# Mercedes SL55 AMG- Gleammachine.



## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

This newly purchased special order blue SL55 was booked in by a previous customer and forum member that I had the pleasure of working for before on a couple of cars.

Dean being a keen enthusiast, the car was in a pretty clean state upon arrival, so after a quick wipedown with some detailing spray and plush towels the car was brought inside the superbly lit garage, some spot de-contamination and then any vunerable trim masked up.

Certain stone chips had been filled prior to my arrival, these were flattened down using 3000 grit and left just proud of the surface, the cutting stage of the polishing would flatten the remainder flush.

Knowing how hard the paint generally is on these SL's, I started out with a test area on the bootlid with some IP3.02 on a green Hexi-logic pad, this brought a decent level of swirl removal but had little effect on some of the deeper scratches, the polish then progressed upwards to Meguiars #105 which produced the desired results with a couple of sets per panel.




























Typical defects throughout,



















The pillars and glass roof surrounds were dealt with using IP3.02 on a lake country CCS pad,























































At the end of day 1 all major panels had been corrected leaving just the lower sills, bumpers and mirrors for the next day.

*Day 2.*

An early start and the final cutting stages completed, followed by an IPA wipedown to check for any areas missed.
Refinement stage was done using #205 on a black Hexi-logic pad, followed again by an IPA wipedown to remove any polishing oils,

My company for the day and kept me on my toes,










The vehicle then pulled outside and BH Autofoam applied through the lance and left to dwell shortly, then pressure rinsed and dried using Uber plush towels,



















*Paintwork cleansed using Zymol HD-cleanse.
*The already polished britework sealed using Britemax final shine.
*A further layer of Poorboys wheel sealant applied.
*Tyres dressed using CG new look gel, left for 2 hours and buffed to a satin sheen.
*Rubber seals fed using Swissvax seal feed.
*Glass polished using Duragloss nu-glass and sealed.
*Paintwork protected with Zymol Destiny.
*Plastic wiper and front emblem housing given an IPA wipdown and sealed with GT C4.
*Mess areas protected with Opti-seal.
*Interior vacuumed, trim wiped down with a mild apc solution, leather cleaned and fed using Swissvax leather milk.
*Final wipedown with Dodo red mist.

Just in time before the darkness had set in, the final pictures.

*Results.*















































































































































Thanks for looking and comments welcomed and appreciated.:thumb:


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## karl_liverpool (Sep 25, 2008)

lovely car that is and stunning work as always mate.

thats a sweet garage you have there too.


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## stuy180 (Mar 10, 2008)

Stunning results as per.. :thumb:


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## -tom- (Jan 27, 2009)

Very nice results as all ways bud  on one sexy car :argie: Dean you have some fantastic cars and the garage is something else any more pics please :argie:


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Stunning! Now show us the Fezza 360 under the cover


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## paddy328 (Mar 4, 2007)

Wow, thats amazing, i love that colour. I see the cs hiding in the background.

Rob, your killing it at the moment, keep up the good work.

On another note, ive got the 105 and for me, it doesnt do alot and seems to disapear into the pad, id be interested to know your technique with it.

Francis


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## Perfection Detailing (Nov 3, 2007)

That looks stunning Rob, cracking finish mate :thumb:

What a lovely colour that is :argie:


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## tim (May 2, 2006)

Excellent work, and in a fantastic but rare colour!

Your photography is definitely improving!


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## *MAGIC* (Feb 22, 2007)

Great colour but I am confused now wasnt James there a couple of months ago doing the 360 and you were there before that???

Robbie


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

-tom- said:


> Very nice results as all ways bud  on one sexy car :argie: Dean you have some fantastic cars and the garage is something else any more pics please :argie:





Mini 360 said:


> Stunning! Now show us the Fezza 360 under the cover


Cheers Guys.
Ferrari 360 CS from a couple of years ago, the only downside I couldn't get any outside finished pictures due to the weather.
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=73308



Emerald Detailing said:


> Wow, thats amazing, i love that colour. I see the cs hiding in the background.
> 
> Rob, your killing it at the moment, keep up the good work.
> 
> ...


Much appreciated Francis, 
there are 2 variants of #105, V1 wasn't suitable for DA and had little in regards to polishing oils causing it to dry out very quickly when using it by rotary.
V2 is much better and has a longer working time, I tend to prime the pad well, spread at low speed with no pressure, then go straight up to 2000 rpm at moderate pressure, back down to 1500rpm to finish down.

If you have V1 it won't show a DA on the labelling at the back.
Hope this helps mate.


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

*MAGIC* said:


> Great colour but I am confused now wasnt James there a couple of months ago doing the 360 and you were there before that???
> 
> Robbie


The owner uses a few of us, all of us have produced work to the highest standard, it's just whoever is available at the time he needs it done, the 360 was done by Sportscar protection before I did it.


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## -ROM- (Feb 23, 2007)

Lovely work mate!

That's a very similar colour to my father's 911 that i'll be doing a full correction on next month.


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## DBSK (Apr 22, 2008)

hmmm thats tastey :thumb:


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## jtford95 (Feb 17, 2010)

Great job!! I love that color when it is done proper. Your cat looks like my cat.


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## Misha (Feb 13, 2010)

looks pretty nice. great job, sad to see that it comes like that from factory, manufactuere need to do better job in polishing them


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

Misha said:


> looks pretty nice. great job, sad to see that it comes like that from factory, manufactuere need to do better job in polishing them


Thanks, the car was newly purchased but not a "New car", at least a couple of years old I think.


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## -ROM- (Feb 23, 2007)

Yup the new shape has been out for at least 18 months IIRC.


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## rds1985 (Mar 7, 2009)

don't see to many in that colour has come up nicely!


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## paddy328 (Mar 4, 2007)

Chees rob. i'll have a look.


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

Looks awesome!


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## MrLOL (Feb 23, 2007)

excellent work. Really shows off that blue to its best.

Slightly OT, but are those garage tiles the rubber ones that click together ?


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## Dynamics (Dec 27, 2006)

Absolutely Stunning, what a gorgeous colour, do you know what its called?


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## Strauss (Feb 18, 2010)

Amazing results! Suprised to see that you finished with M105, I don't see many people use that for finishing work. Any particular reason you used M105 instead of M205 for the last polishing step? And once again, nice work!


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## ChrisST (Jul 19, 2009)

Stunning results, I was going to say it looks like new but to be honest I think that would do you a disservice, it looks better than new. So nice to see one in something other than black or silver.:thumb:


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## DiamondD (Feb 26, 2010)

i do say fantastic job on a great color car:thumb:


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

MrLOL said:


> excellent work. Really shows off that blue to its best.
> 
> Slightly OT, but are those garage tiles the rubber ones that click together ?


Thanks, the tiles are not rubber but more a flexible plastic, think they are clicked together.



Dynamics said:


> Absolutely Stunning, what a gorgeous colour, do you know what its called?


Dean did tell me but I can't remember, it's a special order "Designo" colour, I'm sure he'll be along at some point to clarify.



Strauss said:


> Amazing results! Suprised to see that you finished with M105, I don't see many people use that for finishing work. Any particular reason you used M105 instead of M205 for the last polishing step? And once again, nice work!


Many thanks, an error on my part and should read #205, thanks for pointing it out.:thumb:



ChrisST said:


> Stunning results, I was going to say it looks like new but to be honest I think that would do you a disservice, it looks better than new. So nice to see one in something other than black or silver.:thumb:


Thanks Chris, yep totally agree about the colour, done a couple in black and have a silver one on my books to maintain, but that blue is beautiful.


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## GlynRS2 (Jan 21, 2006)

That is a stunning looking finish


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## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

Nice looking SL - love the colour


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## Leemack (Mar 6, 2009)

Stunning work :thumb:


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

Very nice indeed Rob & gorgeous colour too

Baz


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## Nanolex (Jun 8, 2008)

Quality job! :thumb:


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

cracking work.. definatly a great example of the level of finish we need to be producing!!! one detail that I will be using as a personal benchmark!! did u redo the disks as they look unusually silver for an older Merc?


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## JoeAVS1 (Jul 8, 2008)

Nice work mate:thumb:

I have a very similar garage to yours, where'd you get the flooring & roughly how much?

Regards, Joe AVS


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

That looks the mutts nuts Rob , fantastic finish mate and such a nice environment to keep it in as well :thumb:


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## Guest (Feb 28, 2010)

Stunning :thumb: great enviroment to work in too


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

cracking finish!


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## magic919 (Mar 11, 2007)

Great job as usual, Rob.


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

Thanks for all the comments guys, as always much appreciated.:thumb:



Ronnie said:


> cracking work.. definatly a great example of the level of finish we need to be producing!!! one detail that I will be using as a personal benchmark!! did u redo the disks as they look unusually silver for an older Merc?


Thanks Ronnie your comments are much appreciated, the alloys were refurbished and the hub forms a large part of the wheel.



JoeAVS1 said:


> Nice work mate:thumb:
> 
> I have a very similar garage to yours, where'd you get the flooring & roughly how much?
> 
> Regards, Joe AVS


Thanks Joe, it is very similar in shape to my garage, but unfortunately this one wasn't mine, the owner is a member so he may be able to shed some light on the flooring.



ads2k said:


> That looks the mutts nuts Rob , fantastic finish mate and such a nice environment to keep it in as well :thumb:


Cheers Adam, yep it's a lovely workspace, when I showed the wife she was very envious of the gloss red units, would love them in her kitchen.


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## kings.. (Aug 28, 2007)

beautiful car and great work.... got some awesome depth in tha colour, looks really rich


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## KKM (Dec 10, 2007)

Thats some finish Rob, not normally a big fan of Mercs, but I think you might of changed that.......... stunning colour.

:thumb:


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## JoeAVS1 (Jul 8, 2008)

Gleammachine said:


> Thanks Joe, it is very similar in shape to my garage, but unfortunately this one wasn't mine, the owner is a member so he may be able to shed some light on the flooring.


Ah I see, No worries , thanks for the reply. Awesome finish though, you obviously took your time with the 205. Good man:thumb:


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## Baker21 (Aug 7, 2007)

WOW........:doublesho

Seriously nice motor that and the final pics look amazing, some serious depth to the paintwork and a credit to you........:thumb:

That's one heck of a nice garage also and very lucky owner to have both that and the Ferrari, looks like a really nice work area inside the garage........


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## Ultimate Shine (Jun 3, 2008)

sunning mate as always and i forgot to say i like you number plate:thumb:


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

I thought it may have been Dean's car when you posted a few pics on twitter - recognised the garage and the 360 shaped car cover :thumb:

Car looks stunning Rob


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Oh and Dean - info on the floor please when you see this :thumb:


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## d8ean (Feb 14, 2008)

great job by rob, cars depth of colour is unreal, something to do with the special order paint....

just one or two bits left to tidy up, once thats done we can start using her...

clark, floor is made by a company called racedeck - goto racedeck.com i've had it done around 5 years and it still scrubs up like new - cost a fair bit to get it shipped from salt lake city (not sure if a company has started trading it in the uk?) but it was worth the extra bux. I went for tuffshield which gave the tiles a shiny finish - i see now they do chrome and wheels stop etc

any other questions let me know


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

d8ean said:


> great job by rob, cars depth of colour is unreal, something to do with the special order paint....
> 
> just one or two bits left to tidy up, once thats done we can start using her...
> 
> ...


I wondered if it was possibly racedeck - we have something similair in the unit called dynotile which is in the UK but I quite fancy some RD for my own garage, thanks mate


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

d8ean said:


> great job by rob, cars depth of colour is unreal, something to do with the special order paint....
> 
> just one or two bits left to tidy up, once thats done we can start using her...
> 
> ...


Many thanks Dean and always a pleasure, will be in contact soon regarding what we discussed the other day on the phone.:thumb:


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## d8ean (Feb 14, 2008)

cool matey


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## PaulN (Jan 17, 2008)

d8ean said:


> just one or two bits left to tidy up, once thats done we can start using her...


Lovely car mate, Whos the lucky main user then?

Cheers

PaulN


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## R7KY D (Feb 16, 2010)

That is amazing , Im not really a blue car fan , But that is something else


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Top work mate :thumb:


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