Hi Guys
It’s been very busy @ Gemclean Detailing HQ, but now just before the next instalment of Top Gear, here is the write up on the long awaited write up on Eddie01’s C55 AMG.
When I first viewed Edd’s C55 AMG, I knew I was going to have my work cut out. Though the car was mechanically sound the exterior was in some desperate need of some TLC. The bumper was suffering badly of lacquer failure, the bonnet had a rock chip the size of a 50 pence piece, and the roof had some nasty chipping along the top of where the front screen meets the roof. The rest of the paint was heavily scratched and had serious signs of automatic car washing in its time. Apart from this, I believed I could restore the paint to high level though some of the defects were so deep, it would need wet sanding to bring it back to its former glory of the production line. The boot lid I could tell was seriously damaged with scratches and was on fine line weather to re paint or takes my chances of wet sanding. But the roof, bonnet and bumper were well and truly past the limit of correction and were time to think about painting. The wheels were also pretty damaged from road grime as well as the black centres looking tired. After a thorough going over it was agreed that the car would come in for a full correction detail, and wheel refurbishment. While it was with me it was decided we would re paint the roof, bonnet and bumper to pull this car from its tired look and get it back to its former glory. So the car was booked in for January for a 2 week overhaul.
To start with the roof, bonnet & bumper were repainted. Obviously the front grilles were bent and heavily chipped, so they were removed, re shaped, painted and placed back onto the front bumper. Once this was completed the intense restoration of the exterior was to commence!
This was the car prior to being detailed, on arrival at the studio:
I was refurbishing the wheels so were left dirty, though these would be the first thing I tackle on any car. The first job was to get the door & boot shuts thoroughly cleaned. For this I used surfex HD, agitated with a detailing brush and rinsed with 60* purified water. The tailpipes were then treated to bilberry & iron x and agitated with 0 grade wire wool. These tailpipes had not been cleaned in a long time, so needed some serious TLC. After the shuts, badges, grilles and traps were cleaned it was onto a double snow foam @60*c.
.....and then the boot lid:
Once the clay bar system was complete, the car was given a thorough wipe down with IPA at 30/70 to remove clay sling and any silicone fillers from the paint. This way I will see the true finish of the paint without it being masked up by old polishes etc. The car was then put on the ramp so I could remove the wheels and start the super long process of paint correcting the car. As you can see the parts we painted were in good, form and just needed refining as I prefer to do that on the car:
Then it was onto the old paint! This was a whole different ballpark as the ptg readings were all over the place. The drivers front wing and a terrible smart repair and was super sticky. The drivers door all the way around to the passenger’s rear door was harder than any nano lacquers I had ever worked with. This concerned me as it was baffling to how the lacquer got in such bad condition when I was so hard. Hence why automatic car wash came to mind. Both side skirts looked to be painted out of a spray can and the passenger wing, front and rear door and been repainted at some point too. The paint was soft, sticky and had dry lacquer runs along all rubber window seals. This car truly had been in a war and it had now been passed onto me to get it sorted. So onto the correction process full steam ahead! Here are some various correction shots of the standard super concrete paint:
It’s been very busy @ Gemclean Detailing HQ, but now just before the next instalment of Top Gear, here is the write up on the long awaited write up on Eddie01’s C55 AMG.
When I first viewed Edd’s C55 AMG, I knew I was going to have my work cut out. Though the car was mechanically sound the exterior was in some desperate need of some TLC. The bumper was suffering badly of lacquer failure, the bonnet had a rock chip the size of a 50 pence piece, and the roof had some nasty chipping along the top of where the front screen meets the roof. The rest of the paint was heavily scratched and had serious signs of automatic car washing in its time. Apart from this, I believed I could restore the paint to high level though some of the defects were so deep, it would need wet sanding to bring it back to its former glory of the production line. The boot lid I could tell was seriously damaged with scratches and was on fine line weather to re paint or takes my chances of wet sanding. But the roof, bonnet and bumper were well and truly past the limit of correction and were time to think about painting. The wheels were also pretty damaged from road grime as well as the black centres looking tired. After a thorough going over it was agreed that the car would come in for a full correction detail, and wheel refurbishment. While it was with me it was decided we would re paint the roof, bonnet and bumper to pull this car from its tired look and get it back to its former glory. So the car was booked in for January for a 2 week overhaul.
To start with the roof, bonnet & bumper were repainted. Obviously the front grilles were bent and heavily chipped, so they were removed, re shaped, painted and placed back onto the front bumper. Once this was completed the intense restoration of the exterior was to commence!
This was the car prior to being detailed, on arrival at the studio:
I was refurbishing the wheels so were left dirty, though these would be the first thing I tackle on any car. The first job was to get the door & boot shuts thoroughly cleaned. For this I used surfex HD, agitated with a detailing brush and rinsed with 60* purified water. The tailpipes were then treated to bilberry & iron x and agitated with 0 grade wire wool. These tailpipes had not been cleaned in a long time, so needed some serious TLC. After the shuts, badges, grilles and traps were cleaned it was onto a double snow foam @60*c.
.....and then the boot lid:
Once the clay bar system was complete, the car was given a thorough wipe down with IPA at 30/70 to remove clay sling and any silicone fillers from the paint. This way I will see the true finish of the paint without it being masked up by old polishes etc. The car was then put on the ramp so I could remove the wheels and start the super long process of paint correcting the car. As you can see the parts we painted were in good, form and just needed refining as I prefer to do that on the car:
Then it was onto the old paint! This was a whole different ballpark as the ptg readings were all over the place. The drivers front wing and a terrible smart repair and was super sticky. The drivers door all the way around to the passenger’s rear door was harder than any nano lacquers I had ever worked with. This concerned me as it was baffling to how the lacquer got in such bad condition when I was so hard. Hence why automatic car wash came to mind. Both side skirts looked to be painted out of a spray can and the passenger wing, front and rear door and been repainted at some point too. The paint was soft, sticky and had dry lacquer runs along all rubber window seals. This car truly had been in a war and it had now been passed onto me to get it sorted. So onto the correction process full steam ahead! Here are some various correction shots of the standard super concrete paint:
