2001 Mercedes SLK convertable cool car

[Nica]

So after a good buddy/co-worker of mine saw what I did with that Toyota Corolla he told me I could do his Mercedes. It’s a 2001 Mercedes SLK convertible, really nice vehicle and it’s red. Now I wasn’t sure if it had the ceramic clear coat but I was prepared. I ordered the entire line up of Menzerna and well I was well armed as you will see. So how long did this take me, well we (the owner and I) started on Friday April 27 and finished it on Sunday April 29. I lost count but I think it was a total of 40 + hours combined.

Well here is the process:

Wash
Owner washed the vehicle before it was brought over to my garage so no wash.

Clay
The car was covered with over spray so we spent about 3hrs on removing the overspray. We both had clay so we both went at it, owner brought the Mother clay bar and I had the Meg’s clay. Both semi aggressive but they both got rid of the over spray. We were pleased (specially the owner) because we got rid of the overspray. Over spray sucks!!

Polish (Part 1)
I first tried the Cyclo with green Edge pads and XMT #3. This didn’t do anything to the scratches/swirls. So I went to Cyclo with orange Edge pads and XMT #3, still nothing.

 

[Nica]

Polish (Part 2)
After seeing that the Cyclo and XMT #3 wasen’t doing anything back to the house I went and got the Menzerna PO106FF and my Metabo and Edge orange pad. This got rid of all scratches and swirls, Menzerna does live up to its reputation and so easy to use. I was pleased so was the owner but it left minor scratches. So I took the Cyclo with Green Edge pads and used Menzerna Final Polish II and tada flawless results. So plan of attack was the following:

I would proceed with PO106FF and my Metabo and the Edge orange pad and the owner would follow up with the Cyclo with Green Edge pads and Menzerna Final Polish II. This is a great combo and Final Polish II is such a wicked polish, this is a really good product to “jewel” the paint. Finishes the paint and gives it a very nice shinny look, when we saw it our jaws dropped no joke the owner and I just stared at the finish and could not believe the results. Really good combo and that’s how we did the entire vehicle. Long but well worth it.

Polish (Part 3)
There were some spots that needed wet sanding and I got the okay from the owner and off I went. Used 2000 grit and removed some deeper scratches. I enjoy wet sanding it look forward to all opportunities to wet sand. I was really careful, sanded a little and wiping to check. When the scratch was gone I followed up with PP106FF, Metabo with Orange Edge pad then Final Polish II, Cyclo Green Edge pads. Oh I managed to get some orange peal off the vehicle too, just some spots. I learned that orange peal doesn’t take much to remove, very interesting this orange peal. Owner said eventually he would like to remove all the orange peal….um..not today though hahahaha.

 

[Nica]

Glaze
I explained to the owner the difference between a glaze and a sealant and the owner choose glaze so I used Pinnacle Caurnauba Finishing Glaze, owner is all about the wet look and I don’t blame him. I applied by hand and owner removed by hand, two coats. The owner was amazed by how wet the paint looked and the reflection we were getting with jus the glaze oh and the smell of grapes filled the garage, made us thirsty.

Wax
Used Souveran paste. I applied by hand and owner removed by hand. This time I did the wipe on wipe off, much better to work with. The owner was blown away by the wax and the wet look to the vehicle. The pictures speak for them selves.

Oh by the way the owner just wanted the paint done, he said he would do the rest him self. Overall really good experience long detail but very well worth the hard labor. Extremely happy with Menzerna products and looking forward to next weekend when I got a black vehicle to detail.

 

[Nica]

Okay with out further a due the pictures:
Before (sorry not to many but you’ll be able to see the scratches):

Tuch up paint

Front bumper had really bad scratches and deep

The light shows all

 

[Nica]

In between pictures:

here are the clay bars we used.

The owner is worse then me so I taped as up as much as I could I need to buy lots of blue tape.

 

[Nica]

Oh wait here is one more of how we were working, great tag team :righton:

Oh yes, some wetsanding picture.

I hope you can see the deep scratch but this spot needed wet sanding too.

And now for the final results with some sun too:

:awesome:

Excuse the chrome, owner said he would take care of it

 

[Nica]

The hood was fun to polish with the Metabo, really easy with the Cyclo but challenging with the Metabo. But I like the results and so does the owner.

Hope all of you enjoy, I welcome all feed back. Now for some sleep, back to work tomorrow and brag :righton:

 

[klumzypinoy]

I'd be a happy owner with that! Tag teaming seems more fun, plus you're not lonely That is a very nice job! That tape all over the headlights and grill looked funny. Blue and red really contrast each other

 

[sparkie]

Nica 40 hours WOW bro! That's alot! I feel for you brother! But one thing about it she beautiful!
I like this pic!

 

[Nuke33]

wow came out great!

 

[chu]

Hearing alot of good things about Mezerna. Do you guys think its too much for regular clears? I'm curently using 3M and Optimum products.

 

[Nica]

klumzypinoy - hahaha yea the taping was fun, the owner is really picky so I went the extra mile besides he was helping me. I agree the tag team combo was wicked, we chatted up a storm and go to know each other better. It was fun.

sparkie - Thank you buddy, yea it was long. The owner wanted it flawlesly and he is really anal with his car so I took my time. I didn't charge for the detail and the owner really wanted to help so I figured why not with they Cyclo there is no way he could ruine what I was doing.

chu - Menzerna is a really good product strong but good. You don't really need to use the strong compund you can go light but the Final Polish II that is sweet. It leaves the paint flawless, removes all minor scratches and anything else that I may have missed. Such a good product.


By the way I just double checked with the owner and it's a 2002 not a 2001 like I posted hahahaha my bad.

 

[sneek]

Good work!

Did you use 3000grit papers to follow up that 2000?

Do you think we will need 3000?

 

[Nica]

Good work!

Did you use 3000grit papers to follow up that 2000?

Do you think we will need 3000?

Hey sneek,

I used 2000 grit and then went over it with Menzerna PO106FF and it removed all of the sanding. I've been trying to get my hands on 3000 grit but no luck just yet. We should be okay with 2000 grit sneek.

Looking forward to it buddy.

Thank you for the compliment, we (owner and I) are quite pleased with the results.

 

[CalgaryDetail]

nice work. Im glad you posted pics. Its always fun to read through,

Nice work. Im sure the owner was more then happy

 

[Jimmie]

No wonder you guys were blown away with the look. She looks great. That was smart turning the owner loose with the Cyclo. Bet he'll be back. In fact you probably got him hooked on detailing. Dial 1-800-AG.
PS: You're getting good with that wetsanding.

 

[Nica]

CalgaryDetail - Yea I took lots of pictures, I wanted to show the dramatic transformation his baby would be going through lol. Yes, I agree it makes the write up more enjoyable, helps to illustrate the result. Thank you for the compliments, owner has fallen in love with his vehicle again.

Jimmie - You got it buddy, he loved the Cyclo. He was amazed at how easy it was to do the vehicle with the Cyclo. Yup, he's hooked he's already looking at purchasing something’s here hahahaha. He just ordered some rims for the vehicle too and I told him about the P21S I ordered to clean rims and he's all pumped for me to receive it and use it. Oh he'll be back you can count on it. hahahaha it was all strategies hahahaha teasing he's a good friend and he's always helping me out. Besides who am I pass out on detailing a convertible. I'm getting more comfortable with the wet sanding and I'm really happy with the results so far. Thanks for the kind words, greatly appreciated.

 

[joe.p]

Nica ,you did a nice a job its always nice to see how the color Red pops after a good detail..

I like that fact that you had CSI come out and inspect the paint before the prep lol

 

[ltoman]

Fantastic work, Nica - 40 hours though? EGADS! No way. I would have had to break it up. Great to have a helper though!!! I enjoyed your write up - I learned somethings that will be useful in the future.
You rock!
Keep up the terrific work!!!
Lauren

 

[scottgt]

looks awesome..nice write up