalisbury]

if i did the full conversion i dont think a C43 engine would be happy running on vegetable oil......LOL

[yusuke280]

biomansalisbury, well obviously when I meant full conversion was.. only the exterior. Seems like you're still missing the side-skirts and rear bumper?

[biomansalisbury]

oh sorry yes i have the full kit ready to go on, just waiting for it to be painted, also got a set of c43 amg door kick plates and ive also changed the whole interior over from an elegance to a sports full black leather with all the carbon bits and white dials... :)
yes shes gonna look sweet once im finished

[yusuke280]

perfect : )

[evevevevev]

that wheel fitment is perfect!
Im thinking to fit 18x8.5 and 18x10 too can you share the offsets of your wheels?
do they rub at all?

cant wait to see it finished

[yusuke280]

Hey ev, thanks for your comment.

I'm on et35 all round. I don't know what suspension you're going to run, but I'll try and give you feedback.
To be honest, there's still quite a lot of space up front left with 8.5 on et35 up front. If you are picky with the "perfect stance", I reckon even with 5mm spaces up top, it shouldn't rub. That said, your answer with 18x8.5 et35 up front with NO spacers will not rub even while normal driving.

In the rear, 10 and et35 runs "almost" perfectly aligned with the fender but it will rub slightly under different road conditions. If you are on a bumpy surface, you will hear rubbing along the inner fender (which is rolled originally) so it really doesn't bother me. If you are running on normal roads/highways it won't rub at all. However, there is still a tiny bit space in the rear. You could add 5mm spacers in the rear if you want it perfectly aligned with the fender but I would be confident to say that it will rub most of the time if there is a 5mm spacer in the rear.

However, when you run this specific setup I usually avoid having anyone sitting in the rear because it really will rub as weight will contribute to more rubbing : / I know it's stupid, but that's the way it goes!

I'll try and grab a few more pics once everything is assembled.. it should be done this week!

[evevevevev]

I think yours look pretty damn good.
I dont want silly rubbings so I guess ill go with ET35 rear and maybe ET30 front.
Thanks for your help and now im just gonna wait for your update pictures :D

[yusuke280]

It's almost done!!!

I'm just missing the face-lift taillights, front bumpers, etc and final fitting! Thanks for looking

http://imageshack.us/a/img6/752/45923503.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img546/7636/42958087.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img542/199/18743059.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img4/6880/74179230.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img33/686/71445281.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img834/592/f10t.jpg

[mbsickness]

Very Nice! What a difference. Did you paint the door handles or are they from a CLK?

[yusuke280]

thanks mbsickness! nope, the handles are from the original car.. since the car was the elegance-trim they had the chrome on top. just covered the black plastic area with white.

[John Jones Jr.]

I must say the white looks really very nice. Photos when finished please.

[yusuke280]

Thank you John. Definitely will post everything up once it's completed

[yusuke280]

Last update before the final bits (still missing face-lift rear tail lights and small bits and pieces) but otherwise I got my car back.. will go for a photo shoot and post it in the gallery when pics are taken!

Thanks everyone for looking.
http://imageshack.us/a/img707/3073/photo1yn.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img42/825/photo2ubx.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img829/3200/photo3lil.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img842/3021/photo5mx.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img9/306/photo6jj.jpg

[Pagz]

Awsome work,the white looks really good!

http://imageshack.us/a/img842/3021/photo5mx.jpg

[dm26]

Congratulations. What a fantastic transformation. I have picked up my c36 in a car supermarket (pile them up, sell them cheap) in HK. It has done 165k in 18 years and been on the lot for 18 months. Will need a lot of work. I will be restoring it shortly after sorting out the mechanicals first. I see you have darkened (smoked) rear light clusters. Were they bought locally? In general, are they street legal in HK and other parts of the world? To fit these fantastic wheels, did you have to roll out the fenders? I will be picking up a refurbished set from a SL (R129) this weekend. What tyres did you shod them with? The black screen surround and window trims are really shiny against the white. Have they been painted as well? Lastly your paint shop looks as if they have done a really nice job. Would you mind dropping me a pm with their contact details? It will be good if you can give me an idea of the cost in the pm too. Thanks for that.

[wichipong]

great turnout!

[yusuke280]

thanks so much.

DM, i've already sent you my cell so you can watsapp me about more details.
I'll answer the rest here:
First, congrats with your C36. They are fantastic daily drivers and looking forward to your project.

No, my rear light are still from the PRE-facelift era (1995-1997) so they look very bright compared with the facelift tail lights (they are a lot darker) which I will pick up sometime this week. It could be the shitty pictures that make it really dark. I wouldn't be even near worried having totally black-tail lights in HK, we're not driving a civic in the end and cops wouldn't be bothered checking out an old merc.

I did not have to roll my fenders to have them fitted, but before the respray I have rolled them because I will be adding 5mm spacers all round later on. In that case, I'm convinced that it will scrape the inner fenders but I don't care.

The black screen surround, along with all the black pieces (EX. door handles) were UN-painted. All 202's have the black surround.

Watsapp me if you have any questions.

[John Jones Jr.]

Awsome work,the white looks really good!

http://imageshack.us/a/img842/3021/photo5mx.jpg

Agree 100%

[hvmercy]

That looks great!

[arar_hany]

Bro where did u get the body kit?? looks amazing btw!!! :cool:

[Just Dirk]

Nice ride :D

[yusuke280]

Thanks all for the comments...
the entire kit isnt OEM so obviously there are faults, in this case luckily the only error is the front bumper. If you look close enough, there is a slight gap im the headlight area, which I hope in the future picking up a used 43 bumper to replace these knock-offs. They were bought from a local bodykit shop.

[yusuke280]

Still haven't gone for any shoots or picked up the rest of the stuff yet but anyway here's a comparison of the before and after (side)
http://imageshack.us/a/img546/6199/202sidew.jpg

[KingDEL23]

very very clean

[biomansalisbury]

i gotta ask where the heck did you get those alloys from, they look fantastic... i would kill to have a set of them on my w202 estate....!!!!
1343

[_Nick]

Your car is gorgeous. Those rims ughhhhhhhh <333

[yusuke280]

Thanks all for the comments!
Here's are more pics:
http://www.club202.com/forums/showthread.php?18332-Full-restoration-Red-gt-Calcite-White

I'd love to help anyone to wants to buy these wheels, but they are from China (and in the end they are reps) so it would be brutally difficult to buy them in the U.S.
Any questions you're welcomed to PM me.

[get2adam]

Very good results!

[202brabus]

That fiberglass kit will crack easy, watch out for bumps. Ive seen much fiberglass crap go bad so fast.

[SD202]

how did i miss this thread ! lol makes me miss my white one. Makes me want to paint the 43 white.

[Karlo1988]

Car looks great... White is just precious !!! Where did you the kit from ?

[yusuke280]

thanks :) check out my photoshoot pics in the gallery section!
the kit was bought from a local body kit store here in hong kong!

[SnowwhiteMerc]

this is beautiful!!1

[96c280man]

your car is bad ass i have a white C 220 check it out its a in the works car going to lower it this week end

[Derick284]

I must say from red to white that is a change, I have seen the other way round she looks really nice mine is deep blue I may go for a black/blue we will see. Great job a credit to you.

[96c280man]

Very clean now I really want to get my white c220 re sprayed