Where can I find more info on my car

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Cartez

New Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2016
Messages
16
Location
Bristol
Car
Mercedes sl320
Hi, I want to find out more info on my car. It's a 2001 SL320 but it has a smoke grey finish to the chrome so unsure if this was a special finish or standard for the year/type. Would really appreciate any help with finding out more about my car. It has a long journey back to being the car it was but its my project so want to do it justice.
 
I Think You Will Find Out That It Is " Stainless Steel "
 
Hi, I want to find out more info on my car. It's a 2001 SL320 but it has a smoke grey finish to the chrome so unsure if this was a special finish or standard for the year/type. Would really appreciate any help with finding out more about my car. It has a long journey back to being the car it was but its my project so want to do it justice.

If you post your VIN someone will be able to establish the factory spec. Also (if I remember) the paint code is on a label in the door frame? Someone will correct me if I am wrong
 
With the rust I doubt it's stainless ��
Stainless + salt = party time. It's not a good material to use as exterior trim on a car, that's why chrome plate remains popular.



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You Didn't Mention Rust. !! But S/S Can Be Annodised To Any Hue/Colour. !!
 
Thanks for all the feedback. The body panels are the rusty bits, the trim is a smoked goldish grey. I found the paint type and will post my vin if this can help identify the spec over and above what I already have.

Much appreciated
 
Thanks for all the feedback. The body panels are the rusty bits, the trim is a smoked goldish grey. I found the paint type and will post my vin if this can help identify the spec over and above what I already have.

Much appreciated

Put your vin# into this website. It will give you all the options fitted at the factory. Make sure to input all 17 numbers and digits without spaces.

Checking VIN for Mercedes-Benz | CARInfo
 
You Didn't Mention Rust. !! But S/S Can Be Annodised To Any Hue/Colour. !!
Stainless can't be anodised at all. At least, not for a durable, lasting, stable finish.

I say this as a former metallurgist, who spent his entire career in the stainelss industry, a couple of years of it working on coatings and surface chemistry modification. I also spent several years of my career, several times a day pointing Percy at one of a number of differently couloured stainless urinals which were on an extended corrosion test in-house. Trust me, modified stainless oxides are not colour stable.

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Anodising S/S

You can also treat stainless steel with IVD - ion vapour deposition - to give an aluminium coating. You can then anodise it in the same way as aluminium.
 
You can also treat stainless steel with IVD - ion vapour deposition - to give an aluminium coating. You can then anodise it in the same way as aluminium.
Take an expensive, corrosion proof substrate, add something less resistant and much softer on top (which by the way, won't have a particularly great and consistent bond on anything but the lowest grade stainless) and then anodise it? Do all of this on formed parts, because if you do it on flat strip the subsequent forming process will generate micro-corrosion sites. Anyway, you do know how much PVD costs don't you? On formed parts?

You might as well anodise clog iron for all the benefit you're going to get.

Or ........... I can recommend half a dozen ways to direct colour high grade stainless steel grades which are corrosion resistant enough to work North Sea topside on oil rigs, or even to stand up to my first pee of the day (see above). It will last way longer than your PVD/anodise nonsense but eventually it will look manky as the coating colour starts to vary.

It's 40 years since we did the a mountain of development work for DeLorean and supplied all the steel, by the way. For every single car they made. Looked fine in natural finish to me even if the car itself was dog ugly.



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So Why Make A Statement, Stainless can't be anodised at all. !!:confused:
 
maska said:
So Why Make A Statement, Stainless can't be anodised at all. !!:confused:

I think Teflonso is trying to say that strictly speaking one is anodising the aluminium coating and not the stainless. If the stainless was a 316 grade for example it would have survived fairly well intact and corrosion free un-messed with.
 

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