600+ hp Benz: Bringing Back Black to Beautiful

[Marc@AutoLavish]

Thanks to a referral from a top detailer, we were contacted to refresh this nicely modified SL 55 AMG. Saphire Black can look stunning, but without proper clarity, the paint doesn't show in the sense that it should; deep reflective black with brilliant metallic flakes when seen with a direct light source.
In addition to requesting paint correction, the interior also needed some attention after 75,000+ miles of fun driving, and when you're going to work on the exterior and interior, you might as well properly show off the engine bay too!

Though the owner lived over an hour away, we were lucky enough to be invited to Motor Werks: a local shop that specializes in German vehicles. To work on this beautiful car was a priviledge, but to work on such a beauty with many other beautiful cars (CL600, 500E, S63 AMG, 355, RS4, etc) around made the work that much more pleasurable.

Arriving on day one, we began with the interior and the summer wheels. A leather repair specialist was due to fix some damage on the driver's seat, so thoroughly cleaning the interior (including the seats) would help to make sure the repair would match perfectly.

As usual, we started with the vacuum.

To include the small, hard to reach areas like around buttons and inside the door panel's pocket:

Once loose debris was removed, hard surfaces were cleaned and protected with 1Z Cockpit Premium.

Leather cleaning was achieved using Leather Master Strong Cleaner and a toothbrush. While there are seats with a lot more build up than these had, the difference was still quite noticeable. I sectioned off the front of the seat to show the difference made.

Even sectioned off a part of the side bolster to show the nice subtle difference:

Here is one last shot to show how even perferrated leather can come back with careful and patient care.

As I finished working on the leather seats, Jacob moved his attention to the forged wheels used for summer driving. Already somewhat clean, he removed tar specs, shredded rubber, and light build up with a combination of Meguiar's 105 and 3M Adhesive remover.

The convertible top inserts and windscreen were the last interior items that could use some love, but they too were cleaned for a nice fresh look.

This concluded the first day of work. A few weeks laster, we returned to dial-in the exterior. It was a bit dusty to say the least, but the real problem was the condition of the paint.

The license plate was removed prior to beginning to make sure all exterior surfaces would be cleaned properly.

Jacob began with the door jambs while I started with the wheels, calipers, and engine bay.

Foamed and washed, and then clayed to remove contamination that normal washing will not.

 

[Marc@AutoLavish]

On the left is the clay Jacob used on the passanger side of the vehicle, on the right is the clay I used on the driver's side and lowers. Notice the red overspray that the clay removed (on left), and the amount of tar that was removed from the lowest sections of the vehicle (on right).

After claying, the vehicle was rewashed, rinsed, and dried.

Now it's time for true inspection of the vehicle's paint. Let's take a look...

To add to the degree of difficulty, half the vehicle had been repainted, and half of it was original. Paint thickness measurements helped to identify potentially problematic areas.

Very thin original paint...

We were expecting to need two different polishing combinations: one that worked best on the repainted sections, and one that would effectively clear-up the thin original paint. While we began taping off anything that could potentially be damaged by a high speed buffer, we also made note of some of the most dangerous sections so we could proceeed with caution.

The importance of doing things right: thickness measurement of 217 microns on the driver's side rear fender but only 99 microns a few inches away... who do you trust with YOUR car?

Enough talk: let's make a nice difference!

Before:

After:

After, no flash:

Front grill done by hand:

 

[Marc@AutoLavish]

Coming along...

Still not done...
While the paint looked great by all means, we wanted to achieve a higher level of clarity. Using Menzerna's Final Polish (PO87), we further worked the paint with a blue Lake Country pad to achieve a higher level of gloss. In the following photo, you can make out the very slight line between the two lights, and the heightened clarity on the left side.

As a finishing touch, the good fellows at Motor Werks helped to swap the winter wheels for the summer ones. The forged Carlson wheels surely helped give the SL a better look for the photographer who would arrive shortly.

Onto the following final wash, crevise cleaning, dressing, and a protective layer of Blackfire for additional gloss and slickness.

Right on time, Andy Perry arrived to lend his talents to capture the outcome as we were finishing up applying sealant the final touches.

Blackfire applied:

Engine dried:

Wiping off the set Blackfire Wet Diamond sealant, the brilliant shine was revealed.

Thanks for taking a look!
-Marc and Jacob from AutoLavish

 

[OnyxSSS]

when did you guys hire that bearded guy
top notch. I like how the shop used an AMG wheel for their hose reel.

 

[Golden]

Wet Diamond looks beautiful on it! Great job.

 

[Overboost]

Looks spectacular! What pad/polish combo did you go with to remove the swirls?

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

The cars always look better than new! Great job again. I like reading your write ups on black vehicles...especially hot Benz'. Looks awesome.

 

[98yellowcobra]

thanks my new wallpaper

 

[DSG SNAKE]

I love that shot of the rear. You applied the M105 by hand to the front and rear of the summer wheels? Did you guys apply anything else on top of that as a sealant or protectant?

 

[Marc@AutoLavish]

Sorry for the delay guys. We've been pretty swamped lately and I just got home from PA where I was working on this sexy lady:

when did you guys hire that bearded guy
top notch. I like how the shop used an AMG wheel for their hose reel.

lol Jacob in full Winter-mode. The small things make nice touches, like the AMG hose reel

Wet Diamond looks beautiful on it! Great job.

Car is real beauty when all taken care of for sure. Thanks for taking a look!

Looks spectacular! What pad/polish combo did you go with to remove the swirls?

Thanks a lot Steve! Meguiar's 105 on Surbuf (repainted areas x2), Meguiar's 205 on Black LC pads, Menzerna 85RD on blue

The cars always look better than new! Great job again. I like reading your write ups on black vehicles...especially hot Benz'. Looks awesome.

Thank you - that's always our goal: better-than-new. We try to make out write-ups entertaining as well as educational. Thanks for taking a look and for taking the time to comment.

thanks my new wallpaper

I'll send your regards to the photographer - Andy Perry. I'm sure he'll be happy to hear his pics have been well received. Talented guys like him go a long way to truly capture the end-state of the vehicle.

I love that shot of the rear. You applied the M105 by hand to the front and rear of the summer wheels? Did you guys apply anything else on top of that as a sealant or protectant?

I do too! Jacob used M105 on the fronts and backs of the wheels as they were pretty hammered with tar and rubber build-up (also why he used wax & greae remover on the back sides). After they were all cleaned up, Migliore Wheel Seal was used on the back sides and Optimum Opti-Seal was used on the fronts for additional protection in the near future.

 

[VarsityCustomWerkz]

Amazing Work as always!!!

 

[Beigg]

Killer!

If you don't mind me asking, what is the least expensive valued domestic vehicle you've ever done this sorta detail surgery to?

 

[Marc@AutoLavish]

Killer!

If you don't mind me asking, what is the least expensive valued domestic vehicle you've ever done this sorta detail surgery to?

Thank you. Keep in mind that while we do work on a good number of expensive cars, it's not about the price of the vehicle but how the owner views the car. You have to take two things into consideration:
1. It seems a lot of people don't think $500-800 is a worth spending to have their car look truly better than new. The type of person we work for has to highly value their own car, and having their car look the way it should.
2. From what we've experienced (and what people we know across the nation have experienced), it seems German car owners are top on the list on spending good money for good work on their cars. I'd estimate that at least 60-75% of our work is done on German cars. Sure there are the higher end German brands such as Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, and BMW, but even if you take those brands away, it is surprising how many VW's we work on. For an example, we have a 12-13 hour job this weekend on a 2011 GTI.

Luckily MotownMuscle has been good for us in helping to get more domestic vehicles coming our way. Last week we were supposed to be working on a member's new daily driver, but we had to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances. We look forward to hooking him up in a couple of weeks though



As for lower priced domestic vehicles, how about 6 hours on a 2001 Lincoln Continental with major work on the leather. Also did the engine bay and used an All-In-One on the paint.

A Ford Focus SVT done in Puerto Rico:

Black GMC Envoy:

And of course... do SeaDoo's count??

 

[Beigg]

LOL yes that seadoo counts! Nice, I like your character.

A freakin seadoo, that's awesome!

 

[SS4Matt]

Good Looking car guys, I believe we tinted that car!

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

The Seadoo's are more impressive than the cars! Don't take that the wrong way, it's just the Seadoo's went from some average, beat up, sun faded, machines, to Seadoo's that looked like they've never been in the water. :lol: Nice!!

 

[Marc@AutoLavish]

The Seadoo's are more impressive than the cars! Don't take that the wrong way, it's just the Seadoo's went from some average, beat up, sun faded, machines, to Seadoo's that looked like they've never been in the water. :lol: Nice!!

:haha:
Gel-coat is much like single-stage paint which is much like working on a black base/clear car: the worse the beginning condition, the bigger the turn around will be. We aren't able to work miracles, but many times the turn around is truly breathtaking. Cars of all colors can benefit, but in general, darker colored cars have a bigger noticeable turn around.