porschefan1013

After a few months of ownership, I finally got my *** out to the garage to give the car a proper detail. It was utterly pointless trying to capture the detail process, as the silver made it very difficult to see the swirls and marring with my own eyes, much less a camera.

I suppose there is a trade-off to silver. The upside is that it always looks clean. The downside is that it never looks REALLY clean like a darker colored car. Don't get me wrong, the paint is popping, but it lacks that visual "wow factor" that a freshly polished/sealed/waxed black car would have.

I went for about 90-95% correction in the paint. It's my daily, so I wasn't going to kill myself. Below are some of my favorite products that were used, along with pictures I took today.

-Matt


My weapon of choice....Flex 3401 orbital polisher. This thing is the bomb.



I did a spot treatment, using M105 with an orange pad to take out a couple deeper scratches here and there. Lots of people like to use it on the entire vehicle as their first stage of polishing.



Menzerna SIP (with an orange pad) was my first step product on the entire vehicle.



Menzerna Super Finish (with a white pad) was used for round 2.



Then I coated the car with Menzerna Power Lock sealant. This stuff is AMAZING! It's my favorite detailing product. Using a very minimal amount on a red pad, you can coat the vehicle's surface in no time. It comes off easy, provides long lasting durable protection and leaves the paint feeling and looking slippery and wet.



I love Aerospace 303 for exterior rubber...particularly the tires. If you don't like that shiny/greasy look, this is for you.





Onto the nice pictures....

WaveyKat

nice.. i got next! how long it took you?

jturkel

wow. super super clean. looks fantastic! if you don't mind me asking, do the difference color pads (white, red, orange) have different textures/characteristics or something?

SoCalC55

looks like you did one hell of a good job

and your photography... phenomenal!

14cue

Amazing photos as usual Matt. I am going to tackle a detail soon as well. It will be my first time doing it with a orbital polisher. I normally do it by hand and it usually takes me 6-8 hrs to complete. I have to admit, I am a tad nervous about it.


Thanks for sharing.

P.S; Gotta love silver! The lines on the car really stand out. My next MB will be silver for sure. CLK63BS FTW!

MercedesFTW

Beautiful detail and beautiful photos of the car! Amazing job!

Greger-meister

You might be onto something with the different textured pads, but I think he used different color pads because he polished in stages, with different products. Beats cleaning the same pad over and over again. Looks flawless!

squerly

Sharp!

Chedeng88

Nice clean ride!

I'll be doing a full detail soon too. My C55 is black though.

Question: Do you use the 303 for the interior too? (i.e. dash, door vinyl etc.).

mgiannetto

The different pads are used for varying degrees of cutting power. Some of the pads are more aggressive (and are used with the compounds) and some are less aggressive (and are used with the final stage polishes).

As usual, Matt does an awesome job with the photo's.

TruTaing

Brilliant!

porschefan1013

Probably 10-15 hours.

Correct. Different levels of cut.

Yellow-more aggressive
Orange
White
Blue
Red-less aggressive

Thanks man!!

The good news is that with an orbital, you can't do any kind of meaningful damage. Take your time and you'll be fine. Shoot me a pm if you have any questions.

I do love how this color accents the car's features so well. I want a silver CLK63BS too!

Much appreciated man!

I've never used it on the interior....me personally, I wouldn't recommend it. Might leave things looking a tad too too glossy. Works great on exterior rubber though.

Thanks Mike!

ha I thought so!

mikekuriger

looks good!!! don't forget to detail the tires too!

jturkel

thanks for the response!

ferrariyellow44

WOW amazing shots! They honestly look like shots Mercedes would take in advertising the car...like Billboard shots.

great work!

porschefan1013

They're good and clean. I don't like em looking too greasy.

Thanks man!! I'm really pleased with how the pics turned out....glad you like them too.

AMGY

Nice C55 and pics. Last one is my favorite

FBG

That definently looks better than new. amazing work!

mikekuriger

The dirty tires I'm referring to are easily seen on the pics of the rear of the car.

91RS

Looks nice! I need to get a more powerful buffer, I've got the old Porter Cable model. I'll probably look into either the Flex or the Meg's (I think the Meg's is the current hotness, no?). I did my car with 105, 205, Vanilla Moose, then Opti Seal shortly after I bought it. Was a ton of work with the PC but it looks a hellova lot better than when I bought it, needs a few spots redone though.

Do you do anything to your photos in Photoshop?

crazeazn

mm wonder if 05' is different. i could have sworn my car was iridium silver

c32used