A trusting friendship: 2004 AMG S55

**richy** · 05-09-2016, 10:26 PM

I was really excited to do this car and so was the owner. He and I have been friends for about 30 years. He and I share a passion for detailing. In fact, that has been his business for about that long. He now owns several detailing shops in my area. They do volume work for dealers and the public. He describes them as the Tim Hortons of detailing. He purchased this gorgeous 2004 MB S55 AMG and had it painted. This paint job was just incredible. I have seen more faults in brand new factory paint than I did this job. It really helped to make a difference later. It did need work however and that's where I came in. I felt very honoured to be trusted with his baby...but no pressure...just a friend and a fellow detailer at that! Oh, boy.

Let's see what I was dealing with:

First up as always was the wheels. The barrels were cleaned with Tarminator, followed by Megs WB to the barrels and faces. That was followed up with Zep Citrus and Megs HW to hand wash the faces. Tires were cleaned with Zep 505 (twice). The wells were cleaned with LATA. After cleaning the wells and barrels, they were shot with Aqua Bead to give them some temporary protection.

The car was then hand washed with Megs HW and then washed a 2nd time using IronX paste. The second decontamination stage consisted of my CarPro clay towel. Now it was time to see the true condition of the paint...yikes!

Pretty much the whole car had defects to one degree or another. Luckily I was given the green light to "make it mint". Being a re-paint, I assumed the paint might have been softer than the typically rock hard MB clear. Nope. I tried out a sample of the new HD compound with my Flex and my TB black wool pad. It did not do as well as the M100 did. I even tried it using the rotary, but that was not really helping. The rotary wasn't the answer with the M100 either. The Flex 3401 + M100 + TB black wool WAS the answer. I wish more people would try this defect-killing combo. Here is an example of on the roof with a before shot, followed by an after shot of ONLY using the M100 + black wool. No polishing. Just compounding and my way of finishing it off:

BEFORE:

ONLY COMPOUNDING:

I was really trying for perfection with this car. It had plenty of paint, so that wasn't an issue, and I had the time to perfect it (within reason). The hood was such a mess that it took me 3 hours to do it alone. My method ended up being 3 steps:
1) 3401 + TB black wool + M100
2) 3401 + yellow B/S + M205
3) 3401 + CarPro Gloss pad + Essence

That killed defects and left a dripping wet surface. I also hand polished the wheels with Essence and a mf. Headlights and tail lights were compounded and polished too.

The car was then given a double coat of CQuartz Finest to the paint, wheels, head and tail lights and side and rear glass. The trim under the cowl was coated with DLux. The tires were shot with Opti Bond from my air gun.

This was a long journey to perfection. I killed several very nice cigars, including this one sent to me by my friend Don in California:

How long was the journey? Over 22 hours. I usually budget 12 hours for a Finest job with a one step polish, so this was 10 extra hours spent on paint and wheels. Was it worth it? Well, I'd say I got 97-98% perfection from the paint. Mother Nature gave me a cloudy day, but at least it wasn't raining. Here she is all done:

Hood Sun Shot:

Closeup:

Some Reflection Shots:

Thanks for looking! My friend was blown away and even called me an hour later when he got it under his shop lights to express his gratitude again. It felt great getting that call. Comments as always are appreciated.

**jcaustin87** · 05-09-2016, 10:52 PM

Nice turn!

**Don M** · 05-09-2016, 11:19 PM

Those rims & tires looked to be the worst part of the car. They turned out beautiful as did the rest of the car!

**VISITOR** · 05-10-2016, 12:16 AM

no surprise that he (or anyone for that matter) would be thrilled with your skills/work, excellent job richy!

**BadgerRivFan** · 05-10-2016, 06:33 AM

One word... "Gorgeous"

**richy** · 05-10-2016, 08:19 AM

Originally Posted by jcaustin87

Nice turn!

Thanks kindly and thanks for commenting.

Originally Posted by Don M

Those rims & tires looked to be the worst part of the car. They turned out beautiful as did the rest of the car!

Thanks so much Don! I agree, the rims absolutely make the car...although, admittedly, I've always been a sucker for a black car with chrome wheels.

Originally Posted by VISITOR

no surprise that he (or anyone for that matter) would be thrilled with your skills/work, excellent job richy!

Thanks so much! He'd never seen my results first hand before.

Originally Posted by BadgerRivFan

One word... "Gorgeous"

One word...Thanks!

**fly07sti** · 05-10-2016, 11:00 AM

Daaaaamn! Fantastic job on that black land yacht. Impressive as always Buddy. Funny thing you liked that cigar, it was cigar journal's #1 for 2015.

**richy** · 05-10-2016, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by fly07sti

Daaaaamn! Fantastic job on that black land yacht. Impressive as always Buddy. Funny thing you liked that cigar, it was cigar journal's #1 for 2015.

Thanks so much Don! That's the cool thing about getting the package like that. Each one is enjoyed without any expectation. Cool that I concur with the experts!