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Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

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  • Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

    The owner of the White Proton was delighted therefore sent her personal car to me for a good clean up.

    The car was dirty inside out due to no available time to send it for a good wash (busy with work)

    Job took me around 26hours to complete all the things. (Still learning how to speed things up)

    Anyhow, on the with the writeup.

    Here are some picts on arrival 7pm-ish DAY 1.

    EXTERIOR










    hmm.....









    swirls



    swirls + buffer trails?


    More swirls


    WHEELS BEFORE



    bad attempt in playing with Photoshop



    ENGINE BEFORE













    INTERIOR BEFORE



    Hubby's shoes...


    Dusty.





    There were gummy residue on the steering buttons.







    Oh yeah! Red soil in the car...



















    Found few bubble gum stucked at the bottom of the front passager's seat. Owner have 2 little girls so...


    On the gear knob there were some sort of gummish residue..sticky stuff yuk


    Not sure what that stain is...smells like puke


    Sorry for the blurry picts but front dashboard was very very dusty.

    Washing
    Body
    Pressure Washed
    Presoaked with Meguiars HyperWash
    Rinsed off
    Washed with M62 via Meguiars MF Mitt + 2BM +grit guards
    Dried with 2 water magnets
    Clayed with Meguiars Blue Clay with Last Touch as lube
    Door Jambs - APC with brush and rinse off

    Wheels
    Since the wheels were badly covered in brake dust especially rear wheels, I used 10:1 and 4:1. Even 4.:1 had a hard time moving the caked on brake dust. Spent around 3-4 hours cleaning all wheels.
    Various brushes were used to clean all the nooks.
    Tried my best in removing all the caked on dust but there still some left.
    Sealed with M21 2.0 + M135

    Engine
    Very dusty and dirty. Even so, owner didnt want the engine to be washed with a PW or water of garden hose.



    End of day one - 2AM

    DAY TWO
    Started at 7am till 7pm ish.

    AFTER SHOTS OF THE WHEELS - from cleaning last night












    I decided to clean the interior first as judging from the owner's expectation, she's more interested in the interior than the exterior.

    Process
    -Interior fully vacuumed (incld all interior compartment)

    -Dust on all nooks and crannies were clean with vac and a detail brush

    -Carpets scrubed with APC and Extracted

    -Rubber mats scrubed with APC and dried - dressed with Meguiars Hyper Dressing

    -The dye on the leather was bleeding out. Didnt dare to use the steamcleaner. Thefore, wiped with warm water and cotton towel then used Meguiars GC Rich Aloe Leather Cleaner on all leather surface in the car and sealed with the Leather Conditioner.

    - Carpets+suede interior was cleaned with 3M upholstery cleaner with ScotchGard.

    - All gooey residue on the dash, steering buttons, door panel were cleaned with goo gone+Q tips

    -Pedals were cleaned with 3M Upholstery Cleaner+brush

    - Wood trimmings were sealed with M21 2.0 (used index finger to apply - buff off with Supreme Shine MF)

    Here are the after picts
























    There are still stains that wont budge even after cleaning it with the GC Leather CLeaner. Didnt wanted to push it so they were left to be.



    Seat rails were also cleaned with 3M carpet cleaner








    I then move on to the exterior of the car starting with the headlights.

    BEFORE PICS OF THE HEADLIGHTS


    Tar spots




    Swirls + tar spots







    Heavy scratches on the left side










    PROCESS:
    Headlights were plastic.
    PlastX with yellow applicator pad. Rubbed in and wiped with MF. Repeat till defects removed.
    ** PlastX cleans tar spots quickly too

    AFTER SHOTS



    1 Pass of PlastX - ahhh..much better than before






















    ENGINE
    Afterwhich I moved on to the engine bay. No major cleanup on the engine bay.
    Sprayed Last Touch to clean up the loose dirt. Wiped with MF - lots of them!
    Dressed with Hyper Dressing
    AFTER SHOTS




    End of Day 2


    DAY 3

    Delivery was today at 3pm. So started at 7AM till 2.30PM

    Took readings around the car. Looks like its quite low and considering certain facts, I didnt want to remove too much CC. Deeper RIDS were left to be.

    Paint Correction on the ceramiclear was done via
    D151 - Maroon and Yellow pad - Rotary
    M21 2.0 + M135 (finished correction around 1.30pm - so took time to give it some added protection with a sealant)


    REFLECTION SHOTS




    BEFORE CORRECTION



















    Deeper scratches still there. Left to be due to paint thickness







    I did checked to see whether defects were really removed instead of covered by spraying Det. Glass Cleaner - 2 times and checked yup, defects really gone.

    Almost forgot!

    The front signature hood emblem







    50/50 shot - cleaned with Meguairs Mag & Aluminum Polish - this removes the dirt and oxidization very2 easily.

    Outcome were as such:










    Finally is done!

    Here are some shots before delivering the car to the owner

    Enjoy (sorry took only a few - was running late)






















    I really enjoyed doing the car. The owner was very much pleased to see the car restored to a better level.

    Thanks for viewing and comments/suggestions are welcomed.

    Tim
    Last edited by TimG; Nov 26, 2008, 08:35 PM. Reason: typo
    Learning new things everyday

  • #2
    Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

    Dude, as always that was a great write up.

    great job. Thanks for sharing.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

      WOW!!
      The car looks great!
      Nice job!
      What do you use to clean the vents, like between all of the different levels?
      Joel
      Firefighter/EMT-B
      Rejuvenation Auto Detailing
      "Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Dirt Back!!!"
      '99 F-150

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

        Man, that's awesome. Fantastic job.
        '05 Arctic Blue Pearl Acura TSX
        '03 Silver Lexus RX 300

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

          Fantastic job!

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

            Great Work!
            SYDSTER

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

              Excellent work! I especially love the 50/50 shots. They're right on the money.
              We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.

              Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

                Thanks guys for the compliments.

                Joel - the vents were cleaned with MF cloth to remove loose dirt then using lots of Q tips, each louver is clean one by one with APC and/or GooGone.


                Tim
                Learning new things everyday

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

                  Tim,

                  Write-up, Pictures, and your results are all excelent! I would have liked to seen the owners face when she picked it up.



                  Mike
                  Why do we drive on a Parkway, and park on a Driveway

                  George Carlin

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

                    That was a fantastic write up. The results on the paint were completely awesome. Interior turned out great. Glad to here you took it easy on the leather after you saw the dye bleeding. What did she say about some of the seat stains remaining and the deeper RIDS remaining. just curious.

                    Andrew
                    2013 Race Red F-150 SCREW

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

                      Great work. The car looks great. Way to go, great job and write up as always.
                      quality creates its own demand

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

                        VERY NICE!!!
                        The only reason some people get lost in thought... is because it is unfamiliar territory for them.
                        --VoicesInMyHead--
                        0101011101100101001000000100000101110010011001010010000001000111011001010110010101101011

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

                          Mike, J.A, Voices - Thanks. Really glad the owner liked it. She really does focus more on the interior rather than the exterior side. Hope the kids behave...

                          Originally posted by onawrxhigh View Post
                          That was a fantastic write up. The results on the paint were completely awesome. Interior turned out great. Glad to here you took it easy on the leather after you saw the dye bleeding. What did she say about some of the seat stains remaining and the deeper RIDS remaining. just curious.

                          Andrew
                          Thank you.
                          She understood the condition of the leather. Some parts of the leather - especially at the door panels, the dye tend to bleed off even wiping with a terry towel soaked in warm water. Rub to hard, it'll bleed. So, I tried my best to be extra careful and not to make it worse plus GC 2 step leather care worked marvellously.
                          ps: I found a cute grafitti (maybe by the daugthers) at the rear headrest - didnt complete remove it but did lessen the damage.


                          There were still lots of RIDS - front hood , under the front headlights (looks like scratches from a dog - check with a loupe, was too deep - could see it penetrate to the primer so went on with only #07 + sealant) and rear bonnet.

                          Thickness of the paint was also quite low ranging from 72microns - 85 microns. So, with my limited experiences on Mercs and considering the owners character (which she will likely to instill more scratches in the future ) I just gave it a medium level of correction.



                          Tim
                          Last edited by TimG; Nov 27, 2008, 05:17 PM. Reason: typo
                          Learning new things everyday

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

                            super work, it was a bit nasty before, looks like D151 does a brilliant job

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Detailed: MERC E240 AVANTGARDE (56k no no)

                              Great job here. Those deep colors really come out great when the swirls are removed and polished. The interior looks great too. I hope she understood why you had to take so long it.
                              2016 Focus ST

                              Comment

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