1985mb

Is it just me or do you find your W212 harder to dry and detail than your last car?

I find that even after drying the car I will find:

• Mirrors or the triangle at the base of the A pillars weeping water onto the front doors
• B pillars weeping water onto the rear doors
• Door jams and sills weeping water onto at least 3 places on each sideskirt under each door
• Even the tail lights weeping water onto the rear quarter panel

Any suggestions? These are areas I have dried on multiple passes after a wash, and several minutes (or a short drive) later there will be several static drops of water (below the lights) or a long tear drop running the entire vertical length of the panel (A and B pillars).

alanme123

It's not just you. I find it a lot more tedious to dry the w212 as well. Water tend to get in cracks so what i do now is I dry once very well, either leave the car to dry or after i move it i will wipe it down again to clear the last few water drops.

ImInPA

Sounds like you do not dry the cehicle very thoroughly when you wash. My E is no different than any other vehicle I have owned with regards to keepiong it clean.

E55Bit

I use a wet vac to vacuum water off the creases, moulding and windows. It works quite well.

Yosheego

I have a electric leaf blower and I blow around those areas. Works for me =D

petee1997

After drying the car, I open all doors, trunk and gas filler door. I then wipe the edges and sills. Very little weeping after that.

golfster

I use the same methods above, which work well. In addition, I avoid parking under weeping willow trees. That also helps.

1985mb

Yes, I've started doing this as well (opening all 5 doors including the gas cap door even as I begin to dry the car, hoping it will help pour as much water out as possible). It has helped to some extent but not completely eliminated the problem.

1985mb

I am drying the car as thoroughly as any of my previous cars. Even more so, given the issues I mentioned. For instance, how are you getting the last drops out of the mirrors and A pillars? (And I'm not talking about the last bit of water you see while drying but what appears 10 minutes later).

1985mb

I live in a condo so the least-worst option for me is to drive to a touchless car wash and dry/detail it myself by hand (no one else's dirty towels on the car) but with no access to electricity for tools.

1985mb

Thank you (for reassuring me I'm not crazy haha). I may have to start doing this as well.

Mbenz260e

I don't think this car is any worse than others I've had, and much much better than the ML. I wash it, drive it 10 feet into the garage to dry it, including door jams etc. I then drive around the block to dry the brakes and then wipe one more time where there is excess water from the side mirrors and from under the rear license plate. Quite happy in general with the process. The leafblower idea makes a lot of sense and often thought to get one. However i don't think it will really save me too much effort. Also I dry my car with a spray on wax product so would only use the leafblower after so doesn't make much sense for my application.

theraven333

You need to put a high quality carnauba wax on the car with a very high beading capability,
You will always get some residual water unless you either drive or blow dry.... fact of life. As mentioned above a very high quality wax is worth every penny/cent , Do not be tempted to go cheap with fluid waxes that say they are carnauba based, it only comes in a solid wax format.........

hyperion667

LOL!
I've used my backpack blower before haha.....blows at 201 mph....

but seriously...
on the nice hot days I just leave the doors and truck open to let the gravity
assist the drips while I work on wheels or something.....
then go back and attend to the mentioned area's...
I have noticed soo many more lines and curves since having my 550 wrapped.......
such a chiseled shape as some have said......

thekurgan

+10000

MinnBobber

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I agree. My previous ML dried much more completely with one pass. My method is to hand wash and then drive around the block to blow off some water and dry the brakes and then dry with a selection of microfiber towels. The mirrors, windows, rear taillights, rear hatch do seep water after drying so it needs another drying pass. Plus, after driving around the block with the ML the wheels
would be mostly dry and still spotless from the wash. With the E, the wheel barrels (inner part) come back with a little brown colored residue so I need to clean the inner wheels again with my Daytona Jr wheel brush and a cloth.
With a wagon, there are probably more inner channels than on an E sedan with the rear windows and rear hatch but it does weep more water than my ML.
And it is not due to being unwaxed/poorly waxed as someone mentioned. I invested about 40 hours in detailing every exterior/interior/glass/wheel/engine bay surface.
There just seem to be a lot of areas that stubbornly hold water...

BenzV12

I see a lot of water spots between front and rear doors too . Trunk lid is the funniest lol . I pop it up and see the waters collecting from either rain or detailing drips down , the very edge of the lid picks up a lot of water , I swipe it across with a mf towel to get a clean sweep .

If you use wax be careful with the badges , letters , logo , door chrome strips , grill and such things . I had to use toothpick to clean dirt from wax ,detailers over detailed my car lol

RNBRAD

Too funny, I've thought this forever. Car leaks like crazy. I always have to pull out the mist detailer spray and wipe the streaks out when I get home from the car wash. Rediculous, especially with black. Also when I open the gas door, seems like a gallon poors out of there.

hyperion667

DOCROSS

Detail spray is the way to go.

Tomspo04

This car is, by far, easier to dry/detail than my last ride; 2011 Escalade EXT...Way too many nooks and crannies!

ImInPA

+1 on the leaf blower. I use this method on my motorcycles as well. Once you try it you will never go back. I use a $19 black and decker leaf blower (130 mph) it cleans out all of the crevices quickly.

BenzMan369

And +1 more!

Someone posted here last summer about using a leaf blower. At first I laughed > then I tried it. I will never go back.

Who cares what my neighbors think!

Actually, just yesterday I used it, while my brand new neighbor stared from afar, undoubtedly fearful of getting too close to his new screwball neighbor. I invited him over and he could not stop raving about how great the black finish looked closeup. "Absolutely spotless," he said. "Like a mirror," my new best friend and I agreed.

El Cid

Not just you. In fact, I ordered my car from Germany and six weeks later it was here. In that time, a "spot" had developed at bottom rear of front door where water had run down it. Fortunately a good washing took care of it.
I dry my car and then run the damp towel around inside of door frames and sills, trunk, edge under hood, etc. Usually have to go over flat surfaces such as roof, hood and trunk twice.
However, I wash and dry it in my drive and then drive it to back of house and put it in garage. At that point, I dry doors under mirrors, bottoms of doors, rear bumper below trunk and that pretty much gets it all. It is probably water running out of mirrors and "B" pillars and from under trunk lid when car is moved that is causing your problems. I spend about 2.5 hours washing and drying the car and it looks great.
I think black and white cars are particularly sucepible to water spotting. Silver and gray much less so.
Biggest problem I have is getting wax out from all the grooves and creases when I do wax it, but just using the edge of the polishing cloth seems to get it if attentive. Worst place for wax is the covers for the brackets for the ski rack almost nobody has.

jvc300

I use a very soft tooth brush "lightly" to get into the grooves for wax. I have a black car and it doesn't harm the finish.