My first show 'n shine - Black E550

**SlightlyBent** · 01-20-2014, 05:58 PM

Hi Everyone!

After I posted an introduction and a few photos of my car My black '10 MB E550 I received a very warm welcome. After trolling the site for several months before joining, this was expected as I'd seen this before. What I did not expect was that one of the forum members, allenk4, stepped up and volunteered to spend his Saturday helping me learn the products I bought and show me a few tricks and techniques. I'm still rather stunned that he did this!

(I've not taken photos for a show 'n' shine before, so forgive me if these don't come out right or show you what you want to see...)

First - a few partial-car photos to show the obvious dirt and mess on the car and wheels:

The wheels were terrifying...

An application of magic wheel cleaner (correct me if I am wrong, as I probably wrong) "Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner"...

and all four came out stunning:

Once we washed the car with the foamaster foam gun, and clayed the entire car, the Brinkman came out to show me what I already knew - the car was COVERED in scratches, swirls and other horrifying damage:

The first polish attempt was ok but there were some deeper scratches that didn't come out. We used Total Swirl Remover on a white pad:

Next - we tried Wolfgang Uber Compound on the orange pad, and I was extremely impressed:

A few passes with that combination resulted in:

A few more passes and the result was what I was looking for:

By the time the evening ended, every panel received ~ 4-5 passes of the uber compound, and then 3-4 passes with the white pad + swirl remover.

This was one of the last shots I took before allenk left for the night:

Yesterday, the car received the BlackFire wax and I cleaned the interior with 303 and a Swiffer duster.

Sorry, I didn't get any interior photos.

The car is my daily driver, so the paint isn't perfect. The work we did wasn't perfect, but it was a serious improvement over what I started with. I didn't go for 100% correction. That would have been a waste of time and clearcoat. I went for 90+% and I think we achieved it.

I didn't drive the car yesterday, other than to pull it in and out of the garage for the interior clean/detail.

I took the car today to get some beauty photos taken of it in bright sunlight (it was in the 70's here today) and there was a significant amount (visible) of cedar pollen that has landed on the car... Sigh. I also found some areas that either I didn't get the wax completely wiped down or someone has now bumped up against the car! Yikes. Still - I'm thrilled at how the car came out and am still amazed at the generosity of fellow forum member allenk for spending his Saturday helping me work the car into its present state!

A few of the beauty photos I took today:

(he did one of these doors, and I did the other - can anyone tell the difference?)

Thank you AG members!

Special thanks to allenk!

**allenk4** · 01-20-2014, 06:07 PM

Turned out Great!

Enjoyed working with you.

Amazing what you can do with two people and ten hours.

Congratulations on your newest addiction

**SlightlyBent** · 01-20-2014, 06:11 PM

Thanks! Likewise! It was a great learning experience.

**281** · 01-20-2014, 06:17 PM

Huge difference and great work guys!

**SlightlyBent** · 01-20-2014, 06:23 PM

Some of the products used are in the unboxing photo:

Post Your Unpacking Pictures

I did use CeriGlass on the front window (only) to try to remove some pitting and windshield wiper marks. I didn't try to photograph these, as it's very hard to get them to show properly.

An hour or so was spent on this process with some result - the wiper marks are gone, the glass is clear, but many of the pits are still there... glass is really tough to work!! It's a huge improvement on what was there before, but the reality is that if I want to get rid of the pits completely, I'll need to get a new windshield. Sigh.

I didn't have time to get the 5" backing plate and 5.5" pads, so I used the pads that came with the Griot's 6" DA, and they worked pretty well. I also used the 5.5" pads on allenk's Flex, and I really liked those. These pads and a smaller backing plate are on the shopping list for next time around!

Addiction, indeed....

**Vegas Transplant** · 01-20-2014, 10:38 PM

**Mike@DedicatedPerfection** · 01-21-2014, 12:05 AM

Very nice work Gentlemen! The Merc came out great!

**davey g-force** · 01-21-2014, 12:29 AM

Lookin good!

**Zackb911** · 01-21-2014, 10:37 AM

70's in January? It's 16* out here, damn you!

Very nice work and a beautiful car!

**SlightlyBent** · 01-21-2014, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by Zackb911

70's in January? It's 16* out here, damn you!

Very nice work and a beautiful car!

Thank you! It's already covered by cedar pollen (a curse of living here, and it's really juniper but everyone calls it cedar). The 70F is the tradeoff for having 104-105 in the summers here... it was a cool, brisk 50F this morning...

The work that allenk did versus the work I did is hard to tell the difference to an untrained eye, but - if you know what you're looking for, you can spot the differences.