2008 Mercedes ML

[JonM]

The owner is one of my friends, and being the nice guy I am I offered to detail his ride for a very good price. I honestly thought it was going to be a 2 step job- Compound/Polish, but it turned out to be much more extensive. The car required AT LEAST a 4 step with my Griots, but I explained to him that I was going to have to charge him much more, and the car is a daily thats driven to NYC at least 4 times a week so it's not worth it. I charged him 250 for the entire thing, which included a moderate interior detail. It took me a little over 18 hours. What a nice boy I am :dblthumb2:

Products used
-Heavy Concentration of DP Extreme Foam
-Griots 6"
-Griots 3"
-M105 (two hits)
-Menzerna SIP
-Griots Orange Pad
-LC Cyan PAd
-Dodo Austintacious
-DP Tire Shine v1
-Black Wow
-DP Crystal Glass Cleaner


Once again the car was still left with some lines here and there, but nothing you could see even standing a foot away from it in the sun. I was surprised with the SIP to say the least. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I was shot.

Before

After

 

[SRHTX]

Nice work.

Was the black clear coat a PITA to work with? The '08 GL 550 I did a while back was very hard to get the scratches on the clear coat. My clients wife had taken it to an auto wash and it really marked deep in the clear coat.

 

[JonM]

Jesus Christ, PITA doesn't describe it. It took two passes of M105 with the Griots 6" at speed 6 with a Orange Griots pad to even get the majority of the swirls out. After that the SIP cut down most of what remained, but there were still quite a few RIDS here and there, but the car did look fantastic. It could have used a pass of 106fa or something, but I really did't wanna go any further for that price. Thanks for the compliment Stephen.

 

[SRHTX]

Jesus Christ, PITA doesn't describe it. It took two passes of M105 with the Griots 6" at speed 6 with a Orange Griots pad to even get the majority of the swirls out. After that the SIP cut down most of what remained, but there were still quite a few RIDS here and there, but the car did look fantastic. It could have used a pass of 106fa or something, but I really did't wanna go any further for that price. Thanks for the compliment Stephen.

he he..... I was sure you might have had a problem on the clear coat since you spent quite a few hours on it. I used the Flex with a wool pad at 1st with Megs 105 followed with the Menzerna Finishing Glaze PO 115C and a purple wool pad.

Mercedes Benz puts a great deal of clear coat on all of their new vehicles these days.

 

[Marc08EX]

Big improvement! Great job! 2 passes of M105??? MB must have one heck of a clear coat and still gets swirled up like that?

The black just looks wet.

 

[JonM]

I couldn't believe it required two passes of 105 either, but it did. SRHTX, would a wool pad work on a DA? I know most use them for their Orbitals, but I wont move on to one of those for a few months. Thanks for the kind comment Marc, the Austintacious truly is a wax to consider, before it's all out.

 

[SRHTX]

Trust me. Once I got my hands on the Flex, I put the PC into a box and really never use it anymore. If I do use it, it's for carpets or cloth seats.

 

[CakeDaddy]

Jesus Christ, PITA doesn't describe it. It took two passes of M105 with the Griots 6" at speed 6 with a Orange Griots pad to even get the majority of the swirls out. After that the SIP cut down most of what remained, but there were still quite a few RIDS here and there, but the car did look fantastic. It could have used a pass of 106fa or something, but I really did't wanna go any further for that price. Thanks for the compliment Stephen.

LOL. True PITA! That Mercedes Ceramic-Clear is no joke. Mercedes started using cerama-clear after 2005 I believe. Its not the usualy clear coat like we see on other brands. The cerami-clear is bullet proof in most cases, but once its neglected....look out. The wife has a silver CLK that I'll be working on soon, so I'll be feeling your pain. Nice work

 

[Meghan]

Nice turnaround, black paint will give you a love hate relationship. I love mine when she is swirl free, I hate her while trying to rid of the swirls! But I just can't bring myself to getting a white car... where is the challenge there?

 

[sullysdetailing]

Good job, I did an 03 Benz that was black It took 2-3 passes with M105 and orange LC pad those clears are pretty tuff

 

[john F]

Nice turnaround, black paint will give you a love hate relationship. I love mine when she is swirl free, I hate her while trying to rid of the swirls! But I just can't bring myself to getting a white car... where is the challenge there?

Ditto, nothing like a swirl free black car. What a good friend you are though, Jon. :dblthumb2:

 

[JonM]

LOL. True PITA! That Mercedes Ceramic-Clear is no joke. Mercedes started using cerama-clear after 2005 I believe. Its not the usualy clear coat like we see on other brands. The cerami-clear is bullet proof in most cases, but once its neglected....look out. The wife has a silver CLK that I'll be working on soon, so I'll be feeling your pain. Nice work

Thank you for the kind words, good luck with the CLK.

Nice turnaround, black paint will give you a love hate relationship. I love mine when she is swirl free, I hate her while trying to rid of the swirls! But I just can't bring myself to getting a white car... where is the challenge there?

Thanks Meghan! I feel the same way with my car. Black definitely is another job, but the reward is definitely worth it in the end.

Good job, I did an 03 Benz that was black It took 2-3 passes with M105 and orange LC pad those clears are pretty tuff

I was so surprised, everyone talks about these clears and how hard they are to work with, I really thought one pass with 105 and one pass with PO203 or even a lesser polish would have done a good enough job. 18 hours later, boy I knew I was wrong. It took me so long cause we ran out of time one day, and he had to return on a different day, so re-wash re-wax...it was very time consuming.

Ditto, nothing like a swirl free black car. What a good friend you are though, Jon. :dblthumb2:

Thanks John, and congratulations with your new position at AG! I'm quite jealous Im the MAN, I'd love to be in your shoes hahah. Hey Meghan, could you ask Max if you guys are hiring. I'll sleep outside in a box or something, I don't mind. Hell I'll even work for Fuzion sample tubs!