Clean and protect the family bus

[chrisk2010]

Hi guys,

Although not a Mercedes I thought i share the day I spent cleaning the family bus, it is a car i love working on because of the big panels and lack of fiddly little areas (grill aside) though i never really give it the treatment it deserves.

From new it has been cleaned about once a month and waxed with mainly BH double speed wax, more recently switching to polar seal as it's just so damn easy to use, not time consuming, andyou can spray it in every nook and cranny.

I wanted to do a little more this time as it's kind of sitting in limbo as the whether my better will keep it and have the car park dents repaired or replace it so while it's fate is being considered i thought i show it some appreciation.

I gave it a thorough clean with the usual pre-wash, snow foam, PH neutral detergent then followed up with the a normal shampoo using the TBM to strip off anything that might still be protecting the paint work and get back down to the clear coat. I decontaminated the paint work, wheels and arches with fallout, tar remover and a clay bar (i didn't clay the arches) i always start with the wheels as i find them dirty and fiddly so i like to get these done and dusted so i can put all the dirty tools used to clean them out the way away from the good stuff.

I was fairly impressed with BH Dsw and polar seal as there was still beading right up to the end even though I being pretty aggressive with my solutions opting for 50/50 mixes to try and speed things up a bit.

Once done i had NO plans to whip DA out but upon inspecting the paint work (and hearing Lee's voice in my head) i could see some light marring and there were scuffs around the rear wheel arch where someone had caught it in the car park (so i'm told), not wanting to make this a three day job i did and couple of passes per panel with some meg's compound and a medium pad inspecting as i went working a little more on the areas that needed it then did the same with some polish and a softer pad which was a good call because although not perfect it took out 90% of what was there.

I gave the car another once over with two buckets ready to apply the Crystal sealant to every surface and here's the result.




I dressed the tyres and arches with megs tyre gel and finished the alloys with Contact 121 wax. You'll see the dents in this one where most of the scuffing was.

 

[LeeJV]

Nice one buddy.... Detailing is addictive and i also find it extremely therapeutic

are you planning on using the 121 as a topper for the sealant on this one?
not thought of using it on wheels tbh, I found that the sealant works extremely well on wheels is go so far to say its not far off a full ceramic coating i managed to get 8mnths durability on my van wheels, being washed weekly.

 

[W1ghty]

Very impressive work buddy , nice to see a “ normal car” Being given the full treatment

 

[chrisk2010]

Nice one buddy.... Detailing is addictive and i also find it extremely therapeutic

are you planning on using the 121 as a topper for the sealant on this one?
not thought of using it on wheels tbh, I found that the sealant works extremely well on wheels is go so far to say its not far off a full ceramic coating i managed to get 8mnths durability on my van wheels, being washed weekly.

Thanks fella, i have always been into detailing on and off over the years but I've caught the bug again thinking about dipping my toe into the industry again and maybe taking up some weekend work. I'm literally watching everything at the moment absorbing it, making notes, then playing around with the techniques in my head and then trying to refine them.

The next step will be to research the more chemical side of things which isn't to bad as i work in the chemical manufacturing industry at the moment but first the techniques.

For this car i will top with the 121 wax it's lighter and doesn't show the dust as much as mine does which is why i haven't applied it yet to mine, i thinking mine will be more a winter thing when i do the winter prep.

I wasn't going to use it on the wheels i usually save something like BH DSW or good old tried and tested Simoniz for those as it's cheap and like to have a dedicated tin if you like just for wheels that'll never be used on body work but i was careful (never double dipped the cloth) and wanted to see how it would stand up against my missus wheels especially as the brake dust on that thing is phenomenal. Both cars will get coated in KKD Revolve though soon as i'm not keen in spending the colder months scrubbing wheels this year.

I was going to use the sealant but decided against it in the end as i may stack another layer on the bus the weekend in case i missed something even though i was careful and applied to the cloth and then the car in a cross hatched fashion but it's a big old thing so i would be surprised if it did.

The next step will be the interior, it just got a good vacuum and wipe down as i was wanted to get mine done and was already feeling the affects of sun burn at that point. I have fully detailed it before with steam, extraction and all the goodies and it's a days work easily plus i have been eyeing up a little ozone generator on amazon and i need a good excuse for the purchase ☺. I don't like doing the interior after spending a hot day on the outside of a car as you get tired, hot and dirty so will never give it your best and risk bring contaminants inside.

My better half overall was very pleased and has caught the bug a bit like me, she's very hands on with stuff like this and when i was talking about my car last night she said you car is done now it's my cars turn lol.

That's fine by me as i need a 3" polisher to tidy up some bits on her car.

Sorry for the long response as always i write a bit and get called away and add a bit more.

 

[chrisk2010]

Very impressive work buddy , nice to see a “ normal car” Being given the full treatment

Thanks W1ghty, I didn't go to far but then again not as far as i would have liked to but it came up well in the end and if i do more will be decided on whether she keeps it or repairs it.

 

[chrisk2010]

I don't have any pictures but i used the wax on the wheels and on this car it been ok tbh, on mine however it's given the brake dust something to stick to lol. I don't know why mine seems to be affected more but i'll be treating the wheels with KKD before winter sets in.

Also I wanted to see the difference of one car having wax and the other without and man in the these summer months the dust loves sticking to it my car looks like a dusty leopard after 5 mins of rain and hers looks like i cleaned it yesterday. However when i hit mine with water and a pre-wash it's all gone so i'm happy with it's protection performance.

I'm definitely going to invest a bit more in sealants than waxes to play around with in the future, i watched a forensic detailing vid about meg's ceramic detailer helping the guy fix wax "blooming" from BH DSW so i would quite like to get some of that on the car and see if that helps reduce the dust he had good results with it.

I'm not too worried as the colder rainier days will be here soon so having wax on the adding another layer of protection isn't a bad thing but it's been interesting playing around with them and Wowo's is definitely a new favourite as it's performing on her car amazingly well although after the first wash it's was treated to Carpro Elixir so any hydrophobic properties will be from that till it wears off.

I don't know if i'll have the time to do anything else with mine paintwork wise as i have two friends cars lined up in September for a correction detail for gratis (wine) one white and one black so it'll be good to see how they come out.

I will finish by adding the sheeting of both is amazing! I easily dried 85% of her car using the sheeting method she was amazed to watch me dry her car with water. On mine i use DI water (black car) and pretty much just pour it over the car at the end and same result the water couldn't get off the car quick enough, i done it twice just so i could watch it.

 

[chrisk2010]

Sorry the quality is so poor i was messing around with with the phone but here's the crystal sealant a couple of weeks after applying.

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and that's the first ever vid uploaded to you tube .... it shows lol.

 

[Alex225]

As a father of two little ones and often hiring a car for holidays, I have a certain respect for the completely practicality of cars like this. The Seat Alhambra is a car I've hired twice and been pleasantly surprised with!

I doubt there's many family wagons that get that much TLC either, looks good!

 

[chrisk2010]

As a father of two little ones and often hiring a car for holidays, I have a certain respect for the completely practicality of cars like this. The Seat Alhambra is a car I've hired twice and been pleasantly surprised with!

I doubt there's many family wagons that get that much TLC either, looks good!

Thanks Alex it high praise coming from yourself.

The car does take some stick from the kids i done a full detail on the interior pulled up all the door and seat trims, got under seats with with a vacuum and detailing brush, cleaned, extracted and steamed every surface and the wonders you find don't leave much to the imagination i felt like i was in one of Detail Freaks you tube vids.

I found organic baby snacks that my better half used to give to our three year old two years ago it just goes to show even in a clean car what can work it's way under the trims.

I wish i took some pictures but the heat was immense that day and i was just working to get it done and out of the sun.

 

[Alex225]

Thanks Alex it high praise coming from yourself.

The car does take some stick from the kids i done a full detail on the interior pulled up all the door and seat trims, got under seats with with a vacuum and detailing brush, cleaned, extracted and steamed every surface and the wonders you find don't leave much to the imagination i felt like i was in one of Detail Freaks you tube vids.

I found organic baby snacks that my better half used to give to our three year old two years ago it just goes to show even in a clean car what can work it's way under the trims.

I wish i took some pictures but the heat was immense that day and i was just working to get it done and out of the sun.

Well it certainly sounds like the car gets well used! Fair play for keeping it so nice though and really going to town on it.

I try and do my other half's CLS as that's more used as a family car if we all go out. Amazing how much mess just one child going in the back makes!

 

[Windwalker]

Nice job, makes me feel guilty as I’ve not dome mine for weeks.
To be fain it’s only done about 60 miles in the last two months.

 

[chrisk2010]

Nice job, makes me feel guilty as I’ve not dome mine for weeks.
To be fain it’s only done about 60 miles in the last two months.

Cheers fella, i remember that detail well and really enjoyed it, i think my better half misses that car more than she lets on being her first car that is.

My one regret is I wish i had posted more on the interior detail i did on it because that was where the real work was as the whole interior needed a thorough deep clean with both steam, extraction and a variety of techniques to remove a years worth of abuse from the kids, i found sweets, pen marks, an old baby bottle, trainers which had found there way under the seats never to be found again it was quite a challenge.

A lot of the time we see lovely shots of shiny paint work like i have done here but the interior has so many nooks and crannies plus different surface and material types that i find it a little more rewarding.

Here's a link to the new car detail i did if you're interested New car detail - Non Mercedes | Detailing

 

[W1ghty]

Nice job, makes me feel guilty as I’ve not dome mine for weeks.
To be fain it’s only done about 60 miles in the last two months.

Someone was trying to pm you earlier buddy , not sure if they managed it ?

New member looking for Windwalker | New member introductions

Hi, just joined the forum to do a bit of detective work and need to contact Windwalker (not implicated in any way but I think he/she can help me). I can’t see any way to send a PM so hoping Windwalker, as an established member, may be able to PM me (please)

forums.mbclub.co.uk

 

[Windwalker]

Someone was trying to pm you earlier buddy , not sure if they managed it ?

New member looking for Windwalker | New member introductions

Hi, just joined the forum to do a bit of detective work and need to contact Windwalker (not implicated in any way but I think he/she can help me). I can’t see any way to send a PM so hoping Windwalker, as an established member, may be able to PM me (please)

forums.mbclub.co.uk

Yes, I’ve seen it thanks.
neither of us has 30 posts as yet.
cheers