2014 Black Mercedes-Benz E350 detailed by Mike Phillips

[Mike Phillips]

What am I missing Mike? In this thread you are advising future Merc owners to but the Ceramiclear paint. But in the article you referenced, you said it is a detailer's nightmare to work with so I am a bit confused.

In the context of the article, what I meant was if you are asked to buff out a car with a PPG Ceramiclear finish that already has problems.

I shared Sean Kelly's experience and used his experience to try to forward others to be on the look out for signs of problems and if you start seeing read flag warnings then at the end of the article I wrote,

Note the parts in red text....

Choose wisely
Knowing all of the above I would suggest that any time you are asked to work on a car with a Ceramiclear finish to first find out the history of the paint, that is... has it been cut with a compound by someone else that has worked on the car previously.

If you find out others have compounded the Ceramiclear paint then choose wisely whether or not you put yourself at risk doing any type of compounding or polishing work to the paint.

Regardless of whether or not the car has ever been compounded or polished, follow this advice,

"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"



There's a famous line from a Kenny Rogers song called The Gambler that goes like this,

You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run

It could be that when it comes to cars with Ceramiclear paint jobs... you might want to as I say...

Let some other guy have the blessing...

Personally, I love buffing out virgin PPG Ceramiclear paint systems.

I have an ML350 in Diamond White, which is a great white and looks fantastic. It is a $1500 option so it should be good! It is a hard paint but the code does not really tell me if it is the Ceramiclear or not (I assume it is not).

Check the paint code, it should start with the letter "C".

I am wondering why you feel it is so good now when previously you said, "It could be that when it comes to cars with Ceramiclear paint jobs... you might want to as I say...Let some other guy have the blessing..."?

Read what I wrote above and take a moment to re-read the first post in my article and keep everything in context.

I buffed out a Ceramiclear finish on a brand new Mercedes-Benz in 2006, I believe. I was for my buddy Afshin in SoCal.

What I found interesting is a year later he showed me his car and it still look flawless. I can probably find the pictures.

[firecorgi]

Makes me want to go buy a black truck. LOL!

Great as usual sir.

[Mike lambert]

Do not fret, you will get the hang of this one day! LOL!
Any reason for choosing the rupes system,since you have a large assortment of products to use?

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Nice job on everything, bud!!! I had a Duetto and 75E on order, but I cancelled. I'm going balls out 3401 since I already have it. Forced rotation, forced rotation, forced rotation!! I just bought the whole line of 6.5" and 4" CCS pads to use with the 3401. After seeing this, it makes me kinda regret cancelling. Oh well, it's all about the 3401 for now.

[Shortspark]

Okay Mike, thanks! Now I understand what you are saying.

[FLAVIOBR]

Hello Mike, perfect job, nice car!

I have two questions if you can answer I will be happy!

I have Rupes LHR 15Es, there are many differences to Duetto?

Speed to work the Rupes polishes?

thank you

[Guessless]

[QUOTE=Mike.Phillips@Autogeek;1017222]Thank you. According to my Jawbone Up24 I logged,

20,977 Step
11.56 Miles

The graph pretty much shows the majority of my activity from a starting time of 8:30am to a finish time of 3:30pm, which is the start and finish time for this project.



Mike,

Nice car Nice job,

What really got me interested though is that over 21,000 steps/11.56 miles you burned 1680 calories, and while resting you burned 1670!
Bad teaching for Lazy people like myself.
Enjoy your articles and learn a lot from them, Many Thanks.
Have a happy New year

[john b]

Nice job on everything, bud!!! I had a Duetto and 75E on order, but I cancelled. I'm going balls out 3401 since I already have it. Forced rotation, forced rotation, forced rotation!! I just bought the whole line of 6.5" and 4" CCS pads to use with the 3401. After seeing this, it makes me kinda regret cancelling. Oh well, it's all about the 3401 for now.

say it aint so mark

[WRAPT C5Z06]

say it aint so mark

I've been using the 3401 more often and I like it. Especially, because I found a great lambswool pad that cuts like crazy!!

[Justin M.]

Looks fantastic as usual. Pretty wild that you had to use all 4 Rupes pads/polishes to get the hood where you wanted it.