Truitt
New member
- Dec 19, 2009
- 31
- 0
First I'd like to thank everyone for posting such great information. And a special thanks to Mike Phillips for the fantastic how-to articles.
Last year I picked up a 2006 SL500. It's a great car, but the finish had been terribly neglected by the previous owner. Here are a couple of "before" photos:
Yeah, that's high-output LED bicycle lights mounted to a microphone boom. I used it as an inspection light.
This is fairly typical of the condition of the entire care. I pulled the hood emblem off to make detailing easier and because it needed to be replaced.
My process was pretty much what I learned from this forum:
Just kidding!
Heres the process I used:
Wash - Clay - Wash (2-bucket method, of course)
I used the 3401 for most of the polishing work and Griot's Mini-Polisher for the smaller, tighter areas, and then polished by hand for the really tight areas.
Test area indicated two passes with Menzerna Super Intensive and orange LC pad, followed by Super Finish with white pad.
After cleaning with isopropyl alcohol and inspecting closely I decided to go over it again with Super Finish and a gray pad.
Some areas required hand polishing, and the most effective system I found was Megs #105 followed by Super Intensive and then Super Finish. I used the CCS Euro applicators.
Driver's side door handle before:
and after:
Yeah, I need to get the residue out of the crevices. It didn't stand out so much until I saw this picture.
I finished the job with Wolfgang Deep Gloss and topped it with Dodo Juice Purple Haze.
I short-cut the process for the back bumper; I used PBW Black Hole. It's amazing stuff, but the bumper doesn't look as good as the rest of the car and it's a lot less permanent. But I wanted to try it out. I will most likely clean and polish the bumper sometime this summer.
I used Megs PlasticX on the headlight lenses and sealed them with Klass All-In-One.
I tried the Diamondite products on the windshield, but they weren't proving very effective against the water spots. It's probably not recommended, but I wound up hand polishing the windshield with Megs 105 and then using the Diamondite products. That did the trick.
I used Megs NXT products for most of the interior. I used Lexol cleaner and conditioner for the leather. And I used DP Krystal Vision for the glass.
I removed the wheels, cleaned them thoroughly (various tar removers and solvents were required), then finished them with DP Wheel Glaze.
Here are some "after" photos:
Yes, there is still snow on the ground here in Anchorage.
And this is a shot I couldn't resist:
Anyone recognize it?
Well, thanks again for all the wonderful advice and guidance. I really enjoyed this project. And thanks for checking out these photos.
Last year I picked up a 2006 SL500. It's a great car, but the finish had been terribly neglected by the previous owner. Here are a couple of "before" photos:
Yeah, that's high-output LED bicycle lights mounted to a microphone boom. I used it as an inspection light.
This is fairly typical of the condition of the entire care. I pulled the hood emblem off to make detailing easier and because it needed to be replaced.
My process was pretty much what I learned from this forum:
Just kidding!
Heres the process I used:
Wash - Clay - Wash (2-bucket method, of course)
I used the 3401 for most of the polishing work and Griot's Mini-Polisher for the smaller, tighter areas, and then polished by hand for the really tight areas.
Test area indicated two passes with Menzerna Super Intensive and orange LC pad, followed by Super Finish with white pad.
After cleaning with isopropyl alcohol and inspecting closely I decided to go over it again with Super Finish and a gray pad.
Some areas required hand polishing, and the most effective system I found was Megs #105 followed by Super Intensive and then Super Finish. I used the CCS Euro applicators.
Driver's side door handle before:
and after:
Yeah, I need to get the residue out of the crevices. It didn't stand out so much until I saw this picture.
I finished the job with Wolfgang Deep Gloss and topped it with Dodo Juice Purple Haze.
I short-cut the process for the back bumper; I used PBW Black Hole. It's amazing stuff, but the bumper doesn't look as good as the rest of the car and it's a lot less permanent. But I wanted to try it out. I will most likely clean and polish the bumper sometime this summer.
I used Megs PlasticX on the headlight lenses and sealed them with Klass All-In-One.
I tried the Diamondite products on the windshield, but they weren't proving very effective against the water spots. It's probably not recommended, but I wound up hand polishing the windshield with Megs 105 and then using the Diamondite products. That did the trick.
I used Megs NXT products for most of the interior. I used Lexol cleaner and conditioner for the leather. And I used DP Krystal Vision for the glass.
I removed the wheels, cleaned them thoroughly (various tar removers and solvents were required), then finished them with DP Wheel Glaze.
Here are some "after" photos:
Yes, there is still snow on the ground here in Anchorage.
And this is a shot I couldn't resist:
Anyone recognize it?
Well, thanks again for all the wonderful advice and guidance. I really enjoyed this project. And thanks for checking out these photos.
