Red Marko

K-A, tell me, how did I get your future image?










BTW, let me introduce my housekeeper!
She is very happy.









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zam2000

Drive-through car wash, send to detail shop once a year. They have one that's pretty good near my place (run your car through the rail w/ different stages). Back on the day when I was single, I washed & detailed the car myself.

As long as the car is a mass production type (yep, AMG included), machine car wash is fine

Jan AMG

Easy Diagram for Detailing - from autogeek's site

jagata

My sister in law waits for the rain. Now thats the worst.

I wash once a week, my neighbors think I am crazy always out washing my cars. I only seen 2 people wash their cars once since I have lived where I do.

Jan AMG

One more question .. do you wax (carnauba) your windshield/windows/pano too? ..can't find relevant answer anywhere on the web some say yes some say no..

Corsa9000

You can wax all glass but make sure the surface is clean, by polishing and claying before waxing. Two weeks ago, I did this to my windshield glass and it looks much better.

Jan AMG

Thanks.

Jan AMG

So I guess the same applies to headlights and taillights..

Dema

How do you dry your car after washing? There in California a lot of calcium in water, so if you do not dry a car, then you will observer white spots which hard to remove.

jagata

What I do is final rinse the car with spray nozzle removed so I get a stream running down so there is less water spots, then go over with a micro-fiber towel the rest of the water then finally use Hydro final detail to give it a thin coat of wax and removes any remaining water spots.

Jan AMG

I tried premium skin from Sonax .. works excellent! MF towels are also very good.

skrontz

Three words: Optimum No Rinse.

K-A

I actually waxed my glass areas a bit as well with a Cleaner Wax. I found it to be a good wax to polish out some of the dirt pieces there were hard to get out. It buffed them out very easily.

I should start using a Quick Detailer. I don't know why I've always been weary, seems like it would be something that would be kind of "shoddy" to me. Also, wouldn't it build up way too many coats of wax, especially considering the fact that you still do a full wax on the car periodically anyway?

Also, what are some good *non-Cleaner* straight up quick-waxes that you guys would recommend?

Jan AMG

Alright guys.. thanks again for all your inputs on detailing.. I have been crawling a lot through various detailing forums as well and finally bought stuff from Sonax since it is a common good quality brand in Europe and some original Benz stuff.

1. I started with cleaning the wheels with original Benz spray which is GREAT, doesn't stink, only makes bubbles and cleans very effectively. So wheels were very easy. I used also Benz Chrome polishing paste for MB stars on roundels. Applied Sonax Rubber stuff on tires.
2. I then washed the car using two bucket method using Sonax shampoo, respectively washed twice.. since some dirt was very stubborn after few months of no washing just driving..
3. Dried the car with premium leather from Sonax
4. Used Benz Tar remover to get rid of the worst bits of road dirt
5. For the 1st time ever tried claying (Sonax clay) and was simply amazed HOW GOOD AND EFFORTLESS claying is.. it removed all the remaining dirt, small black tar dots, small rust spots and some other microscopic road debris, restored dirty chrome parts (I understood there was no necessity to buy the chrome polisher)
6. Cleaned properly with MF towels
7. Used lack polisher from Sonax to prepare for waxing..
8. Cleaned again with MF towels.. at this point I started feeling like after a gym class
9. Waxed with Carnauba from Sonax
10. Polished with MF towels..

Took me about 6 hours since the car is bigger not only in the mirror than it appears.
Windows + Pano + Interior + some small details are left for tomorrow.

The conclusion is that it was totally worth doing it and I can only recommend it! The result is phenomenal. Lack looks like a mirror with a deep shine that I have never seen before.
For next time I will consider getting a polisher machine since the job was quite physically exhausting.

If I'll have a chance I'll post some final shots.

What is interesting that I've never seen guys from our local wash shop using clay.. they simply wash/dry using blade/quick wax with some cheap wax while the price is 50EUR for the job.. Knowing what I know now I will never use their services again. I assume you can easily scratch the paint if you don't use clay to remove remaining dirt particles and use blades to dry it off. That's also where the tiny rust spots came from.. there were quite few of them, I believe they could start developing a serious lack damage in a year or two if untaken care of..

Should you need the exact names of the products used let me know.

Red Marko

It takes my housekeeper 3 hours to do the same.
But again, look at her muscles (top of the thread).
Practice makes it perfect...

Jan AMG

lkirchner

Sounds like you did a good job. When you do it on your own it is quite satisfying.

Jan AMG

Sorry, no after wash pictures.. wanted to make some in the mountains but when I got there the S was covered with dust from the roads.. pics here:
https://mbworld.org/forums/new-s-cla...rip-today.html

13pauls

Wow... lots of passion for washing cars...I clean mine when needed (conventional...through the car wash or unconventional...when raining leave them outside)......

skrontz

Might as well spray some acid on the paint.

13pauls

Or I could give you $10.00 to come and wash my cars...judging by where you live..you are stupid enough to buy a bus ticket to come...

skrontz

Nah, sounds like you need the money more than I do. After all, I can afford to buy my cars and wash them too...

Mr. Rolls-Royce

To clean my S-Class sedan, I send it to a professional. The place only cleans top notch cars from car makers such as a Bentley, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. To clean my car it takes about 7 hours and i pay about 9,000 dollars for the whole package. Every 2 weeks i send my P.A. for it to be cleaned. My other cars I wash them about once a month there, since i use them only for weekends, and sometimes once a month. I have a Zimmer Golden Spirit which has about 2000 miles, and is only driven when i have special occasions. For my Zimmer i pay the top of the line fee which is 10,000 dollars for special paint treatment. Hope this helped you a bit.
And for those who havent heard of a Zimmer, go to http://www.zimmermotorcars.com/index...e=4-door-sedan

emin.mak

wow 9k for a car wash. I would just buy a brand new car once a year! lol

epasc

That Zimmer is one classy ride. Something for an S-Class owner to aspire to.