911fanatic vs 06 SLK55 ( 150 pics )

This client brought his car in looking for a basic clean up before he put his car away for the winter. After looking at the car it was decided that we would do a little more work like removing the wheels to clean the inner fenders and suspension, detail the interior and give the paint a single stage polish. ( Didn't work out that easy. LOL ) The whole front end of the car had been repainted after a a bag of crushed limestone ripped open on the back of a flatdeck in front of my client.

Engine, jambs and exterior trims were cleaned with APC we are testing and Raceglaze brushes.
Engine was dressed with 303 Protectant this time.
Foamed with RG ph Neutral Snow Foam at 10:1 and left to soak for 4 minutes
Washed with CG CWC and Raceglaze Sheepskin Mitt
Wheel faces and barrels were cleaned with test APC as were inner fenders and suspension components. Wheel barrels were touched up with a mild acid solution to get rid of some staining.
Autosmart Tardis was used to remove road tar and weight glue on inner barrels.
Wheels were sealed with Blackfire All Metal Sealant
Tires dressed with Swissvax Pneu
Clayed with Exclusive Medium Clay with PB Spray & Wipe as lube
First stage of polishing was with B&S Green with Power Finish but had to switch to B&S Yellow and Power Finish and finally B&S Yellow with Megs 105 via Flex 3403 at 1100 - 1300 rpm.
Final polishing was B&S Black with Menz 106 via PC7424 at speed 5.
LSP was Raceglaze Black Label x2
Exhaust tips polished with DG Metal Polish and sealed with Blackfire All Metal Sealant
Interior wiped down with AG Interior Shampoo
Seats cleaned with RG Leather Cleanse and conditioned with RG Leather Balm
All glass cleaned with AG Fast Glass

Total time - approx 25 hours

One mildly dirty 06 SLK55


Some befores....








Polish residue inside fuel filler door


Interior was dusty from having the top down, but not really dirty.






Even the jambs weren't too bad






The car had been recently driven in the rain and was covered in alot of grit from the road.




The engine was dusty as well, other than the paint overspray on the underside of the hood.


Now this just sucks! Polish splatter UNDER the grille.


More polish residue.




Look what showed up this morning!


It was -15 this am so I'm doing this inside. Thanks again Michael for the wash mat!




After 4 minutes on horizontal surfaces..


and vertical


Cleaning around all body seams etc





After washing, time to inspect paintwork for damage










Nasty hood. Guess we figured out where the polish residue came from.






Looking for the jacking points


With the wheels off, it was time to inspect the dirty inner fenders and suspension components.


Dirty calipers


While the calipers were soaking in APC, time to get going on the wheels.


Back to the inner fenders


After rinsing the inner fenders, its time to remove the road tar etc from the barrels with Autosmart Tardis


Tardis at work


Some old weight glue


Nice clean inner fender


Wheel looking a lot better




This build up turned out to be a bitch to remove.


Rear inner fender finished


Another wheel to do. This is what all four wheel barrels looked like. There was actually some staining on the barrels from the brake dust that had to be removed with a mild acid solution. Total time cleaning all four corners - 3 hours




Hard at another caliper


All this dirty water from just the inner fenders.


Nice caliper


Wee bit of contamination off the front fender


I love cool tools. Used my handy extend O magnet to recover a hood grille screw I dropped into the engine area.


Polishing around these will be a PITA so they have to come off.




Bottom tray off


Now we can easily get at the polish splatter


Last thing, undo the washer fluid line.


After removing 4 small plastic tabs, its out.


There were marks in the paint from the grills that could not be polished out. The grille hides them so its not a big worry.


Some wax residue..


and here as well.


Taping off emblems...








Clay left a little marring but it was easily cleaned up.


50/50 for you


A few very deep marks in front fender. They were too deep to polish out so we went with 3M #2500 wet/dry sand paper.




After one pass of B&S Yellow and 105


and another...


three's a charm. Looking mint.


PTG reading AFTER sanding and polishing


Another 50/50






Slight bodywork issue.


There was a deep scratch on the rear pillar and it looked like someone has had a go at it.


After one pass


After two passes, this little bit remained but as it was quite deep so we decided not to chase it.


Taped off the trunklid to polish the rear spoiler and then moved the tape to the spoiler to do the trunklid.


After a couple of low rpm passes on the rear spoiler


And finished


There was one deep scratch that remained on the trunklid


but with PTG readings like this, I won't be sanding anything.


Working with the Flex 3403, B&S Yellow and Menz Power Finish


Before


After


The dust after B&S Yellow and Megs 105


Tail lights were also all scratched up


Looking better after 3" B&S Yellow with Menz Power Finish


Door sill on drivers side was badly scratched up


Not 100%, but as much as I could remove safely


New backing plate we are testing


After polishing














Headlights were looking a little hazy.


Corrected with B&S Yellow, Megs 105, Menz PF and B&S Black with 85rd.


And after






Ready for LSP.....






Raceglaze Black Label


After one coat


Waiting for it to haze over...




After one coat


Breaking out the Swisswax Pneu


Tightness




Residue around dash control








Finished interior - seats were cleaned and conditioned with Raceglaze




There was a lot of overspray under the hood, including on these emblems.


It was removed with a LC Hand Polishing Pad and Werkstat Prime Strong




Finished engine - dressed with 303






With grilles replaced, everything looks nice and sharp


Exhaust tips polished with DG Metal Polish and sealed with Blackfire All Metal Sealant


After the second coat of RG Black Label






































Thanks for looking.

 

Ken really nice work.:thumb: How the hell did you get rid of all that nasty water that was in the wash mat? Also when are you going to be selling that 5" backing plate I am in the market for one?

 

Very well done Ken! Hands down one of the best writeups I've seen from you.

How did you find the RG Snow Foam?

 

woh Ken one of your best and most in depth write-ups ive seen yet

 

Top notch work there Ken, really inspiring for everyone.

-Kody-

 

amazing work there Ken!

 

Beautiful car; fantastic detail. Kudos!

 

I have a small pump I can use to pump it into the sink or I just open my overhead door a bit a use my floor squeegy to push it outside.

I like it. Its very economical. 50ml makes a litre which will do around 3 cars if you aren't wasting it. It works well to remove grit and loose stuff from the paint.

 

Fantastic work. Loved the engine pic.

 

Stunning work Ken

 

Great work Ken, and excellent write up.

 

look great!

 

Great job Ken, as usual.

 

great work!

 

Looks great Ken, there are a few RG products I want to try

 

Looking great Ken, mmm blacklabel....needto try it out on the whole car but have something else up my sleeve coming in for the winter....ha.

Great pics as well!

 

Phenomenal work Ken, that thing came out looking great! I'm really liking the looks of Black Label so far.

 

Thanks guys

 

Nice work ken BL looks nice!!

 

One of the best details I've seen out there! Stunning work, Ken!