RANT:My Love and Hate of German cars.

[Dan]

Well, the search is over. Picked up an 14 E350 for a great price.

-CPO
-prepaid service throughout life of car, at the selling dealership, car was traded on another MB (buying an MB at a Honda or Toyota dealer is a sign of a troublemaker!)
-Mint interior, biggest downer is a 1"x0.25" stain on the passenger floor mat
-MPG history not reset for 30k miles and showing very good MPG (car not abused!)
-Outside, no paintwork anywhere, very minimal chips in a few places, maybe 3 or 4 spots that nice a hint of touchup paint, nothing down to bare metal, its actually in better shape than my outgoing 1 YO Volt.
-Brand new tires
-Rubber and trim indicate indoor parking
-No SWIRLS! At least I can`t see them, so I`m not going to go looking. Paint needs a good claying though.

Took long enough, but the wait was worth it!

[Accumulator]

Dan- That sounds great, and IMO it didn`t take you all that long at all (easy for me to say ).

Noting the absence of obvious marring...what color is it?

[Bill D]

Congrats. My cousin picked up the same year model a while back. His is an all wheel drive.

Yes, curious as to what color it is. I bet that ceramiclear paint saved it a bit from marring

[Dan]

Ha, you guys are on to me, its Swirl Hiding Silver! Never looks great, never looks really bad.

[Bill D]

Never looks great, never looks really bad.

That’s what color my dad’s is. Silver is so elusive to make pop. I think I may just get a coating for his car and call it a day. At least it will look glassy.

[Dan]

That’s what color my dad’s is. Silver is so elusive to make pop. I think I may just get a coating for his car and call it a day. At least it will look glassy.

I`m in a quandry as to what to use. Zaino Z2 looks so good on silver that I want to use it BUT I`ve had nothing but issues with it. But it looks soooo good that I get comments on it, and I don`t get comments on anything else really. I have some McKee`s 37 coating that is getting older, so I may give that a whirl. KF1000P also looks great, but I don`t get very good durability. IW845 looks awesome until the first rain....

[Bill D]

Poor durability from FK1000?? That’s surprising!

[Dan]

Poor durability from FK1000?? That’s surprising!

Yeah, I don`t know if I have a bad tin or what, but I can`t get it to last. IW845 outlasts it 2-3 fold.

[Bill D]

Wow I stopped using IW because I read other LSPs were more durable. Go figure. Must be a case of YMMV

[Accumulator]

That`s the second time (IIRC) that somebody has had 845 outlast the FK. No idea why, but yeah..just goes to show how YMMV does always apply. If 845 (or 476S) lasted longer for me I`d probably still be using them.

Similarly, I`m always surprised when somebody says silver conceals marring...never does on mine, even the lightest micromarring shows, usually even without a real (dark environment/point-source illumination) inspection. White conceals a little bit (enough to make a diff for me), but that`s the only color that ever has *for me*.

Well-Detailed silver..literally blinding in sunlight...isn`t blah to me at all..maybe it`s that little improvement that the better (e.g., than M205) brings to the party. But again, that`s just me and I generally find red and black cars boring as can be (even when they are, of course, marring-free).

But note all those "for me"/etc. disclaimers...

[Dan]

Accumulator, is your Fk the pre-voc stuff? Actually that reminds me, M16 looks good on silver...maybe I`ll give that a go!

I`ve put 845 and FK on the same panel several times. No questions as to the winner for me.

[Stokdgs]

I have always gotten great results from the Menzerna line on Mercedes paintwork..

Menzerna made the proper compounds and polishes (and mill their own abrasives) working with Mercedes when the Factory came out with CeramicClear paint..

I can also correct and polish Silver so that it will blind you in the sun..

I remember watching a documentary on how they build Mercedes vehicles; they use 5" pads on a small air powered rotary machine at the end of the Assembly line to correct any boo boo`s...
Love those cars !!!
Dan F

[Accumulator]

Accumulator, is your Fk the pre-voc stuff?

Post-VOC. The little sample tin that initially got me hooked on the stuff might`ve been Pre-VOC but I never noticed any diffs at all.

Actually that reminds me, M16 looks good on silver...maybe I`ll give that a go!

You ever run out of M16 and want more, just let me know and we`ll work something out I`ve simply *gotta* get rid of all the M16 and 476S I`ve accumulated! If the FK doesn`t do it for you, maybe you`d like to trade the remainder of it for a still-sealed tin of M16 (hint hint ).

I`ve put 845 and FK on the same panel several times. No questions as to the winner for me.

Well, alright then You know how it goes for you and that`s what counts in my book. I do appreciate that you gave the FK a try. Heh heh, I`m kinda envious since 845 is so user-(and trim) friendly.

[Accumulator]

Stokdgs- Zero doubt that you get silver blindingly shiny too Even if you are using Menzerna (just teasin` ).

Were those 5" pneumatics at the Benz plants using the big thick (mine are green) foam pads? I thought that`s the original application for those (utterly worthless for me ) pads...

[Dan]

Post-VOC. The little sample tin that initially got me hooked on the stuff might`ve been Pre-VOC but I never noticed any diffs at all.



You ever run out of M16 and want more, just let me know and we`ll work something out I`ve simply *gotta* get rid of all the M16 and 476S I`ve accumulated! If the FK doesn`t do it for you, maybe you`d like to trade the remainder of it for a still-sealed tin of M16 (hint hint ).



Well, alright then You know how it goes for you and that`s what counts in my book. I do appreciate that you gave the FK a try. Heh heh, I`m kinda envious since 845 is so user-(and trim) friendly.

Perhaps a trade might be in order! I keep going back and forth what I want to use here. I really should use the McKees coating as it has been sitting for a long long time....