MB E500 Estate - MPD

[christian900se]

Today, I detailed a very nice Mercedes E500 both inside and out. It belongs to a very successful interior designer/decorator who uses the car every day to travel around. The car seemed to be fairly well cared for but as soon as I started tackling the exterior, it was clear that the car was heavily contaminated with fallout and had no protection whatsoever. I went through 2 bars of riccardo clay (probably could have gotten away with 1 1/2) but the improvement in gloss and smoothness was well worth the effort.

I hit it with XMT360 AIO which did a fantastic job of further cleaning the paint while giving some minor correction. I then glazed and waxed it whilst attending to the remaining trim, tires, and interior intricacies.


Products and Process:

-Pre-soak with ONR at QD strength
-Wash with DP Rinseless W+G
-Wheels done with CG Diablo (good stuff!) and the tires+wells with OPC 3:1
-Clayed with Riccardo and ONR QD
-Rinsed and dried
-XMT360 and a white CCS pad via PC
-CG EZ Creme Glaze
-Collinite 845
-Glass cleaned with AG Fast Glass
-Interior vacuumed with my new Shop Vac
-Plastics and leather cleaned with OPC 5:1
-All plastics and leather treated to 303 Protectant
-CG stripper scent applied
-Final wipedown with DG Aquawax

On with the pictures- The car looked a bit tired, and the wheels were really in a bad way.


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0001_167.jpg

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0002_168.jpg

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0003_169.jpg

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0004_170.jpg

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0005_171.jpg

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0006_172.jpg

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0007_173.jpg

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0008_174.jpg

My new Raceglaze XL wheel brush. :)


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0009_175.jpg

A reference for the size of it against 17" wheels

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0010_176.jpg

[christian900se]

Now, for the afters:





http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0011_177.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0012_178.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0013_179.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0014_180.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0015_181.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0016_182.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0017_183.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0018_184.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0019_185.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0020_186.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0021_187.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0022_188.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0023_189.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0024_190.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0025_191.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0026_192.jpg





German Engineering:





http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0027_193.jpg


All in all, it was a rewarding detail and I was especially happy with the way the interior finished. The wheels had some heavy staining that I could not remove for the life of me (clay, XMT360 tried) but they look much better. I also tried to limit the number of photos I took so you guys aren't constantly bombarded by so many. Thanks for reading!





Total time invested: 5 hours.
MPD = Martell Professional Detailing

[pushtiulk]

great job

[JohnHenry]

Nice work!

You might want to try some P21S Polishing Soap on the wheel stains. I've had a lot of luck with this product.

[Matt S.]

Nice work!

You might want to try some P21S Polishing Soap on the wheel stains. I've had a lot of luck with this product.

Not recommended for painted surfaces. It works awesome on bare metals, but will scratch paint badly.

Great job on the Benz!

[jjkacz]

Looks Great - Nice work!

[christian900se]

great job

Thanks!


Nice work!

You might want to try some P21S Polishing Soap on the wheel stains. I've had a lot of luck with this product.

I tried again with a polishing pad and XMT360 and the marks wouldn't budge. I would be willing to bet that those stains are from acidic cleaners since the stains look like 'runs' and a lot of the wheel looks cloudy and white.


Not recommended for painted surfaces. It works awesome on bare metals, but will scratch paint badly.

Great job on the Benz!

Thanks for the comment Matt! The wheels are the only part letting my detail down, but there isn't much I can do about them unfortunately.


Looks Great - Nice work!

Thank you for the kind words, they are much appreciated!

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Excellent job! :dblthumb2:

[christian900se]

Muchos gracias! I redid alot of my detailing arsenal with the intent to make my work faster and easier while producing the same result and it helped a lot with this detail.

[WRAPT C5Z06]

How do you like the CG EZ Cream glaze?

[ASPHALT ROCKET]

Looking good Christian.

[christian900se]

How do you like the CG EZ Cream glaze?

I actually like it a lot, it cleans the paint very well and is so easy to use. I have found that it also creates a nice base for any LSP you want to apply, not to mention it is one of the few products that I have used that adds a noticeable amount of gloss. I wouldn't hesistate to try it out. :xyxthumbs:


Looking good Christian.

Thank you Dana, I hope I start getting more correction details so I can put my new Makita to good use. Doing wash/wax/interior jobs kind of tears down your passion and will after a while so my fingers are crossed that Californians like swirl free cars!

[WRAPT C5Z06]

I actually like it a lot, it cleans the paint very well and is so easy to use. I have found that it also creates a nice base for any LSP you want to apply, not to mention it is one of the few products that I have used that adds a noticeable amount of gloss. I wouldn't hesistate to try it out. :xyxthumbs:

Awesome! Thanks for the info.

[sparkie]

Sweet job..:dblthumb2:..XMT is one of my go to products...German cars is the worst as far as break dust....

[christian900se]

Awesome! Thanks for the info.

No worries! I like to pass on information when it can help someone else, especially when it comes to CG products since they include so much marketing BS on their website.


Sweet job..:dblthumb2:..XMT is one of my go to products...German cars is the worst as far as break dust....

Thanks Sparkie! I am very happy I caught XMT360 on bogo since it has really been my most used and more versatile exterior product.

On the wheels; I must have been spoiled by not having worked on a German car in a while because those things were gross. You know break dust is bad when your first rinse with a hose (no cleaning agents applied) yields black water coming off of them lol.