1992 Charcoal Mercedes/Porsche 500e

[Richard@BlackWOW]

While this Mercedes may look like any other Mercedes, some have hailed it as the greatest sleeper ever manufactured. With only around 1400 in existence, and a joint venture between Porsche and Mercedes, this super car was a joy to restore.



Here it is fully restored after 14 hours of work. And yes this car is 14 years old. That would mean 1 hour per year!



Done all with Meguiar's products and photographed while working, the next day, and 1 week later! :thumbsup:



Quik Clay System

NXT Metal Polysh

#7

M84

M83

M82

M80

M21

W7006 with RB

W8006 with RB and PC

W9006 with RB and PC

2500 Unit Grit Paper



Dressing

Endurance High Gloss Gel



NXT Glass Cleaner



The problem with 14 hour detail days is that by the time you're done there isn't any sun to document the work. So I came back the next day to photograph these, but the owner had to drive it to work which means that the soonest I can take photos is after he gets home, so no chance for any direct sunlight shots. However because I did my test spot with the PC, I'm confident that the finish is indeed truly swirl free, and the new gloss and reflectivity is immediately apparent.

Wheels have some curb rash from the previous owner, nothing I can do about that

This is how the finish looked before I began

 

[Richard@BlackWOW]

Finish was completely swirled out

Bad touch up paint had to be wetsanded smooth

Process involved wetsanding with 2500 Meguiar's Unit Grit papers, buffed with W7006 pad and M84.

Test spot proved that much of the swirls could be solved with just a PC and M80.

The top portion is the untouched, and bottom has been buffed. I was limited by the direction of the sun and because it was peeking between the clouds by this time, it was hard to get a direct shot that lined up with my tape mark.



Some areas showed the clear coat was peeling on the edges which caused me to be extra careful. Notice directly under the light.

Another sign of the clearcoat peeling

There were numerous etchings,

water spot marks, scratches, touch up blobs that all had to be removed. On the hood and sides and roof, I used the rotary buffer with various pads, then followed with PC for final finishing and waxing. 1 coat of #7 followed by two coats of M21 finished it off

 

[Richard@BlackWOW]

When I first arrived, it was about 9AM, and the sun wasn't shining directly overhead yet. The front portion of the car was nearly invisible in the dark.

But my trusty vertical light came to the rescue

With cars rolling down the alley at all speeds, it just wasn't safe or practical to work outside of this covered portion. Besides with the dark clouds overhead, I was constantly being threatened by rain.



Moving the light around gave me sufficient light to work in

The first thing I did was wash the car with my pressure washer. I spent about 30 minutes cleaning the wheels. First I used Wheel Brightener to get the majority of the brake dust and grime off. Then I went in by hand with a sponge and Car Wash soap, removed the rest. Then I claybarred them to remove any impurities still left behind. Then I cleaned them once again with Car Wash soap. Later in the day when it was all dry, I used NXT Speed Detailer to go over the wheels by hand to add a bit of slickness to the finish for easy brake dust removal later as well as touching up anything I didn't see previously.



For the tires, I scrubbed them with Car Wash soap with a stiff bristled brush. Then I dressed them with Endurance High Gloss using a foam applicator pad and disposable gloves. After these sat for about 30 minutes, I covered them with my home made newspaper wheel covers and taped off all the trim areas.

Note taping the trim has good and bad points. That is, I taped them off so I wouldn't get wax in the cracks, but once the tape was removed, I had to apply NXT Metal Polysh to brighten the chrome up, and unless I masked the paint area, I still had the chance of metal polysh getting in the cracks that I previously taped up! So maybe I need thinner tape to mask off only the metal areas so that when it comes time to treat the chrome, I can only remove the tape from the chrome.

 

[Richard@BlackWOW]

Although I didn't photograph it, I did set my EZ UP over the rear of the car as the sun was heating up the paint so much it was steaming the water I sprayed on it. After a few hours though, I removed it, and back the car up to get more light over the rest of the car. You can see the wheel cover in a different position here because I backed up the car. No need to reapply them though, they still got the job done.

This car was fairly easy to mask off using 3/4" painters tape

Did you notice the touch up paint in those previous pictures? I soaked a sheet of 2500 grit Unigrit paper in my car wash bucket when I first began about 2 hours earlier. Then I carefully wet sanded the touchup paint to blend it. Some spots were touched up with clear coat and others weren't. Interestingly enough, the ones with clear coat blended much more closely.

After sanding them, I used a W7006 maroon pad on my rotary buffer with M84 to remove the sanding marks. Then I followed that with M83 and a W8006 yellow pad on the rotary, followed by M80 with the PC.



More sanding marks

During the wetsanding, the clearcoat and water left behind these smudges which were easily wiped away

I guess I wished I had fully documented the process but I was so tired and literally stressed knowing that I wasn't going to have enough time to complete the car.

 

[Richard@BlackWOW]

Here are a few more shots that I took yesterday, just about 1 week later. The owner was rinsing it down after a little bit of rain during the week, and he was so pleased to see how easy it was to wash it--water just sheets off.

Another Reflection Shot

 

[Richard@BlackWOW]

Do you see the touch up paint?? From this angle you could see the edges. From the opposite side, it's completely blended in.

This is what it looked like before

Thanks to another overcast day, I couldn't get any shots to show how swirl free it was. However I did notice a little mistake I made, and I pointed it out to the owner who got a nice laugh. When I worked on this car a week ago, it was mostly in the dark, and I taped off the moonroof. It wasn't until a week later that I realized that this car doesn't HAVE a moonroof, but a sunroof! I completely left the sunroof untouched because I thought it was glass. It was interesting to feel and see how much of a difference there was between the restored areas versus the untouched area! Sorry, I didn't take any pix, I was already embarrased enough, not to need evidence as well!

Of course as I took the pix, I couldn't resist taking a few of MY favorite car!

I lost my windshield banner due to a newly installed windshield, thanks to an errant rock on a recent canyon run.

That's it! This Mercedes was great fun to detail, I discovered the customers wife knew my brother, who both shared a common friend, both the husband and wife are super passionate car people, and this was certainly one of the best details I've ever had due to those facts alone!

 

[wytstang]

Great job man looks great

 

[ritchic]

Very nice work I love the reflection

 

[RTexasF]

Frankly, I had no idea such a restoration was possible. I am in awe of your work.

 

[Scottwax]

Amazing work! The reflections are extremely clear and sharp! From the before shots, I have no doubt you put 14 hard hours into that car and the results show it was worth it! :bow

 

[Temple]

:woohoo: As the owner of the car in question, I can attest to my delight in the work that OctaneGuy performed. I purchased this 14 year old car about a month ago with 170,000 miles on the odometer and it was in desperate need for a 'freshening'



The transformation is truly amazing -- the most frequent comment I get from folks who have seen it is simply "wow." Its like having a brand new car.



I should point out that OctaneGuy also took the time to teach me about the how's and why's of the different stages he proceeded (as I aim to maintain the car in this fantastic condition), and, obviously, went above and beyond all expectations both in his attention to detail and the end results. :bow



Now I'm just doing my best to avoid water runoff in the streets, folks spraying their windshields in front of me, early morning street cleaners with power washers, parking under trees, etc., etc. :nervous2:



:thx OctaneGuy

 

[BigAl3]

great job as always richard! :bigups