Well things have been busy and I haven't had time to post up a proper show and shine but after doing this incredible car I just couldn't fail to post it. This car was recently purchased by the owner of the Porsche 944 that I posted a few months back. Its a 2005 Mercedes SLK 350 hardtop convertible with the AMG package. The car is absolutely stunning and to be able to work on it was a complete pleasure! I'm not sure who was more excited about this detail...me or the owner. Well this was going to get the best of everything I had and we wanted to get the paint to look even more stunning than it already did. Since there were only 2 of these cars in the color and the options she wanted it was shipped to NC from a dealership in Boston. Talk about fate, the client found out that one of these cars was in Miami and the other in Boston and she just happened to be in Boston on a business trip! When she landed in Boston she had the driver take her to the dealership to see if they still had the car. They did and it only had 12,000 miles on the clock. She is now the proud owner of an incredible piece of German engineering. This car is so incredible that when I started the detail in my driveway it attracted a lot of attention and after a couple of hours this is what the front of my house looked like as people started lining up to have me detail their car: They weren't really lining up for me but it sure looked like it, LOL. Well lets get on to what I did: Wheels/Tires/Wells: I used P21s Wheel Gel on the wheels with an assortment of brushes and such. I used the EZ Detail Brush, Black Magic wheel brush bent 90 degrees for getting behind the spokes, lug nut brush and foam finger pocket. The tires and wells got Total Cycle Cleaner and a black Shmitt. The wheels were not too bad and P21s really cleaned them up well. When it was time to dress the tires and wells I used Megs Hyper Dressing @ 2:1 as a base coat with a CGs tire applicator. Then before turning the keys back over to the owner I applied a coat of Swissvax Pneu via another tire applicator. The wells got Adams Undercarriage Spray. Exhaust: I used Megs Wheel Brightner first on the exhaust and that took care of all the grime. The pipes looked so good I really didn't need to but, I then polished them with Autosol. This was a great combo and gave a brand new look to the exhaust. Engine: I gave the engine a quick rinse with the CR Spotless system then sprayed it down with S100 TCC. I agitated it and re-rinsed. I dried most of the water with a leaf blower and then sprayed the engine bay down with Megs HD @ 3:1. I cranked the engine and let it run for about 20 minutes and it turned out great. Wash: Well if there was any type of LSP on the car (which I don't think there was) I wanted it off. I went with the foam cannon with 2 oz of CGs Citrus Wash Clear and 1 oz of CGs Strong Wash. I used a Zymol Sponge and man this thing is awesome and feels like you are really pampering the car. The grout sponge is great but this thing is the best. I also had a rinse bucket with a grit guard. The bugs got CGs Strong Wash @ 3:1 and a Majestic Solutions bug sponge. Well this combo as usual knocked the bugs out with no problem. It makes the job so much easier. The entire wash including wheels and engine were done with the CR Spotless System. The night before I finally had to change out my resins. I managed to wash 60-65 cars with my first batch of resins in my CR Spotless. Heck when I changed the resins out the TDS meter was only reading 20 but I want to be sure there will be no spots so Phil at DD got me my resin refill and I was really pleased at how economical the CR had proven to be for me. It's also nice knowing mother nature and the NC sun can dry the car all it wants and I don't have to worry about water spots! Clay: For clay I tried the Bilt-Hamber Auto Clay. Cooter had hooked me up with this and I can't thank him enough. Cooter has been great to me and its like he is on a mission to find products that I haven't used before, LOL. I really love the fact that you only need water for lube with the Bilt-Hamber. The car, amazingly, did not have a tremendous amount of contamination considering how far it was shipped. The Bilt-Hamber did a great job on the paint and left it silky smooth. I would love to try more of the Bilt-Hamber line...hint hint Ben @ Rubbish Boys!!! I think we need a group buy or something there Ben...come on hook me up I love this stuff!:thumb: Glass: Glass inside and out got CGs Glass Cleaner via a glass MF and dried with an eShine Dehydrator. Interior: I do love doing interiors of two seaters!The interior was in pretty good shape just a lot of smudges on the door panels and such. The interior almost looked grayish even though it was suppose to be black. I used CGs Silk Shine on everything but the center area with the radio and climate controls. On that I used 1z Cockpit Premium. I gave the interior a good vac with the shop vac and treated the leather with 1z Leather Care Lederpflege. I really really like this product as it cleans and conditions and leaves the leather looking so great and natural. Paint: Well the paint looked ok but it had swirls and I even found holograms on the hood along with some scratches like someone did a bad job at wet sanding two small areas. I decided to go with Menzerna SIP on a white 3M polishing pad with the Metabo. I would spread it at 700 then work it at 1500 and then back down to 1000 for the final two passes. Man did the SIP knock out the imperfections. This method worked really well for me and I did the entire car this way. I then went with Scholl Concepts S40 finishing polish via a black 3M finishing pad on the Metabo at 1200 rpms. I was going to use either 3M Ultrafina or Menz. 85rd but I remembered Pirex telling me how great S40 could jewel the paint so I wanted to use that. Man I am glad I did as the S40 is a dream to work with and man did it leave a flawless incredible shine. Hey pirex thanks for that one!!! Here are some pics of the paint correction: Paint correction on the hood: Can you say buffer trails... Some trunk correction: I was really pleased at how the paint came out and the combo of SIP and Scholl Concepts S40 did a phenomenal job. If you haven't had the pleasure of using the Scholl polishes you should ring pirex up at Scandicshine and get some. Pirex I think I'm going to be wanting Scholl Concepts' version of Power gloss to go with what I have! Paint: I used Jetseal since I was going to be topping with a nuba and nothing looks better than Jetseal topped with a top line nuba. Not to mention that after doing her Porsche with Jetseal topped with Supernatural she would have nothing else under the wax but Jetseal. It was applied with a CGs Stage 3 Applicator and buffed off with a 530xl MF. LSP: Well when the client arrived she asked me "What wax am I getting?" When I told her Vintage I got a "YYYYEEEESSSS". Its nice putting Vintage on an incredible car that the owner is such an enthusiast and KNOWS what Vintage is. I'm telling you Vintage is my favorite wax to use and the look it gives is incredible. I was telling FMINUS the other day that I could go with Vintage, Rubbish Boys OE, and Zymol Glasur and never need another wax ever! Vintage is so soft and goes on so nice. After buffing it off the shine, depth and wetness it gives is nothing short of amazing. After leaving the SLK out in the sun for about an hour I did a wipedown with Clearkote Quickshine. The owner was thrilled and so was I! It was a joy working on such a great car and having such an enthusiast as an owner made it even better. Well here are the before and afters: Random and Reflection pics: The owner was so jacked that she took some pics of her own and sent them to me!! Here are some of those: Probably my favorite pic:
Oh wow that last picture looks wicked, you know I never really thought much of these vehicles till I detailed one and boy do they have incredible curves :druling: Stunning vehicle and you sure did a great job there JL well done :applause: Wow the owner knew Vintage huh that's impressive but yes it's so rewarding when the owner knows a bit a bout detailing, just makes the job even more enjoyable.
GREAT WORK! MAn, the car looks just like it should after S40! Did you see how shiney it was just after that? And the vintage did a great work to add depth and wetness!!! The car loos stunning now, you do some fantastic work JL S03+ (Powergloss strenght) is soon in, with the S30+. I will ship you a pm.
Looks awwwwesome JL. Thats one cool little car. The interior is sweet. My best friend has an older model but the interior is nothing like that. The lines of the car are totally different too. Great looking car. Glad you liked the Bilt-Hamber!!
Thanks Nica like you said the subtle curves and lines of the car are just a pleasure to work on. I would have been so disappointed if I had not gotten to do full paint correction on this one. And yes it was nice having a car enthusiast own the car and could really appreciate the products going on it. Thanks Justin. I forgot to put in my detail that I used your yellow and black MFs and they work awesome. If anyone is in need of MFs you really should get up with Justin! Thanks Scott. Much appreciated Denzil! I get so busy sometimes that I don't get to do proper reviews for things I try so I try and include a mini review in my show and shine. Oh pirex you were so right about the S40! It had incredible shine after I finished that step. I can't wait to try out the other products in their line and when you couple them with those incredible pads they have its just magic! I can't wait to get the pm from you bro and I can honestly say that as I complete my line of Scholl Concepts you will be seeing my Menzerna go up for sale. I like the Scholl Concepts that much! I am so glad you are carrying this line and I could use it exclusively and really plan to!:headbang: Thats my man Ben coming through for me. You carry some of the best lines in detailing that I have used. If the rest of the Bilt-Hamber line is as good as the clay I would love it. Thanks Gary! Thanks the Vintage really did take this one over the top! Thanks bud! After the SIP I felt like I had done a great job and was tempted to pull it out into the sun just to see how well I did but I didn't want to be tempted to skip the finishing step because #1 I really wanted to use the S40 and #2 I knew you would never forgive me for it, LOL! Thanks for all the rotary help as my skills seem to really be getting better! Thanks Carn. I really love the color and it's almost identical to the color of the wife's Volvo XC90. I think this color can rival black when done correctly. Thanks bro! Thanks Cooter! You are the best hooking me up with the Clay! I swear its hard to find products that one of us hasn't tried or have but you seem to find them. Of course all you do is make me spend more money:yikes:! But hey what are friends for right!
nice finish on the car JL... looks stunning. what color is that excatly? and some of those scratches looked scary, but you finished it out nicely. Now... if you could only convince the lady to upgrade her wheels to some blackeys, that would be monster sick!
Thanks Dust, the color I think is called Caspian Blue. You know I never thought I would but I am becoming more and more of a fan of the black wheels, she loves the ones she has though at least the design of them.
ah, oh well not everyone has good tasteoke: BTW, do you do a ipa wipe down or anyting like that after you polish to remove the polish oils?
No problem, I enjoy helping out when I can and those that actually want to do things right. Plus I know you would never halfass it and not follow up after SIP.
Great Work. Nice write-up. Glad to see the owner really appreciated your work, and even took her own pics. :applause:
