MB E500 Estate - MPD

[christian900se]

Today, I detailed a very nice Mercedes E500 both inside and out. It belongs to a very successful interior designer/decorator who uses the car every day to travel around. The car seemed to be fairly well cared for but as soon as I started tackling the exterior, it was clear that the car was heavily contaminated with fallout and had no protection whatsoever. I went through 2 bars of riccardo clay (probably could have gotten away with 1 1/2) but the improvement in gloss and smoothness was well worth the effort.

I hit it with XMT360 AIO which did a fantastic job of further cleaning the paint while giving some minor correction. I then glazed and waxed it whilst attending to the remaining trim, tires, and interior intricacies.


Products and Process:

-Pre-soak with ONR at QD strength
-Wash with DP Rinseless W+G
-Wheels done with CG Diablo (good stuff!) and the tires+wells with OPC 3:1
-Clayed with Riccardo and ONR QD
-Rinsed and dried
-XMT360 and a white CCS pad via PC
-CG EZ Creme Glaze
-Collinite 845
-Glass cleaned with AG Fast Glass
-Interior vacuumed with my new Shop Vac
-Plastics and leather cleaned with OPC 5:1
-All plastics and leather treated to 303 Protectant
-CG stripper scent applied
-Final wipedown with DG Aquawax

On with the pictures- The car looked a bit tired, and the wheels were really in a bad way.

My new Raceglaze XL wheel brush.

A reference for the size of it against 17" wheels

 

[christian900se]

Now, for the afters:

German Engineering:

All in all, it was a rewarding detail and I was especially happy with the way the interior finished. The wheels had some heavy staining that I could not remove for the life of me (clay, XMT360 tried) but they look much better. I also tried to limit the number of photos I took so you guys aren't constantly bombarded by so many. Thanks for reading!





Total time invested: 5 hours.
MPD = Martell Professional Detailing

 

[pushtiulk]

great job

 

[JohnHenry]

Nice work!

You might want to try some P21S Polishing Soap on the wheel stains. I've had a lot of luck with this product.

 

[Matt S.]

Nice work!

You might want to try some P21S Polishing Soap on the wheel stains. I've had a lot of luck with this product.

Not recommended for painted surfaces. It works awesome on bare metals, but will scratch paint badly.

Great job on the Benz!

 

[jjkacz]

Looks Great - Nice work!

 

[christian900se]

great job

Thanks!

Nice work!

You might want to try some P21S Polishing Soap on the wheel stains. I've had a lot of luck with this product.

I tried again with a polishing pad and XMT360 and the marks wouldn't budge. I would be willing to bet that those stains are from acidic cleaners since the stains look like 'runs' and a lot of the wheel looks cloudy and white.

Not recommended for painted surfaces. It works awesome on bare metals, but will scratch paint badly.

Great job on the Benz!

Thanks for the comment Matt! The wheels are the only part letting my detail down, but there isn't much I can do about them unfortunately.

Looks Great - Nice work!

Thank you for the kind words, they are much appreciated!

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Excellent job! :dblthumb2:

 

[christian900se]

Muchos gracias! I redid alot of my detailing arsenal with the intent to make my work faster and easier while producing the same result and it helped a lot with this detail.

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

How do you like the CG EZ Cream glaze?

 

[ASPHALT ROCKET]

Looking good Christian.

 

[christian900se]

How do you like the CG EZ Cream glaze?

I actually like it a lot, it cleans the paint very well and is so easy to use. I have found that it also creates a nice base for any LSP you want to apply, not to mention it is one of the few products that I have used that adds a noticeable amount of gloss. I wouldn't hesistate to try it out. :xyxthumbs:

Looking good Christian.

Thank you Dana, I hope I start getting more correction details so I can put my new Makita to good use. Doing wash/wax/interior jobs kind of tears down your passion and will after a while so my fingers are crossed that Californians like swirl free cars!

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

I actually like it a lot, it cleans the paint very well and is so easy to use. I have found that it also creates a nice base for any LSP you want to apply, not to mention it is one of the few products that I have used that adds a noticeable amount of gloss. I wouldn't hesistate to try it out. :xyxthumbs:

Awesome! Thanks for the info.

 

[sparkie]

Sweet job..:dblthumb2:..XMT is one of my go to products...German cars is the worst as far as break dust....

 

[christian900se]

Awesome! Thanks for the info.

No worries! I like to pass on information when it can help someone else, especially when it comes to CG products since they include so much marketing BS on their website.

Sweet job..:dblthumb2:..XMT is one of my go to products...German cars is the worst as far as break dust....

Thanks Sparkie! I am very happy I caught XMT360 on bogo since it has really been my most used and more versatile exterior product.

On the wheels; I must have been spoiled by not having worked on a German car in a while because those things were gross. You know break dust is bad when your first rinse with a hose (no cleaning agents applied) yields black water coming off of them lol.

 

[ASPHALT ROCKET]

I actually like it a lot, it cleans the paint very well and is so easy to use. I have found that it also creates a nice base for any LSP you want to apply, not to mention it is one of the few products that I have used that adds a noticeable amount of gloss. I wouldn't hesistate to try it out. :xyxthumbs:



Thank you Dana, I hope I start getting more correction details so I can put my new Makita to good use. Doing wash/wax/interior jobs kind of tears down your passion and will after a while so my fingers are crossed that Californians like swirl free cars!

Just give it a little time and I am sure you will be just fine. I am working on a Benz right now myself. An 07-08 CL63 AMG in black.

 

[christian900se]

Just give it a little time and I am sure you will be just fine. I am working on a Benz right now myself. An 07-08 CL63 AMG in black.

That makes the E500 I did look like childs play haha. The hardest part about moving down here and restarting my business is getting those initial customers to start the word of mouth advertisement. The additional challenge is having to be at school most of the time and being home every 3 weeks or so for the weekend only. That and the detailers market in Socal is so flooded, thankfully I am able to offer a much better pricepoint and personalized care so that is helping a bit.

Anyways, I know you probably didn't need to hear that so sorry in advance.

 

[trek]

Products and Process:

-Pre-soak with ONR at QD strength
-Wash with DP Rinseless W+G
-Wheels done with CG Diablo (good stuff!) and the tires+wells with OPC 3:1
-Clayed with Riccardo and ONR QD
-Rinsed and dried
-XMT360 and a white CCS pad via PC
-CG EZ Creme Glaze
-Collinite 845
-Glass cleaned with AG Fast Glass
-Interior vacuumed with my new Shop Vac
-Plastics and leather cleaned with OPC 5:1
-All plastics and leather treated to 303 Protectant
-CG stripper scent applied
-Final wipedown with DG Aquawax

how does she smell? and nice clean up :xyxthumbs:

 

[christian900se]

Thanks! I got it after reading so many rave reviews, I figured why not. It smells very good, kind of like a sweet perfume but with a little something extra that I can't quite put my finger on. It smells like it will be strong when applied but it is never more than a subtle scent and smells great. I recommend it for the product name alone.

 

[Wax Gorilla]

How did you apply the Diablo? Did you dilute and spray. I found the Gel Property of it to thick to get to the areas where I needed it. I wound up diluting it 4 to 1 and spaying it on.