guynamedsean

Who here has had their paint polished to remove light scratches or swirls?

I hear a lot about ceramic paint on Mercedes. I'm familiar with menzerna being the company that specializes in polishes for Mercedes ceramic clear coat, but now I also hear that Mercedes ceramic paint was long ago and MB doesn't really use that tech anymore.

Who can comment on the paint, how hard the clear is, have you polished and what polish did you use?

JB C63S

Check out the 3rd page of
JP's C63 S Build Thread in the C63S forum

guynamedsean

Okay, thanks. It looks like he also used the Menzerna products and got good results.

I am also thinking of doing a CQuartz Finest coating after the coreection, but I have never actually had CQuartz on a car. Has anybody done CQuartz and do you think it is worthwhile?

Sanch

I've used Ceramic pro on previous cars and more recently Modesta. Both are excellent products.

kumizi

I've had Opti-Coat pro on the last 5-6 cars I've owned. Water still beads 2 years after the initial application and maintenance washes are a lot easier/quicker.

okbarnett

aside from exotic, expensive "waxes"which I dont use. You wont have any different results with polishing, waxing your car as with any other. If you have a good detailer do a good polish and wax, it will turn out as good as new. Or if youre trying to do your own, get a orbital polisher/waxer and use some typical products like meguires and it will turn out looking good

Airmousam

I've had cquartz finest on my last 2 cars. Excellent results, very happy!!

dpm7471

My 2 cents:

1) I had opticoat placed on a car of mine a couple of years ago and it really makes it shine and lasts for a while, but I will tell you to make sure you have someone put it on who really knows what they are doing.

2) Paint correction is an art. True paint correction is a stepwise process done by a select few that are more than just detailers.. they are very good at what they do. This is done often to cars whose paint has seen better days...ie) gloss is reduced, many swirl marks, minor scratches, bug guts that have sealed itself into the clear coat....etc. The ones that do a great job are hard to find. We have a guy here in NC near Raleigh who is phenomenal at this work....great paint correction is not cheap. He quoted me $1000 to do my Panamera, and told me he would work on it for up to 16 hours.

Good luck.

jrcart

I had to have my SLS Black Series wet sanded and buffed, basically a complete paint resto because it had so much orange peel from the factory. It looked like a different car afterwards. Gladly the paint finish on my GT-S was much better and it did not require any work. My SLS was Mars red and my GT-S was Selenite grey, not sure if the colors had anything to do with the quality of the finish or not.

guynamedsean

I have one of the best paint correction artists in Houston as my only detailer. Only 3 guys in Houston are certified to apply cQuartz finest. He's one of them. He's worked on multi million dollar ferarris to get them ready for barret Jackson. He works on cars at pebble beach. Really he's top notch so if anyone needs a great detailer and is in Houston, really north Houston, the woodlands, I'll gladly give you his info.

Anyway my last 5 or 6 cars had really swirl free paint when new, so I wouldn't let him correct it. We just clayed and sealed. This car needs just a mild polish, but you know, my guy is gonna spend all day on it and I have to leave the car with him all day so I'm not looking forward to it.

So since I'm having to polish, I was thinking maybe I should go ahead and so cQuartz when it gets polished.

Airmousam

Agreed, some pics of my previous w212 with cquartz finest. Holds up awesome and MUCH easier to wash after it's coated.....lotta work tho

http://www.mercedescla.org/forum/5-c...n-just-do.html

LaunchPad

Ceramic coating is the way to go these days. Ive had both Cquartz and Evo quartz 9H I prefer the Evo quartz My friend is a certified Evo quartz installer so I was fortunate enough to get a good deal.

guynamedsean

Well, here we go...
the GT has been my only car for 3 weeks and it's just not practical to drive everywhere. I don't feel safe taking it to the grocery store and now it's going to flood in Houston again. I'm headed to the dealer this morning to pick up a c300 on a lease. That will be my daily driver.

This means I can give my GT to my detailer more easily now. My guy is a certified c quartz installer. We ordered my c quartz finest last night! I'm pretty excited because I didn't get so lucky with my paint on this car. The dealer left it out by a sprinkler and I have water spots on my hood that have to polished out.

Im also really excited to retire this car to more of a garage queen status and drive a lease car that I really don't care about. That will be liberating in itself.

AMG 17GT

You should get front clip bra. No rock chips etc.

guynamedsean

this c300 is my first ever non AMG Mercedes and feels a little unstable over 100mph, also how does anyone stop without 15 inch breaks? I definitely had to adjust my driving style.

okbarnett

are you saying, theres a difference in a $40k car, and a $140k car

AMG 17GT

Ha. Yeah I get these as a service loaner. When I had my CL I was in there all the time. There are a lot better cars out there for a daily for a lot less. Don't like cheap class...

Airmousam

CPO E class might have been a better option for a DD...c class will take a some getting used to but will get the job done...

guynamedsean

Yeah... The c class is meh but I'm really enjoying being able to go anywhere and park anywhere. I have bought 6 amgs in 3 years from my dealer, so they made me an incredible lease deal totally through a few text messages. I am so busy with my work that someone valuing my time like that also makes a difference to me and made it not worth shopping other brands.

I also really ally didn't want to spend much monthly on this. The last e class I had was an e63s. Lol. I could have gone new e300 but I would have gotten a much bigger payment, same engine and first year build issues. Also I don't want a self steering car! My e63s would steer itself in cruise control and I think that could lead to being a ****ty driver when I jump in the GT.

I I really just wanted a low payment and I actually considered leasing a 4 cylinder Camero but I've been working about 18 hours a day lately. There are a lot of big things going on for me business wise right now. The idea of wasting a day at a balloon and hotdog Chevy dealer wasn't too appealing. I just didn't have the time.

guynamedsean

I've been spoiled. I drove nothing but Porsche, bmw m and AMG for 15 years.

guynamedsean

GT just got dropped off for paint correction and cQuartz. Gonna be a couple days. Will have some progress pics soon...

guynamedsean

guynamedsean

Halfway done. Cleaned, decontaminated, clayed and polished w meguires 205. Tomorrow it gets polished with an even finer finishing polish, scholl concepts s40. Then it gets the cQuartz finest treatment.

LaunchPad

The finest or regular Cquartz? I have the regular and it has held up well for 6 months so far. I had a buddy do full correction and Cquartz only charged me $300

Airmousam

Sean, that looks great! Always a great feeling picking it up after Cquartz...I had them treat the wheels with cquartz on one of my cars, super easy to clean..I think it was $150.. well worth it...cheers