2012 Mercedes C63 AMG - 2 step paint correction & Opti-Coat - Mr. Sparkle Detailing - Long Island

Client contacted me late last year about getting his new C series coupe protected with Opti-Coat. Once my shop was opened we settled on a date for a 1 step polish with Opti-Coat.

Upon arrival I learned that he was actually second owner, and the car was purchased with 6000 miles on the odometer. It must've been a hard 6000 miles because the paint was a bit swirled up, with a number of deep random scratches.

Started with a wash. Some foam gun action



Getting all the hard to reach places



Took some paint measurements and most of the car was 90-120microns. This is referring to the red painted areas (95% of the car). There was a few inch wide sliver of the roof painted black that was dangerously thin. I would have to take special care on the black painted areas.



Here is what I was up against as far as swirls go



Started with some test spots and this paint was H A R D and just generally tough to work with. I threw the bag at it and found that this paint was tough to fully correct, and would haze up quite a bit with anything aggressive. Then the gloss was difficult to restore. Deeper scratches just laughed at me. I knew this was going to be a long day and I reached out to the client to discuss.

Probably should've been a 3 step polish with wet sanding to get it truly 'perfect'. But budget and time constraints dictated otherwise. Client wanted to see a significant improvement with long lasting protection. This was also a daily driven vehicle, not a garage queen, so the decision was made for a 2 step polish.

Still wasn't easy settling on a combo I was happy with. Ultimately I went with:

Flex 3401 + LC Cyan + Menz SIP
Griots + LC Tangerine + SF4000


This offered a fair amount of correction while anything heavier in the cutting step seemed to need a lot of work to bring back the gloss

Apologize for the lack of correction shots, but this was a battle. Not an easy day for me at all. A lot of areas were hit twice with the initial cutting step to try and get a little more out of it. Also the client lived closeby and was waiting to pickup

before




after



After the correction the car was washed again, wiped down with 'Eraser' then protected with Opti-Coat

all finished up in the garage with owner on the way










under LED lights only





Client was very happy with the results and I finally took a moment to enjoy the fact that this was an amazing car with a 90+% perfect finish. I had a cold one, searched the forums (finding people who spent even longer than I did polishing similar paint) and had nightmares about mercedes lined up at the garage for correction lol

 

Great car. Great turnaround. This is refreshing to realize I'm not the ONLY ONE that's encountered this, lol. Not necessarily on Mercedes, but on other cars. Good job buddy!!

 

Looks really good after your work.

It is easy to lose the woods for the trees when doing paint correction. I do it all the time and it can take awhile to fully realize how much better off the vehicle is after my efforts. Glad to hear you were able to find that place of enjoyment so quickly

 

Great looking car, nice work on the detail. Red looks so good when done right. Even better than black in my opinion!

 

Really nice job and I love your studio! Nice work my friend. You need to ditch that Flex for Big Foot though

 

ohhhhhhh beauiful! Love the C63 coupe!

 

Everyone is hot on the rupes right now. I have 4 polishers and I thought that was plenty. Not sure I can justify the rupes just yet

 

Jeez, every time I see this C63 my SRT starts to worry about getting traded in, what a sick car. Great combo this guy went with, quality looking car right there. Great work getting it cleaned up to how it should be, thanks for sharing!