Gleaming Kleen - Mecedes Benz SL300 Resurrected

The owner's wife of this Merc called me and said her husband had this vehicle and obslutley loved it but was too embarrassed to drive it because of the condition it was in.

Owners purchased this car in Hong Kong from new and when they moved back to UK they brought it back with them. This car is 21 years old and has only covered 50,000 miles but it has had a very hard life and been neglected over the years.


INTERIOR
All carpet flooring removed from vehicle and front/rear seating to allow me to thoroughly clean them. All upholstery cleaned with APC and an extractor. Plastic's/Vinyl cleaned with APC










Leather

Build up of dirt between stichings


As you can see very grubby


All leather cleaned and conditioned with Gliptone. In total I had given them 4 coats of conditioner to get them nice and soft.


Fronts seats were showing signs of cracking and badly faded so were reconditioned



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Brite work polished up using Brillant metal polishes.


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Interior complete


BOOT
The boot was given a thorough vacuum and upholstery cleaned also


Spare wheel removed and cleaned and given a coat of Zaino AIO for protection and dressed with Swissvax Pneu












CONVERTIBLE TOP
Hard Top was corrected then removed to enable me to throughly clean the soft tipRenovo soft top reviver was applied by brush and left to dry for 3 hours and then treated with 303 Fabric Guard. Plastic windows cleaned and protected using Swissvax Vinyl Clear set


The 50/50 below shows the rightside of plastic window restored


Plastic wax being applied


Convertible top compartment vacuumed, cleaned and then dressed with 303 Aerospace Protectant


Short Vid of 303 Fabric Guard in action
YouTube - 303 Fabric Guard

EXTERIOR
Vehicle certainly seen better days

 

I started first by cleaning up all the panel gaps, door shuts, badges and crevices with G101




20 years worth of grime and grease cleaned using cotton swabs and degreaser and alot of patience






Vehicle was then foamed twice with a strong mix of degreaser and then washed twice to remove the build up of grime. After washing the car I then spent a good time claying the car using Sonus Grey as paintwork was rough like sand paper.

Paint readings were then taken which were showing readings of 110-130 throughout the entire vehicle. Whilst taking readings i found several panel edges had strike through.

After trying several combos I settled on using Megs 105 on a Megs Cutting pad knock back the heavy oxidation and defects. This was then followed up with Menz 3.02 and then 85rd.










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Tight area's cut in by hand or by using 4in pad




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Vehicle was then given a IPA wipedown and given a coat oF Zaino Z3. Two coats of Swissvax Divine were also applied over 2 days
YouTube - Swissvax Divine






























Total work time just over 50 hours

Thanks for looking

 

Wow, quite the recovery Jay! What you did to the leather is amazing, wish I could do that kind of stuff.

 

I was stunned by how you recover the car..........:applause::applause::applause:
The owner must be very very happy to see his car back to the condition that was even better than the time he purchased it....:yikes::yikes:

 

now that's detailing.... period

 

What a turnaround! Looks absolutely fantastic, the owner must have been thrilled.

 

:headbang: Awesome job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

WOW, this car looks amazing, excellent work

 

WOW, That is truly impressive and you are the master...That is a great detail that looks just beautiful...I am almost speechless and only hope to be 1/25 as good as you are...Thank you for sharing...:worship2:

 

superb job. i enjoyed every pic!!!

 

Beyond thorough, truly exceptional work inside and out. Love to see the benz gleeming in the sun!

 

Thats taking everything to a whole new level..amazing

 

Awesome job and write up. Thanks for showing.

 

It isn't fair to the rest of us to try and pass a repaint job as a detail.:worship2: Excellent job, the car looks brand new.

 

Absolutely stellar work! Beautiful red paint now.

 

Xtreme makeover! Jayplay, two thumbs up!!!

 

Now that is some stellar work, and what a beaut on top of that! Stunning work Jay...

 

This IS NOT detailing.. This IS reconditioning!!

Simply stunning work!

 

That is truly AMAZING work!

I have a question about the leather refinishing you did. My seats are looking like the ones in that car after you cleaned them. If I could refinish them like that I would be very pleased but how durable is that refinishing, and how do you car for the leather after, just regular leather care products?

 

Stellar Job!