2000 SL 500 Correction

[tdekany]

Ok, so this car was bought used not that long ago. The new owners were interested in improving the condition of the paint after they visited Detailed Image online and a chit chat via e mails with Todd Cooperrider. Todd suggested that they contact me. Initially the owners thought that the car was going to need a full wet sand so I made an appointment to look over the car right away. We spent about an hour talking about why the paint was in such poor condition and what I should be able to accomplish and of course how to properly maintain it in the future. I reassured the clients that wet sanding was not necessary. I also measured the paint which revealed some very thin clear in several areas of the car. At the end of the meeting, we set up an appointment that worked for both of us. I had 3 days to do the car and my original estimation was about 20+ hours. All in all it took 34 hours in 4 days. The paint on the lower plastic panels just didn't want to correct. In the end I went through 16 3" MF pads that I was using to level with my pcxp on speed 6.

The whole process was:

3D Medium clay - (the car was washed for me)
HD UNO for leveling
HD UNO polishing
HD UNO finishing
LIME PRIME LITE to clean the paint
HD POXY
3D ULTRA tire shine

Here are some more pictures and videos

And a before and after video of the same area





The trunk 50/50 video



And trunk all finished up - few deep imperfections stayed.



Trunk Before

Trunk after

 

[tdekany]

Roof Before video





Roof After Video


Roof Before

Roof After

Couple of final pictures

 

[tdekany]

What the conditions were:

Before - click to see video



After - click to see video





Thanks Mike - Not all over, but the lower you went the lower the #s Also the roof was problematic with upper 70s towards the windshield.

1 of the few finished pictures.

 

[MirandaAutoSpa]

Wow...UNO can do THAT. I would love to try that out. Could Megs D151 ever accomplish such results like HD UNO?

 

[tdekany]

Thanks! You want to compare UNO to 105. Never used D151

Wow...UNO can do THAT. I would love to try that out. Could Megs D151 ever accomplish such results like HD UNO?

 

[MirandaAutoSpa]

Thanks! You want to compare UNO to 105. Never used D151

I use D151 Paint Reconditioning Cream and I have found good results, but not like that. I have not used M105 yet either, but I haven't really had a vehicle bad enough to use it yet anyways.

 

[tw33k2514]

Car turned out great. And UNO is for sure a great product.

 

[Marc08EX]

Great job! How do you like UNO? How does it compare to the well known polishes such as Meg's/Menzerna/Wolfgang?

I love seeing before, 50/50 and after pics of properly detailed black paint.

 

[Sunshyne]

wow, Uno really seems impressive!

 

[ChrisGT]

Salivating!!

 

[silverfox]

Imagine using one product to go from compounding to finishing and it works well with MF discs from what I've read. Impressive.

 

[SameGuy]

Wow! I know some folks with decent cars really don't give a crap, but I'm left to wonder why I see so many decent cars get in such bad shape, and how they got that way... Good job! I'm sure the new owners are very pleased.

 

[tdekany]

I apologize for this late reply.

SameGuy - if you put some decent enough lights on most dark cars, you will see how bad the condition really is. It is unfortunate.

IMPROPER WASHING. Simple as that.

Silverfox - thank you so much!

ChrisGT - thanks a lot!

Sunshyne - Appreciated!

tw33k2514 - Thank you!

 

[daveinsweethome]

nice job . i am now using uno hd and proxy on my own personal cars. the finish is beautiful but what blows me away is the slickness. almost fell on my butt leaning on the car. thanks for the recommendation awhile ago.

 

[tdekany]

Thanks Dave! Talked with Shane lately?

 

[AndrewBigA]

nice work MrT! that car was a straight mess before you got your hands on here. holograms are a depressing site to see but very rewarding ($) once you remove them fully.

 

[tdekany]

Thanks Mr Big A!

 

[Alex Boyce]

I saw the first picture and got a headache lol. So what did the customer say the reason was for the paint being in such bad condition?

 

[tdekany]

I saw the first picture and got a headache lol. So what did the customer say the reason was for the paint being in such bad condition?

This customer bought it used not too long ago.

FWIW, you can take most dark colors and put them under one of these lights we use and they will look awful.

 

[Alex Boyce]

This customer bought it used not too long ago.

FWIW, you can take most dark colors and put them under one of these lights we use and they will look awful.

Yeah, I've done a few black cars that were about that bad, heck my Impala was nearly that bad when I purchased it. I hope they understand what it takes to keep it looking that way!