Don’t Confuse Me with Facts by Albrecht Stachel
 
Lubrication and Preservation: Just Do It
 
Rarely do we see a Mercedes in our shop, new or old, that has been sufficiently lubricated, or adequately protected against deterioration. Our everyday maintenance regimen, for both our customers’ cars and our own, involves regularly renewing these lubrication and barrier products. Since this kind of attention is vital for the survival of your Mercedes, and is fully within the capability of any owner, I urge you to act, and do it. You will be rewarded many times over as your car becomes ever easier to work on, and begins to exhibit the signs of improved longevity.
Lubrication and rust prevention are complementary acts. The simple and highly effective habit of applying lubricants whenever possible to appropriate components in the engine bay and underneath the car yields many benefits over time. Not only will all sliding, pivoting, and rotating parts behave better while operating, you will also profit from easily removed fasteners when future repairs are required. You will also see long-term gains from the use of paraffin products applied to sheet metal, metal castings, and suspension assemblies. Both types of potions act as crucial lubricants and barrier coatings throughout your Mercedes (or, for that matter, any car you might own).
No special equipment or training is necessary. Common sense, a willingness to spend a half hour or so with your car in the driveway, and a couple of supplies, easily obtained at a hardware store, are all that is needed. Getting dirty is not even a requirement. Specialized spray chemicals are available from various vendors catering to automobile enthusiasts. If you can get under the car, you can be even more effective. All you need is a basic floor jack and a set of jackstands. If you lack a rolling creeper, just put some cardboard or an old blanket on the ground. You need only to look at older Mercedes cars to see the vulnerable locations where rust is likely to get started.
For lubrication action I employ an arsenal of various products, ranging from Mercedes synthetic Green Grease for fasteners, to lightweight oils in pressurized aerosol cans to get lubrication to specific locations. It is nice to use specialized products; however, an attack on all the aspects of the car mentioned with the products you have in the garage will accomplish a lot. Just do it!
The engine bays of the newest of Mercedes models are not particularly inviting to lubrication of moving bits and pieces. As handsome as modern engine cladding is, it is also intimidating, and not inviting to be messed with. The reality is that on this new breed of Mercedes, there are in fact very few things mechanical enough to require lubrication. The computers, by way of servos, do all those functions your foot used to set into motion. Mercedes models older than the mid-1990s, however, have plenty of mechanical levers and pivots in the engine bay overdue for lubrication. I derive plenty of satisfaction from  the first inspection of any car new to our shop. As I do my inspection, I lubricate engine components along the way, and they are, without fail, crying out for lubrication like a thirsty man in the desert cries out for water.
Opportunities for lubrication are all over your car. Seat rails, door stop mechanisms, bolts fastening the bumpers, screws holding wires onto horn terminals, threaded junctions in the fuel system, brake hose fittings and bleeder screws, as well as the large nuts and bolts holding suspension pieces onto the under-chassis should all be considered fair game for regular lubrication. When it comes time to move any of them for repairs, you will be rewarded for your efforts. Fasteners will turn, saving time and aggravation.  Use your imagination as you look over the entire car for more opportunities to lubricate.
Many of the motivations for lubrication also apply to using barrier products such as paraffin and other preservative waxes in order to displace moisture and prevent rust and corrosion on your Mercedes. Paraffin provides long-term body shell protection of areas along seams, edges and surfaces of sills and struts, as well in panel cavities, such as those inside doors, and structural cavities, such as those within rocker panels. Focus on any panels where two pieces of metal are joined, and the fasteners that join them, because deterioration begins in those places.  Paraffin has excellent creep characteristics and strong adhesion, as well as inherent lubrication properties. It migrates into small spaces, pushes out moisture, and is friendly to rubber and plastic components. Paraffin can be sprayed onto any car surface, short of upholstery, with gay abandon, and stray material on paint work can be wiped away with a towel, as you would polishing wax.
The factory started treating body cavities with paraffin in 1977. Engine compartments and the engines themselves also came coated with paraffin from the factory. Unfortunately, the conventional pre-delivery preparation routine at many American dealerships often eliminated this protective treatment, ironically delivering cars with less protection. And, while Mercedes technical literature called for the removal of the paraffin for engine repairs, after which the paraffin was to be reapplied, in practice this second protective coating was often omitted, leaving any new engine components subject to more rapid degradation.
Mercedes markets its own paraffin preservative through its dealership network. The M-B paraffin product is delivered in 1-liter bulk, and requires applicator apparatus. I have employed garden spray applicators, bought at the hardware store, to successfully apply this product. We also use an aerosol paraffin product from the Würth Corporation, which is especially convenient as it can simply be sprayed on wherever you like, with no special equipment or preparation. 
During reassembly of cars, during repair, restoration or rehabilitation, applying lubricant on hidden fasteners and paraffin to metal panel junctions otherwise not accessible, will promote body panel longevity. If you are reassembling, do yourself a favor and be certain to spray either lubricant or paraffin onto any fasteners that penetrate through the metal. You will thank yourself years later as you enjoy the ease with which components will come apart as a result of your past efforts. In the future, you may well be the next person who has to remove those fasteners.
 It is prudent to look over all of your cars once a year, recoating vulnerable areas with lubrication and paraffin on a regular basis. As you begin to make these preservative measures second nature, more opportunities for application will reveal themselves – just give in to the urge. Practice preventative actions whenever opportunities present themselves. You may find additional areas, missed in previous sessions of preservation. It will be a simple matter to apply more lubricant or paraffin to the newly discovered locations. If you make a habit of these practices, you will not only help your car, you will become more familiar with it, as a regularly applied lubrication and preservation program will, by necessity, move your eyes and hands across every inch of the car.  You will become more aware about your Mercedes and be able to detect small problems before they become large ones.
It stands to reason that the cleaner and newer your car, the more effective preventive lubrication and paraffin will become. That said, older models, even those with some decay, will also benefit handsomely through these programs. Lubricate everything you believe will ever move, pivot, or slide. Lubricate virtually every fastener you install, and this goes for stainless steel fasteners as well. It is so nice to work with bolts underneath the car turning loose effortlessly, not covered with rust.
This all, of course, goes doubly for anyone living in America’s road-salt belt, but folks living in fair weather states should also employ these proactive lubrication and preservation techniques. These fair-weather cars also grow old, and lubrication of fasteners will always be welcome in future mechanical efforts on your car. Dry and coastal conditions can be as brutal, in their own ways, as rainy and wintery climates, and good habits of preservation and lubrication will be just as rewarding in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, as they are in Carmel, Indiana.
All of these lubrication and preservation tasks are affordable and simple to do. They all take a relatively short time to accomplish, and they have such far-reaching, positive results that only brute indifference to your “ride” should deter you from acting. After all, did you not get a Mercedes-Benz because you believe in its high quality of construction and engineering, and believe it to be an all-around better car to own? Do not dishonor your convictions by allowing Mother Nature to have her entropic way with your Mercedes, when it takes so little of your effort to thwart her influence.
 
Albrecht Stachel tells us he is chief bottle-washer at Brooklyn Motoren Werke Inc. in Brooklyn, Wisconsin and his mind is made up. www.brooklyn300.com