Detailed: 1998 Mercedes Benz E430 - BLACK!!!

Wheels/Tires:
Meguiar's Deep Crystal on wheels
Meguiar's APC on tires/wheel wells
Meguiar's Cleaner Wax on wheels
Meguiar's Hyper Dressing on tires

Wash:
Gilmour Foam Gun with Meguiar's Gold Class/APC
Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and Gloss via 2BM
Meguiar's Microfiber Wash Mitt

Clay:
Meguiar's OTC Clay
Meguiar's Last Touch

Paint Correction:
Flex 3401 VRG
Meguiar's G100
Menzerna Super Intensive Polish / LC Orange Pad
Menzerna Nano Polish (106FF) / LC Grey Pad
Craftsman 500W Halogen Lights

LSP:
Menzerna Powerlock / Meguiar's Foam Applicator Pad

Misc:
Meguiar's NXT Metal Polish on the emblems

I have always detailed light colored cars. The darkest color I've detailed is our red minivan but I wasn't enthusiastic about polishing its paint because of the fact that it's a van. So when I got a chance to detail this BLACK E430, I was really excited. In addition, it's a Mercedes Benz so that got me more excited. The paint was just a mess. The rear bumper had some paintwork done to it but guess what they did??? They tried "buffing" the whole car only to leave buffer trails all over the place. Here are the before pictures:



















You guys can see how bad the paint looks right?? The reflection is pretty much blurred and it wasn't as clear as it should be.

Here are some wash pictures:





Clay after 1/2 of the trunk:



All taped up and ready to go:



I always try to use the least aggressive product first to get the job done. With this in mind, I tried using the Menz 106FF first with a LC white pad. Here are some pictures of my test panel:





As you can see, it still left behind some minor swirl marks. After seeing this, I was unsatisfied with the outcome so I decided to step it up to Menz SIP via LC orange pad. Here are some pictures throughout this step:



Driver side rear quarter panel:









Driver side rear door:







Driver side front door:





Driver side front fender:



After the whole car has been polished with Menz SIP, I then polished and jeweled the paint with Menz 106FF via LC grey pads. Here are some pictures after doing so:









Rear trunk 50/50 shots after SIP/106FF:

 

Here are some after shots inside the garage after Menz Powerlock has been applied:













Total time: Approximately 12 hours.



Photoshoot:



































What do you guys think?? I wanted to post better pics that's located in my photobucket account but I have exceeded the monthly bandwidth already. I thought it would reset today, July 1st but I guess not. Once it opens up then I'll modify my post to show the hi-res shots.

 

Talk about a new lease on life! Very nice work, that finish was hacked!

 

Nice job!! Hard paint??

 

nice job....

 

Thanks sir!

Thanks man! The paint wasn't hard at all. I don't think the older MB had the ceramic clears yet. I'm just glad it didn't have it because I don't think SIP will cut enough of those ceramic clears.

 

Wow man. Who touched that car last? LoL. That thing was hacked to say the least. You saved it big time. I was surprised to see that SIP was able to clear most all of that up . . . . but as you mentioned it was most likely before their ceramic clear coat.

Sweet sweet work! How long did that bad boy take you?

 

nice work!!! That's one solid Benz!

 

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A body shop who they said they charged $5k for a full paint job. I know I wouldn't bring my car there hahaha! I was really surprised. I was supposed to buy Meg's ultimate compound (didn't have enought time to buy M105) because I thought SIP won't cut it. I can't imagine working with those ceramic clear coats...

12 hours. I work slow.......

Thanks sir!

 

Nice work, Marc. Although detailing at night and in garages doesn't help much these days. Almost 90 degrees when I left for work at 6AM!:shakehead:

 

Great improvement!!!

am I the only one that noticed that those are MB rims from a C-class? They look funny on an E-class

 

Thanks man! Yeah it's getting there. It was 97 when I was driving to work today. ugh..

 

Nice work. I did one of those last year, but in a different color. Lot of sheet metal to cover.

 

nice save, back to where it should be.

MB ceramic clear started in 05

 

Thank you! I didn't know that those wheels were from a c-class. I think they still look classy.

Yeah it was a ton of work. I didn't really do a good job on the window sills because I didn't have a small enough pads. How did you deal with it?

Have you worked on the ceramic clears? How hard are they to buff out? Would SIP do or M105 needs to be used?

 

Fantastic turnaround! Great job.

 

Nice work on a black car, polishing the mistakes left behind by the so called professionals!

 

that is amazing if the flex ro can correct something that rooted

i want a flex now

 

Thanks!

Yeah I can't believe it either. I don't know why some people have rotary buffers.

I think it's partly because the paint is so soft. Probably the PC7424XP or the G110v2 would have achieved the same thing. What DA do you have? If you could, go grab the Flex. You'll be happy about your purchase.