Tato
New member
- Nov 27, 2013
- 2,157
- 0
Dear friends,
This week I had the pleasure to work on this beautiful black C180. The car belongs to a very special friend and family, and I'm glad they trusted my detailing skills to give their car the love it was needing.
The entire work took me 4 and 1/2 days to be done. It's clear I've worked slowly but always moving towards the best results.
For the polishing phase, I've decided using a 3-step approach, using Rupes 21 and finishing MF discs for the first cut followed by Flex 3401 polisher and Hybrid foam pads for the polishing and finishing steps.
I've used Menzerna FG400 and SF4000 Polishes , and after proper preparation the car was coated with Pinnacle Black Label Surface, Paint, Glass and Wheel coatings, whetter they fitted.
Many details could not be captured accordingly, but I was sure to lay down the floor and polish this beauty from top to bottom! :buffing::buffing:
I now invite you watch the turnaround.
Car arrived
Dirty and very stained, I knew it would need extensive care to turn out properly...
Getting closer
Let see this smile:
A bit yellowish, hun?!
The hood
Closer:
:awman:
Handle scratches
---
Let's do something!
I decided to put out some dedicated but still paint safe chemicals to help me removing the embedded contaminants. Here are a few things I've used, and each one worked (at least) as intended.
No wheel bucket material picture, but I had to put out all my Daytona Brushes, degreasers and tar removers to tackle the wheels.
What I've started with:
Just before starting to detail the wheels, my wife was doing the interior of the trunk. I've removed the spare wheel to clean and coat, preserving it's value, and letting it ready to ride and shine anytime.
Compared to actual wheel on background... I had set a high standard to restore those wheels!
We talk seriously about Car Detailing here. In the bellow picture I'm finishing the tar removal step making sure the wheels were looking it's best.
How does it looks?
If you've noticed at above picture, I've removed the caps to restore and shine them using Meguiar's NXT Metal Polish and a Dremel machine.
Just to match the just detailed new look:
Fast-forward, you're now looking at the wheels after coating and tire conditioning gel application:
Glass
Water spots on glass are an ugly thing...
During wash and decontamination step, CarPro Spotless played a key role to remove water spots on glass. However, I've used a glass polishing step to guarantee squeaky clean results.
Windshield, removing Cleansing Polish residue
Inspecting glass results. Here you can start seeing the condition of the paint after being washed, and decontaminated with iron-x, spotless and thorough claying.
Paint inspection
Even though Spotless helped removing overall topical calcium deposits and made an awesome work on glass, it's 'useless' against water spot staining. For removing stains, paint needs to be polished.
**I knew Spotless would not remove stains on paint, but it helped me keeping the pad clean during the polishing step, which can justify it's use.
Ugly stains, hindering the shine of this Mercedes...
Swirls
Swirls and stains
Fine trails
More noticeable on trunk lid:
Lateral spots accusing defects as well:
The Test Spots
At first, I've grabbed the 3401 and a white polishing pad, some SF4000 and polished a section on the roof. Although this paint was not a Ceramiclear, it showed it's hardness and deepness of defects, which left me with no choice other than step up to an orange pad and a compound.
After working the compound, I've repeated my finishing step to confirm I would be able to get the results I was willing to.
SF4000 spread:
Here's the polish worked through a thin film after using Smack's technique, just before being removed with Wolfgang towel
Here you are, the spot result after being wiped with Eraser and a soft Deluxe MF Towel
After dialing the Flex Setup and meeting the paint, it was time to dial in the Rupes. For sure I would take advantage of the large throw over ample areas of flat panels...
Although a bit hazy finish, Rupes went over defects with little to no effort:
...and I was being able to finish it down nicely afterwards using SF4000 on a white Hybrid pad
Results:
That's when I decided to do a first and fast cut with the Rupes over the whole car, finishing afterwards with the Flex and foam pads in preferable 2, but mainly 3 steps to get an even, perfect result.
Before:
After:
Door handles were worked while working the doors
Although not perfect, it took a lot of time to get these results by hand...
This week I had the pleasure to work on this beautiful black C180. The car belongs to a very special friend and family, and I'm glad they trusted my detailing skills to give their car the love it was needing.
The entire work took me 4 and 1/2 days to be done. It's clear I've worked slowly but always moving towards the best results.
For the polishing phase, I've decided using a 3-step approach, using Rupes 21 and finishing MF discs for the first cut followed by Flex 3401 polisher and Hybrid foam pads for the polishing and finishing steps.
I've used Menzerna FG400 and SF4000 Polishes , and after proper preparation the car was coated with Pinnacle Black Label Surface, Paint, Glass and Wheel coatings, whetter they fitted.
Many details could not be captured accordingly, but I was sure to lay down the floor and polish this beauty from top to bottom! :buffing::buffing:
I now invite you watch the turnaround.
Car arrived
Dirty and very stained, I knew it would need extensive care to turn out properly...
Getting closer
Let see this smile:
A bit yellowish, hun?!
The hood
Closer:
:awman:
Handle scratches
---
Let's do something!
I decided to put out some dedicated but still paint safe chemicals to help me removing the embedded contaminants. Here are a few things I've used, and each one worked (at least) as intended.
No wheel bucket material picture, but I had to put out all my Daytona Brushes, degreasers and tar removers to tackle the wheels.
What I've started with:
Just before starting to detail the wheels, my wife was doing the interior of the trunk. I've removed the spare wheel to clean and coat, preserving it's value, and letting it ready to ride and shine anytime.
Compared to actual wheel on background... I had set a high standard to restore those wheels!
We talk seriously about Car Detailing here. In the bellow picture I'm finishing the tar removal step making sure the wheels were looking it's best.
How does it looks?
If you've noticed at above picture, I've removed the caps to restore and shine them using Meguiar's NXT Metal Polish and a Dremel machine.
Just to match the just detailed new look:
Fast-forward, you're now looking at the wheels after coating and tire conditioning gel application:
Glass
Water spots on glass are an ugly thing...
During wash and decontamination step, CarPro Spotless played a key role to remove water spots on glass. However, I've used a glass polishing step to guarantee squeaky clean results.
Windshield, removing Cleansing Polish residue
Inspecting glass results. Here you can start seeing the condition of the paint after being washed, and decontaminated with iron-x, spotless and thorough claying.
Paint inspection
Even though Spotless helped removing overall topical calcium deposits and made an awesome work on glass, it's 'useless' against water spot staining. For removing stains, paint needs to be polished.
**I knew Spotless would not remove stains on paint, but it helped me keeping the pad clean during the polishing step, which can justify it's use.
Ugly stains, hindering the shine of this Mercedes...
Swirls
Swirls and stains
Fine trails
More noticeable on trunk lid:
Lateral spots accusing defects as well:
The Test Spots
At first, I've grabbed the 3401 and a white polishing pad, some SF4000 and polished a section on the roof. Although this paint was not a Ceramiclear, it showed it's hardness and deepness of defects, which left me with no choice other than step up to an orange pad and a compound.
After working the compound, I've repeated my finishing step to confirm I would be able to get the results I was willing to.
SF4000 spread:
Here's the polish worked through a thin film after using Smack's technique, just before being removed with Wolfgang towel
Here you are, the spot result after being wiped with Eraser and a soft Deluxe MF Towel
After dialing the Flex Setup and meeting the paint, it was time to dial in the Rupes. For sure I would take advantage of the large throw over ample areas of flat panels...
Although a bit hazy finish, Rupes went over defects with little to no effort:
...and I was being able to finish it down nicely afterwards using SF4000 on a white Hybrid pad
Results:
That's when I decided to do a first and fast cut with the Rupes over the whole car, finishing afterwards with the Flex and foam pads in preferable 2, but mainly 3 steps to get an even, perfect result.
Before:
After:
Door handles were worked while working the doors
Although not perfect, it took a lot of time to get these results by hand...
