I’m going to be selling the 91 240 soon and am trying to decide if I should repair the failed paint on the drivers door. Part of me says it’s essentially a $1k beater so the average buyer won’t care, the other part says it makes the car look worse than it is. I should know better as I’ve detailed for sale cars before to a showroom state and the buyer had no clue so why bother now? I’ve never done a repair like this before so it’s a great chance to learn, although my energy comes at a premium and I have tons of other stuff to do.

So here’s a couple of shots of what I’m dealing with.

9BD1BE3F-B8A2-4755-A78B-A33D48EE2FCC by woodenshoes18, on Flickr
C843E292-A82B-40DB-9D5D-C16AF6177FF0 by woodenshoes18, on Flickr

Seems like there was a lot of build primer applied as it seems kinda thick?? No idea of what I’m seeing, never had paint come off like this before. I was just going to sand it all down to bare metal, and feather in to the good paint. Then x coats of primer to build it up, followed by matched colour then clear. Not interested in painting the whole door so my blending is going to have to be good enough.

Any tips tricks, basic steps to add are welcome, I have a rough idea of what to do but I’m sure it will look a lot better when I’m done with some expert advice.

I think you'll find that's a skim of bondo over the front half of that door (at least), Jim. The steel beneath has rusted and popped the bondo off. Once you chip that stuff away you'll find that there's a LOT of damage under there. You'd best be looking for a replacement door, as fixing that one is probably beyond what you want to deal with.

Thanks Matt, I was thinking it was awfully thick and was guessing bondo but didnt know for sure. That makes sense on not trying to repair, guess it goes as is... Thanks for the advice, saved me a bunch of fruitless work.



(fixed for ya, Jim)

Not a problem. I'm hoping my recent restoration doesn't look like this in 10 years time.

Thanks for the YT repair, I’ve done them before but it just wasn’t happening this time...