Buffing Paintwork

[silversurfer10]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering, on a 12 year-old Mercedes CLS in Iridium Silver, is it worth buffing the bodywork? Apart from stone chips on the bonnet, there are no obvious marks on the paintwork and the paintwork is in good condition. In which instances would buffing be recommended? Many thanks.

 

[Wearsthefoxhat]

Hi, if the paint work is good just wash and wax.

not sure what the word “buffing” will conjure in some peoples minds, will have some on here spitting their cornflakes out this morning no doubt…. but a polish would remove any small swirls or scratches and bring up the paint work.

There are many threads on here regarding the varied cleaning routines adopted by members, simple to complicated,

 

[W1ghty]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering, on a 12 year-old Mercedes CLS in Iridium Silver, is it worth buffing the bodywork? Apart from stone chips on the bonnet, there are no obvious marks on the paintwork and the paintwork is in good condition. In which instances would buffing be recommended? Many thanks.

Yes , do it .
This is my 2009 E , a couple of months ago I used a DA polisher with a swirl remover , followed by some Poorboys white diamond glaze , topped with Chemical Guys Sealant .

 

[Slartibartfast]

Yes , do it .
This is my 2009 E , a couple of months ago I used a DA polisher with a swirl remover , followed by some Poorboys white diamond glaze , topped with Chemical Guys Sealant .

Was that before or after you polished it?


Just joking - looks great!

 

[Deleted member 126251]

Hi, if the paint work is good just wash and wax.

not sure what the word “buffing” will conjure in some peoples minds, will have some on here spitting their cornflakes out this morning no doubt…. but a polish would remove any small swirls or scratches and bring up the paint work.

There are many threads on here regarding the varied cleaning routines adopted by members, simple to complicated,

The “detailers” now call it “paint correction” and charge you £100s to do it....................

 

[Gbrowncls55]

If its 2012 (which my cls is) then I would clay it with a clay mit to remove all the contamination that will be there after 10 years , then either hand polish or better still machine polish. It will make a huge differens even on a silver car. (mines black which really shows the difference for at least half an hour till it rains then it does what black cars do)

 

[Ted]

And they say you can’t get a good reflection on a solver car

 

[alabbasi]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering, on a 12 year-old Mercedes CLS in Iridium Silver, is it worth buffing the bodywork? Apart from stone chips on the bonnet, there are no obvious marks on the paintwork and the paintwork is in good condition. In which instances would buffing be recommended? Many thanks.

When there are obvious marks and the paintwork is in bad condition. Buffing removes a layer of clear which has UV coating so unless it's needed, stick with wax.

 

[Gbrowncls55]

And they say you can’t get a good reflection on a solver car
View attachment 131936View attachment 131937

dont you just love Lexus paint finish....perfect.

 

[whitenemesis]

And they say you can’t get a good reflection on a solver car
View attachment 131936View attachment 131937

Where did that F-Sport badge come from on the front lip

 

[whitenemesis]

dont you just love Lexus paint finish....perfect.

Probably the best factory finish I've ever seen on a car!

 

[Ted]

Where did that F-Sport badge come from on the front lip

It hides a messy stain that’s lying there.
There was a mark on the spoiler so I got a genuine badge off the bay to hide it.
Thought is would be easier than wrapping/painting

 

[whitenemesis]

It hides a messy stain that’s lying there.
There was a mark on the spoiler so I got a genuine badge off the bay to hide it.
Thought is would be easier than wrapping/painting

And definitely cheaper

 

[Gbrowncls55]

Probably dropped 10cc of something on the lip

 

[OldskoolRS]

If its 2012 (which my cls is) then I would clay it with a clay mit to remove all the contamination that will be there after 10 years , then either hand polish or better still machine polish. It will make a huge differens even on a silver car. (mines black which really shows the difference for at least half an hour till it rains then it does what black cars do)

I've found that if you use a metal remover such as Iron-X or similar, something to remove Tar and a good clean with a car shampoo designed to strip off any wax, then you may only need to polish marks/scuffs, especially on a lighter coloured car. If you use clay it will tend to marr the paintwork to some degree, more noticeable if it's a darker colour and then you'll need to polish out the marring.

You can just go over the marring with a filling type wax though and save the whole buffing process. Sure it'll wash out eventually, but it does save a lot of effort and unless you are especially careful when washing you will gradually end up with minor marks and marring over time. Just depends on how much you want do spend buffing in time and/or money really.

When we got our C200 earlier this year I decontaminated the whole bodywork and wheels, then machine polished it in stages over a period of about a week. To be honest looking back at the photos it's hard to tell which bits had been machine polished as it's lighter colour (Diamond Silver, which is a very light metallic blue).

The whole nearside had been machine polished in this photo, but the bonnet just had some spray on detailer in this photo:



After I'd machine polished the bonnet, it felt smooth already due to the decontamination, perhaps looks a little shinier but may well just be the lighting or the camera was in better focus. It's nice that I know the whole car has been gone over now and I have rectified a few small marks that polished out/wet sanded a couple of deeper marks as best I could. I think going forward though I'll just decontaminate it and whack a coat of some kind of ceramic type spray to keep it looking tidy:

Probably dropped 10cc of something on the lip

I see what you did there.