Polishing a big old mercedes is like a journey

[MatBat]

Well, I washed her with Carplan wash and wax yesterday, stored her in a heated garage, and today decided to embark on polishing, as the paint still has the gel-cote on I used autoglym super resin for the paintwork, autoglym glass polish for the glass and mirrors, and autoglym paint renovator followed by super resin for the chrome, so far I've been at it for 3 hrs, and done 1/2 the paint work and about 1/8th of the chrome! the old girl was in a very clean state to start with, so I cannot imagine what it would be like if she'd been left for a while, Thank the lord for warm storage!

P.S. Chrome is a b**tard to polish corrrectly!

 

[Swiss Toni]

Actually,

Polishing a big old Mercedes is very much like making lurve to a beautiful woman.



Only one takes a lot longer.

 

[MatBat]

My arms never ached this much after making love to a beautiful women before though!




I must be going wrong somewhere

 

[glojo]

There have been some very good threads about polishing our pride and joy. An excellent piece of equipment is the electric polisher. It certainly takes all the strain out of polishing and I can thoroughly recommend it.

Bye for now,
John

 

[MatBat]

Yeah I really should invest in one of those, I am doing it by hand now so I can get to every mm of paintwork and chromework, afterwards I'll get an electric polisher to keep her in A1 condition. I've been using Autoglym polish (hard work but good results) do any of you recomend anything else?

 

[Thmsshaun]

Glad im not the only one with an aching arm after polishing the car this weekend. Only mine wasnt the Merc Black Mini. Right pain of a colour to polish looks great when done though

 

[Bilal]

I have a question.

Once the caris thoroughly clean and dry, I begin polishing using the same autoglym super resin as discussed above. My question is, how long after application do you leave the polish before you wipe off?

Secondly, I always thought you use wax AFTER polishing to seal in the shine? How long do you guys leave wax on the car for?

Thanks in advance all!

 

[Alps]

I normally do 2 panels at a time, super resin the two panels and by the time you have finished the 2nd set of 2 panels, it will be ready to wipe off!, then extra gloss protection them. it took me the best part of the day to do mine!

 

[glojo]

Might as well make the most of this before Shude does his usual, 'moved to'.........

I can only talk about Autoglym and the electric polisher, and we put polish onto the whole car. When the polish is removed it literally 'falls off' with a nice soft cloth. No electric polisher, no other electrical aids. The polish comes off easily and with absolutely no effort whatsover.

Hopefully Goldfish11 will join in this discussion and be more helpful.

Good luck,
John

 

[nickg]

With the Extra Gloss Protection, the longer the better. Once the weather improves and becomes more reliable, try leaving it on for most of the day.

 

[Brian WH]

Might as well make the most of this before Shude does his usual, 'moved to'.........

Good luck,
John

Sorry my turn to move.

 

[Ian B Walker]

I've been using Autoglym polish (hard work but good results) do any of you recomend anything else?

I quite like Zymol, easy to apply and easy to remove but shines well

 

[Mambo]

I quite like Zymol, easy to apply and easy to remove but shines well

Smells nice to! Meguiars is very good also....

 

[Goldfish11]

You are experiencing the frustration and exhaustion I felt this time last year, which drove me to research and take drastic action

Get a Power Polisher like the PorterCable it only takes 20 minutes then and you do a far better job than by hand. Its like having a hand that can move 1000 times faster than any other hand

See the first enty on the power polish thread :bannana:

http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=6997

Only problem I now have is CPD (Compulsive Polishing Disorder). Everytime the car is not quite looking perfect a quick whizz over with the PorterCable results in a great finish. This then leads onto "layering" and then to the "Perfect Shine" and now I am not sure what I do Have even taken to putting Klasse and Carlack polishes on UPVC windows to give them extra UV protection. Help I need a Doctor ............

 

[Goldfish11]

A quick comment on Autoglym

A quick comment on Autoglym.

SuperResin is great, I find it is better using a power polisher as this applies a thin layer and really works it hard. It then just falls off as Glojo says. See the picture in the first entry of the Power Polishing thread for the results with Autoglym.

If you use it by hand you tend to use more and if it goes on thick it will result in dusting. (i.e. white powder going everywhere when you polish off)

With regard to Extra Gloss Protection this is really good but you must handle with care. It needs to be applied "whisper thin". A tea spoon full will do a large panel such as a roof or bonnet. You just need to see the stuff go on the surface and then dry so it hardly looks as if you have hardly applied it. The first time I used it I got it all wrong and applied loads of it thinking "How easy this stuff is to apply, I will put loads on!" It then took me hours to get the stuff off, I was exhausted and then telephone Autoglym for advice as they dont tell you much on the back of the bottle! Generally with Car Care the less the better, remember you are only trying to cover the paint with a micon thick polymer surface you need very little.

A tip is to apply ExtraGloss with a piece of soft sponge rather than a cloth, it seems to go on easier for me.

Leave the ExtraGloss for at least 1 hour but if you can leave it for 6 hours and you do notice a difference. If you leave 24hours between applications you can apply an other coat.

If applied thinly ExtraGloss removes really easily with no problem, it just dusts off.

I also like the Autoglym Shampoo if you use in conjunction with SuperResin and ExtraGloss you find it reinvigorates the finish and water just beads and comes off really easily for months afterwards.

I have recently been using P21S which is so easy to apply by hand, you just wipe on and wipe off. This enhances your finish but you do need to polish to get a nice gloss on the paint. Super Resin is a Cleaner, Polish and Sealant all in one. ExtraGloss protection is a pure Sealant.

The finish you get is a bit "Candy shine" but if you leave it to cure and then pop on a coat of show wax like P21S or Zymol it will create depth. But then again at certain times of year "Candy Shine" is best for UK light levels.

Also it seems Autoglym has just been really discovered in the USA. After me importing all their polishes it seems they are growing to like ours. I guess the grass is always greener. The front of the Autopia website is really pushing the stuff! This link can also be used to get your "Dual Action Polisher"

http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?autopia+MBWu4u+index.html+

I must admit I have now tried Meguiars, P21S, Klasse, CarLack etc etc and they are all good for certain finishes but I keep coming back to Autoglym it is easy to use and produces and excellent very resilient finish and I often use in conjunction with other products. (A nice thing with Klasse and Carlack sealant is you can use a light water spray to help remove the sealant and this does not impact on the finish)

Sorry for typos, why cant we have a spell checker on this