# Mercedes C220 3 day detail.



## Rumtumtum (Sep 30, 2012)

Thanks for looking.

*FRIDAY*

A work colleague asked me to take a look at his 18 month old Mercedes C220 because he was not too happy with the condition or appearance of it's paintwork. This is a beautiful car but was obviously suffering from the effects of the odd trip to the local £5 car wash.

Receiving the car late on Friday evening was too late to get started but I did manage to get a few before photos which gave a fair idea of what lay in store.











*SATURDAY*

Rinsed
Foamed
Washed 2BWM
Clayed
Washed again and dried

Only at this stage did the real condition of the paint work come to light.













Every panel of the car was in this condition.

Paint thickness readings were taken from all over the car and returned an average of 103. Whilst this is within an acceptable range it was an average; meaning that certain areas were much lower. It seemed that the lower down the bodywork I went the lower the readings. The lowest reading I managed to get was 54. The DA polisher was never allowed anywhere near such areas and filler heavy AG SRP was deployed in its place.



So the DA was put to work with M105 on an orange pad. This was the first Mercedes I had worked on and although I had heard of Mercedes and German hard paint in general, but this was something else.

Here are a couple of 50/50 shots during the compounding stage.





Nearing the end of Saturday with the sun low I was able to get a few before and after type shots. The first few pictures show the non compounded side of the car in the sunlight. I then turned the car to face the opposite direction leaving the side of the car I had been working on now in the sunlight. Can you see any difference?









*SUNDAY*

Today I was joined by supersixfour who took a bit of the pressure off by finishing the alloys by claying, polishing and waxing them before moving to the interior of the vehicle. I continued with the compounding and eventually moved onto the refining which was done with M205 on a white pad. No photos of Sunday I am afraid I was too busy fighting with rock hard German paint.

*MONDAY*

Supersixfour was back again dealing with all glass, trim, chrome and engine bay allowing me to continue with the polishing. I finished with the M205 and then, due to the low paint readings mentioned above causing an inability to machine all the car, I applied Prima Amigo glaze on a black pad.

Now for the LSP. I have always been a fan of paste wax but one of the ideas behind this detail was the longevity of the LSP. AG EGP was applied. I am not really up to speed with the synthetics and would welcome any advice or suggestions in this regard.

Finally I had to rinse the vehicle to clear all the nooks of dust from the product applications before drying back to a shine. This gave me the chance to get some nice beading shots.





I then took a few close ups of the paintwork







I called the owner and told him his car was ready for collection. He was 2 hours away.

I know I said finally above but with 2 hours to spare I could not resist and applied a quick coat of M26 paste wax.

Well that's it. Thanks for taking the time to have a look and I will finish with a few photos of the end result.



















Thanks again for taking the time to have a look.


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## fizzle86 (Apr 1, 2010)

Great work


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## StuartyD (Dec 20, 2012)

Great turnaround bud :thumb: had your work cut out for you there! That wasn't half in some mess though!


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## Guru (Aug 28, 2013)

Solid Job! In one of the reflections I can see wrinkles near your eye and the "PENTAX" lettering on camera - Great!

Also, good job putting on M26 in the end. That paint shade literally begs for a good wax.


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## martin_46 (Aug 7, 2012)

Great work, looks really nice!


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## torkertony (Jan 9, 2013)

Great work and what a turn around. Fair play to 'supersixfour' too for the help :thumb: I can imagine the owner was really chuffed with the finished result.

Thanks for taking the time to post the detail


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## graham1970 (Oct 7, 2012)

Impressive turnaround mate,am really interested in your paint depth findings...how has this happened?:thumb:


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## minnnt (Mar 5, 2007)

Stunning!!


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## dekerf1996 (Sep 9, 2008)

That was shockingly bad for such a new car. Great turnaround, looks like it was a alot of hard work, but has paid off by the finish


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## ottostein (Sep 11, 2012)

Wow great turnaround!


Bet the owner was well chuffed


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## VW Golf-Fan (Aug 3, 2010)

Wow, looks great - what a turnaround! :thumb:

Nice houses too!


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## luke w (Dec 11, 2012)

That's a great turnaround! The shots of the doors before really were shocking! If only more people realised what the cheap car washes do to your paint!


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## GarveyVW (Jun 28, 2013)

Great turnaround, the reflections and shine are superb.


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## Wout_RS (Jun 13, 2012)

Really impressive work!

from flat to a deep reflection paintwork!

Also want to now what's a good curing time for AG EGP as I struggle sometimes to remove it


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Very nice:thumb:


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

Nice car, very nice color and a even nicer finish! :thumb:


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## steviebabe0 (May 14, 2013)

Its frightening how bad paint can get in only 18 months if not looked after. Cracking results afterwards :thumb:


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## Pignut71 (Mar 12, 2013)

steviebabe0 said:


> Its frightening how bad paint can get in only 18 months if not looked after. Cracking results afterwards :thumb:


Indeed. I hope the owner was given a good talking to about how to look after that lovely car from now on!

Great job..


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## Rumtumtum (Sep 30, 2012)

Guru said:


> Solid Job! In one of the reflections I can see wrinkles near your eye and the "PENTAX" lettering on camera - Great!
> Also, good job putting on M26 in the end. That paint shade literally begs for a good wax.


Thanks for pointing out the wrinkles. I am sure they were not there when I started on this car!



torkertony said:


> Great work and what a turn around. Fair play to 'supersixfour' too for the help :thumb: I can imagine the owner was really chuffed with the finished result.
> 
> Thanks for taking the time to post the detail


Thanks and supersixfour was a great help on the days he was there, but don't tell him I said so.



graham1970 said:


> Impressive turnaround mate,am really interested in your paint depth findings...how has this happened?:thumb:


Paint depth findings interested me too. I double checked them, cleaned and recalibrated the gauge, triple checked them, scratched my head and then checked them once more. By far the worst area was immediately to the rear of the front wheel arches. Even under the bonnet and door checks returned better results, in the 60's. I asked the owner if the car had been machine polished or had any other work carried out on it but he assures me this is the way he received it. I don't know what else to say???



Wout_RS said:


> Really impressive work!
> 
> from flat to a deep reflection paintwork!
> 
> Also want to now what's a good curing time for AG EGP as I struggle sometimes to remove it


You can never go far wrong following the manufacturers instruction, I can't remember them off hand, 30 or 60 minutes I think, but I tend to keep my eye on treated areas while working elsewhere and when it looks ready I give it the finger wipe test and take it from there. I usually go over the body work after the removal of any LSP with my Brinkmann light. It shows up any lingering product in the same way as swirls and allows you to remove them leaving a clean finish.



JDO330 said:


> Indeed. I hope the owner was given a good talking to about how to look after that lovely car from now on!
> 
> Great job..


Thanks. In the owners own words he will now "stick rigorously to a controlled washing plan." Fingers crossed.

Thanks for all your comments guys. I did have a problem earlier today with photobucket but it seems to be resolved now. If any of you know of a better way to upload or paste photos please let me know.

Cheers.


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Nice job, had it been washed with brillo pads?
Looks really nice in the later photos. BTW, the front number plate has dropped off


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## Matty77 (Nov 7, 2012)

Great turnaround! Especially with a DA on that tough paint. Awesome job. Great photography too. Bet the owner loved it!


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## danga200 (Feb 22, 2010)

Those swirls/scratches!!!!


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## Brigham1806 (Apr 1, 2011)

Excellent Job, 

Having one of these myself i know how hard the paint can be. But with Patience and hard work you do get the stunning results.. 

Lets hope the owner keeps on top of your hard work...


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## jonnyMercUK (Apr 19, 2012)

Looks fantastic!


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## magpieV6 (Jul 29, 2008)

Cracking job! Bet the owner was delighted!


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## jlw41 (Jun 5, 2011)

Great work :thumb:


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## Black.MB (Aug 22, 2012)

Fantastic job, awesome turnaround:thumb:


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## KrisP (Feb 7, 2006)

I love it when you finish a car, and ring the owner so that they can collect, and then realise you've got a just that little bit extra time to add one more product to the finish.

It's happened a few times now!


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## Andrew Goacher (Dec 27, 2012)

Great work, looks fantastic, A job well done :thumb:


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## goste (Dec 11, 2009)

Hey, that street looks familiar!! Think I'm only just round the corner!!!

Oh, Merc looks great too!

G.


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## kemslea (Feb 25, 2011)

Superb work.


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## Danthecabbiman (Oct 31, 2013)

Wow great job


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## taz007 (Dec 31, 2007)

great correction shots.


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