Observations of a day that didn't go as planned

[mjlinane]

Man plans, God laughs. - Yiddish Proverb

That pretty well described my day. Had a customer returning for what I thought was a maintenance wash and general sprucing up of her black 2003 Mercedes C240. The car has had a generally hard life. Until I did a full detail last Spring, it hadn't been washed for almost 5 years! It cleaned up nicely and was even back a couple of months ago for a maintenance wash. Other than being dirty, was still holding up well.

That's what I was expecting and the plan was wash, reseal with KHGSG + light interior (maybe 3 hours) & finish in time to watch the UT game - with the only twist being the water restrictions forcing a rinseless wash. When it arrived, it didn't look too bad except for what looked like splattered mud on the front half of the car and windshield.

Well, it wasn't mud. Somehow she'd managed to drive through a shower of white paint!

So, out comes the clay substitute sponge. Observation 1: I am really liking this. It took off the paint with no problems and is so much easier & faster to use than clay. Observation 2: I liked ONR as a clay lube slightly better with it than DP RW&G. (I like Dodo Born Slippy a hair more.) Just seemed easier to remove the contaminants with the ONR. Observation 3: won't be able to get totally away from clay. Some areas (like the grill) just couldn't fit the sponge in.

With the white paint gone, I could look at the car's paint. I'm only guessing but I think she took it to a car wash to try to get the paint off before calling me because it was swirled up pretty good (bad?) with heavy waterspotting.

So, out with the KHSG and in with an AIO. Wanted more cut than KAIO and decided to try XMT 360 that I'd bought on BOGO a little while ago (with PC + green LC CP CCS pad). Observation 4: I really like XMT 360!! It didn't remove all of the swirls but reduced most to an acceptable DD level, easy to apply & remove, left a beautiful finish and even smelled good. Topped it with Wolfgang DGSS.

Other random observation: think I like OPC better than Zep Citrus on the wheels and tires. Worked really well in the rinseless scenario.

All told, 9 hours. Oh well....

[Flash Gordon]

Nothing ever seems to go as planned for me as well. Thats why I don't plan anything. Only setting myself up for failure

Glad you got the car spiffed back up

BTW I wasn't aware you were a University of Tennessee fan

[mjlinane]

Do they have a football team? Back at ya.

[calhoun1]

I am with you on the XMT 360 just used it for the first time myself last week. Loved it! Didn't get everything out, but for a DD it got more than enough out to make the car look great!

[Gurge]

as a clay lube I tested both ONR and DP rinseless wash (since results seemed the same for general washing). Same results you came to. I preferred the ONR for clay lube so I bought a gallon of it.

Also, I typically use XMT360 with a CCS white pad, not green. You get a tad more correction with the white if that's what youre looking for

[tw33k2514]

I don't think I have ever had a car go as planned... I feel your pain.

which clay substitute sponge are you using? elastrofoam?

[mjlinane]

Same sponge - different name. Hi Tech Magna Sponge