2004 Mercedes SL500 (Int/Ext/Engine)

M

mcnab

New member
This was a fun one to work one, it didn't require a TON of polishing, as it is primarily garage kept (not a daily driver). There was quite a bit of dirt in the engine bay (sand as well), and a LOT of road tar build up on the front end. It took a while to clay the car as there was a lot of grime etc on it (again, front end mostly)



There was only a moderate amount of wash induced marring. It just needed slight polishing to bring out the gloss.



Process was:



Exterior:

Full Wash via Foamgun & DP Xtreme Foam

Clay via Pinnacle Polyclay

Masked all Trim % Emblems

1 Pass of Menzerna FP2 on Black Edge Pad

Topped with Menzerna Full Molecular Jacket.

Trim dressed

Inner Fenders Cleaned / Dressed

Wheels Cleaned and Sealed with KlasseSG

Chrome Exhaust Tips Polished

Windows Cleaned Via Stoners IG



Interior:

Lexol Leather Cleaner

Lexol Leather Conditioner

Spot Treat areas with PRO C83 Extraction fluid using Mytee HP60 (review to come on our new machine)

Floor Mats extracted with PRO C83 using hte MyteeLite HP60 again

UV Protected with Optimum Protectant Plus

Windows cleaned with Stoners IG

Pedals Cleaned





Engine Bay:

ONR Wipedown and Steamclean trouble areas.

CD2 Enginebay Detailer (THIS STUFF WAS AMAZING, Thank you to JohnZ3MC for finding me a can of this stuff...It worked amazing)





Now for Pictures



BEFORE

Washing

wash.jpg




Wheels Before

wheels2.jpg




Cleaning Wheels

wheels.jpg




Leather Before

leather.jpg




Interior Before

interior.jpg




Exhaust Tips Before

exhaust.jpg




Engine Bay Before

enginebay.jpg




Steering Column Before

column.jpg




Lower Grill BEFORE (Notice the grey look to it)

grillbefore.jpg


Centre Console Area (Grit Always gets in these areas, and is VERY difficult to remove with a MF cloth as it's wedged right down in there)



aircompressbefore.jpg




AFTER



Using an air compressor with a crevice tip, we blow the fine granuals out. It's the only effective method I've found to get this little grit out from around shift boots, centre consoles etc. You can see the tip in the picture.

aircompress.jpg




Wheels After

wheels.jpg




Pic of Polishing

polishing.jpg




Pedals after cleaning

pedals.jpg




Interior After

interior.jpg




Grill After (Refer to before pic above)

grill.jpg




Engine Bay After

enginebay.jpg




Ugly water after Extracting

water.jpg




AFTER Exterior

after.jpg


after2.jpg


after3.jpg


after4.jpg
 
car looks awesome. i can agree with you on the little things between crevice. but you did one hell of a job. what was your cleaning solution for the rims?
 
The high pressure air blowing around the shift boot to get out the little bits was a great idea. When I read your example, I went down and did my car.

A cautionary note: wear safety glasses when you do - I had just started with the high pressure air and a pair of stilhetto heels sprung out and clipped me in the forehead. How long those stilhettos were hiding in that little gap between leather and console is beyond me but you just never know.

The SL500 looks spectacular.

-John C.
 
JohnZ3MC said:
A cautionary note: wear safety glasses when you do - I had just started with the high pressure air and a pair of stilhetto heels sprung out and clipped me in the forehead. How long those stilhettos were hiding in that little gap between leather and console is beyond me but you just never know.

The SL500 looks spectacular.

-John C.
Click to expand...



Good advice. I've found the strangest things between the seats...



Benz looks great. There's a black AMG around here I've been trying to snag for about a month now.
 
mr.ikon said:
car looks awesome. i can agree with you on the little things between crevice. but you did one hell of a job. what was your cleaning solution for the rims?
Click to expand...



Thanks! The rim solution is a diluted generic degreaser. It works well for soiled rims, they certainly didn't justify something like Megs Wheel Brightner. I dilute in the large pestiside sprayer you see as it's easier to shoot out of the wand. The wand also fits nicely up into fenders etc as well, behind wheels etc.



Nice Job, wondering what did you dress the front grill with and how did you manage to do it without making a mess.
Click to expand...



We ended up quickly masking the area around the grill off with painters tape, then applying the dressing. The dressing was Stoners Trim Shine. I use an aersol version of it on tricky surfaces like that where applying it by hand would take far to long. Just mask it off quickly and spray it down. :dance Again, because it has that checkered pattern, and was in non so easily accessible location we used the aersol Stoners Trim shine.
 
JohnZ3MC said:
The high pressure air blowing around the shift boot to get out the little bits was a great idea. When I read your example, I went down and did my car.

A cautionary note: wear safety glasses when you do - I had just started with the high pressure air and a pair of stilhetto heels sprung out and clipped me in the forehead. How long those stilhettos were hiding in that little gap between leather and console is beyond me but you just never know.

The SL500 looks spectacular.

-John C.
Click to expand...



Thanks for the Engine Detailer John! This worked great when we went to use it for the first time! BTW: This is the other half of the twin combination (lyle) :)
 
Sinecure said:
Thanks for the Engine Detailer John! This worked great when we went to use it for the first time! BTW: This is the other half of the twin combination (lyle) :)
Click to expand...

You're welcome Lyle and it's good to hear from you again. I recognized the logo but not the name but it's all clear now.

Maybe when I drop around the shop next you'll be there and we'll have a few giggles about the old school days and see how much you two look alike now. Still two peas in a pod?

-John C.
 
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