2001 black e55 long post sorry in advance

hello all, i got a call last week from a gentleman that just purchased a black 2001 e55 benz . he said it was in horrible shape and wanted to see if he could avoid getting it repainted. he actually works at the dealership where the car was purchased and when he bought it they detailed it for him. after taking the car home he realized he was unhappy with the paint and brought it back to work. and they sent it out to a local shop to be buffed again. well he was very unhappy with the results and was referred to me by a friend. we could not get together for me to give an estimate so he said "just let me know" so he dropped the car off very late at night and i did not have time to inspect. woke up the next am and i thought its not that bad and began a optimum apc presoak and dawn wash. didnt look to bad before the wash looked glossy and not swirled at all.





so i pulled into the garage and checked it under the halogens....after i fainted i called the owner up with my estimate...





















i spent about 3 hours on the hood finding a combo i liked. some of the swirls where very deep and some rids where even deeper there was sanding marks from some paint chip repair and where the car was resprayed in the rear. i tired every pad combo i had and even consulted here . the clear coat was super soft and just would not finish down without marring even using 205 and the todd helmes method. i ended up using 3m rubbing compound on a surbuff followed by d300/mf then m205 with a white lc and finished with 85rd and blue ubers

















ipa wipe down and another dawn apc wash ..followed by 2 coats bfwd and 2 coats bfms













i know that was alot of pictures but i have to say this is my favorite job i have done the this year

here are the rest of the pics
2001 E55 amg mercedes album | Nextleveldetailing | Fotki.com, photo and video sharing made easy.

 

What a stunner. What did the owner say?

 

he was super happy ...made all the work worth while to see him walk around the car for 20 minutes looking at it and saying how he didnt even want to drive it now

 

nyrep1 -

Wow, you absolutely killed it ! That is some beautiful restoration work and follow through !!

I am sorry this Client paid 2 different people to do nothing but probably slap some glaze on it and call it good. That kind of paint looks like a lifetime of the brush-n-swirl carwash to me. Cant see how anyone ever even tried to correct it until your capable hands touched it.

Congratulations on an awesome, beautiful, perfect, exceeded expectations Detail !!

Thanks for sharing a great write up and pictures !

Dan F



Dan

 

looks beautiful! Btw, what is the todd helme method that you speak of with m205? did you mean KB?

 

working the m205 with white or blue pad...primed ..medium pressure 3.5-4.5 on the pc and dont slow down or lighten pressure and only work it about 30 seconds ...i was skeptical at first but it does seem to break down really fast using this. and it has worked the few times i found 205 was marring or not finishing proper...it did not however work on this car.

all this was done with the pc by the way ...but i think its time for me to get a rotary and a ptg

 

absolutely amazing. Looked like a lot of work.

 

sounds like an interesting technique. Next time when im finishing down with m205 ill give it a shot. Did you notice an improvement when using this method compared the standards way such as easing up pressure on the last passes?

 

Killed it right there! The car looked great when you got done with it!!!

 

Customer had to have been floored, great work.

-Kody-

 

What a turnaround! Just goes to highlight even further the terrible work dealerships and crack detailing shops can do. That is some great work man, I'm glad the owner was so thrilled. That's a bomb looking car now.

 

Great work! I'm always amazed that other shops could let a car leave looking that bad, and on top of that take somebody's money for that kind of work.

 

nice work

 

Glad to see the customer finally got satisfaction thanks to your excellent work! Congrats nyrep!

 

Amazing work! Thanks for posting.

 

Awesome reflections! Great save!

 

nice work! those were a scary first few pictures, once you worked it out it looked like an old mob car.

 

thanks guys im proud of this one for sure

 

So does 205 break down (DAT)??

 

not sure what you mean legacy.....

they way i understand it is the reason people where saying that m205 didnt finish well was because it was being worked to long and

here is what todd has said


Getting a better finish from Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish.

Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish is an extremely fine, non-diminishing abrasive polish which is designed to remove light buffing marks and swirl marks while creating a high-gloss finish. The non-diminishing abrasives make this a unique finishing polish which may require tweaking to common polishing techniques in order to get the best possible finish.

“Shorten your work time considerably”

As opposed to many finishing polishes, you will achieve a better result when using a short work time with Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish.

Why? When using most traditional finishing polishes (which have abrasives that break down) you have to work the polish for a while to get the best possible result. Aluminum oxide (commonly used) abrasives are like a bushel of grapes stuck together, known as abrasive clusters. As you polish friction causes these grapes separate (the abrasive diminishes). Once the abrasive cluster has fully broken down (all of the grapes are separated) the polish cannot become any finer. These grapes are called the 'primary crystal abrasive'. A common misconception is that if you keep polishing you can reduce the abrasive to almost nothing, but this isn't the case. Aluminum Oxide is a 9 (diamond is a 10) on the Mohs Scale of Hardness. You can break them apart but you cannot eliminate them.

Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish uses a non-diminishing abrasive, which means it is made of primary crystals instead of clustered primary crystals. Working it longer will not improve the surface quality because you are already starting with a fully diminished polish. There is no benefit in working the polish longer, in fact it is detrimental.

This is because as you polish paint (even with micro-fine abrasives) you are removing a small amount of paint from the surface. This abraded paint contaminate the abrasives and act like an adhesive that temporarily binds the abrasives together (the opposite of diminishing) which will reduce the quality of the finish.

Since Meguiar's M205 is fully broken down and abraded paint will reduce the quality of finish, you will generally get best results from using a short work time. Polish until the desired result is achieved then stop, generally 20-30 seconds per section.

“Keep pressure on the dual-action polisher through out the buffing cycle”

It has been a common suggestion to reduce pressure on your last pass or two over a working area. While this practice has benefit when using a rotary polisher that moves the pad in a circular fashion it has some unwanted results when using a dual-action polisher. While it is arguably more important when using a non-diminishing polish such as M205, to achieve maximal results when finishing with a dual-action polisher maintain firm and consistent pressure through out the polishing cycle with any finishing polish.

Why? One of the benefits of a dual-action polisher is that they move the pad across the paint in two distinct patterns, an orbital motion and a circular motion. This random action, if used correctly, is beneficial to the polishing process for a number of reasons. The pad is always in a constant state of acceleration, both positively and negatively. When downward pressure is reduce the pad will begin to absorb the orbital motion, much like a blob of Jello jiggling on itself. This causes on even pressure between the contact area of the pad and the paint which can result in an uneven finish. Keeping even pressure on the machine ensures that a higher percentage of the beneficial orbital-motion is transferred through the pad, to the paint.

“Use a slower speed for your finishing cycle”

To achieve the highest gloss possible with Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish you will want to set your random orbital dual-action polisher to a lower speed setting, perhaps speed 3-4. If you are trying to correct minor swirl marks or buffer marks as well as final polishing, start your buffing cycle at speed 5-6 then reduce the speed to 3-4 for the final 2-3 passes over the working area.

Why? When a higher orbital speed is used on a random orbital polisher, the pattern created by the two patterns becomes more violent. Dual Action polishers create a curly-q pattern as a result of the two movements. With a slow orbital speed and firm pressure the pad will rotate slowly, which results in gently curved curly-q's. When high speed or light pressure is used the pad rotates faster, which results in the curly-q pattern being pulled tight as the pad rapidly slows, stops, pivots 180 degrees then accelerates again. Any attached abrasives are ground into the paint.

For an analogy consider you are walking in a straight line but want to do a 360. You can gently turn to one direction and continue to walk in a curved pattern until you complete your turn, which point you should be back were you started with little drama. OR you can stop, pivot sharply on your heel quickly, and with a little luck and balance continue on your way. If you had abrasives attached to your feet you would obviously cause little damage as gently walked in a circle, but you would create some abrasion as you pivoted on your heel.

“Clean your pad often”

To achieve the highest possible finish with Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish it is ideal to clean the polishing pad after each panel, and when dealing with extremely soft or hard to finish paint, in the middle of a pass.

Why? As mentioned earlier abraded paint residue will reduce the performance of Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish, or any other polish. Meguiar's M205 seems to be more sensitive to it. Cleaning the pad with compressed air, a pad brush, or a microfiber towel pressed against the pad will offer the best benefit to achieving a high gloss finish.

On difficult (to finish) or soft paints you tend to remove more material which makes cleaning the pad more important. Cleaning the pad half way through a buffing cycle can make a huge difference in the finish achieved on difficult paints.

“Conclusion”

Many of the tips and suggestions above are beneficial to finishing with a dual-action polisher and any finishing polish. Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finishing Polish can certainly be more sensitive to technique than other finishing polishes and there are certain paints that will not finish 100%. Before reaching for another ultra fine polish give the tips above a try. The benefits of a quick working cycle can pay huge dividends when attempting to create a flawless finish.