# Wrecked CLK Back to Black swirl fest!



## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

*Wrecked CLK Back to Black swirl fest! Update beading piccys *

It's been a long time coming this thread, 5 weeks actually, as all the paperwork needed to be sorted out and it had to be insured, then the Porsche started to act up so I had to use this and here we are, finally ready to start the thread, though there is more to come than this :lol:

So we start with a few weeks worth of dirt on it, but looking fundamentally OK from a few feet away in low light



Dirty bonnet :tumbleweed:



Been fly killing again 



As usual, sharing drive space with that damn 307 of my brothers, but what can I do, I have no drive atm so off to the Mothers house it was :car:



Filthy rump 





The wheels were fecked, so I got these of a C class avantgarde that was going for scrap and had them refurb'd and they really suit the car actually, so am well chuffed with them and the original ones can be done by me for use with winter tyres 



They've only been on 2 weeks and have done less than 400 miles, so not too shabby, but they need balancing again methinks 





After washing with lather and the 2bm, I clayed with BH soft and glide, and when the sun came out, I was reminded how bad the car actually looked 











Not just the bonnet affected either...



On the door too



Amazing how it doesn't look so bad at this angle, but...



...look closely at the paint :doublesho





The boot lock was a bit, erm, weathered 



The idea of a blind man painting this with black hammerite and a stick fits quite nicely



But back to the factory paint and its hologramming





Oh dear











Some more dodgey rust hiding repairs :doublesho





My last CLK had a big patch like this in exactly the same place, they all seem to go here 





I started wetsanding this bit



Struth!!!



:doublesho:doublesho:doublesho





Quarter panel with wetsanded wheelarch looking better after 2 passed of S3 on a yellow hexi-logic, but I changed to Megs 105 halfway round the car as I ran out of S3



There are pics missing here, I got so into the groove compounding and refining the drivers side, I forgot to take piccys  You'll just have to take my word for it, it was bad. Now this is the bit where I admit my car has a dark secret, few other Mercedes posses this most rare piece of equipment, the lesser spotted 6 speed manual gearbox, and here is the scuffed gearknob in all its glory



Scuff repair working it's magic



On Day 3, I downed tools to have a panad at lunchtime and I caught this shot of the passenger side. I hope you can see the difference :buffer:



Day 4, the roof was protected with Gtechniq I1 (fantastic product) and the paint was protected with CarPro CQuartz UK, which when I ordered it, seemed like a good idea as the weather was colder. Now it's been nearly 20 ambient temp, panel temps must be off the scale, so I needn't have worried and it really is idiot proof in application. 1 hour later, a coat of reload was applied.







Bonnet looks waaaaay better now :lol:





Sorry, couldn't resist :spam:



Before I broke out the beers this evening, I slapped a coat of mint rims on the alloys and broke out the satin tyre shine and went back to my house for the evening.



Tomorrow I'm also off (no GCSE or 6th form to teach!!!) and I'll crack on with the interior, roof tray, door shuts, under bonnet and boot and clean up any other nasty's along with another coat of reload and a top up on the wheels 

Hope you like it as much as I do, though I miss my 430 V8 coupe, having a cab is great atm and I'm getting used to the gearbox, though the pedals are too close together and there are 4 of them thanks to the parking brake (whoever said German design is better than anyone else's is a liar) and although not quite as quick and doesn't sound as good as the V8, the 230K is nice and so far has averaged 32.3 mpg  Impressive as the 430 only managed 18 mpg according to the computer! Though it's only sat at 60mph, roof down on the motorway for a few days.

It's a 2001 on a Y plate btw, with 71,000 miles on the clock. The finishing touch will be a new set of plates with Mercedes-Benz UK info on them. This P/Plate was my grandmothers; she got when it came out in 1979 and put on her new 350SL, and all through my life she had it on Merc's including a 500 SEC, a W124 E320 cab and a C140 S500 coupe. Sadly, she died some time ago and left me this plate and I put it on my Mercs, and only Mercs. If I don't have one, it gets left on retention. So that will be the best bit for me, unwrapping those puppies 

More pics to follow :detailer:


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## ryan l (Apr 2, 2013)

nice work man


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

So today I attended to some finishing touches including touching up the paint on the door



Here's the finished


Well, first coat 

While the sun was out, I also hoovered the mats and gave them a coat of I1 and finale'd the shuts. After that, it was time for more sun shots :thumb:













Bonnet much improved



Yes, a handful of rds remain, but y'know, I'm not that bothered, it looks a million times better













And it's coned tax disc holder and seal of protection :thumb:



All C&C's welcome :buffer:


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## bazz (May 15, 2007)

what a great job you have done looks a million times better


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## bmerritt87 (Mar 24, 2013)

Good job, looking much better, can't beat black :thumb:


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## ken m sport (Aug 5, 2007)

What an improvement, interior looks like is your next job!


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## Natalie (Jan 19, 2011)

Fantastic work, it looks like a new car! :thumb:


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## Chrissyronald (Jan 15, 2012)

Nice turnaround there :thumb:


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks for the comments guys, yes the patch on the leather on the drivers seat is next on the list and when I get my wet vac back I'll sort the stains on the floor mat too. I'm waiting for rain now to test the beading!!!


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## The Pan Man (Apr 16, 2010)

Best looking model of CLK by miles. Nice work all over, the bad news is you will always miss that V8 rumble.
My E550 needs the exhaust sorted it's too quiet. A trip to MIJ will be organised soon.


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## martyp (Oct 24, 2006)

Great work, really has come up a treat. It's such a shame the modern Mercs are so prone to rusting. 

Totally agree with Pan Man, the W208 was the best CLK ever made. I've got the W209 and it's just a girls car. :lol:

Like you I downsized from a V8 although only dropped to a V6 but still miss that feeling of torque. Running my CLK through winter and next Spring it will be given the boot for a 03 or newer CL600 (V12 bi-turbo), I honestly can't wait to own one. Best part is the body is aluminium though.


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks guys, yes I know the V8 rumble is already sorely missed. The supercharger does make a nice whine! I'd have liked a CL too, but I couldn't find one and the misus wanted a convertible and so did I really :argie:


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## Rabidracoon28 (May 31, 2012)

very nice pal


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## Soul Hudson (Jul 5, 2011)

Your hard work looks to have payed off. Looks spot on in the sunlight.

Nice work.


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks everyone, very much appreciated :thumb:

I haven't been out of it yet and the roof has rarely been up since I finished it and even the manual box and parking brake has become a non issue already and I am so happy with the car considering the sub £2k price tag


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

Finally it's rained!!!!! I've been waiting for this all week to see the beading from the cquk and reload combo and here are the shots :argie:





Roof looking good too 















Was worth all the work just to see that :detailer:


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## rsdan1984 (Jul 31, 2009)

nice job - it must have been nice with such a terrible starting place, always makes for a huge transformation! mind if i ask why you opted to wet sand straight away?


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## austrom1 (Aug 25, 2011)

Cracking job fella


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks again guys :buffer:

rsdan1984- sorry, i forgot to mention I did try polishing the arches with the same combo but it wasn't doing, so I went in with the 1800 grit down to 4000 and polished up. The new aerosol paint was the right colour (Schwatrz Black) but the blend was poor. I didn't wetsand the whole car though! Sorry if I didn't make that clear :spam:


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## rsdan1984 (Jul 31, 2009)

now that i've re-read it it does makes sense!


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## Matty77 (Nov 7, 2012)

Great job!!


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

rsdan1984 said:


> now that i've re-read it it does makes sense!


No worries, we all do it :thumb:

Now you've mentioned it, the passenger door could do with less orange peel...


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

I thought I'd drag this old thread up instead of making a new one; last week my misus claimed my Mercedes 'ran away' down the drive by itself. I was sceptical and I think she didn't apply the foot operated parking brake, but never mind, here's what she did to it 











Not very pretty is it? 

So I hit fleabay, got a headlight for £60 and cued the music





Once the dent was improved, but not completely gone (might work on that again...) I fitted the new light after snapping only 2 bolts









After doing all that, I polished out the scratches which was amazingly easy, possibly down to the cquartz, which was good, then re-sealed and washed the rest of the car before topping up with reload and applying AS Highstyle to the tyres















Hope you think it looks OK :thumb:


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

Thought you might like to see how the car is holding up, now last week a major disaster happened; the BMW and the Peugeot both broke down on the same day :doublesho The X5 decided it didn't want to run on LPG anymore and the fuel pump ECU had a fit; the 407 expired with a noise I can only describe as like a bomb going off before it conked out. It was checked over very thoroughly, but no evidence was found, it's fine now  That meant I needed to get the Benz back, so I went to fetch it from it's top secret hiding place (Mothers house) and give it a wash.

It was just supposed to be resting, but it has been driven by my mother after her Freelander i6 was written off and it hasn't been washed under instruction. She could have asked me to do it though :wall:









These were soaked in Imperial 10:1 then Iron Out applied and it found very little





Shows the cquartz works 

I did a quick 2 bucket wash with AG BSC (limited equipment atm!) and rinsed





These are reflections in the drivers door











Had to do a quick once over on the interior while I was there











And the last 2 before I made a quick escape and press the Merc back into daily service





Loved the drive home, this car is so quick and quiet, only the noise lets the side down; still wish I just took a tin opener to my old V8 one instead, but this 4 banger is more sensible.

This car is booked for a 2 week driving holiday to Nice in September with a few other mates with convertible cars, so can't wait for that.

Hope you likey :wave:


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## CK_pt (Dec 27, 2009)

Looks great! I would only change the wheels to these










Is the car obsidian black or 040 black?

Just another question, how did you remove the front bumper impact strips? My dad's W210 needs a thorough clean.:thumb:


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks :thumb:
I had a set of those on my 430



God, the noise :driver: The rust and fuel economy let it down though :doublesho

The original alloys are the 17 inch AMG jobbies; they're in the house due a refurb. These came from a C-Class I think.

It's 040 black, solid Schwarz Black

Can't quite remember 100% how to pull the rubbing strips off, I think you need to pull them inboard of the bumper towards the grill then they come off. You'll know how it works when you have a play yourself :driver:


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## James Bagguley (Jul 13, 2013)

Epic thread Mr Monster!  Quite a story, great read, fantastic results :thumb:


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## R14CKE (Aug 10, 2012)

CoOkIeMoNsTeR said:


>


Lookin good liking the flag in the garage window!! 👍


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## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks lads, and yeah it does no harm to remember where you came from :thumb: My mother is a big fan and was busy screaming at the telly while I was out there :lol:


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