Mercedes ML500

[christian900se]

Sorry for being such a diliquent poster! I have been working my butt off to restart my detailing business since moving from Connecticut to Socal and have found it has been a bit of a challenge especially after enjoying such a loyal clientele base back North. The owner of this very nice ML500 requested a full interior and a full exterior minus any correction but placed a very strong emphasis on the interior... and I could see why after inspecting the car. I spent 4 hours on the interior because there was a couple inches of food under the back seats as well as melted chocolate and tootsie rolls. Good thing I just bought gloves! She has a few small kids and the previous detailer never got under the seats so it accumulated after a while. I then tackled the exterior which, in all fairness, was actually in good shape: some bugs on the front and the typical brake dust on the rims but I think it turned out well.

Products+Process:

Exterior

-ONR wash
-Dried with my new WW, it dried the whole exterior and could have gone further
-OPC 3:1 on the wheels and front bumper (bugs)
-Automagic clay, CG Luber on glass and paint
-CG EZ-creme glaze by hand, really brought the flake out and set a base for the LSP
-Collinite 845 applied
-Opti-bond on the tires and exterior plastics
-Exhausts done with 0000 steel wool and Mother's Chrome polish

Interior:

-Thorough vacuum with the Shop-vac and various attachments
-Folex wipedown on the carpets
-OPC 3:1 on all the nasty spills and gunk all over the seats and door cards
-AG Fast Glass on interior windows
-303 on all the plastics and vinyl

Onto the befores. I am kicking myself for failing to take a picture of what I found under the seats, but the rest of the interior was not too bad as was the exterior.

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0006_368.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0007_369.jpg
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http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0012_374.jpg

A treasure trail of popcorn leading me to the real gold:

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0013_375.jpg

Again, most of the car really wasn't too bad which is a credit to the owner:

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0014_376.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0015_377.jpg
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http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0018_380.jpg

[christian900se]

I did my best to make sure that I did not overlook anything and to do a bit extra in the process since the area I live in is made up of close knit friends, therefore word of mouth is crucial. Onto the afters:


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0019_381.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0020_382.jpg
http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0021_383.jpg
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http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0025_387.jpg


The prep work and LSP really brought the flake out nicely:


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0026_388.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0027_389.jpg
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http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0036_398.jpg



The area under the seats turned out great in the end: I got most of the melted candy out of the carpet and removed what seemed like a pound of chips, crackers, and other wrapped candy.


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0037_399.jpg


http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0038_400.jpg
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http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0042_404.jpg


I always like to end with the car's emblem. :)



http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu202/christian900se/Detailing/DSC_0043_405.jpg


Thanks for reading, I am all ears for any comments or critque!

[ASPHALT ROCKET]

Looking good Christian.

[2003 GMC Denali]

Looks good...

What did you do to clean the Inner Fender Liners ? You didn't show the "afters" of them.

I just pulled mine out, to make it easier to change my Spark-Plugs... and so while I have them out & loose, I'd like to clean them up.

[christian900se]

Looking good Christian.

Thanks Dana, it has been a little slow going this summer between school and the move but I am working hard to get the ball rolling through a slew of advertising and a little perseverance!


Looks good...

What did you do to clean the Inner Fender Liners ? You didn't show the "afters" of them.

I just pulled mine out, to make it easier to change my Spark-Plugs... and so while I have them out & loose, I'd like to clean them up.

Thanks for the kind words! I sprayed on some Optimum Power Clean firt and then I used ONR on the front fenders with a long handle brush and dried it up with some costco MFs (no running water). The rear fenders had the carpet lining which I used a stiff bristled attachment on my ShopVac to get most of the dirt and debris out which worked surprisingly well. Hope this helps!