Mercedes Benz E200K (pic heavy)

[Starvekos]

Firstly, pardon the excessive number of pics documenting this detail.

I travelled to the homelands (north coast of KwaZulu Natal) to visit my folks and family after Christmas, it was also an opportunity to detail one of the family cars that was in a sorry state. When I last visited in September, I made a mental note that I should pack a duffle bag full of detailing products when I returned for the holidays.

The car in question is a 2004 E-Class 200 Kompressor that has covered more that 115,000 kms. The usual marring was found on the car. It’s amazing what a big difference assuming a proper wash technique can have on paint. In the main, this car is washed with one bucket with the same sponge for wheels and paint. The interior hardly receives any attention other than vacuuming once a month.

This is the process and products followed:

Interior
I don’t know how to start talking through my process for the interior, I will list the products used and leave it to the pics to do illustrate the task at hand. Leather was cleaned with Rich Leather Aloe Cleaner agitated with a soft bristle brush. This was sealed with Rich Leather Aloe Conditioner spread with a yellow foam applicator. Dashboard and vinyl was cleaned with M39 Heavy Duty Vinyl Cleaner and protected with Quik Interior Detailer.









50/50 correction


Full article


Bit of fun with some painter’s tape













Wheels
Sprayed wheels with Hot Rims All Wheel Cleaner, left for 15 seconds as recommended, then agitated with a couple of brushes and an Ultra Plush wash mitt. Wheel wells were agitated with a wheel well brush soaked in SmarWax’s SmartWash shampoo. Rinsed wheels and started hosing down the car in preparation for a two bucket system wash.

Wash
Heard from the SmartWax distributor that SmartWash is a citrus based shampoo similar to Chemical Guys Citrus Wash & Gloss. This is ideal for wax stripping but you have to apply your mind when diluting for a maintenance wash otherwise you could be doing away with the coat of protection on your car. I mixed 30ml in a 10 Litre wash bucket. I believe this is twice the recommended dilution, which should strip any existing protection and surface contaminants.

Paint cleaning
The car was treated to its first claying session since it came off the production floor. Used the Mild blue clay lubricated with SmartDetail. It felt criminal using one of my favourite quick detailers for a task like claying, guess that’s the price for packing light. I have been using this quick detailer, alongside its cousin the Chemical Guys Pro detailer + Carnauba, over the last couple of weeks as a topper after each wash on the Golf. They are my favourite QDs at the moment, pity I am down to my last 250mls.

After claying it was time for machine polishing using a Makita 9227CB rotary polisher. The plan was to compound with M105 Ultra Cut Compound on a cutting pad (W7006) followed by Menzerna Super Intensive Polish (SIP) on a polishing pad (W8006).

Couple of correction pics with M105







After polishing, I decided to wash the car again. M105 left quite a bit of dust and it would have taken ages to dust it off with a California duster and copious amounts of quick detailer. I washed the car with a mild shampoo, Soft Wash Gel. After drying it was on to protecting the finish and dressing rubber, tyres and vinyl.

Dressing
Exterior plastics were fed with M40 Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner/Conditioner. Nothing but Endurance High Gloss Tire Gel for tyres. Windows cleaned with Glass Cleaner Concentrate. Wheel wells were dressed with Adams Undercarriage spray, another spray and walk away product that I would recommend. It has a scent that compliments Endurance (grape juice), not that it matters, just sharing.

Protection
I deviated from my normal process, I usually apply a pure polish / glaze product at this stage to add depth and create a wet shine. On this car I opted for CleanerWax to remove marring from the wash process and clean the hard to reach areas that didn’t get attention from machine polishing. CleanerWax also leaves a layer of protection while improving gloss.

I have not listed my last step product, I will leave it to Forum members to guess. The first member to correctly identify the LSP will win a 13 piece detailing kit.

Before taking final pics, I wiped the car with a plush microfiber towel and Ultimate Quik Detailer to remove smudges like trim dressing and wax residue.

A couple of process pictures:

My Nikon battery died just before taking the final pics so I had to make do with poor quality cell phone camera shots




















Do you remember this interior?






Thanks for viewing