86 Mercedes turbo diesel 27 hours of polishing Barry Theal Presidential Details

**Barry Theal** · 07-19-2009, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by Accumulator

As I think rydawg, MBenz, and Clean Dean, (and others I`m not thinking of) would agree, IMO to *REALLY* appreciate what great work this is you have to have some experience with Benzes of that vintage. The clear is lacquer, thin, and somewhat fragile under the best of circumstances. To do that sort of aggressive work on it without simply cutting through takes an incredible amount of skill

And heh heh, I`ve been giving bufferbarry plenty of those lectures about ETGing the paint

bufferbarry- Ah, now that I see things more clearly, the spots I was worried about don`t look so bad. That turned out even better than I`d thought, what a save!

Did it seem like the *oxidation* was what like a really hard layer on top of the paint? What I mean is, I never found the clear on those very hard, and the most aggressive of your steps would normally, IME, have cut off a *whole* lotta clear in no time :think:

Days later, I`m still amazed that you had to get that aggressive! When you told me what you were doing I was simply :nervous2:

By no means am I trying to toot my own horn here. but yes accumulator you are right! This paint takes alot of skill to work, even in the better conditioned ones. The oxidation was like concrete on the top of the clear. I compound this very hard and very aggressive. the first step was more about cutting threw the concrete felt oxidation, then even after I was finished and did an ipa wipedown I noticed some still was present. So the second step more or less was to reomove the remaining oxidation. to what could be removed. Now at this point I knew I had taken the paint to the limit as far as I could so I used the kevin brown method ( to the best of my knowledge ) ON a gear driven da this is actually designed from my understanding to do some serious sanding threw bondoing. To some it up its more like a pc on some serious steroids. Very tough to control but killer results. Then once the oxidation was removed with all that serious compounding I had a fresh base to start with and it was loaded with all kinds of holograms from the ground and pound type method of compounding I used on it. so the m105 completely refined the finish, and them m205 has a great polished look to it. I thought I could do more, being the nut case I am with a buffer, I thought I`m gonna jewel it and that was the end reult. But yes it was a very tuff detail. Thanks for the kind words. I was gonna name this one "ONE FOR ACCUM lol. I hope I gave one of your favorites justice. thanks man!

**Apollo_Auto** · 07-19-2009, 10:12 AM

Holy sh1t, man... now THAT is a save!!! Nice one!

**Barry Theal** · 07-19-2009, 10:19 AM

Thanks jesse! hope all is well in hungary for ya!

**mikenap** · 07-19-2009, 10:25 AM

Even though I`ll never get past weekend warrior status, THIS is the reason I spend all my time on this site. Just knowing what some of you guys are capable of is simply amazing and sort of inspiring. My wife, who is sick to death of seeing 50/50s and always being dragged to the computer to "check this out", was completely speechless when she saw this one. I think that`s the best part, when you can wow someone with absolutely ZERO interest in car detailing, you`re definitely doing something right.

Barry, you`ll be getting pats on the back and "attaboys" for a long time over this save. Enjoy every last one, because you earned it for sure. BTW, consider this thread bookmarked!

**Accumulator** · 07-19-2009, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by bufferbarry

By no means am I trying to toot my own horn here. but yes ..[this took some skill]..

Heh heh, toot away man, you earned it

And heh heh#2..."don`t try this stuff at home, kids"

The oxidation was like concrete on the top of the clear. I compound this very hard and very aggressive. the first step was more about cutting threw the concrete felt oxidation..

Thanks for confirming that..I was simply astounded that you had to use the Ardex on that paint at 3K!

I used the kevin brown method ( to the best of my knowledge ) ON a gear driven da this is actually designed from my understanding to do some serious sanding threw bondoing. To some it up its more like a pc on some serious steroids. Very tough to control but killer results..

That sounds a little like my Flex, but with undoubtedly a different throw/etc. I *think* I used air-powered DAs like that back in the day when I worked in a bodyshop. Hey, I`m sure that any guy who can sand autopaint with a PC can use that DA just fine

.. I was gonna name this one "ONE FOR ACCUM lol. I hope I gave one of your favorites justice. thanks man!

Hey, *NO QUESTION* you did it justice. One more old-timer looking better than it woulda in anybody else`s hands :xyxthumbs

**MarcHarris** · 07-19-2009, 11:16 AM

save of the year? quite possibly!!!!

the turn around is so dramatic... to someone who didn`t know about the type of work individuals like you do: they would think it was photoshopped for sure. People always love seeing the exotics and garage queens: but threads like this are my personal favorites. Taking a beat-to-death car and making it look new again. Not only did the paint look FUBAR, but the wheels looked beyond savable as well. Truly a skilled and dedicated work of art. I only wish I could see this beauty in person. No way the pics do justice to how bad it was, nor to how great it looks now. Good to see fellow grunts doing good work!

-Marc

**Apollo_Auto** · 07-19-2009, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by MuttGrunt

save of the year? quite possibly!!!!

This one`s definitely got my vote for "Turn Around of the Year"! I just had to look at this one again

...

**dmw2692004** · 07-19-2009, 01:10 PM

thats just an amazing turn around! Completely amazing.

**OCDinPDX** · 07-19-2009, 01:52 PM

I nominate for turn around of the year as well.

**corrswitch** · 07-19-2009, 02:10 PM

Wow, excellent work.

Forget turnaround of the year, can this go into the Guinness Book of records?

**imported_Jakerooni** · 07-19-2009, 03:00 PM

So where`s the 2009 "Top 25 detailers in the nation" list? I think Barry needs on that bad beast.

**smokin180** · 07-19-2009, 03:56 PM

Bufferberry wins by excessive shine on an older benz. That is the turn around of the year. Very nice work.

**mini1** · 07-19-2009, 04:47 PM

That is a great job, BUT, the paint will slowly return to the same state you saw it in before you started. These older Mercedes had no clear coat and you can only do so much with them. It may look great for a couple weeks or even a few months, but as soon at the protection starts to wear...bam it looks like a clucker again. I know.... I`ve done MANY of them and I used to own one. The good news is that the owner will need to bring it to you often for a very expensive detail if he/she wishes to keep it in that condition. I`m made some good money doing this for people with these cars.

**Accumulator** · 07-19-2009, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by mini1

That is a great job, BUT, the paint will slowly return to the same state you saw it in before you started. These older Mercedes had no clear coat ... I know.... I`ve done MANY of them and I used to own one..

Different experience here:

I too have owned/detailed a number of W126 Benzes, the earliest model-year of which was my `86 SEC. All of mine were original paint, all of them were clearcoated. I`ve *never* seen a post-`86 W126 with single stage paint and I`ve seen quite a few of them.

While there`s some debate as to when MB switched to *all* bc/cc paint, my factory literature from `84 goes into some detail about the then-new clearcoat systems used on the S-class Benzes of that vintage.