I bought a MB 2010 E350 CPO in Palladium Silver with the Avant Garde styling, and AMG 6spoke wheels, Pano roof.

The car was "prepped and detailed" by the dealer prior to sale and now it is time for its first wash in my hands.

Below is my plan of attack, looking for comments or drastic "DON'T DO THAT" type knowledge as I'm coming from a 2006 Subaru with much softer paint.

Wheels:
Sonax & Mothers brush with a hose rinse

Tires:
Just a quick brush with soap & water and a medium bristle brush, no dressing as I haven't found one I like that doesnt sling, and isn't too obnoxiously shiny

Glass:
Probably just going with the generic wash, then rain-x and buff

Body:
Chem. Guys Maxi Suds II with Gilmour Foammaster 2 presoak
2 bucket with maxi suds & grit guards with MF mitt
CG Clay with CG luber (black for medium? no idea if MB dealers use clay, paint has some visible contaminants especially on the hood)
Optimum Car Wax for wax (looking for a reasonable cost glaze/sealant ahead of wax)

Interior:
Einszett Cockpit Prem for interior dash
CG Lightning Fast @ 10:1 for interior carpets (10:1? 15:1? 20:1?) with libman power brush and shop vac out residue
Meg's leather cleaner for steering wheel (Sport D type wheel)
Megs interior QD for MB-Tex seats (With terry cloth? or ??? instead of MF)
Jambs with ???? ( I don't have ONR on hand yet)

Looking for opinions or advice especially on the bold items above. Car paint looks to be in moderately good shape, no obvious swirls/holograms

I also do not own a DA Polisher so that takes away a lot of options, plus i'm still terrified to take any mechanical polisher to my cars for fear of burning clear coat/paint.

Thanks & Cheers

 

1st issue u let the dealer touch it.. sounds like u have the right products

 

When I bought the car, the dealer had "spent" 300 dollars for detailing, and I couldn't have them "undo" it.

I spent some time getting it clean, unfortunately my butter fingers caused me to drop 2 hunks of clay and I ran out before finishing the side skirts.

There was lots of orange/rust colored contaminants in the paint that came off with stubborn claying. also decided to use megs QD on the plastic between the exhaust to clean that up. Chrome polish on the exhaust veils

Car looks better, so of course it rained today.

 

Well u should get a da they are so easy I can send you some links on how to use them. Also you should use terry cloth on the seats. If they had detailed it you should have not had that much in your clay. Check out ammo NYC he has some great products plus a lot of cool videos. If you need any help let me know good luck.

 

I've been eye-ing a DA but still have the fear of burning paint with a machine polisher.

There was plenty of contaminants because I'm convinced the "detail" the dealer did was nothing more than a wash and vacuum, some bits of tar, some tire sling, some orange contaminants, some rail dust even (after 4 yrs) mostly cleaned up.

I've got some terry cloths I use for stuff inside, I'll give those a go on the MB Tex.

Thanks for the help.

 

Your not going to burn paint with a da trust me look up junkman 2000 on YouTube he has great long videos on how to use a PC and products you need. I did mine last year then my wife's car this year

 

Agreed, a DA will be perfectly safe. I'd recommend a PC or Griot's as a place to start.

OP, since you mentioned tire dressing, have you tried the Griot's Vinyl & Rubber Dressing? I'm not one for the shiny stuff either. The VRD gives a nice finish and won't fling off and make a mess of your body panels. My two cents.

 

You got to try ammo mudd for the tires its really good it's not shiny at all well at least I think so. I can drive in the nasty snow and my tires still look really good also I don't need to apply it after every wash. Just find what you like and stick with it took me years to find the products I love

 

The issue I have with youtubing stuff like working with a DA is that so much of it is the "feel" of it, for instance "light pressure" to you is completely different to me, so its hard to gauge how much pressure to apply when using the various pad/cutting combo's.

I'll do some research about Griots VRD, I think that product is probably available locally too, which is nice.

Ammo Mudd, I've heard good things of it, I'll give it a look too.

 

jmikolich, your product list looks fine. Anymore it's all about preference. It's the method which makes all the difference.

Below are my general tips for what I do weekly. My car has had multi-stage paint correction, OptiCoat and full 3M clear bra. I spend about three to four hours every week on my car. Longer when necessary. For a quick wash it'll only take 90- min or so. 5-bucket method using 4 buckets with grit guards. Use warm water and Detailer's Xtreme Foam Formula Auto Shampoo. Three dedicated MF wash mitts.

1 - Power wash car to remove loose surface dirt and grit.

2 - Wash wheels, tires & wheel wells first: Pre-spray wheels with Sonax Wheel Cleaner. In first bucket of Detailer's Xtreme Foam, use Daytona Speed Master PRO Wheel Brush to clean spokes and wheel rims. First MF mitt to clean wheel face. Tire bush to clean both sides of tire. Handle brush to scrub wheel well. Rinse.

3 - The dirt belt (area around the vehicle from the side trim down): Pre-spray area to be cleaned with foam cannon filled with Detailer's Xtreme foam, using second MF mitt and two buckets of Detailer's Xtreme foam and grit guards (one for pre-rinse, one soap) work from side trim down - never move from dirty back to clean but always from clean to dirty. Rinse.

4 - Wash entire vehicle from top down: Pre-spray area to be cleaned with foam cannon filled with Detailer's Xtreme foam, using third MF mitt and two clean buckets of Detailer's Xtreme foam and grit guards (one for pre-rinse, one soap) work from top down - again, never move from dirty back to clean but from clean to dirty. Rinse.

5 - Drying: OptiCoat and Modesta are highly hydrophobic coatings, and you can dry the vehicle by simply sheeting a stream of water and "pulling" it down the car. Perfectly dry with no water spots. Dedicated leaf blower on low to blow water from trim and crevices, followed by Wolfgang's Detailer Spritz and MF towels dedicated to exterior drying only (more "patting" than actual drying).

A couple of final points. The less "touching" you do to your car the better. Never MF a car without some form of detail spritz or waterless wash. Finally MF care. I use Detailer Pro Micro Fiber Restorer Detergent and distilled white vinegar in the rinse well (do not forget to use the vinegar)! Do not wash MF with any other fabrics. Separate loads for buffing polishing MF and cleaning/interior/leather MF. Wash three times on hottest setting, i.e., Sanitize (this is very
important - some people actually boil their MF). In the dryer, AIR DRY ONLY, without a dryer sheet.

All of this takes some time. Far more than your average schmo who walks out with a sponge, bucket and a chamois. But if you've just spent a few thousand dollars on having your finish brought to perfection - you're the type who will appreciate the results. If you use this method there is absolutely no risk of introducing scratches or swirls, and your car will look showroom perfect for years to come. Best of luck!