davidbijan

When theres so much pleasure in shining your 212 yourself

K-A

Tell me about it, lol. I've had my car for under a year and I probably have spent the same amount of time detailing it as I have driving it, lol. Not really but in another Thread I express how I did break a personal record, spending about 11+ freakin' hours detailing my car. Never going that extensive on my own again, lol.

davidbijan

No one could do it as well as you. From the exterior to every crevice in the engine. What products do you use to detail with? Im using Mothers seems alright.

grane

My restorer uses DuPont car wash, 3M Crystal Glaze Polish, and Mothers Carnuba Wax obviously in that order!

He does not recommend silicone based products on paintwork. This rules out the vast majority of detailers so you might as well do it yourself!

It also allows one to use the cheaper touch less car wash options since you do not want anything but a basic wash plus the undercarriage spray.

davidbijan

Crystal glaze polish sounds good. I'm going to have to check that out

grane

3M products are sometimes hard to find. A professional part store carries them or ask an established body shop where they obtain their 3M products.

Last time I got the Glaze it was under $10 but it lists for more.

I have had good luck with the Meguiars Purple color wheel cleaner on my AMG wheels. What I do is spray it on before I drive to the car wash and then spray it on again after I get there about a 5 mile trip. Then I just run the car through the wash. Meguiars used to be carried by MB dealers but I guess their agreement went away. Oh I use it on the G wheels too but they do not seem to get as dirty.

It is hard to beat 3M products and most of the pros use them since they are targeted primarily to that market.

LaicepsYdobon

11+ hours ?! I don't have that kind of time on my hands. I used to find it very therapeutic to hand wash every Sunday but when its cold outside it was just more convenient to take it to the car wash. And with that I became lazy and still continue to take it to the car wash

fromthebeginnin

I agree and enjoy doing it myself, I use Mequiares Gold Shampoo and all the Blackfire USA products, outstanding with excellent service!

peeta123

only have 300 km on the car (mostly local driving)

i only washed it twice with a bucket of water and a towel

nalaskier

I'm thinking about putting in an offer for KA's E when his lease runs out.

petee1997

K-A has so much time and labor invested in the car that I would be surprised if he didn't buy it at the end of the lease.

hyperion667

WHY?? BECAUSE it's hard work! LOL......and yeah, LOL at 'buying K-A's car' when he's done with it.......

K-A: you better buy that thing! LOL.....

K-A

Oh man, it's a lonng story. I am a bit OCD and meticulous with my car ("a bit", hehe), and took upon some "first-time" projects, and on and off it took me half a day. I had a few days off so I figured "what the hell". NEVER AGAIN will I clay AND wash AND wax myself. I'll get it Clayed by someone else then take it home and Wax it.... That only takes me 2-3 hours.

LOL. Tell me about it. I'm already planning on buying it. However, knowing myself, all it takes it one case of damage to the car and I'll throw in the towel. Hopefully that doesn't become the case.

Funny, my Mom said the EXACT same thing when I was in middle of my 11 hour detail marathon (I took it to her house when I visited her to take upon the project).

If this thing stays in a condition of my OCD'ness being on top of it so thoroughly, then if I don't buy it, someone here has to, so I feel like my hard work didn't go to waste. The buyout is $32K before negotiations, not a bad residual for a P2/Pano car IMO (at least relatively speaking). However, the Lease is due just when the earlier '14 MY's will be rolling out (September '13), so that means I'll have the face-lifted W212 to compare to it (also it's when the W222 S-Class drops). We'll see.

fromthebeginnin

Twin Turbo 2014 with a new body style, a tough choice?

BenzE350

I drive it through the automatic car wash once a month or so.

Does that count>

Tjdehya

I took my car to a car wash here in Vegas when I first got here.
I left with swirl marks EVERYWHERE.
I now wash and wax the car myself. I still cant get rid of the swirl marks on the hood though.

ImInPA

A DA buffer with Meguiar's 105 followed by 205. Had the same problem getting the swirls out with mine too. Not gonna happen by hand. Or just have a good shop buff the hood for you. Took me about 20 minutes to get the hood perfect with the 105/205 combo.

davidbijan

I would be so bummed if i got scratches on my paint from a car wash. All the more reason to do it yourself

fromthebeginnin

TJ call blackfireusa and tell them what happened I bet they can give you some suggestions that will help, I've been using it and their products can't be beat, they helped me select the right stuff.

Check out my detail.

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...black-car.html

K-A

Yup. I'm glad that my Lease is over right when the '14's roll around (won't be a new body style BTW, just a little face-lift), so I know what is what. Also, the CLS will be out and digested by my eyes, so that's a running player, and of course the next 6-Series is looking good.

Basically, I'm crossing my fingers that nothing comes out that makes me "really want it" so I can just keep this thing, and not have to keep re-starting the cycle (I still am planning on upgrading my second car as well ).

What I do know, is I am NOT Leasing again, unless something changes.

TJ: Did you take it to a Hand Wash? Hopefully not as those dudes aren't supposed to swirl your car up?! Watch out for Vegas Car Washes, they SUCK. If you get it done again (by someone else), find a mobile Professional Detailer, someone that comes to you, I've heard they can be pretty good.

Tjdehya

I tried hand applying Meguiars Swirl-X and it didn't work. Then I bought an Orbital buffer, clayed, swirl-Xed, polished and 3 coats of wax, and all the swirl marks are gone but the hood.
I think it's just that its more visible on the hood. It's not as bad but the hood no longer looks flawless.
That Meguiar's 105 sounds harsh. It doesn't sound like something I would want to apply to new paint myself. That's something I will let a pro do, thanks for the tip.Yea I took it to some car wash and they were offering wash and wax for the price of a regular wash that day. So it was either a bad wash, they used dirty rags to dry the car, or they used dirty rags to wipe the wax off. I will find a pro to detail the car because I spent two separate weekends working on it and the car looks beautiful... (If you don't take a close look at the hood.)

Ctrl+alt+Elite

no drive-thru car washes and i dont let those mobile guys touch my car either. I hate they they use a gallon of tire dressing on the tires and as soon as you get a block down the street. you car is covered in that crap. I love taking care of my own car and i agree that it is very therapeutic. Only Meguiar's products on my cars

hyperion667

tire dressing eats tires too....over time

EmE247

Just to answer ops question...

Cuz I don't have the 11+ hours to detail my car like that K-A nut!

But seriously, I dropped my car off at a professional shop that had awesome reviews to have my car clayed, waxed, and sealed when I first got the car. Paid a decent amount for it but beats having to do it myself, buy all the products, and still have a chance to F it up.

blackbullit

I second the vote for Meguiars.

Wash with microfiber mitt (2 buckets, every 2 weeks), clay, Ultimate Liquid Wax with orbital buffer with microfiber bonnet (changed frequently) - this takes about 3 hours.

The Ultimate Liquid Wax rocks! I just applied it last month and it is great.

I found that Scratch X cuts a bit better with orbital buffer than Swirl X for paint imperfections - MB paint is very hard.