I’m really looking forward to Bud Cloninger’s Clean Car Event Tech Session, but I thought I would share some of my techniques.

My previous benz was a beautiful black 300E.  Have you ever owned a black car?  Oh man are they hard to keep looking nice.  Miss one week of cleaning and it looks like you haven’t washed it in a year.  I learned a lot about detailing.

The first thing I learned was to throw away all the cotton and terrycloth towels I was using for drying.  They were good for one thing: putting swirl marks in the paint.  Now I use only high-quality microfiber towels.

I also stopped using the once-size-fits-all car waxes found at your local autoparts store.  There are several sites on the web that cater to people like me.  I buy almost all my detailing products and supplies from Classic Motoring Accessories. This guy seems to live and breath automotive detailing and has even created his own line of products, some of which I use.

Around 2004, there was a tectonic shift in the chemistry of the paints that Mercedes-Benz uses.  That’s when they began using a clearcoat containing ceramic nano-particles, making the clearcoat really hard and much more resistant to scratches and swirlmarks.

Acrylic Sealant vs Wax

Firat a word about Carnuba wax:  It is wonderful stuff.  Produces the best-looking finishes I have ever seen.  The problem is that in the summer here in Arizona the surface temperature of our cars exceeds the melting point of Carnuba. Therefore I long ago I switched to synthetic waxes which are more properly called acrylic sealants.

For Pre-Ceramic Paints:

Every couple of month I gave the car a light treatment of a very light polish followed by an acrylic sealant. Once or twice a year I would give the car the full treatment:

• Clay to remove grit embedded in the paint.
• One application of a more intensive polish
• One application of a very light polish to remove swirls left my the intensive polish.
• Glaze to fill any remaining swirls.
• Acrylic sealant

For Ceramic Paints:

I have a different routine for my 2006 E350.  Life is simpler.  About twice a year:

• Clay to remove grit embedded in the paint.
• A light polish designed specifically for the ceramic clearcoat.
• Acrylic Sealant
• Spray to hit any waterspots

I was the car once every week or two, drying it with a large microfiber towel.  Then I come back later and use the spray on areas where there are waterspots.

On the very first day of owning this beautiful car, I put some scuff marks on the lower portion of the driver’s door panel. It’s cloth and easy to scuff with the sole of your shoe. I though, Oh my God.

In the past, I’ve had a tough time removing these kinds of scuff marks. I thought I might have to live with them forever.

I am a big fan of the folks at Classic Motoring Accessories. They have become the sole source of all my detailing supplies. He recommended this Magic Wand pad so I tried it.

It works amazingly well. It took only a few seconds to remove each scuff mark.

Buy them here:

Proper Auto Care Online Store

Technorati Tags: car detailing, magic wand cleaning pad, scuff marks

Can you see the chip? Neither can I.

When I brought my new (to me) 2006 E350 home for the first time, there were a few very small nicks in the paint on the hood. And by small, I mean smaller than the head of a pin. I’ve filled nicks like this before on my black 93 300E the old-fashioned way: toothpick, dot of sandpaper glued to a pencil eraser, and some very fine polishing compound. I was prepared to use the same technique as I went searching the web for touch-up paint.

My search almost immediately turned up Dr Color Chip. Supposedly, all you need to do is:

1. Dab the paint on the chip, no need to avoid the surrounding area
2. Lightly smear it
3. Wait a couple minutes to dry
4. Apply their top-secret blending solution to a an old t-shirt and buff lightly, removing the excess touch-up paint.

 It works.  There was a little learning curve - I had to learn to lightly smear, not really applying any pressure.  But once I figured that out, it was a piece of cake.

I’ve got a larger chip on the right side above the rear tire.  This one is probably going to take multiple applications.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Dr Color Chip

Technorati Tags: Dr Color Chip, nicks in paint, touch-up paint

THe first order of business is to order some touch-up paint to fill a few small nicks.

This site is a good source of paint code informarion.

I’m going to try this stuff.  I’ll let you know what happens.