2014 Mercedes-Benz SLK250 Full Detail + Coating with Pinnacle Black Label

[KBsToy]

As always Tato your info and work is top notch...

[sproketser]

That s a great turnaround ! What did you used for the black exterior plastic pieces mate ! Should ve taken forever to detail that Merc .

[Tato]

Wow Tato!

Your attention to the "details of the detail" is amazing. I'd have written that rear bumper off but you made it look nearly new again!

Would you share your process for improving the wipers if you have a moment? This is something I need to address on my 335i.

Great job my friend and great to see you back in action!

Thanks Rob, great to see you still in action and I truly appreciate you taking your time coming here to share your thoughts.

I've answered another thread with a phrase I'd like to use again, told I'm kinda of person who won't ever let his investors down (lol)!, by investors I'm not saying anything $$ related but the time and care you (and friends) put on helping others here, much more important values in my concept.

For the wipers I recommend you to careful remove them and work in a comfortable manner.

Rinse well and use a soft brush with soap or APC and work to clean it up.

At any part of the process you can use Meguiar's #39 heavy duty cleaner to clean rubber parts either using a brush or a microfiber towel, it's a favorite of mine.

If needed, use a glue / tar remover (use a safe for plastic product and always test inconspicuous place before doing the whole) in order to get rid of contaminants. Advantage here is to rinse well the tar remover.

Generally I'd gently clay the wiper (both body and blade), using either conventional clay or nanoskin, but be even gentler with the blade part. I prefer to take a small piece of conventional clay since you'll be shocked with the amount of dirty will come out and generally you'll need to throw away the small piece you used for wipers.

Again, very, very gentle and only few soft passes. You can use running tap water as 'lube' while claying'. Did I say for you to use extra care? If not, you should J/k apart, call me anytime if you aren't sure regarding my "portunglish" directions.

Blow dry. I like using 303 aerospace protectant (even though wipers are external parts and some reserve 303 for interior use). What I do is to open a clean fluffy microfiber towel over a clean surface, put a wiper there, shake well and spray 303 over the piece till good coverage. Using the towel you remove every residual of product and it should be dry to the touch after all.

You can also blow residual 303 and then let wiper rest over a MF towel for some minutes and then reinstall to clean car.

For the wiper arms you may clean them during wash, clay very gentle to remove overspray and/or other contaminants, and then work an AIO product using a microfiber towel/applicator (like xmt360, etc) but I'm using Menzerna PP Ultra for that task, it's as fine as SF4500 and adds protection in one step.

That's from what I remember, please, feel free to ask if you need further info.

Wow! I was just thinking the other day that we have not seen a "Tato" show & shine in a while. Thanks for taking the time to post your work, you continue to inspire

Thanks a lot for sharing your opinion Brian, count on me.

Glad to see you back! Your work on that Benz is there with the very best I've seen. It's quite evident that you love what you do. That Benz hasn't looked that good since it left Germany!

Thank you very much for kind words.

That is unreal! Amazing work! How long was that altogether?

Thanks for the compliments and question. It took close to 3 full working days in order to achieve results shown. Honestly (and why not!?) cleanup took a lot more time to be done than the paint polishing itself.

I decided to project my actions in a working-forward process, and I only took the polisher after all details were done, be it the major defects or the smallest corners and piece junctions I did by hand.

Polishing SURE takes (a lot of) time, but preparation is where I lean to invest most I can.

Outstanding work as always Rafael! SF4000 on the white Hybrid really transformed that paint. The afters show your dedication quite well.

Happy to see you back in action again.

Thanks Mike, truly glad you enjoyed!

As always Tato your info and work is top notch...

Thanks for comment, happy hearing from you!

That s a great turnaround ! What did you used for the black exterior plastic pieces mate ! Should ve taken forever to detail that Merc .

Thanks for comment. Exterior plastics are always an use of Meguiar's #39, or even Mother's R3 (this I like to rinse after so use during wash) for the general cleanup.

What I learned in this forum within time about trim is that cleanup approach is key, be it a good soap, apc, and a brush. Mother's back to black cleaner may also work, and many others, there are excellent options in the market.

Use a soft brush to work your product, although you should use Physics (scrub!), let Chemistry (product) also work for you. For restoration I like results of 303 aerospace, but (now call me crazy, but!) I'm testing Pinnacle Black Label Wheel Coating for a long time now on trim and rubber with nothing but excellent results:

No discoloration, no runs, no paint/glass greasing that you get with other protectants... Clean and apply, buff off immediately - reapply evenly if streaks. Enjoy your beading trim!

Claying may also be done on plastics but also beware of discoloration, always be gentle when working automotive surfaces.


Hope that helps,


PS: Any recommendation above is a rule or the only way to do it, just some thoughts so you can add a thing or two to the way you like to do and/or already do it.

Ask if needed,

Kind Regards.

[sproketser]

Appreciated the comeback , these are some tips/tricks that I ll put to good measure , after my front bumper will be repainted in 2-3 weeks . The guy that had my newer ride didn t care about his ride much as he was buying a new ride .

Keep it on mate .

[haris300]

Nice work buddy. Great save on that rear bumper.

[Tato]

Appreciated the comeback , these are some tips/tricks that I ll put to good measure , after my front bumper will be repainted in 2-3 weeks . The guy that had my newer ride didn t care about his ride much as he was buying a new ride .

Keep it on mate .

Welcome, happy I could help.

Nice work buddy. Great save on that rear bumper.

Thanks Harris, you know I always tell customers to fix those kind of damage the proper way, but they insists on me to use 'Picasso' skills I definitively don't have ... I end up putting their expectations down as possible, work least aggressively to avoid making things even worse (truly common) and use the maximum less is more. Sorry to say, learned the hard way.

When they come to pick up the car expecting only the possible there is more complacency to the existing limitations, but unfortunately that kind of results leads people bringing back those kind of troubles for me more frequently lol! .


Glad you enjoyed,

Kind Regards.

[Rod73]

There's a lot to be amazed about here! But can you share any advice you have for paint touch? That was one of the most impressive efforts I have ever seen.

[RPM_BR]

Tato, the Merc was a nice farewell party for your old garage.
Impressive, meticulously detailed as always.
Vamo que vamo, my friend.

[Marc08EX]

WOW!!! Outstanding work as always Tato! I enjoyed every bit of your write-up. That SLK was trashed but you brought it back to life. I'm glad to read that the owner was very satisfied with the outcome as he should.

Your repair on that rear bumper hit was outstanding. It looks as if nothing happened.

Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing your new detailing studio.

[sproketser]

Welcome, happy I could help.



Thanks Harris, you know I always tell customers to fix those kind of damage the proper way, but they insists on me to use 'Picasso' skills I definitively don't have ... I end up putting their expectations down as possible, work least aggressively to avoid making things even worse (truly common) and use the maximum less is more. Sorry to say, learned the hard way.

When they come to pick up the car expecting only the possible there is more complacency to the existing limitations, but unfortunately that kind of results leads people bringing back those kind of troubles for me more frequently lol! .


Glad you enjoyed,

Kind Regards.

Thanx , appreciated mate .