Summer Clean Up

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Alex225

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 23, 2015
Messages
2,368
Car
CLS63 AMG
Well I had a spare bit of time this morning so thought I'd get outside and give my E320 a wash, polish and wax. Nothing fancy but came up nicely.

Nice simple two bucket wash with a pre-wash to start.

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Really basic prep but a once over with some Dodo Juice Lime Prime

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Finished up with some Dodo Juice Supernatural Hybrid which is a combination of the standard Supernatural wax but with a sealant built in.

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Tyres given a shine with the go to tyre shine, Meguiars Endurance Tyre Gel.

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Interior was given a vacuum and a wipe down with this

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Then just a couple of pictures I played about with

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Also, loved how the water gathered in the lettering on my '4D' plates

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I know they are in desperate need of a polish. I'm partly tempted to see if Ed at Divine Detail would take the car in and work his magic on them. I have done it every 12 months or so and re-lacquered them!

What they need though is rather than a re-coat is a more thorough wet sand and polish, then have the Meguiars coating applied.
 
Lovely as usual Sir, I remember the last time you done the lights. I’m a great fan of the Megs tyre gel, works well on trim to, lasts for ages.
 
I know they are in desperate need of a polish. I'm partly tempted to see if Ed at Divine Detail would take the car in and work his magic on them. I have done it every 12 months or so and re-lacquered them!

What they need though is rather than a re-coat is a more thorough wet sand and polish, then have the Meguiars coating applied.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/312424519307

This is all you need. An hour or two with a cordless drill. Everything needed is in the kit bar a drill. Absolutely no need to lacquer them or recoat them with anything. I have the same lenses on my 211, did them about three years ago and they still look fine, parked outside in all weather, no special care needed and you can always re polish them in future if needed anyway (I haven’t)

Taken last week:
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Excuse how filthy the car looks, it has been on a 800 mile road trip! :)
 
Tbh as Will said I’ve never had to machine polish mine either, just a usual polish when doing the rest of a car by hand is enough, but I am blessed with a Garage. Saying that you can’t beat a brand new Pair like I fitted to Brutus ;)
 
Tbh as Will said I’ve never had to machine polish mine either, just a usual polish when doing the rest of a car by hand is enough, but I am blessed with a Garage. Saying that you can’t beat a brand new Pair like I fitted to Brutus ;)
 
Lovely as usual Sir, I remember the last time you done the lights. I’m a great fan of the Megs tyre gel, works well on trim to, lasts for ages.

Thanks mate. Yeah the Megs tyre gel is really good and a bottle lasts ages. Only thing I've found is that if it's over applied it can fling if the car is driven. I tend to slap it on knowing I'm not driving it for a week so it'll dry haha


I did use a kit like that when I first got the car and it did work. Maybe I wasn't harsh enough with the sanding and polishing though. I tended to prefer the Meguiars coating as you essentially just have to mask up and apply to a cleaned headlight. It makes them clear but only tended to last 18 months max.

Tbh as Will said I’ve never had to machine polish mine either, just a usual polish when doing the rest of a car by hand is enough, but I am blessed with a Garage. Saying that you can’t beat a brand new Pair like I fitted to Brutus ;)

Oddly my other half's CLS350 headlights are fine, my CLS63's lights are fine too although it's covered so the UV doesn't get to it.

Sadly the headlights on mine were like it when I bought the car so wasn't something I could stay on top of. I can see new lenses can be bought and if it was an E55 I'd be keeping then I'd 100% invest in a set. I'm likely to replace the E with an S Class at some point so just like to keep it looking as fresh as possible at a budget haha.
 
Understood buddy, was thinking about getting new lenses for my 55 but they are hardly that bad it’s just me being fussy.
 
Understood buddy, was thinking about getting new lenses for my 55 but they are hardly that bad it’s just me being fussy.

Don’t blame you mate. If it was my CLS I’d be all over it haha nothing wrong with being fussy.

The E is my work horse so I have to try and be sensible with the fussiness. :)
 
Wet sanding, starting with 600 and going up in increments to 2000 followed by a machine or drill polish is really easy providing you mask the paint off well. Mine were like your E when I got it . Took about an hour to do both and they are still clear after three years. I just give them a light polish once every couple of month (5 mins) to catch any build up before it starts to show. Obviously new lights would be nice but at the best part of £1k each.......
All your cars are so well looked after.
 
Yes you have to sand off all of the old coating. It’s the coating that goes bad with UV - needs to come off completely before you do anything else or put anything on top of them :)
 
Time well spent Sir.

The drill based headlight polishing kits from 3M and Autoglym are surprisingly good and will sort those out no problem at all - one of the more satisfying jobs!

cheers,

Chris
 
Looks very nice, love the private plate. I have T80 OCD but one dot in the middle of eight and it looks like TOO 0CD :D
 
Looks very nice, love the private plate. I have T80 OCD but one dot in the middle of eight and it looks like TOO 0CD :D

Haha that was kind of the thought I had 'TOO OCD' although left the lettering standard. Have to find T70 OCD next :D
 

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