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Presidential Detailed: 2006 Mercedes SL65 AMG

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  #1  
Old 06-29-2009 | 10:28 PM
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Default Presidential Detailed: 2006 Mercedes SL65 AMG

It has been a while since I have last posted any detail write-ups, this only means one thing though...Ive been busy and have lots of SWEET cars/details to share with you guys! This car is one of the nicest Mercedes that I have ever laid my eyes on, I was contacted for a full correction on both the owners SL65 AMG AND E55 AMG. I will post the E55 later tomorrow evening. When I first saw this car it was evening and even I was like, how can I make this look nicer?? haha! Well, as the owner insisted under certain lighting conditions there was a faint haze over the surface of the entire car. I took his word for it and he was definitely right, it seems as though a hack may have gotten a hold of this thing at some point in its short life(maybe even the dealer). The owner of the car already had it washed and it only need a very mild spot claying before I began to polish.

Here, you see some RIDS as well as the very faint haze over the surface.
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Some special lighting, and it becomes quite evident there was some major improvement to be had! I was excited at this point!
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The hood was my test area, so it was completed first. Some final shots after M105/PFW via rotary followed by M205/Orange via G110.
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  #2  
Old 06-29-2009 | 10:30 PM
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Next, I had a look at the fender..not so perfect.
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After a couple passes of polishing, our end result!
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Did I say love black cars?
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The smaller bits of the intricate bumper were carefully taped off and polished to perfection using a special 3" PFW pad.
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The bumper finished.
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I also polished the custom grill by hand with Zaino AIO.
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Driver Side Finished.


Passenger Side Finished.
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Old 06-29-2009 | 10:31 PM
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Since the sun shines into the garage towards the end of the day, I decided to skip to the rear of the car to get it done while there was still some shade, oh yeah its been well into the 98-105 degree range here in FL the last week and the humidity is through the roof!

This is what we were dealing with on the trunk lid of the SL65.
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After M105/PFW, no finishing polish.
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Just to remind you what the trunk used to look like..
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It doesnt get any better than this!
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The flash came out funny in this one due to the trunk curvature, its not a hologram I promise!
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Most of the roof was glass, so I taped off the pillars so they could be corrected as well..


Next up was the rear deck spoiler, which also needed some correction work. I carefully taped off anything I did not want the buffer to touch to prevent a burn.
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I did the same for the lower regions of the trunk..
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Lower Trunk Finished.


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  #4  
Old 06-29-2009 | 10:32 PM
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Next up were the doors and rear 1/4 panels. I was running out of time, so I forgot to take some before shots, but its the afters we all want to see anyways right??

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Driver Rear 1/4 Panel.
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Passenger Rear 1/4 Panel.
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Now I get to grace you guys with some beautiful reflections and some full sun shots to close! Thanks for looking!

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  #5  
Old 06-29-2009 | 10:33 PM
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This car just looks sick when you see the overall picture!
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Should we pull it outside for the real results?
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  #6  
Old 06-29-2009 | 10:34 PM
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Not too many cars look this good inside and out! Name:  IMG_0879.jpg
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  #7  
Old 06-29-2009 | 10:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Owner
First of all, I would like to thank Billy for his services. My E55 and SL65 look better now than when they were at the dealership. (SIDENOTE: The dealership is the worst place to have your car washed, detailed, or even wiped down.)

Here are a couple more exterior pics and some interior pics...





These are some pics before it was detailed. Shiny and nice from far away, but...





Interior Shots









Thanks for looking!
 
  #8  
Old 06-29-2009 | 10:55 PM
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One of my all time favorite cars.

Out of curiosity, how many hours do you put into a car on average?
 
  #9  
Old 06-30-2009 | 12:00 AM
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Originally Posted by gone postal
One of my all time favorite cars.

Out of curiosity, how many hours do you put into a car on average?
Thanks! Roughly between 15-20 hours for most of the cars I detail.
 
  #10  
Old 07-02-2009 | 10:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Presidential_Detail
Thanks! Roughly between 15-20 hours for most of the cars I detail.


MUCH longer than I expected. I know the work isn't easy (or cheap), but I didn't realize you span two days (or more) for a detail. Wow - that's dedication. After a 10hr day of detailing a car, I'd be damned if I'd want to go back the next day for another 8. I'd never want to see the again!! Of course, $40/hr might convince me otherwise.....
 


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