Mercedes B200 Turbo - Part1: Exterior

[Lambros]

I decided to trade-in the 5 series and get the wife something a bit more practical and economical. I picked-up an approved B200T from Merc with less than 40k km. The paint was in good condition overall but had some serious contamination which was very reluctant to shift. I split the detail over two weekends.

The usual process was followed where I initially focused on the wheels, chassis and engine before moving onto the body (2 bucket method, etc) and interior (vacuum, shampoo, steam). I'll post the before and after shots in sequence ...

Contamination around the emblems and body were shifted with Blade APC while the foam was dwelling, brushed, tight spaces steamed and two passes with the Megs Smooth Surface clay:

Before:



After:




Wheels were cleaned with Sonax Full Effect, scrubbed, clayed and sealed with Wolfgang Deep Gloss paint sealant v3.

Before:


During:


After:



Arches were scrubbed with APC and dressed with Megs trim detailer:

Before (must get mud guards):


After:



Inner bonnet had some road splash nastiness which also required claying and polishing after APC was applied and rinsed. I used Megs SwirlX to polish and sealed with Cleaner Wax; this took about 2 hours because the edges inside the bonnet are razor sharp:

Before:


After:



The engine was sprayed with APC, brushed and rinsed before the Megs Engine Dressing was applied and wiped:

Before:


After:



The exhaust tips polished easily by hand using only APC then AG Metal Polish:

Before:


After:



Before polishing, I spot buffed out some deeper scratches with ScratchX and cleaned with alcohol dilution. The paint proved to be very hard; I used the Menzerna Power Gloss on a green LC pad (2x6 section passes with the DAS6 starting on speed 5 and reducing to 3 with medium pressure). This resulted in about a 70% correction but left some holograms to deal with (sorry about the bad pics):

Before Power Gloss:


After Power Gloss (holograms):


The Menz Power Finish (also 6 section passes) with a white LC pad did a good job of removing the holograms and left a decent finish.

Door frames and hinges were cleaned and brushed with APC, steamed with the Karcher, polished with SwirlX and sealed with Wolfgang sealant:

Before & Afters :









The car was then given a final wash, rinse and dried before Poorboys Glaze was applied. This was followed by Wolfgang Deep Gloss paint sealant v3 and left to cure overnight. Outer windows were treated with AG Fast Glass and tyres dressed with Megs Endurance gel.

The end result:












Next week I'll be putting on better tyres (clean and seal the mags properly), mud guards and have the windows S&G tinted. Thanks for looking!