need help w/black 91 MBZ

[garysalas]

just registered a couple of minutes ago...

i've got a black 91 mercedes that sat under some trees for 2 yrs. the car's hood, roof, and truck lid are the worst, as you can imagine.

lots of ingrained water spots and just bad surface. although, the paint seems to be ok.

my question is how should i start? i do have a porter cable machine and pads but i have never used it/them. live in a condo complex so i don't have access to outdoor electricity, although i do have a 1000watt converter that i could hook up to my car battery to run the machine. don't know if that would work...

if that doesn't work then i need a hand polishing/cleaning procedure. i would also like a machine procedure.

any and all the help is appreciated. thanks

[Murr1525]

Re: need help w/black 91 MBZ

I would probably by hand...

1. Wash
2. Clean at least the hood, roof, trunk with UC
3. Clay
4. Clean - UC or SwirLX as needed
5. Polish - Optional, but probably a good idea in this case. DC Polish is easy to use.
6. Wax
7. Wax

What machine and pads do you have available?

[Shawn T.]

Re: need help w/black 91 MBZ

Why would you clean the hood, roof and trunk with UC before claying it? Wouldn't UC be more effective if applied after claying? Not sure if thats a trick of the trade of just a typo. Otherwise then that, I would follow everything Murr says, man is a detailing genius!!

[Murr1525]

Re: need help w/black 91 MBZ

Well, just going based on the description, you may eat through a lot of clay to remove the gunk.

If you will be buying some UC to remove paint defects anyway, an application first could remove some of the gunk, saving the clay some work.

It would be more of a gunk removal step, than a paint correction step. Kind of like a time and place for Dawn, getting gunk off if needed.

[Shawn T.]

Re: need help w/black 91 MBZ

Alright, I see what you mean now. That makes sense.

[artdiefenbach]

Re: need help w/black 91 MBZ

A 19 year old finish that's been left outside is about as bad as it gets. You're going to need to get some electricity for that polisher unless you've got a barrel of elbow grease. The Meguiar's products can be a little confusing with the different product lines. But I recommend you go with the Professional Line M105 Ultra Cut Compound and then M205 Ultra Finishing Polish. The M105 is a little more aggressive than the Ultimate Compound, but it sounds like you need the cleaning power. You may need two or three applications to remove the defects. The M205 is similar to the Deep Crystal Polish, but has a little more cutting power. The smallest size available for the M105 and M205 is one quart and they are not stocked in many consumer auto supply stores. Look for a professional auto supply store or get it at Amazon.com. In the end I think they will give you a better result and quicker that the UC, DCP combo.

Also I think you'd be wasting time by cleaning first and then claying.

You didn't say which model Polisher you had, but you want to use the 8000 series pad to apply the M105 or UC. The I recommend you do one pass of the M105 using the 8000 series polishing pad and then a second with the 9000 series finishing pad.

For the wax I recommend Gold Class over NXT Tech wax. I've used both and they are both great. But I've had an irregular greasy look on black finishes sometimes with the Tech wax on black paint. It goes away after a day or two. But I like the car to look perfect immediately after I've finished. Apply the wax with a 9000 series finishing pad.

You may not be able to get every defect out, but if you follow my recommendations you will get as good a finish as possible with Meguiar's products.

So summarize my recommended procedure:
1. Wash
2. Clay
3. M105 Ultra Cut Compound (preferably) or Ultimate Compound applied with 8000 series pad (speed 5)
4. M205 Ultra Finishing Polish (preferably) or Deep Crystal Polish applied with 8000 series pad first and then a second application with a 9000 series pad (speed 5)
5. Wax applied with a 9000 series pad (speed 4)

I also recommend you attend one of Meguiar's Saturday training classes. It will really help you understand the products and application techniques. They might even use your car as the demo car. Or you could come on a Thursday night and try out the products to see the differences and which one is best for you. They are located in Irvine which is only about an hour and quarter from San Diego.

One final thought. You don't have to do the whole car in one day. It would be a long hard day to do everything I recommended. And you don't have to do all the steps on all the sections of the car. The horizontal surfaces will be the worst. So try to do all the steps on the hood, roof and trunk. The sides can probably get by with just one pass of the M105 and one of the M205. So maybe start with just the hood and do all the steps. And then go from there.

Good luck and let us know what you do and how it works out. Before and after pics would be nice.

[artdiefenbach]

Re: need help w/black 91 MBZ

Good news. I just found out the the M105 and M205 are now available in 8 oz. size. Still would need to go to a pro store, but you may not need a whole quart. The link below gives the details.

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41449

I also just notices that you post was in the Consumer Line Forum. So I will back off a little and acknowledge that you will do just fine with UC and DCP if you choose. And you can get the same results with hand application as you would with a power application, but as I said before it will take a lot of effort.

[garysalas]

Re: need help w/black 91 MBZ

the machine i have is a porter cable 7424 6" variable speed random orbit and the pads as i recall...one was yellow, another orange, and probably some more i just have to find them. the pad that came with the machine is white with a blue back.

to everyone, thanks for info, i would have never been able to figure out what to do. like you said meguiar has so many products its confusing.

artdiefenbach, thanks for detail and the saturday class suggestion. one question what is DCP...not up on the detailing acronymns

[artdiefenbach]

Re: need help w/black 91 MBZ

DCP is Deep Chrystal Polish. In the Consumer Line Meguiar's offers a 3 step process in the Deep Chrystal Series.
Step 1: Deep Chrystal System Paint Cleaner
Step 2: Deep Chrystal System Polish
Step 3: Deep Chrystal System Carnauba Wax
These products are entry level products for people who want to do more than just wax their car. They work very well, especially together, and are easy to apply and remove.
The next step up is what I would call the advance consumer line. Here you would use the products below. They cost a little more and theoretically work better.
Step 1: Ultimate Compound
Step 2: SwirlX
Step 3: Gold Class Carnuba Premium Was or NXT Generation Tech Wax

Then you have the Professional which has what seems to be 100 different cleaning and polishing products. That's because professionals have many different situations to accommodate and Meguiar's has tried to accommodate most of them.

You polisher is fairly new and a good one to use to apply any of the products we've discussed. Regarding your pads. It sounds like you have the Lake Country Pads. I use the Meguiar's Pads, but I've heard that the Lake Country Pads are very good. Lake Country make a wide variety of pad styles and sizes. This link to Proper Auto Care should help you figure out which pads you have and which ones to use for the products we discussed. www. properautocare.com/hi612infopaa.html

[garysalas]

Re: need help w/black 91 MBZ

...seeing how i'm gonna have to use the recommended 4 step process, do they need to be done on the same day? or could i clay and ultimate compound and then a couple of days later finish? thanks

[BlackScreaminMachine]

Re: need help w/black 91 MBZ

as long as you got a dry spot (garage!?) and you can leave and come back to it.

if it gets rained on, you most times need to re wash and dry and inspect.

[Murr1525]

Re: need help w/black 91 MBZ

Well, you can do whatever you want.

Claying all at once would be good. You may want to clean and wax a panel at a time, or you may want to clean everything, then wax everything, etc. Just do what seems to fit best for you.

I think if you will be going over a few days, it would be nice to wax the parts you clean.