Well I stopped detailing due to doctors orders after my little health scare last August (pneaumothorax) and have only did one full detail prior to this one and had a helper do most of the work on the last one. So this is, more or less, the first full detail I did myself since last August. I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things as I hated turning people away. Jack stole this car from Ebay and wanted to bring it up to show quality standards so asked me to help him out. I did not go to crazy with pics but will share a few before shots with you. Before interior. His biggest concern was some nicks all over the front so after a wash the first thing I did was touch up 25 or 30 little knicks on the hood, fender and door. Next I buffed out the top of the car with my Makita BO6040 using an Edge Green Wool pad utilizing their new adapter that allows you to use 4", 6.5" or 8" pads with this forced rotation orbital machine. I also tried my rotary and the purple foamed wool pad, since there were a lot of water spots on the top of the car, but neither of these combo's would minimize these spots even with 3m 05093 PI 3000 medium compound. So I decided to just go ahead and polish with the BO6040 and a blue edge pad to remove any and all swirls in the finish. I then followed up with some Zaino Z-AIO and a coat of Z5p topped with Z8. The car looked stunning. After shots. Under the hood after. And the interior after. For the interior I used 303 Aerospace on that funky rough material that the console, door panels and dash were made out of. I do not know what it is, but it is rough and a pain in the butt to make it look nice. I used Zaino Z9 and Z10 on all the leather and cleaned the nav screen with Z6 QD. Windows were done with Z6 and a microfiber inside and out. Z16 was used on the tires and weatherstripping.
Nice looking Merc :thumb: Glad to hear your back on your feet and back to detailing, just curious how did it feel detailing again...I mean I hope it didn't hurt or anything like that. These vehicles are very interesting, they got power and body/style is definetly different, I have a co-worker that owns one...not exactly the same I belave his is an SLK :shrug: or something like that any who, they are sharp looking vehicles and love the curves they have. Man someone's a fan of Zaino huh lol...just teasing, actually I'm looking forward on getting more aquainted with Zaino thanks to you buddy :thumb: Vehicle looks great inside and out :applause2: thank you for sharing with us.
Frank, Glad to hear you are able to get out and detail, which of course means you are feeling much better..... The SLK55 came out great! The paint has a nice glow and some good depth. IMO the LC purple wool foamed pad has more cut then the green edge wool. I think its closer to the edge yellow wool. I have only used the LC purple foamed one time though.
I was a little more sore than usual after I was done but that is to be expected when you are lazy for 6 months Yes, I agree. I need to pick up a 6" black/yellow edge combo wool pad and then I will have the full Edge line. Not to mention the fact I also used it onm my rotary instead of the BO6040.
Frank, its good to try different machine/pad combo's out. I would think that Benz paint is pretty hard, maybe the ceramaclear? I am using the yellow edge wool right now with some presta 1500 polish. I tried the green but the RIDS where to deep on this red porsche. (this porsche does have a clear coat.) I can follow w/ ultra fina on the 3M blue pad to finish out like the pics below. Looks like a few bad areas might require 3M ECC with the yellow wool. Usually that will require the edge green wool with P1500 before the UF.
I agree, I think I must have just about every brand pad make, 3M, Lake Country, Meguiars and Edge. I really like the Edge because of the self centering makes using my Rotary so much nicer. And now with adapters coming out for all the new orbital machines it makes them more flexible as far as pad size.
