Detailed: 1998 Mercedes Benz E430 - BLACK!!!

[Marc08EX]

Wheels/Tires:
Meguiar's Deep Crystal on wheels
Meguiar's APC on tires/wheel wells
Meguiar's Cleaner Wax on wheels
Meguiar's Hyper Dressing on tires

Wash:
Gilmour Foam Gun with Meguiar's Gold Class/APC
Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and Gloss via 2BM
Meguiar's Microfiber Wash Mitt

Clay:
Meguiar's OTC Clay
Meguiar's Last Touch

Paint Correction:
Flex 3401 VRG
Meguiar's G100
Menzerna Super Intensive Polish / LC Orange Pad
Menzerna Nano Polish (106FF) / LC Grey Pad
Craftsman 500W Halogen Lights

LSP:
Menzerna Powerlock / Meguiar's Foam Applicator Pad

Misc:
Meguiar's NXT Metal Polish on the emblems

I have always detailed light colored cars. The darkest color I've detailed is our red minivan but I wasn't enthusiastic about polishing its paint because of the fact that it's a van. So when I got a chance to detail this BLACK E430, I was really excited. In addition, it's a Mercedes Benz so that got me more excited. The paint was just a mess. The rear bumper had some paintwork done to it but guess what they did??? They tried "buffing" the whole car only to leave buffer trails all over the place. Here are the before pictures:

You guys can see how bad the paint looks right?? The reflection is pretty much blurred and it wasn't as clear as it should be.

Here are some wash pictures:

Clay after 1/2 of the trunk:

All taped up and ready to go:

I always try to use the least aggressive product first to get the job done. With this in mind, I tried using the Menz 106FF first with a LC white pad. Here are some pictures of my test panel:

As you can see, it still left behind some minor swirl marks. After seeing this, I was unsatisfied with the outcome so I decided to step it up to Menz SIP via LC orange pad. Here are some pictures throughout this step:

Driver side rear quarter panel:

 

[Marc08EX]

Driver side rear door:

Driver side front door:

Driver side front fender:

After the whole car has been polished with Menz SIP, I then polished and jeweled the paint with Menz 106FF via LC grey pads. Here are some pictures after doing so:

Rear trunk 50/50 shots after SIP/106FF:

 

[Marc08EX]

Here are some after shots inside the garage after Menz Powerlock has been applied:

Total time: Approximately 12 hours.
Location: Phoenix, AZ

 

[Marc08EX]

Photoshoot:

 

[Marc08EX]

 

[GoFast908Z]

Very nice work, that thing was hammered!

 

[wendell jarvis]

very nice

 

[mwtaco]

wow. great transformation. love the pics. that E's paint looked absolutely horrible, which seems to be standard for most of the older benzes that i see driving around. you got it looking beautiful.

menzerna products are made for for benzes, arent' they?

 

[mikenap]

Very nice save! I may have missed it, but how many hours did you put into this one?

 

[Flannigan]

Great work! That car was hammered!

 

[CT3]

Nice save, that paint was a little rough to say the least.

 

[Marc08EX]

Very nice work, that thing was hammered!

Thanks a lot, Jeff! I appreciate your kind words.

very nice

Thanks again, Wendell!

wow. great transformation. love the pics. that E's paint looked absolutely horrible, which seems to be standard for most of the older benzes that i see driving around. you got it looking beautiful.

menzerna products are made for for benzes, arent' they?

Thank you, Mwtaco! I appreciate the compliments! This was the first car I went all out on a detail. I agree that Menzerna products rock! German polish meets German automobile.

Very nice save! I may have missed it, but how many hours did you put into this one?

Thanks again, Mike! The owner said that he thought he needed to have the car repainted. In the end, he said the car looked like a mirror. :rockon

It took me around 12 hours non-stop.

Great work! That car was hammered!

Thank you, Flannigan! The buffer trails were out of this world.

Nice save, that paint was a little rough to say the least.

Thanks, CT3! The black looked like grey when I first got the car. I'm glad it looks black again.

 

[sal329]

What a great turnaround

 

[tropicsteve]

man, was that paint wasted. great save !

 

[Stokdgs]

Holy Cow !!!

An attack by the BCWB again !!!! (Blind Clowns with Buffers) Which way did they go?

Another awesome, beautiful, clearly perfect job, Marc !!

You keep doing this and Flex is going to make your their Poster Boy for the Flex 3401VRG !

Thanks for sharing such a beautiful result from a very hammered Mercedes that was attacked by the BCWB group ! Looks like they may be wanting to "hunker down" in your area - so you will always have work if you want it !

Dan F

 

[Marc08EX]

What a great turnaround

Thanks a lot, Sal!

man, was that paint wasted. great save !

Thank you, Steve! It was really bad. Buffer trails everywhere.

Holy Cow !!!

An attack by the BCWB again !!!! (Blind Clowns with Buffers) Which way did they go?

Another awesome, beautiful, clearly perfect job, Marc !!

You keep doing this and Flex is going to make your their Poster Boy for the Flex 3401VRG !

Thanks for sharing such a beautiful result from a very hammered Mercedes that was attacked by the BCWB group ! Looks like they may be wanting to "hunker down" in your area - so you will always have work if you want it !

Dan F

Thanks so much, Dan! I appreciate the compliments. I wish I can chase after these BCWB you mention. They need a license to operate rotary buffers! Seriously!