Black MB E350 correction

[mikenap]

I had first seen this car last year after it had been "detailed" by another local shop. At the time, it was shiny and black...but still had some light holograms poking through. Some time had passed and those light holograms became less and less "light" so the client contacted me to come in and finally make his black car look right again. Surprisingly, after a year had passed, I still found TONS of compound residue in every conceivable area of the car.

I grabbed a few before pics, but was ready to jump into it so a lot of them didn't come out too well.




















One issue I ran into was the wheel barrels. They probably have never been cleaned since the car was purchased, and laughed off everything I threw at them. I started with Sonax, then moved to Brown Royal 1:1 and finally Meguiar's Wheel Brightener 4:1. When WB didn't make a dent, I just had to cut my losses and move on.





Not a huge improvement.

The car was foamed with Meguiar's Shampoo Plus, then pressure-washed off and brought inside to ONR wash and clay it. This was from behind the license plate, easily the dirtiest part of this car. Other than that, the car was pretty contaminant-free.




Correction consisted of a MF pad primed with D300, compounded with original version M105. Finishing was done with a B&S green pad with Menz 106fa. Machines used were a GG6 DA and Meg's G110. Most of the paint was healthy, save for the driver side fender which was very low. The following pictures are after compounding, before final polishing.






















The following day, David Strum (aka weekendwarrior) came by and offered to lend a hand finishing up the car. Anyone who has met David will agree that not only is he a great detailer, he's also an all-around great guy and good friend. I'm always glad to get a chance to work with him. While I continued compounding the last remaining panels, David got to work finishing the paint. Afterward, we foamed the car with CG CWC (with some remaining Shampoo +, that's why the bottle looks blue!) and applied Meguiar's 26 liquid to the paint. Tires and wheel wells got Hyper-dressing 3:1.































Thanks for looking!

[BMW Fanatic]

NICE job man, really took care of that thing! I'm about to send you a PM, hopefully you don't mind responding. Thanks.

[mikenap]

Originally Posted by BMW Fanatic

NICE job man, really took care of that thing! I'm about to send you a PM, hopefully you don't mind responding. Thanks.

Thank you! PM replied.

[AutoCon]

Mike if you could of dismounted the wheels P&S "Solvent X" would have took off the crud "With the quickness", or using the solvent X and a paint mixing stick with a microfiber towel or even a wheel woolie with a towel wrapped around it.............. tedious but you would be a "Hero" to the client.

Looking good on the correction though...............oops should not have shared this as "Andy" or Sean Tiller will incorporate these techniques as their own.........lol.

[mikenap]

Originally Posted by Auto Concierge

Mike if you could of dismounted the wheels P&S "Solvent X" would have took off the crud "With the quickness", or using the solvent X and a paint mixing stick with a microfiber towel or even a wheel woolie with a towel wrapped around it.............. tedious but you would be a "Hero" to the client.

Looking good on the correction though...............oops should not have shared this as "Andy" or Sean Tiller will incorporate these techniques as their own.........lol.

Thanks Bob. Thomas DeKany also recommended P&S Aluminum Brightener as an acid-based cleaner stronger than WB. I'd never heard of P&S before, but it's been recommended twice now so I may have to look into their products. Thanks again!

[lopealle]

Beautiful