Detailed 01 Mercedes C320 silver

[turbo_911]

Last week has a privilege to detail this nice Mercedes, which wasn't in bad condition upon picking it up, since its hard to see any swirls or scratches on silver paint. But once I washed it and took a look under my lamp, I discovered a lot of scratches and swirls.

Interior wasn't in really bad shape except floor mats, but haven't had a change to take before pictures, same with engine compartment.

Overall it took around 10 hours. I don't have many before pics but will show couple for you guys to get an idea of what I was dealing.

It was really hard to capture scratched on silver paint, so if anyone have any tips please share Thank you.


BEFORE










DURING














AFTERS





























Thank for looking

[Shawn T.]

Re: Detailed 01 Mercedes C320 silver

Great job! Can you list the products you used?

[turbo_911]

Re: Detailed 01 Mercedes C320 silver

Great job! Can you list the products you used?

Used various products in various spots because I had to wetsand trunk lid, door and hood for scratches.

M105 on wool pad after sanding (rotary)
M105 on purple pad (rotary)
M205 on yellow pad (some places rotary, and then whole car with DA)
NXT 2.0 wax on black pad (DA)
HD 4:1 on engine
Interior detailer on dashboard
Leather lotion on leather
APC on carpet then vacuumed
NXT Glass cleaner on windows

I think that's about it lol.

[Ryan_Bihun89]

Re: Detailed 01 Mercedes C320 silver

Nice job man, great pictures btw.

Ryan

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Detailed 01 Mercedes C320 silver

The Benz looks great. Nice work.

[turbo_911]

Re: Detailed 01 Mercedes C320 silver

Nice job man, great pictures btw.

Ryan

The Benz looks great. Nice work.

Thank you guys!

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Detailed 01 Mercedes C320 silver

The car does look fantastic - nice work!

Yes, it can be tricky capturing swirls in lighter colors, but you did an outstanding job showing both their presence and absence - well done.

Quick question about sanding, though. Were you unable to remove the defects with the rotary/wool/M105 and so felt you sort of forced to sand first? Did you hand sand or D/A? What grit did you start and finish with? Did you have access to a paint thickness gauge?

[RDVT4ME]

Re: Detailed 01 Mercedes C320 silver

Nice job on the Benz!

I have a regular customer with the same car, same color interior. One thing that's a pain on the benz is the cloth on the interior where the door closes, by the bottom forward part of the door and also along the plastic door sill. With the light colored interior it always gets pretty dirty. It looks great when the car is new, but over time it does not always clean up perfectly and wears too.

[turbo_911]

Re: Detailed 01 Mercedes C320 silver

The car does look fantastic - nice work!

Yes, it can be tricky capturing swirls in lighter colors, but you did an outstanding job showing both their presence and absence - well done.

Quick question about sanding, though. Were you unable to remove the defects with the rotary/wool/M105 and so felt you sort of forced to sand first? Did you hand sand or D/A? What grit did you start and finish with? Did you have access to a paint thickness gauge?

Thank you

For sanding I did a little, basically to remove deep scratches that you can feel with the nail. I sanded lightly with 2000 grit and meguiars pad. And no I don't have access on paint thickness gauge, I basically sand on feel/touch/and have a good eye Been sanding like that for 4 years now and I just got a feel of it and can see how thick the paint is, though detailing I started not too long ago, around 2.5 years ago.

Nice job on the Benz!

I have a regular customer with the same car, same color interior. One thing that's a pain on the benz is the cloth on the interior where the door closes, by the bottom forward part of the door and also along the plastic door sill. With the light colored interior it always gets pretty dirty. It looks great when the car is new, but over time it does not always clean up perfectly and wears too.

Thank you.

And yes it does get dirty there, I spend some time cleaning it and making it look new again.

[ESSO]

Re: Detailed 01 Mercedes C320 silver

Used various products in various spots because I had to wetsand trunk lid, door and hood for scratches.

M105 on wool pad after sanding (rotary)
M105 on purple pad (rotary)
M205 on yellow pad (some places rotary, and then whole car with DA)
NXT 2.0 wax on black pad (DA)
HD 4:1 on engine
Interior detailer on dashboard
Leather lotion on leather
APC on carpet then vacuumed
NXT Glass cleaner on windows

I think that's about it lol.

Cool!! full step

[Andrew C.]

Re: Detailed 01 Mercedes C320 silver

Thank you

For sanding I did a little, basically to remove deep scratches that you can feel with the nail. I sanded lightly with 2000 grit and meguiars pad. And no I don't have access on paint thickness gauge, I basically sand on feel/touch/and have a good eye Been sanding like that for 4 years now and I just got a feel of it and can see how thick the paint is, though detailing I started not too long ago, around 2.5 years ago.

The car looks awesome! Don't take any offense to this, but how the heck can you tell by feel, touch, and eye how much clear is left when it is in microns! That is thinner than a sheet of paper.

You may want to invest in a paint thickness gauge. It will save you more money in the long run to have one rather than accidentally sand through someones clear and have to pay for an expensive repaint.

[turbo_911]

Re: Detailed 01 Mercedes C320 silver

The car looks awesome! Don't take any offense to this, but how the heck can you tell by feel, touch, and eye how much clear is left when it is in microns! That is thinner than a sheet of paper.

You may want to invest in a paint thickness gauge. It will save you more money in the long run to have one rather than accidentally sand through someones clear and have to pay for an expensive repaint.

Yeah I had done that in past on my own cars (sanded through the clear into paint lol) and idk how I do but from experience I approximately know how much clear is left. Where I don't know I don't sand at all, only in extreme situations. Its just I've been painting in shop a lot of stuff (bumpers, doors, hood) and once you look at clear you can see how much there is till you hit the paint. And yes, the stock paint/clear coat is a lot different then when you repaint the car.

Oh and none taken (I mean no offense lol)