Flannigan
New member
Hi everyone! We were lucky enough to have an older Benz come through our doors this past week that was in need of some intense detailing. We were contacted by our client who was worried that their vehicle was going to need to be repainted, but I asked to come take a look at it first to see what we could do.
When I saw the vehicle, I knew that we would have our work cut out for us, but I also knew that we could bring this car back to what it should look like. The car in questions was a 1997 Mercedes Benz C280 sport. It has low mileage and ran great, but was seriously lacking in the looks department.
When we got it back to our place we got to work, first washing the exterior, and then spending several hours claybarring every inch of paint and glass. This in itself was a big job since this car hadn't seen a proper detail in many years. Once the car was clean and decontaminated, we could see what we were working with.
As you can see, not only were there tons of swirls and RIDS, but there was a total lack of gloss on all the paint. We did several test spots, and came up with a two step approach to get this paint looking great. Here are some indoor 50/50 shots that show how much gloss we were able to bring back with our approach.
We slowly but surely completed both steps on every inch of paint. Here is how it turned out in direct sunlight, before applying sealant.
As you can see, we were able to remove all but the deepest RIDS, and really breath new life into this paint. We were very happy with how much correction we achieved with this combination.
We did a final wash on the car to remove all the polishing dust and oils, and then applied 4 star sealant to protect the paint. WE also cleaned the wheels, tires, and wheel wells, and clean the glass. Here is how the exterior turned out.
We next turned our attention to the engine bay, which was also in need of some work. We carefully cleaned every components, and then dressed the plastic with Sonus Tire and Trim Kote. Unfortunately there was some permanent staining on some components, but a drastic improvement was still made.
Before:
After:
Finally we addressed the interior. The door jams were pressure wash and scrubbed down, the door cards and dash was cleaned with Autoglym Interior cleaner, and the leather received the Leatherique treatment. The carpet was vacuumed, and then hot water extracted to remove the majority of the stains. Finally everything was coated with Car Pro Leather and Fabric Protectant.
Before:
After:
We thoroughly enjoyed restoring this vehicle, and the customer was blow away that his car looked this good without having to be repainted. Thanks for checking out our thread, and we appreciate your feedback!
-Dave
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
When I saw the vehicle, I knew that we would have our work cut out for us, but I also knew that we could bring this car back to what it should look like. The car in questions was a 1997 Mercedes Benz C280 sport. It has low mileage and ran great, but was seriously lacking in the looks department.
When we got it back to our place we got to work, first washing the exterior, and then spending several hours claybarring every inch of paint and glass. This in itself was a big job since this car hadn't seen a proper detail in many years. Once the car was clean and decontaminated, we could see what we were working with.
As you can see, not only were there tons of swirls and RIDS, but there was a total lack of gloss on all the paint. We did several test spots, and came up with a two step approach to get this paint looking great. Here are some indoor 50/50 shots that show how much gloss we were able to bring back with our approach.
We slowly but surely completed both steps on every inch of paint. Here is how it turned out in direct sunlight, before applying sealant.
As you can see, we were able to remove all but the deepest RIDS, and really breath new life into this paint. We were very happy with how much correction we achieved with this combination.
We did a final wash on the car to remove all the polishing dust and oils, and then applied 4 star sealant to protect the paint. WE also cleaned the wheels, tires, and wheel wells, and clean the glass. Here is how the exterior turned out.
We next turned our attention to the engine bay, which was also in need of some work. We carefully cleaned every components, and then dressed the plastic with Sonus Tire and Trim Kote. Unfortunately there was some permanent staining on some components, but a drastic improvement was still made.
Before:
After:
Finally we addressed the interior. The door jams were pressure wash and scrubbed down, the door cards and dash was cleaned with Autoglym Interior cleaner, and the leather received the Leatherique treatment. The carpet was vacuumed, and then hot water extracted to remove the majority of the stains. Finally everything was coated with Car Pro Leather and Fabric Protectant.
Before:
After:
We thoroughly enjoyed restoring this vehicle, and the customer was blow away that his car looked this good without having to be repainted. Thanks for checking out our thread, and we appreciate your feedback!
-Dave
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
