From: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net (diesel-benz-digest) To: diesel-benz-digest-at-krusty-motorsports.com Subject: diesel-benz-digest V1 #137 Reply-To: diesel-benz-at-digest.net Sender: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Errors-To: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Precedence: bulk diesel-benz-digest Thursday, May 13 1999 Volume 01 : Number 137 Forum for Discussion of Diesel Mercedes Benz Automobiles John Meister Digest Coordinator Contents: Fritz stuff... RE: [MB] 300D dodges a bullet, er...collision Re: Losing the clear coat on my 85 300DT? RE: cheap tires RE: cheap tires Tire siping WAS:Cheap tires Re: need info on E300TD - is it a good buy Diesel Benz Digest Home Page: http://www.digest.net/diesel-benz/ Send submissions to diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Send administrative requests to diesel-benz-digest-request-at-digest.net To unsubscribe, include the word unsubscribe by itself in the body of the message, unless you are sending the request from a different address than the one that appears on the list. Include the word help in a message to stag-digest-request to get a list of other majordomo commands. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 16:06:13 -0700 (PDT) From: john Subject: Fritz stuff... i finally ordered a heater control unit from an outfit down in Atlanta. I'll let you know how it all works out. With more air pressure in the tires I notice a bit more "road feel" but not too bad. Especially if it saves my tires. Might even improve my fuel economy... :) Any one have a spare 300D motor or turbo Diesel engine laying around? I'm getting closer to making that 77 Wagoneer a Diesel. I may have sold my spare jeep xj-4.0L... gotta run... just fixed the backup system on my HP and have to extract a bad DLT cartridge from the library... ttyl, john ---- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- john-at-virtual-cafe.com **** Snohomish, Washington USA don't leave life without jesus, please... http://www.virtual-cafe.com/~john http://wagoneers.com - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 23:54:13 -0700 From: "John Paul Broad" Subject: RE: [MB] 300D dodges a bullet, er...collision David, First let me say that I'm glad you are OK. I agree with another lister who said that it looks like the car did the job it was designed to do and saved your body from harm . . . bravo! I did find it funny though that you and I, as well as many others I'm sure, are sensitive to the general perception of the public of that tri-star. So . . . it ends up that we drive (or rent, in my case) a car that is worth 2-10 times as much as our dear old Mercedes simply because the Mercedes would have been perceived, incorrectly, as being more valuable. Ugh! What a strange place this is sometimes!?! BTW: I'm not familiar with Hopkinton. I used to live in Craftsbury Common, VT (Northeast Kingdom) and would visit Northern NH often. Are you down South in NH? :) John Paul John Paul Broad johnpaul-at-mbca-portland.org 1999 SLK230 Manual 4k "Junior" 1982 300TD 162k "Giesela" Member: MBCA Portland, OR "If you count on the worst and hope for the best you'll rarely be disappointed." - -----Original Message----- From: owner-mercedes-at-lister.privatei.com [mailto:owner-mercedes-at-lister.privatei.com]On Behalf Of David Masinick Sent: May 12, 1999 1:41 PM To: 'Richard & Stu's Mailing List'; 'Diesel-Benz List' Subject: [MB] 300D dodges a bullet, er...collision Gentle listers, Watch your behinds. I went to Boston for an interview and seminar. Before leaving on Monday night, I decided to take the Passat instead of the MB, because I did not want the prospective employer to see the MB. Coming home, I was unlucky enough to be on Route 95 during the 3:00pm rush. While stopped in traffic, I was rear-ended by an Escort (glad it wasn't an Explorer). This ruined an otherwise nice day. Neither of us was hurt, but I gave the guy some "eye daggars" for being so careless. It did $4200 in damage to the rear of the Passat. I don't know if the MB would have been wrinkled as much, but for that amount of repair $$, it would probably have been a total loss. That would have made me cry. We'll be without the Passat for a week and a half, but really glad the 300D is still it's original length. Dave Masinick Hopkinton, NH '82 300D MBCA - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the Mercedes-Benz Discussion List http://hsb.baylor.edu/html/easley/mercedes/welcome.html - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 08:06:06 +0200 (MET DST) From: Jochen Witte Subject: Re: Losing the clear coat on my 85 300DT? hi, On Mon, 10 May 1999, Alec Cordova wrote: > The finish on my 85 300DT, a Texas car all its life, is going downhill > lately. It's that maroon or Cabernet metallic color, fairly nice if I look i'm just taking a semester at daimlerchrysler sindelfingen in the coatings department. to help you i'd need the exact color-number (you can find it on the printed shield near the motor should be a three digit number (mine is "champagner metallic" 473) and the month of build of your car. > In addition to a generally lightly cloudy finish, I have several areas where > the cloudiness has gotten pretty heavy, with lots of little white circles or > pits in the finish. The sunroof has it the worst, followed by large patches > on the rest of the roof, and the trunk lid has three or four patches, > roughly six or eight inches across. if the "cloudiness" is a porosity of the clear coat then you really have lost. the restore this you'd need to polish of exactly and *only* the clear coat - i'd say that this is impossible. if it's only a milky shine on the surface you could just polish it away - notive that the clear coat is 40 micrometers thick (40 micrometers is 40 thousands of a millimeter) - so you should be able to polish some microns away... from my personal experience i can say that you need to polish really, really hard over an extensive time to get through to the color coating "decklack". > > I took some mild polishing compound (NOT full rubbing compound) to the > blight yesterday, and it seemed to make a barely noticeable impact on the > trunk lid patches. On the sunroof, it definitely looked like I was taking > away the clear coat, between the already eroded spots, and getting some > color on the applicator from the maroon paint, like one used to get when > waxing regular oxidized finishes. in that time the clear coat was applicated wet-in-wet with the color coat so it might be that some color went into the clear coat making it a bit colored. that could be the color you see on the applicator. > My concern now is that if I spend the time with this polish, which may take > DAYS, that I will rub through the paint where it's already exposed before I > get through all of the remaining patches of clear coat. This defeats my > purpose, which is to avoid having to get the car repainted. If I can just > get EVENLY past the clear coat, I will become as religious about waxing as I > currently am about oil changes. *if* you really could get evenly past the clear cat you'd have to reseal it - not with a wax but with a repair-clear-coat. the clear coat *does* have a dramatic effect on the color! > Any tricks to get through the patchy clear coat without removing all of the > paint? > Any tricks to revive the clear coat without removing it? > Any tricks to win the lottery? (I figured, while I'm asking...) > gruss, jochen ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 08:30:07 -0500 From: Alec Cordova Subject: RE: cheap tires Boy, did I start something with this thread! What fun! Having been an active participant in a couple of insufficient-traction-related mishaps years ago, I am very much aware of the importance and value of good tires. I don't let my tires get so old and/or worn as to be a joke, but I also appreciate the fact that there are perfectly safe and competent tires available for my particular car and driving style that are a little less expensive than some other choices. If I choose wisely, and if I apply the money saved on tires to needed repair work on, say, brakes or suspension, have I not made my car safer for myself and for others than if I spent more money on tires and less on other repairs? Since this list covers lots of older cars, presumably in need of numerous repairs of one form or another, am I that evil to contribute some input on an appropriate way to "reallocate" repair and maintenance budgets without going too far? Let me just close by agreeing that it is foolish to be too stingy on tires, and apologizing for having offended anyone. Now back to the fun! Alec Cordova, Taylor, Texas 85 300DT, <200K, young, healthy tires, freshly repaired brakes, suspension repairs coming soon, if I can stop wearing out and replacing these cheap tires (JUST A JOKE!!!) 97 Z3 1.9, 57K, nice, brand-name Pirelli rubber. > From: Alec Cordova > Subject: Assorted ramblings and rantings about cheap tires > > Maybe one day I'll figure out why I keep doing this to myself.... > (Masochism? Sadism?) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 07:35:20 -0700 From: john Subject: RE: cheap tires cheap tires are fine... sometimes the cheap tires actually last LONGER and grip better than some of the "better" tires. :) I bought a set of Yugoslavian el cheapos for my Buick powered Luv truck and couldn't wear them out... The Arizonian Silver Editions (Kelly Springfields???) lasted longer than any of the Goodyears previously owned and although rated SR performed better than the Goodyear HRs. :) Siping will help even a poor tire grip better too... john At 08:30 AM 5/13/99 -0500, Alec Cordova wrote: >Boy, did I start something with this thread! What fun! > >Having been an active participant in a couple of >insufficient-traction-related mishaps years ago, I am very much aware of the >importance and value of good tires. I don't let my tires get so old and/or >worn as to be a joke, but I also appreciate the fact that there are >perfectly safe and competent tires available for my particular car and >driving style that are a little less expensive than some other choices. > >If I choose wisely, and if I apply the money saved on tires to needed repair >work on, say, brakes or suspension, have I not made my car safer for myself >and for others than if I spent more money on tires and less on other >repairs? > >Since this list covers lots of older cars, presumably in need of numerous >repairs of one form or another, am I that evil to contribute some input on >an appropriate way to "reallocate" repair and maintenance budgets without >going too far? > >Let me just close by agreeing that it is foolish to be too stingy on tires, >and apologizing for having offended anyone. Now back to the fun! > >Alec Cordova, >Taylor, Texas >85 300DT, <200K, young, healthy tires, freshly repaired brakes, suspension >repairs coming soon, if I can stop wearing out and replacing these cheap >tires (JUST A JOKE!!!) >97 Z3 1.9, 57K, nice, brand-name Pirelli rubber. > > > > From: Alec Cordova > > Subject: Assorted ramblings and rantings about cheap tires > > > > Maybe one day I'll figure out why I keep doing this to >myself.... > > > (Masochism? Sadism?) > > - ----------------------------------------------------- john-at-virtual-cafe.com http://www.wagoneers.com http://www.virtual-cafe.com/~john 77 Wagoneer (SJ) - 81 MB 300D (123) - 88 wagoneer (xj) jesus, don't leave life without him, please! Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... - ----------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 09:52:02 -0500 From: Alec Cordova Subject: Tire siping WAS:Cheap tires A couple of contributors to this tire thread have mentioned siping. I saw the displays about it at Discount Tire when I bought my el-cheapos. Who knows anything about this process? And by the way, anybody know why my Outlook 98 receives about a dozen copies of these messages that I post simply to two Mercedes lists? Anybody else get a zillion copies of my posts? Alec Cordova Taylor, Texas 85 300DT, <200K 97 Z3, 57K ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 16:39:40 -0700 From: john Subject: Re: need info on E300TD - is it a good buy I wouldn't have a Mercedes unless it was a Diesel. :) I've only owned one gas Mercedes, a 74 450SEL. It was thirsty and hard to sell... parts were expensive and the guy that bought it has it under a tarp. On the other hand, both of the other Diesel Benz's I've sold, a 68 and a 75 are still in active use. :) I would love to own the new E300 TD... :) I think gas engines stink. The smell of Diesel is aldehyde, and you don't smell that inside the car, and only rarely outside. If the Diesel is properly tuned and has fresh air filters and clean oil it shouldn't smoke either. john At 11:58 AM 5/13/99 -0400, Gowda, Ram - WWH wrote: >Hi John: > >I saw your site on Diesel Benz. I am new to Mercedes and I was contemplating >whether to buy diesel or gas. There is a price difference of 3000 and also I >was told that diesel gives better mileage and less maintenance. You seem to >know lot about diesel and could you please send me an e-mail when you get a >chance. Does diesel cars smell bad. I was told by the dealer that the new >300TD is good in acceleration, and it burns clean and reduces the smell. >Please mail me your opinion on E300TD 1999. > >Regards, > >Ram Gowda >Tel: (203) 552-3306 >E-mail: gowdara-at-witco.com > ============================================================================ ========== To subscribe to a list on digest.net, EMAIL majordomo-at-digest.net, no subject needed, in the body: subscribe [ fsj | xj | diesel-benz ] end (note: select only one of the options in the brackets) You will need to reply to an authentication message. Add a "-digest" to any of the lists to subscribe in the digest mode (messages are grouped, less traffic). Please do not send HTML, special characters, images, SPAM, attachments or stylized text to the lists. 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