Black Mercedes GL 450 - a TDekany Tribute

[howareb]

Well as Thomas has left our regional vicinity of North Virginia:sadpace: he was kind enough to refer me to one of his clients with a Mercedes GL 450. The customer that he referred me to was an awesome client who wanted to maintain his vehicle as best as possible.



I went and picked up the vehicle to take back to my shop to work on it. Upon initial inspection I just saw your regular light swirls which is expected. A deeper inspection however showed some halograms and previous clues of buffing,which I assume came from the prep shop at the dealership. Here are some before pics.



http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg289/howareb/IMG_0493.jpg



http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg289/howareb/IMG_0488.jpg



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http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg289/howareb/IMG_0518.jpg



We start the process with a pre-foam bath from the CamSpray Foam Cannon to loosen up the contaminents. I let the foam dwell for three mins. and then wash the car with Zaino Z7 Car Wash and a Lowes Grout Sponge.



http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg289/howareb/IMG_0502.jpg



We also cleaned the wheels with Megs Wheel Brightner. We needed to do two applications along with some agitation due to the baked on brake dust.



This was our first test spot on polishing.



http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg289/howareb/IMG_0516.jpg





The Process

After a few more test areas I settled on the #105 and #205 combo with a LC White followed by LC Green on the Makita. The paint on this vehcile was soft but corrected fairly well after the compounding step. Megs #105 did not finish as well as it normally does, but it was not anything that #205 could not take care of.





Z7 Wash

Clay

# 105 and LC White

#205 and LC Green

EZ Creme Glaze (http://www.autopia.org/forum/\"http://www.detailedimage.com/Chemical-Guys-M31/Extreme-EZ-Creme-Glaze-with-Acrylic-Shine-II-P192/\"LEARN) via PC speed 6 on a LC White Pad

Z6 Wipedown

2 Coats Z5 with ZFX

Application of Z8Below is a pic of the passenger side after the polishing steps were completed.



http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg289/howareb/IMG_0533.jpg



Here are some final shots. Enjoy!!



http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg289/howareb/IMG_0548.jpg



http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg289/howareb/IMG_0536.jpg



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http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg289/howareb/IMG_0545.jpg



http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg289/howareb/IMG_0546.jpg



http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg289/howareb/IMG_0544.jpg

[rbruditt]

nice reflections, especially in that last picture :xyxthumbs

[jordanrossbell]

Wow, incredible!

[tom p.]

Isn`t this Cerami-Clear paint or whatever they call it? it looks awesome all done up. Our neighbors have the identical vehicle and I`ve never seen it clean. The wheels are always as black as the body...she`s a real toilet bowl :(



T, was this a lot of work or fairly straighforward? It came out great, paint looks wonderful.

[David Fermani]

Nice GL! Those suckers are huge!

[rwisejr]

Sweet work !!! That really has some nice reflections

[howareb]

Thanks guys. I spent about 22 hours on this one. It really was a lot of paint. HEHE!!



To answer the question about Cerami-Clear, this vehicle was not. This paint was soft and hologrammed if I looked at it crosseyed. :) Which is why it took so long to correct some areas.

[dsms]

I think GL stands for "Good Lord!!", awesome work on a big SUV

[imported_DJ Mayo]

Looks Great Eric. But I already told you that. :) See ya this week man.

[Old Pirate]

One hell on a tank to do, awesome finish on it!:bigups

[DetailersDomain]

Great job, the car looks good!

[Apollo_Auto]

That was a whole lotta polishing! Nice work buddy! BTW, where did Tamas take off to?? Dékány, itt vagy??

[imported_DJ Mayo]

That was a whole lotta polishing! Nice work buddy! BTW, where did Tamas take off to?? Dékány, itt vagy??



Thomas moved to Va Beach until he finds a house in Portland.

[LoiG37]

Using a PC, what pads and polishes would I need to work this GL`s paint?

[Cleaning Fool]

Can I get an amen brothers