Hi all. My new to me W30 has had its inner fenders painted at some time.
my question is the original color below the paint. These almost look pinkish! Normal for originals to fade to such a color?
Also, where do you find the part numbers on these? I have seen several pics of the part numbers close up but cannot tell where they are located. Can you see them while they are attached to the car??

 

I have used the Sem's Flame Red. To me is a great match.

 

The surface of the fender oxidizes and the color gets lighter. You can use abrasives to remove the oxidation layer and then progressively finer grits to restore the surface finish.

It's a lot of work. Many just use paint if they never intend to have their car judged.

 

It is normal for the fenders to fade. If you want to restore them (or even paint them) properly, you really need to take them out of the car. You will probably find them faded worse on the underside. The sun bouncing off the asphalt really takes the color out of them. Here are some shots of an original set I cleaned up a few years ago. Still some fading in spots, and I left them faded on the bottom. I think the part number was on the underside in the area of your first pic, so you would see it under the car. I am not certain about that though.

What I starter with (someone had sprayed these with urethane clear which is what I spent most of my time getting off):


Cleaning:




Finished (you can see how faded the underside is compared to the top):

 

Wow! Those came out really stellar! Looks like it really was a lot of work but paid off in the end.

Thanks for the tip about the SEM Flame Red paint as al alternative as well