# dooka | Mercedes 300 SL | Full correction detail



## dooka (Aug 1, 2006)

*This is for you Bouncer sir ..

This detail can also be found on my website here

The owner of this Mercedes 300SL contacted dooka to see if we could make her even better. This is a weekend car, and has had a relatively easy life judging by the over all condition. A full correction, Interior and Roof detail was booked in over 4 days.*









*Although this 25 year old Mercedes 300 SL has lead a fairly pampered life, it wasn't up to dooka's standards.*









*How she was looking when she arrived. Tired, dull and dirty to the trained eye.*



























*Dirt built up over the years in arears where the non detailer don't clean. Well most..*









*Usual aeras in need of a good thorough clean.*









*Open wide.*









*Not the best picture, but there was a lot of ingrained dirt in the engine bay.*










*ROOF CLEAN:*









*Let's start this detail with the roof. dooka started with the roof, to allow time for it dry properly before applying a fabric sealant.*









*You can clearly see in this picture that the roof has been cleaned badly in the past, look at to two tone.*









*Plastic rear windows looking cloudy, and need of a polish.*









*Ingrained dirt and dust, shouldn't be to much of a problem.*









*First things first. Hoover the roof to remove any loose dust, dirt and debris.*









*Once hoovered, I applied an APC mix.*









*And then began to work it into the roof.*









*With several soft brushes. Soft brushes are important, as fabric roofs become delicate when wet.*









*You can see the dirt running on to the boot from the rinsed roof.*









*Once washed and rinsed, out with the Chemical Guys Wooly Mammoth drying towel to remove as much excess water as posible. I then used an extraction cleaner [not pictured] to remove even more water and dirt.*









*Brought back into the unit, and started on the rear window. Here the right hand side has been polished with a plastic polish.*









*Any lose particles were picked off using tape, before being folded back for the paint correction. Compound can be a nightmare to remove from roofs.*









*All done, no more two tone roof.*









*And a close up so you can see how much cleaner and even in colour the roof is now.*









*A few marks still left, but these are where the fabric has worn, so cleaning won't resolve.
*

*THE WHEELS*









*Next up was the wheels.*









*A few squirts of Bilberry wheel cleaner and a selection of brushes were used to clean these wheels.*









*You can see the dirt being lifted by the Bilberry here.*



























*Out with the cotton buds to get into the nooks and crannies on these wheels.*


















*Once washed and de-tared, IronX was used to remove any remaining iron embedded in the alloy.*

*PRE WASH*









*On with the pre wash*









*All the usual places were cleaned with APC, Degreaser and a selection of brushes.*


















*Getting in to all the little arears that make detailing what it is.*









*The hinges will be re-greased before handing the car back to the customer.*


















*The hinges will be re-greased before handing the car back to the customer.*










*THE WASH*









*Once all the panel gaps, door shuts etc had been cleaned, a does of snow foam was used to soften any dirt, bugs and other fallout on the car. Trying to keep the roof relatively dry.*









*The dooka woollie wash pad and two bucket method used to wash this Mercedes 300 SL*









*Once washed, it was time to de-tar this Mercedes before claying.*









*Not a huge amount was pulled from the paint, as you can see above, a relatively clean claybar.
*

*THE CORRECTION*









*Once washed and clayed, the car was dried and brought back in. here you can see the tapping up process ready for polishing.*


















*Paint defects such as swirls can be hard to photograph on light coloured cars. I tried my best to capture them. The paint looks hazey and unclear here.*









*After a set with the rotary, looking much clearer.*









*As clean and srtraight as this car was, it has seen some paint over the years, some not the best I have seen for sure. There were a few problamatic aeras like in the picture above. Extra care was needed in the places.*









*I settled for Menzerna 302 with a Chemical Guys Orange Hex-Logic pad for the main correction.*









*Parts of the car that were easily removed were removed to allow for easier polishing and to give a better end result. Unlike who ever painted the Mercedes 300 SL*









*A tickle with some wet and dry paper were needed in places, but the finish was worth it.*









* Before.*









*After. One or two deeper marks weren't removed. I would of taken far to much paint of to remove them 100%. I like to keep things within tolerance and to help avoid problems later on in the cars life.*









*Swirly hazey paint.*









*Paint as it should be, no swirls or hazing.*









*A 50 | 50 shot of the correction process.*



























*Taken outside and rewashed to remove polishing dust and help remove the polishing oils that can mask any remaining swirls etc. This is how it looked after a re-wash and before refining.*









*After refining the paint with Meguiars #205 on a Blue 3M waffle pad. I apply two layers of Werkstat Acrylic Jett Trigger and as you can see in the picture above, a layer of Dodo Whiter Diamon wax. I love this wax on light coloured cars.*









*And this is how it looked once finished.*










*THE INTERIOR*









*Right, on with the interior.*









*Although this car has been fairly pampered over it's life, there is still around 25 years of dirt to be removed.*


















*Not the clearest of pictures, but it was like a gravel drive under the carpets. This must be around 25 years old .*









*Out with the carpets and matts.*









*These were steamed and extracted at least twice to remove as much of the dirt as possible.*









*This is from the first clean.*









*Once cleaned, the carpets were taken outside to dry, then protected with a fabric protector.
*









*All finished, ready to go back into the car.*









*Back onto the interior detail. A few bad marks to try and shift.*









*A couple of marks that just didn't want to budge. But over all, around 95% improvement.*









*The leather was cleaned using a leather cleaner and steam.
*









*The left side of the picture is the cleaned section. The right, well dirty shiny leather.*









































































*AFTERS*






















































































I hope you have enjoyed this write up. Any questions and comments welcome..


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## -tom- (Jan 27, 2009)

very very nice dude


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## *MAGIC* (Feb 22, 2007)

Old school baby.

Looks great mate.

Robbie


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Great work mate, car looks mint.


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## BrAtKo (Mar 23, 2011)

:thumb:
I like you have used Lidl's W5 foam.


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## Perfection Detailing (Nov 3, 2007)

Cracking work Rob, interior came up well too :thumb:

Neil


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## Alan W (May 11, 2006)

Great work Rob and nice attention to the small details! :thumb:

Alan W


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## Joeboy (Apr 4, 2011)

Incredible turnaround


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Fantastic work done..


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## The_Bouncer (Nov 24, 2010)

Absolute stunning Rob - thx for the personalised write up lol - :thumb: you know I've been on at you to get this beauty written up.

This pic is phenomenal:









It looks brand new !!

Cotton Buds & Tooth pics > This is detailing at it's best folks, it don't get much better than this.

I bet the owner was doing cartwheels once he saw his car, I know if it were me, I would have been.

Fantastic sir. :thumb:


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## Sciroccostyle (Mar 31, 2011)

Looks good mate, what did you use on the leather?:thumb:


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## dooka (Aug 1, 2006)

Sciroccostyle said:


> Looks good mate, what did you use on the leather?:thumb:


Gliptone, steam and a protector..


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## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

Very nice example of your work. End results are clean & crisp breathing new life into this classic:thumb:


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## Dwayne (Jul 27, 2010)

Now that is class, top notch mate, well done!!!


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## RefinedDetails (Dec 17, 2006)

B-E-A-UTIFUL! Superb stuff buddy.


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## stargazer (Aug 9, 2006)

A beautiful car. I do miss my old Mercedes. Nice photos and thanks for sharing.


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## 123quackers (Jan 29, 2009)

Great reflections in that white paint work, Jobs like this are so so satisfying

I have found in the past the plastics on the door cards on the old mercedes are very resilient and if you dab onto a MF and wipe the black marks with standard cellulose thinners it will remove them marks, just needs nutralising with some APC or a foam straight away... :thumb:

Fantastic work love getting stuck into a nice classic thats been unloved....:buffer:


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## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

Lovely work Rob, car looks stunning now:thumb:


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## tzotzo (Nov 15, 2009)

great write up. awesome car.

Maybe you should look on the watermark size.


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## Baker21 (Aug 7, 2007)

Nice work Rob on a very nice motor indeed, have to say the smaller details make all the difference........:thumb:


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## mlgt (Apr 11, 2008)

Fantastic turn around!


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

Lovely work on a lovely car....always makes me think of "Dallas" when I see a car like that... no idea why! :lol:



:thumb:


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## Energy Lab (May 10, 2011)

I didn't even notice the stripes in the interior carpets until you cleaned them!
Awesome job!


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## dooka (Aug 1, 2006)

123quackers said:


> I have found in the past the plastics on the door cards on the old mercedes are very resilient and if you dab onto a MF and wipe the black marks with standard cellulose thinners it will remove them marks, just needs nutralising with some APC or a foam straight away... :thumb:r:


Thank you for the tip, I had no thinners on me, although I did try a few other products I have on my shelves..



tzotzo said:


> great write up. awesome car.
> 
> Maybe you should look on the watermark size.


I know my water marks are big, looking in to that at the mo, as I do my own design, finding the time can be a pig. I have had a few images pinched in the past..



Energy Lab said:


> I didn't even notice the stripes in the interior carpets until you cleaned them!
> Awesome job!


I put the stripes in like many other detailers, but got something in the old ideas line at the mo, just so mine can stand out ..


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## scotty_boy (May 1, 2010)

fantastic job really good write up amazing job of the roof when rinsing off the apc do you use a pw from a distance or just hose?


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## Guest (May 16, 2011)

Fabulous Sir :thumb:


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## Jimmy The Saint (Sep 19, 2010)

Seriously impressive work! :thumb:


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## North east Car Care (Jan 14, 2008)

Cracking attention to detail there Rob, stunning finish matey


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## twincamsir (May 1, 2011)

Amazing !!:doublesho


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## polishyourcar (Oct 2, 2010)

Have to love the classic merc. 

Great job :thumb:


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## robtech (Jan 17, 2011)

superb work on a superb car.


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Great work mate, breathed a much needed new lease of life into the old girl!


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## *Das* (Aug 9, 2010)

What a transformation!!!!! Not keen on those lawn stripes in the mats and carpets though, they must be the detailing equivalent of a shell suit............


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## Beau Technique (Jun 21, 2010)

Nice save and resurrection of a quality old time classic.


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## DetailMe (Jan 13, 2011)

i second what the bouncer says exactly, fantastic work! Its DAZ white now!! 
Nice one Dooka

Chris


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## MAXI-MILAN (Oct 26, 2008)

Great work :thumb:


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

Love these old Mercs. my mum used to have one and would love to get one if I ever sell mine. Cracking work on a stunning car!


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

nice work, i like these old SL's but a nice one is sooooooo expensive


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## mislavto (Jul 3, 2010)

this is real detailing!


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## Tiptronic (May 9, 2006)

This is a stunning write-up and turnaround!!

You have taken a relatively tidy car, and brought it to life. The paintwork is now dazzling and glossy.

As has been said, cotton buds and toothpicks really is going the extra mile, which is what detailing seems to be about.

I would love to have been a fly on the wall for the owner's reaction. It must have been like giving them a brand new SL

Thanks go to The Bouncer for persuading you to share this with us.

Chris


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## Racer (Oct 27, 2005)

Great Work , just love to see great cars well detailed :thumb:


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## Rust.Bucket (Feb 11, 2011)

Lovely work, and a bit speechless from the after pics- looks fresh from the factory (better in fact). Bet it put a smile on the owners face!


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## [email protected] (Apr 28, 2011)

Amazing work there man.


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## jedi-knight83 (Aug 11, 2006)

Great work rob.

Garage looks very nice too 

I notice no one else has mentioned it so maybe its just me but i found the water marks across half the pic quite distracting? Also had to squint to see them as they were on the small side  but maybe that my old eyes. lol

Cant knock the detail though.. looked perefect.


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## pho_shizzle (May 4, 2011)

Very nice work on restoring a beauty!


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## adolfitovr6 (Mar 9, 2011)

woow, thanks, now i can star with my wifes cabrio roof


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