This 2000 300M is our third car; handy for airport trips and taking Heidi to the park. It's always parked outside, usually under trees where it takes a beating from sap and birds. After spending a week in Nevada doing Air Force Reserve stuff and another week on a vacation with my wife, Heidi's car was very dirty and needed some work. I didn't have time to go 'all out,' but I did want to polish and seal the exterior.
Process:
Vacuum interior
Removed plastic cowl that sits between windshield and hood (gets in the way of polishing)
Scrub engine, bottom of hood, tires, wheels, and wheel wells with Purple Power diluted with about two parts water
Wash with Dawn liquid using Griot's sheepskin mitt and Pinnacle bug sponge
Dry with MF towels
Touch up random scratches and horizontal areas with Meguiar's 105 using LC Purple Foamed Wool pad on Makita rotary
Polish all paint and lenses with Menzerna P106FF using white pad on rotary
Seal all paint, glass, trim, and lenses with Klasse All-In-One on a white pad
Top with Collinite 845 Insulator Wax
Final wipedown with FK425
Clean glass with Stoners Invisible Glass
Dress tires and wells with Meguiar's Hyper Dressing diluted with two parts water
Before:
Somebody dragged a cardboard box on the top and made some scratches. This pic is after washing:
I had to remove the wiper arms to take off the plastic cowl pieces:
Here's one shot after the whole car had KAIO on everything:
After:
I got most of the deeper scratches out without wet sanding. Overall, I would say the swirling was reduced by about 80% and the gloss is much improved.
By the way, this is Heidi:
Process:
Vacuum interior
Removed plastic cowl that sits between windshield and hood (gets in the way of polishing)
Scrub engine, bottom of hood, tires, wheels, and wheel wells with Purple Power diluted with about two parts water
Wash with Dawn liquid using Griot's sheepskin mitt and Pinnacle bug sponge
Dry with MF towels
Touch up random scratches and horizontal areas with Meguiar's 105 using LC Purple Foamed Wool pad on Makita rotary
Polish all paint and lenses with Menzerna P106FF using white pad on rotary
Seal all paint, glass, trim, and lenses with Klasse All-In-One on a white pad
Top with Collinite 845 Insulator Wax
Final wipedown with FK425
Clean glass with Stoners Invisible Glass
Dress tires and wells with Meguiar's Hyper Dressing diluted with two parts water
Before:
Somebody dragged a cardboard box on the top and made some scratches. This pic is after washing:
I had to remove the wiper arms to take off the plastic cowl pieces:
Here's one shot after the whole car had KAIO on everything:
After:
I got most of the deeper scratches out without wet sanding. Overall, I would say the swirling was reduced by about 80% and the gloss is much improved.
By the way, this is Heidi: