99' Mercedes Brabus, Black, re-paint with body shop love marks

[Detailing by M]

I just don't understand body shops! Every one I talk to has a BS horror story. They just abuse the heck out of the cars they are suppose to be fixing.
So here's another one of those.
The only OEM paint on this car was the doors. So I had no idea what to expect.
All in all it wasn't hard to work on but on spot above the drivers rear wheel.

Waterless wash, Speedy prep towel and on to buffing.

M105, MF cutting pads and my good old Flex (I'll miss you my old friend. We fixed a lot cars together... tear)
Black Wax was the wax my customer picked out of my choices.
D156 on the glass

Looks good from here but wait....








Nice over-spray and abuse


The reflective properties just weren't present enough for this little beauty


So while this car is in the BS they just rub all over it with their pants as they walk around it? Sad, just sad and it gets worse.


Some normal swirlies


Here we have some random crud thrown on the car. Maybe from lunch?


I think the BS tried to polish this fender with a dog or maybe a pigeon. I can't exactly tell.


My favorite pic


????


















the least of my worries


aaa, one spot they forgot to mess up for me


Well at least they didn't notice this car had rims or they would have try to clean them with there new putty knife.


I imagine them talking at lunch "enough messing up the paint now let's mess up the trim also"


Enough of those horrible pics. On to making this a beautiful car again


I did these little areas by hand with Meg's foam pad


3" pad to work the angles better


This is what M105 should look like after you've worked and area. No product left on the paint.


6 hrs latter




Dam I love Black! It just glows!!!!!


That's better

[davey g-force]

Re: 99' Mercedes Brabus, Black, re-paint with body shop love marks

Another messed up car, but you brought it back beautifully!

Very nice color once it's all polished up..

[DrdetailNashville]

Re: 99' Mercedes Brabus, Black, re-paint with body shop love marks

Looks great! I just had to retire my Flex also, it was a sad day.

[CreamPuff]

Re: 99' Mercedes Brabus, Black, re-paint with body shop love marks

You wear Crocs?

[Marc08EX]

Re: 99' Mercedes Brabus, Black, re-paint with body shop love marks

Wow that thing was trashed by it's good that you brought it back to life. I can't believe that's the paint condition fresh out of the body shop... Terrible.. At least they made a good choice calling you to fix all the problems.

Great job!!!

[Detailing by M]

Re: 99' Mercedes Brabus, Black, re-paint with body shop love marks

Thanks for the Kudos everyone.
Yes it's a shame it came out of a body shop like this. but I guess it's just what's going to happen if you take your car to a body shop. I think I'd re-paint my car myself to avoid this kind of abuse on such a wonderful car.

You wear Crocs?

I know, I know but do you know of a better "Wet Shoe?"
I held off on buying these for a year and then I said "oh well, I'm done being sexy"

[jarred767]

Re: 99' Mercedes Brabus, Black, re-paint with body shop love marks

Quite a transformation. Nice work man!!

I feel ya on the issues with the shoes, I were flip flops and my feet kinda hate me for it. I wearing shoes, and once summer up here is over the flops return to the closet and it's back to regular running shoes, which my feet hate even more cause they just get wet and the feet stay moist. Do you like the crocs, and what do you do once it gets cooler? Or does it ever get that cold down there?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: 99' Mercedes Brabus, Black, re-paint with body shop love marks

Nice work, Mario!

We believe he got the Crocs idea from Joe at Superior Shine - the Croc King!

Jarred, as for it getting cold here, we do have those crazy winter days where it will get down to the high 40s for a few minutes, but mostly in the middle of the night when we aren't detailing anyway. I once had to chastise a detailer for posting that it was "brutally cold" when doing a seminar in his shop - it was 45F. I told him that posting such things on the Internet would only open the rest of the world to attack him for being a sissy. He's a SoCal native, but I grew up in Michigan so I've experienced true, serious, crazy cold. But I wised up and left that behind long ago!! We are a wee bit spoiled here when it comes to the weather.

[Detailing by M]

Re: 99' Mercedes Brabus, Black, re-paint with body shop love marks

Crocs are very, very comfortable. They are all squishy. When I'm not working and I wear shoes, I don't like them anymore because they're not all squishy.
I where during the winter too, lol winter. I mean the holiday season.
I can get them all wet and my feet aren't soaked any more as with shoes.
And yes Mike I got the idea from Joe and made fun of him too for wearing them.
But you can't beat them.

[C8N]

Re: 99' Mercedes Brabus, Black, re-paint with body shop love marks

I think the BS tried to polish this fender with a dog or maybe a pigeon. I can't exactly tell.

My guess would be a porcupine.
Beautiful car and more importantly... beautiful work!

[jarred767]

Ha, you guys just think your winters are sooo awesome.... well they are, and I'm jealous.

Anyways, so the crocs work pretty good in the summer when it's hot, but what about in the cooler months for you? Even in like the 50's or low 60's for you guys I bet just bare feet and a pair of crocs aren't the best for keeping your feet warm, especially while washing a car, what do you do then? Oh, and I've got winter covered with the work boots and wool socks while its 35 and I'm spraying frost or snow off a car at 8am on a January morning, so no worries there.

Oh and BTW, sorry for kinda high jacking the thread, just seemed like an opportune time to ask.

[Detailing by M]

Re: 99' Mercedes Brabus, Black, re-paint with body shop love marks

I ware these year round.
It's only really cold in the morning, 50 degrees, lol. Envy me!
I'll take my socks off, wash and then put them back on. Crocs make your feet really dirty thus socks to keep me clean.

[jarred767]

I ware these year round.
It's only really cold in the morning, 50 degrees, lol. Envy me!
I'll take my socks off, wash and then put them back on. Crocs make your feet really dirty thus socks to keep me clean.

Hmm, good to know, thanks for the info man. I'll have to give it a shot because at this rate my feet are gonna be screwed in a couple years.

And I do envy you...wish I could convince the wife to move south away from family