Right off the bat, I knew this wasn't going to be an all-out 30 hour Concours d' Elegance detail. My boss travels a lot, so her car sits outside in the sun/rain all day and night for weeks at a time. The car has 160k miles, and she's never really had the time to take care of it and no garage to store it in.
The plan was to decontaminate the paint, do some paint correction with the polisher, and seal the paint with an insulator wax.
My boss was out of town for a few weeks, so I was able to take my time with the small details.
This is how it was when I took it home...
I gave the car a wash with Meguiar's Gold Class using the Two-Bucket method. Rinsed it down thoroughly to make sure all the dirt and grime was off.
The water didn't bead even the slightest bit during the pre-rinse, meaning there was no protection on the paint whatsoever. No wax, no traces of anything at all.
After drying it off....I saw them....THE SWIRLS WERE EVERYWHERE
So after getting scared sh*tless, I felt the paint through a plastic ziplock bag and the car had the texture of sandpaper. There were fine grit particles everywhere. Time to claybar the whole car...
Man, it was DIRTY. I took each picture after only ONE panel. One panel had more contaminates than a whole car usually has.
Took about 1.5 hours to clay the whole car. Had to do multiple passes on several areas and I went through two 100gram bars and had to throw them out afterwards. I had to knead every few minutes...took a sandwich break after this, my arms were like wobbly noodles.
After getting the contaminates off, I gave the whole car a once-over with UQD to inspect the paint.
There was some oxidation on the trunk, and signs of a very thin clear coat all around the car. I couldn't capture it on camera, but the edges of several panels had the beginnings of clear coat failure, and what I thought was marring on the hood was actually more oxidation.
The front of the car was RIDDLED with rock chips that I knew I couldn't do anything about...with 160k miles, you can't expect the paint to be all there...
Those are rock chips, its not dust.
The car had obvious signs of buffer trails, RIDS, pigtails, you name it. It looks like the car was polished before, but it looks like the were very aggressive (could explain the thin clear coat). Looked like they burned through the paint in several contours as well.
The paint wasn't too hard, nor too soft, but I definitely didn't want to be aggressive. After doing a test panel, I decided on Menzerna SIP and an orange LLC pad.
I kind of got in the zone after this, so no side-by-side pictures, sorry.
This is after doing the whole car with SIP.
Notice there is some orange peel. I did several passes on the panels that needed it, but I don't have enough experience to wetsand. I did my best with the orange pad and left it at that.
My camera was low on battery, so I set it to charge. While it charged, I swapped pads and polished every panel with a white pad and Menzerna's Nano Polish. I think this really made a big difference in how much the paint 'popped'. After I did the whole car with the nano, I used the gray pad at a medium speed and applied Menzerna's Finishing Glaze. Its a very light polish and I honestly saw very little difference after this stage.
Getting ready for the LSP, I gave the whole car a thorough wipe-down with Isopropyl Alcohol and a Cobra Microfiber to make sure all the polishing oils were gone.
After that, I swapped pads to another clean gray pad, and applied Collinite's Insulator Wax. (I used the PC to ensure thin, even coats) This is a GREAT wax with awesome durability. After waiting a while, I applied a second coat via the PC. Some reflections...
Ok, so after doing all the paint, I considered applying a coat of Dodo Supernatural, but I took a step back and realized the car looked really deep as it was, and decided that the two coats of Collinite would protect the car for a very long time and it'd be enough.
So on to the engine bay and interior.
Here's the dirty V8 before:
http://avuswebdesign.com/E-ClassR/DSCF3107.jpg[/img]
After:
Couldn't get it perfect since some of the paint was physically peeling, but it was a nice contrast. Degreased everything with LA's Totally Awesome Cleaner (which you can buy here: Welcome to Boat Show Products) and dressed with 303 Aerospace Protectant.
On to the interior...
Used Meguiar's UQD to wipe down the door jambs and sealed with Klasse AIO.
I vacuumed the whole interior and busted out a few more microfibers...
I finger-applied some Dodo Supernatural on the wood trim to give it a bit more shine and used Meguiar's Leather wipes on the seats. I was going to use Leatherique, but then I realized all the seats were vinyl. (I found it a bit strange to not find leather in an E-Class)
Went back to the outside, dressed the tires with Eagle One Tire Gel and used Wheel Wax on the big chrome wheels. The chrome was pitted pretty bad, but I did my best to get the defects covered up.
To finish everything up, I gave the whole car a wipe-down with Meguiar's Advanced Detailer and treated the front windows with Rain-X. Used Stoner's Invisible Glass on everything else.
My camera was out of battery again, so only one after-shot.
All in all, it was a nice turnaround. After about 12 hours of work, couldn't get the paint in perfect condition because of the thin clear and major rock chips, but it looks a whole lot better and is much better protected than before.
The plan was to decontaminate the paint, do some paint correction with the polisher, and seal the paint with an insulator wax.
My boss was out of town for a few weeks, so I was able to take my time with the small details.
This is how it was when I took it home...
I gave the car a wash with Meguiar's Gold Class using the Two-Bucket method. Rinsed it down thoroughly to make sure all the dirt and grime was off.
The water didn't bead even the slightest bit during the pre-rinse, meaning there was no protection on the paint whatsoever. No wax, no traces of anything at all.
After drying it off....I saw them....THE SWIRLS WERE EVERYWHERE
So after getting scared sh*tless, I felt the paint through a plastic ziplock bag and the car had the texture of sandpaper. There were fine grit particles everywhere. Time to claybar the whole car...
Man, it was DIRTY. I took each picture after only ONE panel. One panel had more contaminates than a whole car usually has.
Took about 1.5 hours to clay the whole car. Had to do multiple passes on several areas and I went through two 100gram bars and had to throw them out afterwards. I had to knead every few minutes...took a sandwich break after this, my arms were like wobbly noodles.
After getting the contaminates off, I gave the whole car a once-over with UQD to inspect the paint.
There was some oxidation on the trunk, and signs of a very thin clear coat all around the car. I couldn't capture it on camera, but the edges of several panels had the beginnings of clear coat failure, and what I thought was marring on the hood was actually more oxidation.
The front of the car was RIDDLED with rock chips that I knew I couldn't do anything about...with 160k miles, you can't expect the paint to be all there...
Those are rock chips, its not dust.
The car had obvious signs of buffer trails, RIDS, pigtails, you name it. It looks like the car was polished before, but it looks like the were very aggressive (could explain the thin clear coat). Looked like they burned through the paint in several contours as well.
The paint wasn't too hard, nor too soft, but I definitely didn't want to be aggressive. After doing a test panel, I decided on Menzerna SIP and an orange LLC pad.
I kind of got in the zone after this, so no side-by-side pictures, sorry.
This is after doing the whole car with SIP.
Notice there is some orange peel. I did several passes on the panels that needed it, but I don't have enough experience to wetsand. I did my best with the orange pad and left it at that.
My camera was low on battery, so I set it to charge. While it charged, I swapped pads and polished every panel with a white pad and Menzerna's Nano Polish. I think this really made a big difference in how much the paint 'popped'. After I did the whole car with the nano, I used the gray pad at a medium speed and applied Menzerna's Finishing Glaze. Its a very light polish and I honestly saw very little difference after this stage.
Getting ready for the LSP, I gave the whole car a thorough wipe-down with Isopropyl Alcohol and a Cobra Microfiber to make sure all the polishing oils were gone.
After that, I swapped pads to another clean gray pad, and applied Collinite's Insulator Wax. (I used the PC to ensure thin, even coats) This is a GREAT wax with awesome durability. After waiting a while, I applied a second coat via the PC. Some reflections...
Ok, so after doing all the paint, I considered applying a coat of Dodo Supernatural, but I took a step back and realized the car looked really deep as it was, and decided that the two coats of Collinite would protect the car for a very long time and it'd be enough.
So on to the engine bay and interior.
Here's the dirty V8 before:
After:
Couldn't get it perfect since some of the paint was physically peeling, but it was a nice contrast. Degreased everything with LA's Totally Awesome Cleaner (which you can buy here: Welcome to Boat Show Products) and dressed with 303 Aerospace Protectant.
On to the interior...
Used Meguiar's UQD to wipe down the door jambs and sealed with Klasse AIO.
I vacuumed the whole interior and busted out a few more microfibers...
I finger-applied some Dodo Supernatural on the wood trim to give it a bit more shine and used Meguiar's Leather wipes on the seats. I was going to use Leatherique, but then I realized all the seats were vinyl. (I found it a bit strange to not find leather in an E-Class)
Went back to the outside, dressed the tires with Eagle One Tire Gel and used Wheel Wax on the big chrome wheels. The chrome was pitted pretty bad, but I did my best to get the defects covered up.
To finish everything up, I gave the whole car a wipe-down with Meguiar's Advanced Detailer and treated the front windows with Rain-X. Used Stoner's Invisible Glass on everything else.
My camera was out of battery again, so only one after-shot.
All in all, it was a nice turnaround. After about 12 hours of work, couldn't get the paint in perfect condition because of the thin clear and major rock chips, but it looks a whole lot better and is much better protected than before.
