Tweet
I will soon be detailing 2 vehicles for a friend. The first is a '78 Mercedes 450SL in decent shape overall (a few interior things don't work), and it is not often driven. I'm pretty confident it has single-stage paint (probably lacquer), and I don't think it has never been detailed. It has medium to heavy swirls but has "never been run through a car wash". As the second owner, he bought the car from a neighbor, who he says treated it similarly. He wants it to look better than it does, but knows nothing about "paint correction" or "swirls". I've never worked with a single stage paint, and I'm a little worried about polishing through it. I was thinking of going with 205 and a medium cutting pad, or 105 and a light cutting pad and just taking a lot of time to get out the swirls. He clearly likes the idea of making the car look good, but he really isn't looking for perfection, as the car itself is not very close to perfect. He would really like to sell it, but will have a hard time seeing it go away.
The second vehicle (a Ford F250) is his daily driver. It has pretty high mileage has somewhat high mileage, a few small scratches, and also medium to heavy swirling. I'm pretty sure it's never been detailed, either. He wants it to come out looking good enough to sell, but doesn't need perfect. If I was confident that a 1 step polish would look OK I might try one, but I don't know how it would work with the swirls. I'm thinking of using a medium to heavy cutting pad and Meguiar's 105 so I don't have to do a second polishing step. I was also thinking this might be a great opportunity to break out a rotary that I've never used. That would likely mean a second pass though, and I'm not sure I want to spend that much time on it. I was hoping for a little reassurance on the rotary idea, just to learn and practice, but since the expectations are so low I may just try to knock it out as quickly as I can.
I was really looking for some guidance on how to approach the first vehicle. He knows neither are in very good shape now, and just wants clean and shiny. Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas?
The second vehicle (a Ford F250) is his daily driver. It has pretty high mileage has somewhat high mileage, a few small scratches, and also medium to heavy swirling. I'm pretty sure it's never been detailed, either. He wants it to come out looking good enough to sell, but doesn't need perfect. If I was confident that a 1 step polish would look OK I might try one, but I don't know how it would work with the swirls. I'm thinking of using a medium to heavy cutting pad and Meguiar's 105 so I don't have to do a second polishing step. I was also thinking this might be a great opportunity to break out a rotary that I've never used. That would likely mean a second pass though, and I'm not sure I want to spend that much time on it. I was hoping for a little reassurance on the rotary idea, just to learn and practice, but since the expectations are so low I may just try to knock it out as quickly as I can.
I was really looking for some guidance on how to approach the first vehicle. He knows neither are in very good shape now, and just wants clean and shiny. Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas?
Comment