2005 Mercedes S500, 2005 Ford F250

[Scottwax]

2005 Mercedes S500. I detailed his SL500 last week (the silver one) and his wife then wanted her car cleaned. This time I did the detail at their office instead of their house so I had a lot better lighting since the car was in the full sun on a cloudless day.



Not too bad to start with-

This car had a C in front of the paint code, denoting a CeramiClear paint job. Honestly, I couldn't find any spider swirling at all in the full sun on a nearly 2 year old car! I tried to capture how good the finish was prior to even washing but the sun spot flared out on the metallic as you can see here-

I wash the car with Optimum No Rinse and did a couple shots with just the ONR wash and then polished with Optimum Poli-Seal using a white LC polishing pad.



ONR only-

After Poli-Seal-

ONR only-

After Poli-Seal-

This is after Poli-Seal for a comparison vs topping with my 80/20 blend of Meguiars #16 and FK's Pink Wax>



After Poli-Seal-

After 16/PW-

Obviously, not huge differences because the car was in good shape to begin with. Definite depth increase with each step though. 16/PW also ramped up the wetness, although it isn't as apparent in the picture as to my own eyes.

 

[Scottwax]

Starting point-

Finished-

Start-

Finished-yes, I know the lighting isn't the same. I can't freeze the sun in the same spot for 4 hours, sorry.

Final process was wash with Optimum No Rinse, polish with Poli-Seal using a white LC polishing pad and seal with an 80/20 blend of Meguiars #16 and FK's Pink Wax.

My favorite shot:

The interior was cleaned with Woolite/water, dressed with Optimum Protectant Plus, leather dressed with Turtle Wax Leather Conditioner (spray version).

 

[Scottwax]

2005 Ford F-250. Started off with light snow and sleet today but I knew I'd have something in a customer's warehouse waiting despite the weather. Honestly, I expected to do an exterior detail on his Rolls, figuring he'd rather drive the truck in the rain. My expectations were not met. Go figure, right?



Anyway, it was still quite moist when I got there so I had to work in the warehouse in decent but not great lighting.



I started off with an ONR wash, here you can see a half washed, half dirty shot:

The owner had backed into something a few weeks back so he said to not worry about polishing because it would be at the body shop in a few weeks but to go ahead and wax it. I used my #16/Pink Wax blend by hand.

 

[Nuke33]

Awesome care great work!

 

[sixty7mustang22]

How much #16 do you have stocked up?



I can see the wetness in both cars after you applied the wax. Really amazing.



Where did you learn about the 80/20 blend and why do you mix the two?

 

[Kenney]

Scott, do you just use AA tire foam to dress the tires?





Thanks

 

[euro]

The bodyshop will probably have a hard time believing that truck backed into something....looks like its fresh out of the shop.:bigups

 

[Scottwax]

How much #16 do you have stocked up?



I can see the wetness in both cars after you applied the wax. Really amazing.



Where did you learn about the 80/20 blend and why do you mix the two?

I have two full tins of #16, plus a half tin of #16/Pink Wax. I had only a small amount of Pink Wax left and a half tin of #16 and I figured what the he!!, and melted in the Pink Wax so it doesn't go to waste. Side by side, there is a definite increase in wetness vs #16 alone. Really just an experiment that turned out well.



Kenney-I use the regular spray version of Armor All for the tires and fenderwells, applied with the new Griot's tire dressing applicator-that one of my customer's company makes! Guess who has a lifetime supply?



euro-Once they look at the lower part of the bed behind the right rear tire, they'll know what they have to fix! Personally, I wish I could talk the owner of the truck into having the truck restored to all yellow while it is in the body shop. Not a big fan of the custom paint on this one.

 

[ed2065]

Nice work Scott, :drool:

 

[Thomas Dekany]

very beautiful work Scottwax!!!! :bow

 

[DetailsByDennis]

Both cars look great, nice work the truck by hand

 

[JRock10]

that merc wouldn't happen to belong to a football player's wife....one that used to play in Houston, then Tennessee, and now Baltimore would it?

 

[Scottwax]

that merc wouldn't happen to belong to a football player's wife....one that used to play in Houston, then Tennessee, and now Baltimore would it?

Nope. Her husband owns an electronics business of some sort.

 

[JRock10]

Nope. Her husband owns an electronics business of some sort.

ah. the coincidence of it all.....I put some chrome 20"s on this football player's wife's car that was identical to the S500 you did, and he had just gotten a SL500 before he was traded to baltimore. I was thinking "no freakin way" when i saw the car and the kid pic on the dash. oh well. nice job too!

 

[Russecu]

Scott great job as always!! Just curious if the Merc. with the ceramiclear did have swirling/marring what would you have used? Would have been your optimum products or a product for the ceramiclear like menzerna or blackfire or others if there are? #16/pink wax mixture I think you may have started something.

 

[Bigpoppa3346]

That Benz looks totally liquid, and it is such a boring color! Awesome job.

 

[imported_doctordon]

Scott: I was curious about Ceramiclear. Here's a comment from a shooter in a body shop forum:

_____________________________



"I happen to love the stuff. It is tough as nails, has helped me get rid of stone chip problems...that's why Ceramiclear is what Ferrari's and Mercedes are are using.



Word of caution though, DO NOT (and I repeat DO NOT) even remotely think about even considering trying to buff this stuff...not 10 minutes out of the booth nor 1 week later. It does NOT buff well...no matter what a p-sheet says.



But, it flows out nice (SATA 3000 w/ 1.3) and shines bright. And it holds up really well."

__________________________



Sounds like a wonderful CC. Nice to see your work.



j i m

 

[Scottwax]

Russecu and Wetstuff-I've been able to buff out light to moderate swirls and scratches using either Optimum Hyper Compound (the old version, basically what the new version of the Compound is) and Meguiars DACP using the Cyclo and Cyclo orange cutting pads. Severe swirling on a black CL55, I was only able to reduce, even under heavy pressure and very slow passes.



I will probably turn down a vehicle like that again unless I master the rotary and even then I'd do a few test panels to be sure the heavy defects will come out.