richy
New member
- Mar 27, 2007
- 5,158
- 0
This gentleman contacted me back in January to book his B300 Turbo MB for inside and out as well as engine cleaning. This vehicle ended up being done over the Canadian long weekend (Victoria Day on Monday) but I also had another full job + 2 partials. Rut Row Raggie. So, not only did I have some serious time constraints on this, it was severely compounded (pun intended) by some horrible paint defects. Let's get on with the story. Hopefully you'll find it interesting as I battled this car. This was probably one of the biggest challenges I have faced in a long time. You'll see why...
I started off with cleaning the engine. I just gave it a quicky Zep Citrus cleaning followed by being blown off by the Master Blaster and then I shot it with Permanon and blew that off too. Here are the before shots of the engine:
That was followed by cleaning the wheels. He had the wheels painted in a high gloss black paint and I was going to be coating the car and the wheels with CQUK. I was looking forward to seeing them done. Here's how they looked at first:
They were given the following regimen:
Barrels done with Tarminator followed by Zep Citrus
Faces done with DG 901 and demoted wash mitt making sure I got around all the spokes and into the barrels too.
Tires were done with Zep 505
Wells were cleaned with LATA
The owner had purchased this car used and was quite concerned about how the exterior trim had faded. I was going to be using DLux on it to bring it back to life and of course for its protection. Here's some shots of the trim:
Some other shots as well:
Next the car was washed with DG 901 followed by an IronX wash using the Incredimitt. It was then brought in and blown off with the Master Blaster. That was followed by being clayed with my CarPro clay block. Here are some of the defects I was now faced with. Every single panel was affected. Not every panel was photographed..I think you get the point...
Sickening, especially when I learned this had been "detailed" by the Mercedes dealer!!! If I had enough paint to work with, it would have been a lot of work, but no problem. That was not to be the case. This was the typical readings I was getting:
Very, very scary to try to attempt correction with readings that ranged from the 70's to the 90's and in 2 cases where a panel had been painted it was higher. This job as my title indicated, was going to be very challenging indeed! I needed a compound that would cut well and yet one that would finish down well enough so I could do this in 2 steps and not in 3 like it really needed. Enter Amerirocks. The bottle says it cuts like rocks in a bottle yet finishes down very well. This was certainly going to be the test!! I used it with my Flex 3401 + TB black wool. Here are 3 shots of before, 50/50 and thirdly, ONLY being compounded with ARocks:
Does it perform as advertised? Well, I give it an A+!!
That stage was followed by Rupes 21 + white B/S + M205.
The customer had originally chosen Finest but was having budget constraints, so after consultation over his #1 goal (durability) we ended up going with CQUK. The paint, lenses, and wheels were all done with UK. All the glass was done with 2 coats of Fly-By-30. The tires were shot with DG Wet Shine via an air gun. The trim was done with DLux. The barrels were shot with Permanon.
The interior was cleaned, vacuumed and stain removal by Folex. (No shots taken).
This did not turn out perfect by any means, but it was a vast improvement and he's going to have a very, very well protected surface for several years. Here it is all done:
Remember those horrid marks??
Some Reflection Shots:
In the end, the customer was pleased and that`s all that matters. I truly wished I`d had more paint to work with but on the other hand, I didn`t go burning through any paint and gave him a great product to protect it with. Thanks very much for looking!
I started off with cleaning the engine. I just gave it a quicky Zep Citrus cleaning followed by being blown off by the Master Blaster and then I shot it with Permanon and blew that off too. Here are the before shots of the engine:
That was followed by cleaning the wheels. He had the wheels painted in a high gloss black paint and I was going to be coating the car and the wheels with CQUK. I was looking forward to seeing them done. Here's how they looked at first:
They were given the following regimen:
Barrels done with Tarminator followed by Zep Citrus
Faces done with DG 901 and demoted wash mitt making sure I got around all the spokes and into the barrels too.
Tires were done with Zep 505
Wells were cleaned with LATA
The owner had purchased this car used and was quite concerned about how the exterior trim had faded. I was going to be using DLux on it to bring it back to life and of course for its protection. Here's some shots of the trim:
Some other shots as well:
Next the car was washed with DG 901 followed by an IronX wash using the Incredimitt. It was then brought in and blown off with the Master Blaster. That was followed by being clayed with my CarPro clay block. Here are some of the defects I was now faced with. Every single panel was affected. Not every panel was photographed..I think you get the point...
Sickening, especially when I learned this had been "detailed" by the Mercedes dealer!!! If I had enough paint to work with, it would have been a lot of work, but no problem. That was not to be the case. This was the typical readings I was getting:
Very, very scary to try to attempt correction with readings that ranged from the 70's to the 90's and in 2 cases where a panel had been painted it was higher. This job as my title indicated, was going to be very challenging indeed! I needed a compound that would cut well and yet one that would finish down well enough so I could do this in 2 steps and not in 3 like it really needed. Enter Amerirocks. The bottle says it cuts like rocks in a bottle yet finishes down very well. This was certainly going to be the test!! I used it with my Flex 3401 + TB black wool. Here are 3 shots of before, 50/50 and thirdly, ONLY being compounded with ARocks:
Does it perform as advertised? Well, I give it an A+!!
That stage was followed by Rupes 21 + white B/S + M205.
The customer had originally chosen Finest but was having budget constraints, so after consultation over his #1 goal (durability) we ended up going with CQUK. The paint, lenses, and wheels were all done with UK. All the glass was done with 2 coats of Fly-By-30. The tires were shot with DG Wet Shine via an air gun. The trim was done with DLux. The barrels were shot with Permanon.
The interior was cleaned, vacuumed and stain removal by Folex. (No shots taken).
This did not turn out perfect by any means, but it was a vast improvement and he's going to have a very, very well protected surface for several years. Here it is all done:
Remember those horrid marks??
Some Reflection Shots:
In the end, the customer was pleased and that`s all that matters. I truly wished I`d had more paint to work with but on the other hand, I didn`t go burning through any paint and gave him a great product to protect it with. Thanks very much for looking!
