Gemclean Detailing: MBClub Member st13phil E63 BiTurbo Gtechniq Crystal Serum.

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mikec32

Active Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2011
Messages
897
Car
Mercedes C32 AMG
Hi Guys,
Hope everyone is well & been enjoying the glorious weather we’ve been having recently! Work is very busy as usual, so not much time to get threads up recently. But I thought I would put this one up as though I have completed quite a few Gtechniq Crystal Serum paint correction details. This was the first MBCLUB member’s car for me to complete to have this service. After speaking with Mbclub member ‘st13phil’ it was decided to have my signature paint correction Crystal Serum detail. When it comes to crystal lacquer details (C1 & CRYSTAL SERUM) I will refuse to apply if the lacquer and paint is not in top condition. As I believe it’s totally pointless to apply a long lasting crystal lacquer coating to protect ‘effectively’ a vehicle that’s not in top condition. So if a new client comes to me, looking to have this hardcore protection, I will always assess the vehicle, to see what the best option is dependent on what the client wants to achieve. In this case it was my signature detail the client wished to go with, so let the fun begin. This particularly detail is by no means as far as you can go at Gemclean Detailing, but it is my ‘signature detail. Due to the fact I’ve only completed 6 cars in 3.5 years who hasn’t had this exact detail. (Weather it be with C1 or CS) This detail consists of the following:
-Complete paint correction detail.
-Complete engine bay clean.
-Complete wheel removal deep clean.
-Complete interior detail.
-Gtechniq advanced TSP package Inc C5, G1, L1, I1, Crystal Serum & EXOv2.
So this was how the car arrived to me in.
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First thing to do was degrease door shuts with surfex HD. Agitate with detailing brushes and rinse using the jet washer @50*c.

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Next was the callipers and rear tailpipes were treated to iron x. This really breaks down the baked on iron filings that are clinging to this particularly parts.

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Then it was time to degrease the body with surfex HD. This helps with bug splatter, heavy road grime etc. Spray, left to dwell 5 mins and rinsed off at 50*c.

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The vehicle was then snow foamed using Gtechniqs new snow foam that will be available later this year. It looks weak, but it was baking hot outside so was heavily diluted to stop it baking on. This was left just for 5 minutes and rinsed thoroughly at 50*c.

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When washing a car in direct sunlight I always reach for dodo juice supernatural shampoo. It doesn’t foam up at all, stopping the bubbles from baking onto the dark surface of the vehicle. Top half was washed using a carpro mitt & the lower half with the opti mitt. Once completed, the car was rinsed again @50*c.

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The car was then taken inside and dried with 70/30 ultra plush drying towel.

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Then warm air blow dried to remove water from shuts, badges & gaps.

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The car was then clayed using elite care cars very own medium grade clay. This is my favourite clay as it works as well as supernatural clay and had the benefit of being very stretchy. So in cold weather it never breaks apart.

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Then the clay sling was wiped down with a microfiber, followed by a thorough IPA wipe down at 70/30 dilution rate.

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Next up it was time to assess the paint with the sun gun, halides and halogens (as the paint was now completely silicone free) these are shots using just the sun gun. As you can see it looks like a lot of swirls, buffer trails and holograms.

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Please take a look at the picture below. They are a photo taken at the same time. One in natural light looking pretty deep and shiney. But as soon as the halogens are on it, disaster!

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But under halogens it came apparent that the car was covered in some seriously heavy RIDs. Below is a picture of the bonnet. The top picture is after it had been hit with menzerna 400 and a yellow LC cutting pad on the flex rotary. As you can see the swirls, buffer trails and holograms are gone, but the RIDs haven’t been touched at all. So out with an LC wool pad and menz 400 and finally were getting somewhere. This was when it came apparent this was going to be a serious job.

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The car was covered from head to foot in these! Some were so deep in the lacquer (& due to the uber hard ceramic lacquer) needed to be wet sanding out. The photo below shows you just a small area of what I’m referring to under low light. These scores are after two hits on a wool pad and are still apparent. This is where you would have to wet sand to remove safely. But due to the amount across the car, you would really need to wet sand the car front to back. A road the client did not want to go down. So the best next option is to curve the edges off the scratches. This means under low light you would just see them, but under direct sunlight there is no edge for the sun to catch therefore bleaching them out.

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So, onwards with the detail! Various shots of the paint correction stage.

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Front and rear bumpers were seriously sticky so the big foot was used.

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Here is a shot of the rear bumper to show a very poor respray. Most likely a quick job from the dealership to cover up any easy on the eye scuffs!!

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This picture shows that the bumper was painted off the car but was flattened and polished on the car. Note sanding marks at the edge of the rear light!
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Uber dry lacquer from the poor respray of the rear bumper. Increased the clarity from a hardcore compounding, but definitely needs to be painted correctly.

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More generall shots:

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All done!

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Even under low light you can see the difference. Note paint above badge that I haven’t corrected yet, compared to rest of tail gate.

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More of the uber deep scores. This time in the piano black pillars after they were compounded and refined.

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After all the paint correction was complete, it was onto polishing the panoramic roof. This was covered in very old hard water marks, which had become heavily backed on. A combination of carpro spotless and dodo juice supernatural glass polish fixed the job quick.

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The car & glass was then given a thorough IPA wipe down to prepare it for all the glass coats. First up was G1 on all the glass and panoramic roof.

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Next up was Crystal Serum across the body for ultra hardcore protection. The 9H top and softer 7h base layer improves swirl resistance over regular 9h coatings. Furthermore compared to standard ceramic coatings. Crystal Serum forms a relatively thick combined film which greatly reduces surface hazing. The molecular structure of the hard top layer is exceptionally chemical resistant. Crystal Serum can withstand even the strongest wash chemicals and bird droppings. An additional benefit from having a flexible base layer and hard top layer is that Crystal Serum is very resistant to extreme heat changes from -40 degrees to +250 degrees.

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Once this was completed, it was onto removing the wheels for the deep clean. Calipers were cleaned outside, so a wipe over with IPA and they were ready for C5. Inside arches were scrubbed with surfex HD, dried and treated to Chemical guys Bare Bones.

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Wheels were then taken outside, degreased with surfex HD and then cleaned with bilberry wheel cleaner. They were then treated to a chemical bath to remove heavy deposits of brake dust and grime.

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Then air blow dried.

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Then de-tarred, IPA and treated to a coat of Gtechniq C5.

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Then put back on the car and torque to correct factory setting.

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Then it was onto the exhaust tips for a heavy session. These were pretty bad, so iron x was sprayed dry on the tips and scrubbed with 0 grade wire wool. They were then polished with mothers mags polish. This left them like this.

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It was then back to body for the first coat of EXOv2.
With only one more coat to put on the following day it was onto detailing the interior.
Handy glass arm to get into those tight to reach places.
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Seats were cleaned with swissvax leather cleaner and agitated with an AG scrubbing pad. Then protected with L1.

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Bit of a difference to the driver’s seat.

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Mats were thoroughly vacuumed and treated to I1

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Pedals were degreased using a detailing brush. To get into the pedals grooves.

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Door seals were hand polished and protected in exov2.

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Once the interior was completed it was onto the engine bay. This was degreased and cleaned using a steamer and lots and lots of microfibers. Then protected in aerospace 303. Carbon was machine polished and protected in Crystal Serum.

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Last but not least, the final coat of EXOv2 was applied and the final shots were taken just before collection. Unfortunately I havent taken them off my DSLR yet, but I will do tomorrow, so here’s a couple just of f the iphone camera.

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Hope you guys enjoyed reading and now have an insight to what GADs Crystal Serum details involve and what’s achieved at this level.
Thanks for looking and DSLR shots will be here tomorrow!

Cheers Michael

 
That looks amazing, and a great success on the paint correction.

The guy doing my SLS said very similar of the swirls in my black paint, reckoning the safest way for the really deep swirling to be removed was to wet sand (which was pretty much the whole car). I hope it looks as good as that E63 when I get it back!

I'm doing my wheels myself - is there any reason you use C5 and not Crystal Serum on wheels (aside from cost)? I'll probably just use Swissvax Autobahn because it lasts a very long time when you have ceramic brakes (no brake dust...ever ;) ).
 
Stunning, amazing work

That's my favourite shape Biturbo, not many of them about.
 
To say that Michael transformed the car's appearance understates what he's achieved.

The car spent its first two years in MBUK's possession and I knew that the paint wasn't in the best shape when I bought it, but for the price I paid I knew I could get a pro detailing job done with full paint correction and it would still be good value. What wasn't so obvious was quite how bad the paint was under the buffer trails!

You may have seen some shots of the car in the AMG Tour thread. The weather's been pretty kind to us on this trip, so other than lots of bug splatter on the front and a general light coating of dust, the car still looks pretty clean. It'll be interesting to see how easily the bug remains and general road dirt come off when I clean the car next weekend. If it's as easy as getting the bug splatter off the screen has been while we're on tour then I'll be well impressed.

In the meantime, thanks to Mike for a great job and I can wholeheartedly recommend his work :thumb:
 
He's ruined your car!!!!!!!

You've lost that lived in matt look and its now all shiny and new :D

Lovely job
 
It'll be interesting to see how easily the bug remains and general road dirt come off when I clean the car next weekend. If it's as easy as getting the bug splatter off the screen has been while we're on tour then I'll be well impressed.

In the meantime, thanks to Mike for a great job and I can wholeheartedly recommend his work :thumb:

If you use a lambswool mitt and Gwash it will shine up beautifully, with little effort.
Looking great Phil/Michael :thumb:.
 
You mean to say you didn't use pledge on the paint or head and shoulders on the seats?

Looks great! Worth the money! No way could the cheap route give anywhere near the quality!
 
Crazy good finish on that, true craftsmanship at work there.

GTechniq foam sounds interesting...presumably it compliments their coatings?
 
Thanks for the kind words guys!

As for the foam, Gtechniq will be bringing specific snowfoam and fallout spray that is 100% crystal lacquer friendly. A lot of snowfoam a can weaken glass coats hence why there bringing one out that's friendly. The fallout remover is designed for mainly the removal of big splatter safely without wearing the glass coat whatsoever :)
 
You mean to say you didn't use pledge on the paint or head and shoulders on the seats?

Looks great! Worth the money! No way could the cheap route give anywhere near the quality!
Hehehe... That should get the wind-up started!

There's no doubt that using appropriate products can give a more durable end result, and they make the result easier to achieve, but I reckon that 75% - 80% of the result is down to the skill and hard work of the person doing the job. Thanks again, Mike :thumb:
 

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