2 Stage paint correction and a coating on my white GLE/ Das6 Da and koch Chemie

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LeeJV

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May 8, 2019
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Location
kent
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Mercedes C63 AMG editon 507
Hey guys, Hope your well and keeping busy.
There has been many threads/post lately about paint correction using a DA and what compounds to use so I thought I'd share my efforts with you all so that it may help you all in the future.
I'm not a pro detailer, just an enthusiast like many of you on here.

This Is My Wife's GLE , the paint is full of Marring and swirls from a previous owner so before any coating is applied it makes sense to do a full paint prep before as this will help the coating / wax/ sealant etc last longer and give you far better overall results in finish and longevity.

Day 1
So first up, A good through rinse to remove any loose dust as this will come off without the need for chemical
2nd Follow up with your chosen prewash. My go too is Bh Autofaom diluted at 2% PIR as they is not road film. ( 200ml to 800ml water), Cover the entire car and leave to dwell for a good 5 mins, while waiting I fill my buckets with shampoo.. BH Auto Wash, 10ml per large detailing bucket. and the same for the wheels,

Rinse off the product till the water runs clear, then follow up with your chosen wash method. Mine is the 1 bucket multi Mitt. I find this far better than the 2Bm as your not rinsing a mitt in what will become dirty water. I use 1 mitt per panel and then put it to one side. so every panel has a clean mitt. Rinse Down the panels, then use a fallout remover to remove any rust particles, I use BH Korrosol followed by a rinse, then Tar remover with a small pad on the tar spots, fully rinse down again and dry with your chosen drying towels. I use 1 waffle weave towel for the glass, I then use 4 drying towels, Klin are my preference, 1 for each side, front and rear. Lightly mist the towel with water before placing it on the paint as adding water to the towel will help it absorb water at a better rate and add lubricity to the process.

Now the bodywork is clean and dry I can work on my wheels without worrying about water marks on the paint/glass etc. you can opt to do your wheels first but by doing that you end up with dirty water, foam and chemical on them when doing the bodywork that will have to rinsed again. so I find it more effective this way. the same process as the paint. 1 bucket with solution and brushes then rinse each brush/mitt etc with the hose before putting it back in your clean bucket.

Now that all the cleaning is done it time to start correction.

Day2
First up for me is the Bonnet, this is the hardest part of the car to do as its so big and full of contours to the point that there is not a flat part at all.
Koch Chemie H8 with a Wool pad and a DAS 6 DA. Place 4 small dots of product onto the pad then work at low speed over a 18/24" area until spread out evenly, increase the speed to 5 and work in a crosshatch pattern. I usually go with 4/6 passes in total depending on how much correction is needed. Don't move too fast with the polisher as it won't allow the compound to work. a steady arm speed with just enough pressure to hold the polisher flat on the panel.. too much pressure and the DA will stall and not work at all
Now finished that section, gently buff away the compound with a soft M/F cloth. I use the edgeless 365 70/30 blend cloths, folded into 4. then mist some IPA. panel wipe
over the panel and remove with clean cloth to ensure all residue is removed.
Repeat this process until the whole panel is complete and happy with the finish, Then follow up with Koch Chemie M2 and a soft polishing pad in the same process as before until happy with the results.
Finally wipe down again with IPA/ panel prep with a clean side of the towel. It helps if you use a clean side of the towel every time you remove the product so your not just pushing product around the panel. I use 2 towels in total for the bonnet folded into 4.

Day3
Now the bonnet and front bumper is complete, its time for the passenger side. I follow the exact same steps as the I did on the front of the car but also used 70mm pads for the small sections around the roof, top of the doors and window edges.

That's about it so far guys, I will add some more details and pics as I progress through the week, I should have it completed by Friday, and then onto the coating itself,
thanks for reading, sorry if I've missed any finer details, in the write up so far, If I have please feel free to ask.

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No mention of a clay bar, was it not needed or not mentioned? Looks nice so far though and interested in your progress.
 
Ah, sorry guys,
The car was fully clayed around 3months ago With BH Auto clay when i was playing around with the coating, I only went round with a Clay Mitt this time. Tbh there wasn't any need for it, i just did it as a extra measure to make compounding easier and safer
 
Some more work today guys, starting off with the gloss black B pillars, these are a real pain to do if you get it wrong, So I started off with a fine cut compound with a fine cut pad, koch Chemie F6 and matching 70mm pad on an adapter plate.
These are very soft and delicate, So worked these at very low speed with just 3 passes in total and voila! thumbnail_WP_20200507_09_45_39_Pro.jpgthumbnail_WP_20200507_09_45_46_Pro.jpgthumbnail_WP_20200507_10_36_30_Pro.jpgthumbnail_WP_20200507_10_36_35_Pro.jpgthumbnail_WP_20200507_10_41_20_Pro.jpg

Next up was the rear of the car.. This took about 2 hrs to do, partly due to the fact that the whole rear of the car had to be cut with 70mm pads and it was just as bad as the bonnet.. same cutting process as the rest of the paint just more time consuming
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Now finished with that, its over to the drivers side, again the same process as before, 70mm pads above the windows, A pillars and the top edges of the doors, then back to 125mm wool pads for the heavy cutting followed by M2 finishing compound and pads.

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So that's the correction all taken care of, tomorrow I'm going to wash the car again as its on the driveway, This is probably the safest way to remove all the polishing dust and any grit that may have landed on the panels over the last few days. Same wash process as before, Snow foam, Rinse, rinse again, Multi Mitt wash and a DI water rinse followed with a Blow dry to minimise any possible damage and then I can start with the coating.

Thanks again for reading
 

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After all that I wouldn't let my wife anywhere near the car, let alone actually drive it :cool:

kc
 
Hey again , The Car is now completed,
Early start today, started at 7am this morning, gave the car another full wash in my usual method.. This may seem a little OTT but it actually helps make sure all the polishing dust and airborne dust is no longer on any panels and also shows if I have any polishing oils left over.
Fully rinsed down with DI water and dried with a blower, Its now time for some fun.
My coating of choice this time round was the new V3 Wowo's Crystal sealant, I've heard lots of positive reviews about this and have been very keen to try it out, as its 1 product that will cover every part of the car except Tyres.thumbnail_WP_20200508_13_57_03_Pro.jpg
My choice of application was to Cut some 70/30 pearl weave towels into 4 and wrap these around an applicator, I gave the sponge block a mist with some water so that it didn't absorb the product, then wrapped my cloth over that, I chose this method to make application easier and more controlled in the same way I would apply a ceramic coating.
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So as with all cleaning and detailing I always start a the top and work down, 1st up was the roof,, roofrails, glass the trims on the top of the car,, I gave the applicator 2 sprays of product and then worked a section of about 18x18" in a crosshacth pattern, then took a clean MF towel and levelled the coating off, then used a 2nd towel to give a final buff.
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Application and removal is really simple, I had no problems in any way.. once buffed off it leaves a very silky finish, not extremely slick like a wax based product but still very nice. The product says it can be used on all ext surfaces, so I applied this to the rubber trims around the glass and I was really impressed as it completely restored the colour like new giving a nice sheen to the finish, How long this will last on rubber I'm not sure but definelty worth the effort to find out just how much of a product this is.
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Now happy that the entire top half of the paint and glass is done, I moved onto the all the panels of the car in the exact same process as before, after every full panel was complete I used a fresh removal towel for every other panel to make removal easier as the coating is quite thick and clogged up the towels pretty fast making product removal a little more difficult.
I coated the entire car Including all the plastic, rubber, glass, grilles, doorshuts, running boards, wiper blade arms, chrome etc etc and yet still only used a little over 1/4 of the bottle, The product only requires 1 coat to last 12mnths but can be stacked if you choose, so even if this only last 6 months 1 bottle should give me 2 years of protection.
I then finished off coating the tyres with some Carpro pearl, Mixed at 1/1 and dried with a Heatgun, I coated the wheels with KKD R evolve a few months back so they didn't need anything other than just a wipe over with some Di water to remove any dust.
All in this has taken me 5 days from start to finish and that included cleaning the engine bay and inner wheel arches too, the only little downside is that My little Das6 has been given too much abuse and started to fail, I've done 3 full car corrections with this little tool so it was worth the money, but its time for an upgrade now.
Thanks for taking the time to read the thread, hopefully this has helped some of you that are thinking of doing something like this. Its Not an easy job by any means The single biggest tip I can give you is To be Patient, take your time and have fun in the process.

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Very impressive work & finish, i like it a lot. Theres a certain satisfaction/feel good factor when you sit back and look at your hard graft, firstly the fact the car is yours, and how you made it look like new
 
Cheers buddy, appreciate you actually reading through that, I love detailing my cars, It's bloody hard work and extremely rewarding. Just like anything that takes effort, there is always a reward.
 
Just seen this great work!

Which wool pad did you use i thought they were a bit of a no no with a DA.
 
Wow, Lee that's what you call a thorough job, fantastic results though,
nice hat too. :) 👍
 
Just seen this great work!

Which wool pad did you use i thought they were a bit of a no no with a DA.

Hey buddy, wool pads are really nice to use and can be used far safer on a da, they also clean out very easy and don't dust like a sponge pad does, I use Rupes and lake country wool pads, both are really nice to use, but would advise that you get a foam interface pad to use with them as they are very thin and don't work too well around some of the contours unless you have the interface pad. You will also need a pad spur available from slims
 
Wow, Lee that's what you call a thorough job, fantastic results though,
nice hat too. :) 👍
thanks buddy, it was bloody hard work given the size of it.
as for the hat, well you can't really go wrong with a Trilby and stops my head getting burnt😀
 
Hey buddy, wool pads are really nice to use and can be used far safer on a da, they also clean out very easy and don't dust like a sponge pad does, I use Rupes and lake country wool pads, both are really nice to use, but would advise that you get a foam interface pad to use with them as they are very thin and don't work too well around some of the contours unless you have the interface pad. You will also need a pad spur available from slims

Thanks fella i had read about wool pads months and months ago and even my old mentor was against using them with a DA adamant that they should only be used with a rotary as they would case marring due to the fibres not moving in the same direction, i always argued that with a first stage cutting pad and compound fine marring will happen (like wet sanding) and would be polished out in the second and third stage if necessary when you shift to a medium or fine pad and polish depending on the cars needs but the response was always NO lol

Seeing your results is amazing and confirms what i thought could be achieved, can't believe i missed this thread.

I have yet to do a full paint correction this year as i only had a day but if i get the time i may attempt to get the bonnet, boot and roof done before the weather turns cold again.
 
Great job. You must be really pleased and I bet it looks better in real life as white is difficult to show in a photo.
The pillar trims came up a treat.
 
Thanks fella i had read about wool pads months and months ago and even my old mentor was against using them with a DA adamant that they should only be used with a rotary as they would case marring due to the fibres not moving in the same direction, i always argued that with a first stage cutting pad and compound fine marring will happen (like wet sanding) and would be polished out in the second and third stage if necessary when you shift to a medium or fine pad and polish depending on the cars needs but the response was always NO lol

Seeing your results is amazing and confirms what i thought could be achieved, can't believe i missed this thread.

I have yet to do a full paint correction this year as i only had a day but if i get the time i may attempt to get the bonnet, boot and roof done before the weather turns cold again.
heavy cutting with wool pads can cause marring or pig tails, esp on softer paint but if the paint doesn't respond to a heavy cut foam pad then wool is always the best bet, you will also find that they don't heat up that much so helps with panel temps, no matter how good you are with a compounding set, you will always need to finish down with at least a 2nd stage anyway so it removed any marring from the cutting.
 
Great job :)

Personally I always do wheels first (a separate bucket to the rest), that way you can ensure that nothing flicks off onto the nice clean bodywork.
 
Great job. You must be really pleased and I bet it looks better in real life as white is difficult to show in a photo.
The pillar trims came up a treat.
thanks Alton, yes she came up really well, the pics don't really do it justice tbh.
 
Great job :)

Personally I always do wheels first (a separate bucket to the rest), that way you can ensure that nothing flicks off onto the nice clean bodywork.
generally if the wheels are bad then I do them first, but as they are ceramic coated 90% comes of with the snowfaom/ prewash stage anyway so they only need a light shampoo left over from the body work wash
 

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