Mercedes-Maybach S-Class: A new definition of luxury!

Recently updated on December 20, 2022 at 11:28 am

One week for the second color

The exclusive appearance of the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class can optionally include a two-tone paintwork with a dividing line. It is applied by hand according to the highest quality criteria. It can take up to a week for the vehicle to be moved from the special paint area back to the regular production process.

A two-tone Maybach also begins its painting journey in series production. In the paint shop, the body is completely and automatically provided electrostatically with the base coat - i.e. the color that will ultimately adorn the lower half of the body - and a clear coat. With electrostatic painting, statically charged paint particles are atomized and accumulate on the (earthed) body.

Then the body is ejected to the special paint factory. There, the entire vehicle is first sanded to a matt finish by hand. After cleaning, comes the first particularly tricky work step: masking. Since the designers did not choose the border between top and bottom lacquer in a bead or under a decorative strip, extremely accurate handwork is required here. In order to achieve the fine, only four millimeter thick dividing line between the two colors, a special adhesive tape with an appropriate gap is used.

An interesting detail: the doors are weighed down with weights before the dividing line is masked off. This is supposed to simulate your later interior work with windows, window regulators, speakers, cladding and other technology. The allowance set in this way ensures that the dividing line on the side panel and doors later runs at exactly the same height.

All areas that are to have the lower color at the end are masked off. This also includes the separation from the interior, e.g. the doors or wheel arches - even where cladding is later attached. This is also part of the quality standard.

The free parts of the body are now painted completely by hand. The paints, which are pneumatically atomized, i.e. with compressed air, are set so that they ultimately produce the same image as after electrostatic painting - this is important because attachments that are installed later, such as bumpers, also have to match the color exactly. Before the new basecoat is completely dry, it is carefully "glued" (as the painters say) without damaging the edges. The entire vehicle is then given a new coat of clear coat.

This has to be done in a tight timeframe so that the edges between the lacquer layers flow and cannot be felt afterwards - unlike with competitors, where the dividing line is lacquered or painted. If the professional painters in the paint factory are not satisfied, the entire vehicle is sanded again, the top coat is repainted accordingly and refined with clear coat again. Overall, the process can take a week with the corresponding drying times.

The following color combinations from the color fan of the Mercedes-Maybach palette are available, whereby the selection is made according to whether the upper color can completely cover the lower color:

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