O.C.Detailing (Lynchburg, VA.) - Black 2008 Mercedes Benz S550

[O.C.Detailing]

The owner of this vehicle was referred to me byRandy, the service advisor at Crossroads BMW here in Lynchburg, VA. The owner of this vehicle has several cars that he wants me to do some work on, but this was the first of them.

He had a few marks and scratches here and there that he wanted spot removed until I saw it in person and showed him all of the other damage in his paint. I informed him that I could remove most of the scratches, but the change in his car would be dramatic if he allowed me to do the entire thing, so he decided to let Jonathan and I have our hand at it. Most of the damage was caused by the local scratch and swirl carwash that the customer was taking it to. After the detail he said that he would only take his car through touch-free only automatic machines or get me to wash it.

This was probably one of the funnest cars I've done. I don't know why, but Surbuf 5.5" pads are the absolute BEST pads on the market for hardcore correction. Yes, this is a scratch-resistant clear and YES, it was a TON of work. Lake Country 5.5" Yellow flat pads wouldn't touch most of the damage in this paint, so Surbuf was called upon and worked amazingly.

PROCESS:

- Washed via 2-bucket method
- Clayed with Griot's Clay bar
- Wheels cleaned with Meg's Wheel Brightener and a strong degreaser sprayed onto the rubber and wheel wells and aggitated with several brushes. Rinsed VERY thoroughly.
- Dried with Absorbers
- Paint correction achieved using 5.5" Surbuf pads on our Griot's DA's and M105 on speed 6.
- M205 was used as a finishing polish on Lake Country 5.5" White polishing pads
- LSP is Menzerna Power Lock
- Interior was treated to a light wipe down and dressed with Meg's Hyper Dressing diluted for a natural look. Leather was NOT treated.

BEFORE PICS:

As you can see in these befores, the paint was in terrible shape when we started:

These scratches wouldn't come out at all. Even with a little wet-sanding to try to lighten them up.

Here someone dropped something down the driver's side rear door scratching it VERY badly. Almost every bit of the scratches came out with 5-6 passes of Surbuf and M105.

Some hood shots:

The skylight in this one REALLY shows the damage in the hood:

Trunklid swirls:

Even some hologram action:

 

[O.C.Detailing]

50/50 shots as we were going:

All gone on the trunklid:

Now the door:

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Now the SUNSHOT afters!!!

Nice reflection shot or two here:

Thanks for looking and any feedback and/or constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!

 

[cobalt9123]

Wow, fantastic work. I love the 50/50 shots on the side!

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Thanks so much Cobalt. We worked about 16 hours or so on this car to get the paint right. So 32 hours, give or take, total between myself and Jonathan.

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Gezzzzusss, that looks great!!!! rops:

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Gezzzzusss, that looks great!!!! rops:

As always, thanks Mark. We do try our very best. I still have a lot to learn and some of the people here make my work look like a hack job, but that's why I stick around.

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

As always, thanks Mark. We do try our very best. I still have a lot to learn and some of the people here make my work look like a hack job, but that's why I stick around.

haha...not a chance, Adam.

 

[Marc08EX]

Great work Adam!!!! How long did it take you do detail that car? It just has a lot of surface area to cover.

Damn yellow pads with SIP won't touch the paint??? What's special about the surf buff pads then?

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Great work Adam!!!! How long did it take you do detail that car? It just has a lot of surface area to cover.

Damn yellow pads with SIP won't touch the paint??? What's special about the surf buff pads then?

Thanks Marc! We actually don't use SIP. We used M105 and it didn't remove any of the deeper defects without 7-8 passes and that was taking way too long. Surbuf pads are fairly new and work miracles on scratch resistant clears for removing defects. All while using less than half of the normal amount of product though they do require a frequent amount of cleaning to keep cutting properly. The pad has no absorption qualities at all, so you end up using every bit of product instead of losing a lot of it to the pad like you do with standard foam pads. Not only that, but you get 2 Surbuf pads for the price of one Lake Country pad. One thing about them though, if you use them on edges, or on very neglected paint, the micro-finger facing will begin to separate from the foam backing. For the price though, and their ability to drastically shorten how long a detail would take with foam pads, they are totally worth the price.

This particular car took about 16 hours total between 2 detailers. So 32 man hours to get the correction you see in the photos.

 

[Slava]

Fantastic job.
Car looks like new, even better.

 

[pokerbob781]

absolutely sick!! jobs like this makes newbies fall in love with detailing!!!

 

[fancyfootwork]

Is that a trailer park in the background? Haha, and then an extremely well done excellent looking Mercedes.

 

[DARK HORSE]

WOW Adam!! Absolutely incredible, that car was hammered and you guys made it look better than it did when it was brand new!! Truly awesome turn around and a Great write up. Your write up was very detailed and an enjoyable read rops:. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks so much Cobalt. We worked about 16 hours or so on this car to get the paint right. So 32 hours, give or take, total between myself and Jonathan.

I'm truly very glad to hear a pro say that they put this much time into a detail. Tells me you really took the time to do the job right:dblthumb2:

 

[fancyfootwork]

Just out of curiosity, how much did you charge for that job?

 

[killrflake]

What a great job on a really messed up car. I hope the owner appreciates all the work required to bring the car to level you did whether or not he paid you a lot of money for your work. And for heavens sake tell him to stay away from those auto and "touchless" car washed. Nobody should touch the paint but you.:xyxthumbs:

 

[spike]

WOW!! Another AWESOME job by the OC detailing team. Look how beautiful the car turned out!! :dblthumb2:

BTW, is this the car that you guys had the trouble with in that other post that you had with the title of "Cars that kill your motivation"? Just wondering, because if so, look how great the car came out!! It looks BETTER than new!!!

 

[rohnramirez]

That thing looked like it was washed with a steel brush. I wouldn't let that happen to a fine silver arrow. Great job Adam and Jon!!!

 

[SRHTX]

Nice correction Adam!! rops:

 

[O.C.Detailing]

Fantastic job.
Car looks like new, even better.

Thanks Slava. We worked hard to get it that way.

absolutely sick!! jobs like this makes newbies fall in love with detailing!!!

When we can get results like these, it makes all of the hard work totally worth it in the end, even if it frustrates us while we're doing it. Thank you so much!

Is that a trailer park in the background? Haha, and then an extremely well done excellent looking Mercedes.

lol Yeppers, it's an ugly trailer park. I only pay $250/mo. for my garage space though and I have access to a lift, a wash bay, electricity and water are both paid for and I get to hang around car-guys all day. Also, I have gotten more business from the people who rent spaces from the garage than I can remember. And thank you for the kind words.

WOW Adam!! Absolutely incredible, that car was hammered and you guys made it look better than it did when it was brand new!! Truly awesome turn around and a Great write up. Your write up was very detailed and an enjoyable read rops:. Thanks for sharing!

My write-ups are NO WHERE NEAR as nice as yours, but I do appreciate the compliments buddy.

I'm truly very glad to hear a pro say that they put this much time into a detail. Tells me you really took the time to do the job right:dblthumb2:

It probably would have taken less time by some of the folks here, but we actually had this car for 5 days in the garage as the owners were out of town and just left it with us, so we really did take our time and make sure we got out as much as we could since we had it for so long.

Just out of curiosity, how much did you charge for that job?

I charged him $350 and he tipped $10... :\

What a great job on a really messed up car. I hope the owner appreciates all the work required to bring the car to level you did whether or not he paid you a lot of money for your work. And for heavens sake tell him to stay away from those auto and "touchless" car washed. Nobody should touch the paint but you.:xyxthumbs:

lol Thanks Killr. I told him that if he wanted to clean it himself, I could teach him proper wash techniques, or if he was in a pinch, then he could use the touchless system to wash, but it would be best to bring it to me so I can give him wash-by-wash updates on the condition of his paint. Let's hope he brings it to me.

WOW!! Another AWESOME job by the OC detailing team. Look how beautiful the car turned out!! :dblthumb2:

BTW, is this the car that you guys had the trouble with in that other post that you had with the title of "Cars that kill your motivation"? Just wondering, because if so, look how great the car came out!! It looks BETTER than new!!!

Thanks Spike!! Nah, that car was a 1999 Mercedes e350...I didn't post that car as it wasn't worth it. The owner was just getting the paint as ready as possible without actually repainting it so his daughter could take it to college. It sat at his garage for 2 full years and was covered with mold, fungus and dirt...didn't turn out like I'd hoped it would, but the next one he's giving us will get pretty much the best treatment I can give a car. He's put a $500 budget on it for detailing once it's done getting painted and the new body panels are installed. I'll have a nice write-up of that car once we get it.

That thing looked like it was washed with a steel brush. I wouldn't let that happen to a fine silver arrow. Great job Adam and Jon!!!

Thanks so much Rohn. The owner was pleased, but he wasn't jumping around enthusiastic about the turn around. It was kind of a buzz-kill when we didn't get the "WOW!" reaction we were looking for, but he's got the other 3 cars he wants us to detail, so I guess that says enough.