MERC E240 AVANTGARDE - Metallic Purple

The car was dirty inside out due to no available time to send it for a good wash (busy with work)

Job took me around 26hours to complete all the things. (Still learning how to speed things up)

Anyhow, on the with the writeup.

Here are some picts on arrival 7pm-ish DAY 1.

EXTERIOR










hmm.....










swirls



swirls + buffer trails?


More swirls


WHEELS BEFORE



bad attempt in playing with Photoshop



ENGINE BEFORE













INTERIOR BEFORE



Hubby's shoes...


Dusty.





There were gummy residue on the steering buttons.







Oh yeah! Red soil in the car...



















Found few bubble gum stucked at the bottom of the front passager's seat. Owner have 2 little girls so...


On the gear knob there were some sort of gummish residue..sticky stuff yuk


Not sure what that stain is...smells like puke


Sorry for the blurry picts but front dashboard was very very dusty.

Washing

Body
Pressure Washed
Presoaked with Meguiars HyperWash
Rinsed off
Washed with M62 via Meguiars MF Mitt + 2BM +grit guards
Dried with 2 water magnets
Clayed with Meguiars Blue Clay with Last Touch as lube
Door Jambs - APC with brush and rinse off

Wheels
Since the wheels were badly covered in brake dust especially rear wheels, I used 10:1 and 4:1. Even 4.:1 had a hard time moving the caked on brake dust. Spent around 3-4 hours cleaning all wheels.
Various brushes were used to clean all the nooks.
Tried my best in removing all the caked on dust but there still some left.
Sealed with M21 2.0 + M135

Engine
Very dusty and dirty. Even so, owner didnt want the engine to be washed with a PW or water of garden hose.

End of day one - 2AM

DAY TWO
Started at 7am till 7pm ish.

AFTER SHOTS OF THE WHEELS - from cleaning last night












I decided to clean the interior first as judging from the owner's expectation, she's more interested in the interior than the exterior.

Process

-Interior fully vacuumed (incld all interior compartment)

-Dust on all nooks and crannies were clean with vac and a detail brush

-Carpets scrubed with APC and Extracted

-Rubber mats scrubed with APC and dried - dressed with Meguiars Hyper Dressing

-The dye on the leather was bleeding out. Didnt dare to use the steamcleaner. Thefore, wiped with warm water and cotton towel then used Meguiars GC Rich Aloe Leather Cleaner on all leather surface in the car and sealed with the Leather Conditioner.

- Carpets+suede interior was cleaned with 3M upholstery cleaner with ScotchGard.

- All gooey residue on the dash, steering buttons, door panel were cleaned with goo gone+Q tips

-Pedals were cleaned with 3M Upholstery Cleaner+brush

- Wood trimmings were sealed with M21 2.0 (used index finger to apply - buff off with Supreme Shine MF)

Here are the after picts
























There are still stains that wont budge even after cleaning it with the GC Leather CLeaner. Didnt wanted to push it so they were left to be.



Seat rails were also cleaned with 3M carpet cleaner








I then move on to the exterior of the car starting with the headlights.

BEFORE PICS OF THE HEADLIGHTS


Tar spots




Swirls + tar spots







Heavy scratches on the left side










PROCESS:

Headlights were plastic.
PlastX with yellow applicator pad. Rubbed in and wiped with MF. Repeat till defects removed.
** PlastX cleans tar spots quickly too

AFTER SHOTS



1 Pass of PlastX - ahhh..much better than before






















ENGINE

Afterwhich I moved on to the engine bay. No major cleanup on the engine bay.

Sprayed Last Touch to clean up the loose dirt. Wiped with MF - lots of them!

Dressed with Hyper Dressing

AFTER SHOTS




End of Day 2


DAY 3

Delivery was today at 3pm. So started at 7AM till 2.30PM

Took readings around the car. Looks like its quite low and considering certain facts, I didnt want to remove too much CC. Deeper RIDS were left to be.

Paint Correction on the ceramiclear was done via
D151 - Maroon and Yellow pad - Rotary
M21 2.0 + M135 (finished correction around 1.30pm - so took time to give it some added protection with a sealant)


REFLECTION SHOTS




BEFORE CORRECTION



















Deeper scratches still there. Left to be due to paint thickness







I did checked to see whether defects were really removed instead of covered by spraying Det. Glass Cleaner - 2 times and checked yup, defects really gone.

Almost forgot!

The front signature hood emblem







50/50 shot - cleaned with Meguairs Mag & Aluminum Polish - this removes the dirt and oxidization very2 easily.

Outcome were as such:










Finally is done!

Here are some shots before delivering the car to the owner

Enjoy (sorry took only a few - was running late)






















I really enjoyed doing the car. The owner was very much pleased to see the car restored to a better level.

Thanks for viewing and comments/suggestions are welcomed.