O.C.Detailing (Lynchburg, VA.) - 1987 Mercedes 300 SDL (Acrylic overspray removal HELL!) 77 Pics!!!

O.C.Detailing

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My first FULL-ROTARY correction!!!

***EDIT!!!: The sun AFTER shots are further in the post on the second page! Please check them out.***

Okay, so the owner of this car is also the owner of a local Mercedes and BMW repair shop. He took it upon himself to paint the wheels on his car while they were still mounted on the car, but he didn't tape off and cover the rest of the vehicle. In short, the vehicle got absolutely COVERED with silver, acrylic overspray so dense that it actually made the car look grayish in direct sunlight rather than the rich, deep black that it was. It also felt like sandpaper when touched and even after washing with degreaser. I did attemp to clay it, but the clay removed nothing and just felt pointless, so I stopped after my test section and commenced with trying to work out a proper procedure to remove the overspray first, and then bring the paint back to life. There are a few RIDs here and there that I couldn't and didn't feel comfortable removing, but other than that, I'll let the photos do the speaking for me.

***INFORMATIVE COMMENT: The owner DID NOT want me to do ANYTHING to the wheels or tires on the car, so they are untouched per his request.***

PROCESS:

- 26 hours spent removing overspray and correcting the paint...
- Wash TWICE with Meg's Gold Class Shampoo and degreaser with AG foam gun. Left foam to dwell approximately 5 minutes in the hopes it would soften the overspray...it didn't. Washed again with Meg's Gold Class, 2 bucket method and 100% natural lamb's wool mit and rinsed with warm water.
- Clayed a small section of the car, but it made no difference what-so-ever and I deemed it unneccessary considering the entire car was absolutely covered with overspray and the time investment to finish claying would have been better spent towards actually removing the overspray with compound and wool
- Dried using an Absorber
- My test section started with a VERY light wetsand using 3m 2500 grit wetordry paper and using my Griot's DA, wool pad and Meg's Diamond Cut 2.0 compound to remove the sanding marks, but it didn't shine the way I needed it to, so I busted out the Chicago Tool Company rotary with synthetic wool pad and achieved a very good correction that would buff out well with a light-cut pad and polish after compounding.
- After spending 8 hours on the trunk and hood (horizontal panels were the worst with the overspray coverage), I realized how much I was NOT a fan of the pad I was using and purchased 2 3M foam compounding pads for their accuracy over the wool and started knocking out the sides of the vehicle on day 2. Correction was much faster and far more accurate, so I made good progress with removing the overspray over most of the car.
- Once ever panel had been hit with the rotary, foam compound pad and Meg's DC 2.0, I pulled it out into the sun to admire the holograms I'd induced as well as the micro-marring and haziness I knew I had. I pulled out the Griot's DA, Meg's Cross-cut yellow polishing pad and Optimum Polish II so I could start removing all of the defects left behind after compounding.
- After polishing, I did and IPA 50/50 wipedown of the entire vehicle and grabbed a LC 6" Black Finishing pad and Optimum Poli-seal. I spent a couple of extra hours on the car on day 3 as the forecast was guaranteeing rain the next day and I wanted some protection on the freshly corrected paint before-hand.
- I still need to top the poli-seal with a couple of coats of Meg's Gold Class Carnauba Wax and take some sun shots, but wanted to show you my progress up to where I am right now.

And now onto the pictures!!!

BEFORES (After washing and drying):

The first pic doesn't look that bad, until I zoom in and show you how dense the overspray was...
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Nice scratch here.
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Pay attention to the fogginess of this picture with the overspray on it.
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And the trunk too.
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Another nice scratch. Also notice how the car looks like a dark gray instead of a deep, rich, oily black like it should.
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Honestly, from a distance, the car didn't look too bad, but when you got up close...fail-city.
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I taped off a small section and would you believe these sandmarks were done with NO PRESSURE at all, but the DA wouldn't remove them with wool and compound.
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Here's a better picture of it.
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AND here we have correction using my rotary and a synthetic wool pad at about 1200 rpms. Now are you seeing how light the paint was compared to what it should be?
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And the trunk corrected with the rotary and compound only, no polishing or LSP yet.
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Monkey-man taking Myspace self-pics in the trunk. lol
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Trunk is still hazy from the compound, but the reflections are MUCH more crisp and you can see a lot more detail in them already.
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I'm still working on my picture-taking techniques, but these were reflections on the hood while inside the garage after the rotary and compounding stage.
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This next pic has been polished to show the owner the difference. And you can see the difference as the haziness is gone and the reflections are MUCH more crisp.
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That which maketh the black inky!!!
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Compounded and polished with the rotary, not the Griot's DA, so still not perfect, but a HUGE improvement!
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The next pictures are after the entire car had been polished. These clouds and reflections amazed me once I saw them on my computer. I didn't know they'd come out so nice! Also remember, this is pre-LSP. These are light-cut pad and polish reflections only.
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This is the roof by the way.
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Here's that same hood corrected with the Griot's DA and Optimum as the rotary still left me some holograms.
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Trunk-lid!
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Orange-peel on the sides of the car take away from the hood, roof and trunk, but I didn't wet-sand them out.
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Pics with flash as an attempt to show the correction level.
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The next few pictures will show a RID or two. Didn't want to take out anymore clearcoat, so I left them alone.
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Don't mind the polish residue in this one, it is gone now. Remember, this is pre-LSP.
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RID in the upper-left of the flash.
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A few more RIDs.
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The name of the company in upside-down and backwards in the hood!
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I hate orange-peel...
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All the next pics were taken the next day after it had rained.
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This is after I'd used my finger for about 30 minutes making the individual drops touch and they just ran off the car from barely touching them. lol
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That's it for now. Sun shots will be taken tomorrow after 2 coats of Meg's Gold Class Pure Carnauba wax.
 
very very nice!! and loving the pictures... esp the close up of the sparkling beading..
 
great work... i love the after rain pictures.. what type of camera do you use?
 
Thanks Bukxanger and HHIslander. :D I love beading too. I'll take pics of it whenever I can. I just use a 6MP Fuji Point and Shoot, nothing fancy.
 
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I would love to see the photos. Photobucket says you have exceeded your bandwidth and is not showing any of the pictures.
 
All fixed now Emile. Sorry about that. I had to upgrade to pro...
 
Great job on the Benz. This is one of my favorite pics because of what's in the background! Gotta love the Series Land Rovers.


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Colin
 
Very nice correction job on the MB. I love that body style back then.

Stephen
 
Great job on the Benz. This is one of my favorite pics because of what's in the background! Gotta love the Series Land Rovers.


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Colin


If you like that...then watch for my NEXT posting which I'll start uploading the pics now to show ya. Thanks for the compliments as well all. :D This work excites me and makes me want to do even better.
 
Amazing job!

That black looks superb now. The way black is meant to look:xyxthumbs:

and that 50/50 picture really shows the amount of overspray!
 
OKAY all, please don't expect perfection from me, but these are the full-sun shots I could bet today. There are some rids, a bit of polish residue that I couldn't remove and maybe even more, but I think they look pretty good for the most part. Let me know what you think.

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And that's it all. Thanks for looking!
 
WOW! Those are amazing, I could see a COUPLE of RIDS left but apart from that, looks like almost perfect correction to me.

That black sure does look oily dark and deep now.

Nice job :dblthumb2:
 
heh Thanks so much Matt. :D I'm a bit disappointed myself. I wanted it to look flawless like some of the folks here do, but I'm satisfied and the owner is floored by the difference. That should make me happy though, right? lol
 
For a Black MB 300, that is over 20 years old, I think you have done a wonderful job. :applause:

Stephen
 
For a Black MB 300, that is over 20 years old, I think you have done a wonderful job. :applause:

Stephen



Thanks Stephen. I appreciate you looking. I'll get better as I get more used to the rotary. Once I get very used to it, I'll purchase a GOOD rotary and start with serious corrections. Need to use my current machine in the sun so I can try to get that perfect rotary-only job down. heh

Being my first full-rotary correction, I suppose I should be happy with it eh?
 
Thanks Stephen. I appreciate you looking. I'll get better as I get more used to the rotary. Once I get very used to it, I'll purchase a GOOD rotary and start with serious corrections. Need to use my current machine in the sun so I can try to get that perfect rotary-only job down. heh

Being my first full-rotary correction, I suppose I should be happy with it eh?


Well, I first started out with a PC. I thought that was good until I bought a Flex. Once I got the Flex, and used it on a Black MB E320, I put that PC way to the side and use the Flex often.

Any pratice will make each and every one of us better. I hope to go to San Antonio, TX this week, or next, for a lil more training.

Stephen
 
Another GREAT job!:awesome:Im the MAN:wow::applause::wave:

Keep up the awesome work, you have a great future ahead of you.:dblthumb2:

:buffing:
 
heh Thanks again Jwellsii. ;)

Stephen, I try to use AG and Autopia as my training grounds for now. I plan on making a trip to some other areas to learn from some of the uber pros on these sites and learning some techniques from the greats I admire on here, and trust me, if I could afford a Flex, I'd have one too. :(
 
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