Mirror Detailing - '65 Mercedes 280SL Restoration Car & 2010 STI 1-Step

[MirrorDetailing]

Buds brought me another car. This one was a beauty. Almost a full restoration and it sure did show it. Under carriage, under the hood, the interior and exterior...all looked off the show room floor. Really made me want a classic Benz. Thanks to Joey for a few hours of help on this thing after spending 15 hours on it myself, he came up after finish helping Bryan with his Bentley, to put in a few more hours into a already long day.



Unfortunately I did not get any over all befores, which I wish I had, as it made a huge difference on the shine and gloss of this car.



Car was a nightmare. I put way to much time in it vs the amount I charged. Car fought me at every turn, paint was not the greatest for the level of car and I honestly think I could have polished a rock faster than this paint. It was extremely hard. To get towards 95-98%, as there were still some deep rids in some areas...



MF Cutting Pad - M105 - GG DA

MF Cutting Pad - M105/300 - GG DA

Uber Green Pad - PO85RD - DW849



So the befores are the condition of the paint...

As always, I do a test area to see what it will take to get the desired results. This one took a good bit as the paint was like polishing a rock.



Test area before...

Half and half...

Test area after...

Then a better view of the side by side of the test area...

Fast forward about 25 hours to Sunday night and this is where I am at. Close to be complete. But would not finish it till Monday morning.

Now Monday morning I got everything completed and one good shot before taking it outside to get pictures...

Unfortunately, as soon as I got outside, it had become cloudy so no real good afters as I was hoping for...

Some interior shots of Jeff@Buds Benz beautiful handi work. Man works magic on restoring interiors.

Well a few hours later when they were on their way to pick up the car, the sun luckily popped out so I rushed outside to snap some quick afters in the sun.

 

[MirrorDetailing]

Well inbetween working on the Benz, I had a customer coming to get a 1-Step done on his STI.



Customer contacted me and had heard about me from some people in Tenn. He had his detailer take a round at his STI and could not get the car corrected without leaving holograms. So owner contacted me, seeing if I could look at it and see what the problem was. Said he would be in Atlanta and could swing by on his way out. When he showed up, I looked at the car, knew what the problem was and why, fixed a section of his hood for him and he set up a date to be back the following week to get the whole car done. Luckily again, he had something to do around Atlanta and had his buddy follow him, drop him off and go about his day.



So befores after driving through some rain on his way down from the Tenn area.

Condition of the hood from his detailers attempts...

After washing off the detailers glaze, you can see the wax I applied to my test area was still holding strong. Bottom area where the water is beading is my wax and just above the area where the water is gone or not beading is where the previous detailer glazed the vehicle. Took soaking the area with eraser for the water to stop beading.

Now after washing off the glaze, the over all condition of the paint...

My test area. Luckily and unluckily the Subaru paint is soft, so a 1-Step is going to make a big difference.

After everything was done. Some inside shots before heading outside...

Now outside in the sun for the afters...

Now back inside, waiting on the owner.

 

[David Fermani]

I love classic Benz Conv'ts even more then Fox bodies! This one is exceptionally nice thanks to your great work. Wonderful job.

 

[rwright]

Both the Benz and the Subie turned out great! Looks like you have lots of room to work in that shop, that's always a blessing. Thanks for sharing!

 

[gmblack3]

Great work Mike! Love the old skool Menz! Sorry I had to keep Joey so long.

 

[MirrorDetailing]

I love classic Benz Conv'ts even more then Fox bodies! This one is exceptionally nice thanks to your great work. Wonderful job.

I love them too David...more so that 190SL I posted...so I cannot say I would take this one over a very clean stock 91-93 Notch.

Both the Benz and the Subie turned out great! Looks like you have lots of room to work in that shop, that's always a blessing. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks. yeah its a pretty big shop that I sublease roughly 1500 sq/ft from.

Great work Mike! Love the old skool Menz! Sorry I had to keep Joey so long.

Its cool Bryan. Hell that 4 hours I manage to whip out of him helped me get done 4 hours sooner.

 

[Barry Theal]

The money shot! Bring that bacon home. I loved this write up. That car looks perfect man. Great work. :rockon1:

 

[Matt Cardoni]

That is a beautiful MB, and now looks the way it should. Nice work!

 

[Chas]

Absolutely stunning work, the Benz screams class after your work, nice job bringing it back to its true glory.



Chas