Plan for new car detailing-Looking for comments

[Sommy]

First off let me say thanks to the members of this forum for their posts. They have helped guide many of us through the detailing process.

Secondly I want to give a big thanks to Mike Phillips and all the videos, articles and his posts that have really shown the rest of the world how the experts do it. I can't tell you how many hours of vidoes I have watched, but I'm glad that AG has made them available and they have a guy like Mike to do them.rops:

NOW - enough of all that. :laughing:

I recently bought a brand new Palladium (that's a medium grey) colored Mercedes and I'm looking to protect it and get a nice shine from the start. Inside and out. Thanks to AG I've picked up the all products I plan to use.

1. Wash the car with a mix of Dawn and Meg's Gold Class to hopefully clear off any wax the dealer might have applied. Dry with a MF towel.

2. Clay the car with a Mothers clay bar kit. I'm starting to second guess this step after doing some research finding that claying sometimes scratches/mars the paint and perhaps I shouldn't risk it with a new car. I have clayed before on a 2 year old white car and it was fine. But the Mercedes has a very shiny top coat that I'm afraid to mar up.

3. Quick washing to remove any possible clay. Dry with a MF towel.

4. Apply Blackfire Wet Paint Sealant using the straight line method (thanks Mike!) Allow to cure overnight for the 12 hours.

5. Apply Megs Gold Class Carnuba using the straight line method again.

6. Apply Aerospace 303 to all exterior and interior trim pieces.

7. Apply Wolfgang Tire dressing.


Here are a few questions:

1 - Thoughts on claying a new car and am I just overblowing the potential scratching/marring?
2 - Should I add a polish prior to the Blackfire? If so, it has to be a product that I can get at a local store as I'm tackling this job very soon.
3 - I hope Aerospace 303 is the way to go with both Exterior and Interior (dash board, arm rest, etc.)

Any other comments or thoughts before I tackle this?

Feed back please

 

[Klasse Act]

Welcome to AG and to me it looks like you've got it down pat for sure! I'd skip the wash after claying though, no need for that really but it sure isn't going to hurt anything. As far as washing with Dawn and carwash soap, well, I've never bought into the whole Dawn thing, too aggressive IMO. A good hand wash followed by clay barring is just fine and as long as the paint doesn't need polishing, well, the application of BF is a great starting point, I'm a recent convert to BF and REALLY like the product. Its so easy to apply that you may find yourself doing it once a month, its that easy and would help keep your MB in great condition!

Let's see some pics!

 

[Y2KSVT]

Welcome to AG and to me it looks like you've got it down pat for sure! I'd skip the wash after claying though, no need for that really but it sure isn't going to hurt anything. As far as washing with Dawn and carwash soap, well, I've never bought into the whole Dawn thing, too aggressive IMO. A good hand wash followed by clay barring is just fine and as long as the paint doesn't need polishing, well, the application of BF is a great starting point, I'm a recent convert to BF and REALLY like the product. Its so easy to apply that you may find yourself doing it once a month, its that easy and would help keep your MB in great condition!

Let's see some pics!

Hey Roger, you might re-read the OP's post. He wants to use the Dawn to get rid of any wax the dealer may have applied, and he doesn't want to clay the car and risk marring.

OP - I think you're on the right track. Hopefully after the Dawn wash, you aren't unpleasantly surprised with some swirls that were covered up with a glaze. If that's the case, you may consider a light machine polish to clean up the swirls before moving onto the sealant/wax stage. Get some pictures up when you finish; we all like a clean looking Mercedes!

 

[Sommy]

Pics will follow for sure. I want to get everything polished up so I'm on par with the rest of the awesome cars on this board.

 

[Infinitiman]

I would suggest misting your towel or wet panel with a Quick detailer to help lubricate the surface to prevent installing micro scratches, on some there will be a haze left due to QD but a follow up soft towel will buff it right off. Use this process if you are just doing a maintenance wash.


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