What we have here is a 2010 Mercedes Benz GLK350, dressed in Black, with roughly 30k on the clock, and the paint is hammered


The owner took delivery of this car a week prior to us getting our hands on it. It was “Dealer Prepped” for the owner. What a JOKE! They absolutely ruined the car and I CANNOT believe a dealership would let a car leave looking like this! The car was COVERED in holograms, pictures don’t show how bad it is…



The main focus for us was the owner’s request to remove the holograms and get the finish looking 85-90%, as it his daily driver and perfection just won’t last under those conditions. Beyond the horrendous holograming there are the usual wash swirl marks, a few deep scratches, and damage from improper contaminants removal. After 24 man hour the car ended up with zero holograms, and the paint corrected to about 90%. Car looks nice and wet, finish is smooth and consistent.


Anyways onto the products, process, and pics!

Materials:
Porter Cable 7424XP
FLEX 3401
CG Citrus Wash and Gloss
CG Honeydew
Westley’s Bleach White
Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner
Mother’s Clay Bar Kit
Nanoskin
ONR Clay Bar Dilution
Mothers Showtime Quick Detailer
IPA wipe down Dilution
Menzerna PO203
Menzerna 106FA
Menzerna 85RD
Menzerna Powerlock
Prima Banana Gloss
Stoner’s Invisible Glass
Mequier’s Natural Finish Dressing
Lexol Leather Cleaner and Conditioner
Prima Hydro Wax
Prima Slick
CG Xtreme Shine
CG Bare Bones
No. 7 Chrome Polish
Uber 5.5” Orange
Uber 5.5” Green
Uber 5.5” Blue
Uber 5.5” Black
Swissvax Wheel Brush
Uber Boar’s head brush
Uber Wheel Brush
Uber UFO Blue Applicator Pad
Misc MF Towels
Q-tips
3M Painters Tape


Process
Exterior: CG Honeydew foaming, CG Citrus Wash w/ Micro Fiber Mitt, dried, taped, Nanoskined and claybar, PO203 w/ Orange (2 passes), 106FA w/Green (1 pass), 85RD w/Blue, IPA wipe down, Powerlock w/ Black (12hr set-up), Banana Gloss by hand, Prima Slick during delivery


Wheels: Sonax Full Effect, Westly’s Bleach White, Wheel Brushes, dried, ONR wipe down, clay bar, NXT w/ hand applicator, tires dressed with CG Xtreme Shine


Interior: Vacuum, Door jams cleaned with ONR and sealed with Hydro, hard plastic Mequier’s natural finish wipe down, Leather Zaino Bros. Preserve using Red Applicator pads.


Engine Compartment: Misc brushes, CG citrus wash by hand, rinse, dried, dressed with CG Xtreme Shine


Enough of that on to the pics!!!


Delivery



















After the bath...








Under the lights

 

Giving the Nanoskin a try for the first time


Hrmm... It marred the paint pretty bad with just a 2 or 3 light passes... Jury still out on it...








50/50 and process checks




Check on the holograms on the hood, much better...






Headlight clean-up





In process shots







Looking much sharper now



Finished!
need to work on taking pictures of black cars :/ not quite the right coloring...














Thanks for viewing!!!

 

looks good man ....better get out the good camera for july 14th lol really black car coming your way

 

You know it. I think black is our specialty lately

 

great work.

 

Is this a ad for a detail shop.....What does it have to do with LSX stuff???

 

Looks good again Dan.

I need to get the Acadia over soon.

 

op owns a ws6 ....he is on ls1tech and does paint correction work ...this post shows what he can do to paint for ls1 cars .....derp Derp Dee Derp Da Teetley Derpee Derpee Dumb

 

Looks great Dan nice work.

 

I wish I could do LSX based cars all the time, but we take the opportunity to work on just about anything. See we are not a shop, we only do a few cars a month and everything is friends, family, or word of mouth. Just my friend and I working on this as a weekend hobby.

I don't post on a lot of forums, Tech is one of the few I really spend any time on. I know a handful of folks on here and I'm not looking to come off promotional, as much as I like to do this stuff and see results, I'm just as happy to show somebody else how to do it themselves.

I know a NE forum on LS1Tech may not be the best spot for random detailing pictures, but its a spot I frequent and like to keep active on. I try not to abuse this section and only post this stuff a few times monthly when we do corrective work. I know the mods and if they asked me not to post anything I would graciously do so, although I believe I am within the rules of the forum. If anything, using the forum as an outlet gives me more opportunity to be involved with folks that own 4th gens, vettes, and LSX based cars to different degrees, as I said I would love to detail more cars catered to my interests as well. This is not a money maker or a business, and guys on this forum that have been over can vouch we work right out of a residence out in the sticks and we aren't looking to turn this into a job or money making project, we simply enjoy it. We both have professional careers and aren't looking to change that to get into this.

But if you lived closer I'd love to work on your GS!

 

Thanks guys for the compliments!

Gangsta, lol.

 

lol i had to man ...sorry hahha

 

Wow really!?

Anyways, same here all I and JL do is word of mouth type stuff and a few cars a month, some good pocket change. Economy is tough and people who dont know better go to someone with not enough knowlege and not enough exp, and limited tools and you get exactly what you see there.

Hologram city.

Willing to wager that car was a lease trade in and before it went it they sent it to a cheap guy and you can certainly see how bad it got. The nice part is maybe enough if the clear got levelled off that it made quicker work for the DA.

Looks good. I will be doing the T/A soon, will have to post it.

 

I would love to learn to do this stuff just for my own benefit. Give lessons?

Nix

 

Believe it or not a lot is straight forward. There are some tips and tricks of course and some techniques, but the biggest factor is putting aside the worry about screwing up the paint taking a machine to it. I would put a DA in anybody's hands, not a rotary however. We work most saturdays and sometimes people stop by to check things out if they know we are there and sometimes the owners work along side us too. I can't guarantee it would be exciting , but I'm sure you'd learn something.

If you can invest the time, have some garage space, and have some $ to get started its a rewarding hobby.

 

Worst holograms I've ever seen. I started with a PC but ended up going to a flex for the inital pass all around.

 

Amazing work as usual man, thanks for sharing!

 

Why bash someone who is willing to share some knowledge?

I really enjoy these threads. One day I am going to take on the task of a deep cleaning of my wife's jeep. Then I'll get brave enough to try it out on my car

 

Thanks, I'm glad folks do.
As they say pictures speak a thousands words and I'm happy to share any product knowledge or explain challenge areas as we go.

 

Looks awesome now. Huge difference. Nice work.