Mercedes GL420

JimWD · May 1, 2010

Mercedes GL420 CDi – Enhance & Protect

After performing a similar detail on the households 997 Turbo a week or two back, I was invited over to do the same to the Wife’s Mercedes which is also a daily runner.

Having already worked on a GL series Merc, I could already appreciate the sheer size of the things.. I think I quoted last time “as big as my house”.. heh!

Before:

After:

Roughly 17 hours put in here over the course of two days. My first ‘solo B&B’ experience, too! (Allowing for a later finish and earlier start as there was travelling involved..)

Inspection.

You can see the O/S rear quarter looks as though it’s been through a bush; stood out a mile!

As per, the wheels/tyres/arches were worked first. Mix of Meguiars Wheel Brightener, Meguiars APC and AutoSmart Tardis. Various brushes, mitts and tools used..

Next? Sills and shuts. No photos here as I was against the clock.

Vehicle given a thorough rinse pre-snowfoam stages.

Front-end also received a healthy douse of G101 to soften the kamikaze bug-splats.

After the wash stage was complete, AutoSmart Tardis was used to dissolve small tar deposits scattered around the vehicle.

And then clayed with Sonus Green/Meguiars Last Touch:

Continually being rinsed with the pressure washer to remove residues, and finally sheeted with an open-hose to aid drying.

Car = clean.

The O/S rear quarter looked a bit of a mess:

But other areas didn’t’ appear too bad:

Initial Dodo Juice Lime Prime tests were carried out but didn’t give the required results. The bonnet suffered quite badly from what appeared to be Limestone marks.. Etched into the paint much like a bird bomb does..

Stepping the combination up to a Green Hex-Logic polishing pad and Menzerna 203s helped things, but, was unable to remove completely!

Bonnet before:

After:

Look closely and you’ll see the ‘etchings’ I speak of:

Sticking with this combination, I continued to work around the GL whilst squeezed into the garage.. (2 inches (give or take) clearance on the roof-line of the car and the ceiling!)

Lower doors before:

After:

Wing mirror:

50/50:

Calling it at 7:30pm, I packed up and headed down the road to my B&B as dinner was up for 8pm.. Dinner was good! Home made Cottage Pie (hmm, pie) followed by a treacle sponge pudding with a tin of beer to wash it all down..

Also, my sexy-time bedroom:

Lush!

Anywayyyy…

Rise and shine and I’m back to the Merc for 8am.

Taking a moment to look over the F355 Spider that was next to me in the garage..

Some nasty machine holograms present showing previous ‘buffer’ work. Fail.

Carrying on where I left off, I picked up the rotary and completed the remaining panels.

With the rain yesterday, I was unable to get the rear quarters and tailgate done as this wasn’t covered (vehicle too long!) and was forever getting soaked..

With a brief sunny spell, I made the most of taking the vehicle outside and taking a look round:

Good:

Not perfect..

BUT, better than this which hasn’t been done yet:

O/S quarter that’d been through the bush was much improved, but, much like the other deeper scratched areas, had room for improvement.

Back inside due to rain and glaze on a 3M finishing pad with PoorBoys Black Hole.

Starting to take shape now..

As I will be maintaining both the Porsche 997 and the Mercedes, I thought I’d try something a little different today.

Dodo Purple Haze..

Britework cleaned and protected with Jeffs Werkstat PRIME.

Before:

Afters:

Exhaust tips cleaned with AutoSmart Tardis and polished with AutoSol.. (Some areas requiring wire-wool..)

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Exterior plastics wiped and dressed with Meguiars All-Season Dressing:

Alloys sealed with Chemical Guys JetSEAL109.

Tyres dressed with Meguiars Endurance Tyre Gel.

Wax removed and a few buffing passes were needed to remove gassing clouds..

Interior work had to be indoors.. Not ideal as the space wasn’t great, and, lighting was poor. BUT, better this than getting wet!