Flex + Rupes vs Ceramiclear Paint - How to detail a Mercedes-Benz SL 550

Mike Phillips · 02-17-2014, 02:17 PM

Flex + Rupes vs Ceramiclear Paint - How to detail a Mercedes-Benz SL 550

This last Saturday I buffed out a 2007 Mercedes-Benz SL550 with a Ceramiclear finish. The swirls didn't look bad in the sun but it was around 8:15AM in the morning and the sun was still very low in the sky so not the best time to use the sun to reveal swirls and scratches.

Overhead sun shining down on hood at 8:115am Saturday morning

The paint did in fact have a lot of random scratches, my guess is from improper washing and drying techniques, plus the normal wear-n-tear a car that's 7+ years old gets.

The new owner told me he's been looking for a low mileage SL550 for some time and upon finding this one he really like the car but didn't want it with so many scratches in the paint. So he bought figuring I could remove them for him.

I did some testing using the least aggressive approach, I started with a white foam Hybrid pad on a Flex 3401 with Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover and this easily removed all the shallow scratches and restored clarity and shine to the paint but it wasn't aggressive enough.

Next I tried the Uber Compound with a orange Hybrid foam cutting pad using the Flex 3401 and same thing, it did a better job of removing more scratches but there were still scratches left behind that wouldn't be acceptable.

So I switched over to the Flex PE14 Rotary Buffer with both a wool finishing pad and a wool cutting pad and using the Uber Compound did another test spot and this combination did the job.

After dialing in my correction step I then tested my polishing process using the Rupes Duetto with the Rupes Keramik Gloss Fine Cut Polish and this removed the holograms left by the fibers of the wool pads.

I then tested the Diamond Ultra Fine Polish to see if I could squeeze every last little bit of shine out of the Ceramiclear finish.

Next I stripped the surface using Black Label Surface Cleansing Polish and then applied the Black Label Diamond Paint Coating.

Showed the results to the owner, his wife and their friends before they left for the day and got the nod of approval.

After that I immediately began working on the car and didn't take any before pictures AND only took a few pictures throughout the project with a little help from Nick.

The owner had already washed this Mercedes-Benz a couple of times since purchasing it in the last week, so when he arrived on this very sunny and hot day the car was still clean as a whistle so I skipped washing and only gave it a light dusting with a microfiber towel before starting.

Process

Step 1
Using a Heat Gun on the low setting, I carefully warmed up the vinyl lettering doing the free advertising for some dealership.

Step 2
Mechanically decontaminate the paint using a Nanoskin Medium Grade Autoscrub Pad on a Porter Cable. For lubricating I used Detailer's Universal Clay Lube. I rand this pad over every inch of paint and afterwards also ran it over all the exterior glass.

Step 3
After wiping all the clay lube residue off the entire exterior I then taped off any and all trim that I did not want to risk being hit by a wool buffing pad on a rotary buffer with a white colored compound. For this I used three different widths of 3M Painter's Tape and some 1/4" 3M Blue Vinyl Tape.

Step 4
Buffed out the entire exterior of the car using the Flex PE14 Rotary Polisher with wool pads and Uber Compound.

Step 5
After Compounding the entire car I wiped off all the compound residue using a little 12% IPA to liquefy the reside to make it easier and faster to wipe off.

Step 6
After wiping the compound residue all off the exterior I re-inspected and found a few deeper scratches in random places still remaining. On the hood I very lightly and very carefully machine sanded the trouble areas using 3M #5000 Trizact on a Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher using water as the lubricant.

These sanding marks were then removed using a wool cutting pad with the Flex PE14 and the Uber Compound and I re-compounded both the hood and the trunk lid a second time very aggressively, as in about 20 pounds of downward pressure until approximately 98% of the random, deeper scratches were removed.

Step 7
Next I switched over to a orbital dual action polisher and less aggressive products and pads to remove the holograms left in the paint by the individual fibers that make up a wool pad.

My Test Spot showed me that carefully and methodically working the Rupes Duetto with the Rupes Keramik Gloss Fine Cut Polish and the Rupes 6" Yellow Foam Polishing pad I was able to remove the holograms to leave a swirl-free finish.

Step 8
I re-polished the hood and trunk lid, called the "Gloss Panels" in the second edition of my how-to book using the Rupes Diamond Ultra Fine Cut Polish with the Rupes 6" soft foam finishing pad on the Rupes Duetto.

Step 9
Next I removed all the green painter's tape and the blue vinyl tape.

Step 10
I had applied to the entire car the Black Label Surface Cleansing Polish and then carefully wiped the car down twice. The first wipe is to remove about 90% of the cleansing polish residue. During this first application and removal I also worked off any residue lines where protective tape had been placed.

After the first pass around the car I switched to clean towels and then went around the car a second time and this time carefully inspecting the paint to make sure all traces of the cleansing polish residue had been removed.

Step 11
Hand applied Black Label Diamond Paint Coat. I applied this to the entire car at one time. After every square inch had been quoted, I slipped on some microfiber gloves, switched over to the very soft green microfiber towels with the rolled edges and carefully wiped the entire car down wiping off any high spots which in reality is excess product left behind after application.

Step 12

Gave the car a final wipe and returned the car to the owner. Also instructed the owner to wait till the next morning and at that time re-inspect the body panels for trace residues I missed. I point this out in my how-to books as well because too often when you been working on the same car all day you get tired and it's very possible to have missed a few spots that you couldn't see in the light conditions you're working in. So a fresh set of eyes PLUS moving the car into a different area with different light will usually expose any missed spots.

Started at 8:30am
Finished at 7:00pm
Total time = 10 hours

Mike Phillips · 02-17-2014, 02:29 PM

Here's the pictures following the order of the steps listed above...

Carefully removing the vinyl letters using a Heat Gun...

I just used my thumbnail to carefully scrape the softened letters off the paint and then wiped the area down using Xenit by Stoners to remove the sticky residue.

Machine decontaminated the paint...

Compounded all the paint using a wool pad with Uber compound on the Flex PE14 Rotary Polisher.

Nick took these pictures showing my picking up my bed of compound using the 10 @ 10 technique.

At this picture I was done with the major correction step and next I would need to wipe all the compound reside off the car. IF you look at the hood behind the Flex PE14 on the car you can see it's covered with a film of compound.

Mike Phillips · 02-17-2014, 02:33 PM

I took these shots just to show every inch of the car was buffed using the rotary buffer including all the glass and the plastic headlights and tail lights.

This is the wool finishing pad, it was used on everything the first time around. Later I switched to a wool cutting pad to re-buff the hood and trunk lid to remove the sanding marks and the deeper, random scratches that were revealed after the first time around the car.

Mike Phillips · 02-17-2014, 02:47 PM

Continued....

Here's what the paint looked like after JUST the compounding step. If you look at the roof you can see I've placed the IPA and the microfiber towels I used to wipe the compound off the body just to help me identify this pictures today.

Without the bottle on the roof some people might look at the paint on this car and think I had just wiped the wax off.

First machine polishing
Next I machine polished every square inch of the car using the Rupes Duetto, an orbital dual action polisher with the Keramik Gloss Fine Cut Polish and the Rupes yellow foam polishing pads.

Sorry there's no action shots, too busy trying to get done in a timely manner.

Finish Polishing
After the first pass round the car with the Keramik Gloss I re-polished the gloss panels with the Diamond Ultra Fine Cut Polish. (no pictures)

Chemically strip paint
Next I wiped all body panels using the Black Label Surface Cleansing Polish and then wiped the body down twice to make sure all residues were removed. I cover this in a new how-to book in the works.

Apply Black Label Diamond Paint Coating
After the second wiping pass around the car I then applied the Black Label Diamond Paint Coating to the entire car and then carefully and softly re-wiped each body panel starting where I started and then following my path of travel till the entire car had been carefully wiped down.

Mike Phillips · 02-17-2014, 02:50 PM

Final results...

Mike Phillips · 02-17-2014, 02:52 PM

Here's what I used...

On Autogeek.net

Flex PE14 Rotary Polisher

Rupes Duetto

Porter Cable 7424XP

Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher

Pinnacle Black Label Surface Cleansing Polish

Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Paint Coating

Wolfgang Uber Compound 3.0 16 oz

Rupes Keramik Gloss Fine Gel Polish 500 ml.

Rupes Diamond Ultra Fine Gel Polish 500 ml.

Rupes 150 mm (6 inch) Foam Pads

Detailer's Universal Clay Lubricant

Nanoskin Autoscrub Medium Foam Pad – 6 inch

3M Trizact 3 Inch 5000 Grit Foam Discs 30362

3M Automotive Performance Masking Tape - 3 Pack

3M Vinyl Tape - 06405

**2shiny** · 02-17-2014, 03:01 PM

amazing work again!

can I ask you how you are certain you've corrected the paint enough without wiping off the residu? I mean you did the complete car without wiping off, then wiped off the entire car.

**Tato** · 02-17-2014, 03:16 PM

Well, what to say... out of words, absolutely, and really impressed.

It's easy to see by the pictures that each step done had significative impact on paint condition. It was a straightforward process.

Compounding step looked amazing, like LSP ready in many people's view, but the post-LSP shots are the dream of any detailer: that candy, warm and glossy glow. You did it again!

Please, can you talk a bit about your compounding residue 'buffing' procedures? It's not the first time I see some pictures that looks like you polish and then remove the compound from whole (or almost) car?

Please, correct me if I'm mistaken, but that's what looks like.

I'm always afraid of not removing compound residue immediately because I know the pain to remove dried products... how can we do this safely?

Thank you very much in advance.

Kind Regards.

Mike Phillips · 02-17-2014, 03:17 PM

Originally Posted by 2shiny

amazing work again!

can I ask you how you are certain you've corrected the paint enough without wiping off the residu? I mean you did the complete car without wiping off, then wiped off the entire car.

The idea is to dial in how long to buff when doing your testing, so you at least have an idea as to what it takes. The other thing you do is look at the paint while you're buffing and after making a pass, if you're watching and know where the scratches are, you can monitor when they have been removed.

For this you want to move the rotary buffer a little quick as well as work a smaller section. Nick actually stopped into the garage and explained what I was doing as I didn't what him to think I was using the wild man technique.

The wild man technique is buffing too fast because a person doesn't know any better, what I as doing was watching for the scratches to disappear.

I didn't remove all the scratches out of the hood or trunk lid but took it as far as I felt comfortable. The owner inspected and asked me to go even further to try to remove even more of the remaining deep scratches.

He's read my article on the topic of Ceramiclear paints so at his request I re-buffed these two gloss panels and I when I did this I changed to a more aggressive wool cutting pad and then buffed pretty aggressively using the fight or flight technique to monitor surface temperatures.

See this article,

Ceramiclear Paints - Be Careful

And this article,

Fight or Flight Method for Gaging Surface Temperature

For most people you'll be a lot better off to buff a panel or even a section of a panel and then wipe off and inspect the results, not only will the residue be easier to wipe off if you wipe it off immediately but you can also check your results as you go.