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Finally - My first PC detailing

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As you can see in the pictures, I had one huge mess with water spots. Then you can see there are no water spots. I just followed a lot of advice from Ashley, Adam and Dylan. No sense in going into a lot of explanation as to what I done, the end results speak for themselves. Not the best finished detail for being my first one but the PC and I are getting to know one and another. :pc:

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Good results. To be honest I still havent completely mastered the PC and I've done a few cars. Practice makes perfect though :)

 

Thank U. To be completely honest, I believe one can never really master anything to perfection. There is always something in the learning curve we can discover.:)

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Diggerdan11

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Digger. Wow, I was just telling Crowvet that there were only a couple guys on the forum from Klamath and ZAP, here ya pop up. If ya seen a Mercedes with a blonde driving it, that would be my wife. I'm ONLY allowed to sit behind the wheel when I borrow it so I can take it out and blow the carbon out of it. Wife tells me I have a very heavy lead foot.

:burnout:Any place particular you might hang out for coffee? I'm usually at Casey's about every morning. Look for a guy - black coat/Dodge Cap, sitting at the counter. :) Stop by and I'll buy ya a cup. OR, if ya run low on a product or two, just let me know. Tks for the post!

 

 

Will do

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Nice Mercedes. I think I have seen it running.g around town before.

 

Digger. Wow, I was just telling Crowvet that there were only a couple guys on the forum from Klamath and ZAP, here ya pop up. If ya seen a Mercedes with a blonde driving it, that would be my wife. I'm ONLY allowed to sit behind the wheel when I borrow it so I can take it out and blow the carbon out of it. Wife tells me I have a very heavy lead foot.

:burnout:Any place particular you might hang out for coffee? I'm usually at Casey's about every morning. Look for a guy - black coat/Dodge Cap, sitting at the counter. :) Stop by and I'll buy ya a cup. OR, if ya run low on a product or two, just let me know. Tks for the post!

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Fat Mike

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Hey Bill -

 

I see that I didn’t fully explain the wheels in my previous post. I must have gotten distracted before finishing the description. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com<img src=" /><o:p></o:p>

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My Fat Boy was a 2000 model year. At that time, there were no real good choices for custom wheels. I liked the looks of the solid wheels but wanted something different than every other Fat Boy. <o:p></o:p>

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I initially had the wheels turned on a lathe but after this process, there were concentric rings remaining. I was really disappointed. I tried different methods of sanding the wheels but to say the results were less than satisfactory would be an understatement. I had a real mess on my hands until I rotated the wheels while sanding and ultimately polished them. The only pictures I could locate were prior to the sanding operation. <o:p></o:p>

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I built an “A-frame” stand to hold the wheels. I added a small motor / belt system that would rotate the wheels. I was then able to hold my sanding block stationary against the wheel surface while it rotated. The rotation eliminated any blotchiness that was present previously. <o:p></o:p>

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Once the wheels are sanded, you could paint or powder coat the wheels to your liking. It turned into a whole bunch of work and I’m not sure that I would do this again. If you are real adventuresome and energetic, I can see if I can find my sanding / polishing fixture.<o:p></o:p>

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As far as your hardness, softening the water will not completely eliminate your spotting. It will greatly help. To eliminate spotting, you need to remove the other minerals in the water with the use of a deionizer. If you do a search, you will find several companies that offer “spot free” systems for residential use.

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Nice look Heritage too Bill! I like those cast wheels. I used to have a Fat Boy w/ the same wheels. I wanted something a bit different so I sanded and polished my wheels the rough surfaces.

 

With Adam's products and good technique, you shouldn't have to spend a lot of time keep the Merc, Heritage or the pickup looking real good.

 

I too have well water that is H A R D - over 20 grains of hardness. I ran hot and cold softened water to my garage. Is the spotting from running sprinklers? if so, keep in mind a water softener won't take care of the "outside" water.

 

:confused::confused::confused::confused: Hey Mike, I had my reply to you all typed up, clicked on the "preview" buttong and zappppppppppppppppp - out into cyber space it went. :mad:

 

When you sanded the rough surfaces of your wheels, what kind of final finish did you get? I was thinking about sending mine to a custom painter and get them done in black. However I just had a thought, that being, if I can get them sanded completely "smooth" and then have them painted a shiny black with some clear coats applied, then I can use Adam's products and have something totally different and shiny.

 

When U had your cold/hot water softener installed, did it completely remove the spotting?

 

No, my underground sprinklers are hooked directly to a seperate water line system and no water hits the vehicles. I have five seperate outside facuets. The main water line from the Well runs directly to the house and tied into that is the outside facuets, on the house, that I use (use to use :D) to wash the vehicles. Can't explain what happened but this water spotting just happen to start when I first washed the Mercedes a day or so after I bought it. Temp was close to 50 degrees. Washed it outside but no direct sun due to a complete overcast of very dark clouds. In retrospect, I believe I made a mistake during the washing process.

 

Any recommendations as to what type of softener system you would recommend? I'm going to Google them and see what I can come up with. A guy down the street that sells them was suppose to give me a bid but haven't heard a thing back from him.

 

IF? this type of system doesn't stop the spotting and factoring in the acre I have to take care of - two hours to mow the yard on a riding lawn mower etc, then I think we will put the house up for sale. Can't be spending all my time with the yard work and then being forced to drive to one of those quarter machines and then have to drive home and use the waterless wash to get the dust off. Although I did order the original "Duster" that the Junkman recommended and getting ready tonight to order the best car covers I can buy in an attempt to keep all the dust I can off of the car and truck.

 

To add insult to injury, our home is located directly in the "flight pattern" of all the Geese that migrate back and forth. :lol: Wife's car is always parked in the garage - pick-up in my shop. But those foul winged warriors seem to have a better "bombing" system than we have on our military planes. :(

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Fat Mike

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Nice look Heritage too Bill! I like those cast wheels. I used to have a Fat Boy w/ the same wheels. I wanted something a bit different so I sanded and polished my wheels the rough surfaces.

 

With Adam's products and good technique, you shouldn't have to spend a lot of time keep the Merc, Heritage or the pickup looking real good.

 

I too have well water that is H A R D - over 20 grains of hardness. I ran hot and cold softened water to my garage. Is the spotting from running sprinklers? if so, keep in mind a water softener won't take care of the "outside" water.

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Well, the MB has a harder clear coat (so I am told), so the correction goes a little more slowly than on other softer clear coats. Looking good!

 

Moving from clear coat vehicles to motorcycles - over the years I've found that just about all motorcycles have a super hard CC. Wonder why, besides cost, they can't do that to all vehicles? :confused:

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Nice job Bill. Now do your best to keep the pretty Merc away from the source of the hard water. :2thumbs:

 

Many Tks. The hard water is from our Well. Health wise we are okay. I have it checked every six months. However I now know a guy who lives down the street from me. He installs water softener systems. Waiting for an estimate from him to install one.

 

It's a pain to wash the Mercedes and the new truck right now. Have to drive 6 miles one way, use the quarter eating washing system. Fill up both of Adam's wash buckets - other supplies. Clean the vehicles and drive them about 20 yards to the end of a barber shop where I can use an electrical outlet. Use Adam's "blow dryer machine." Drive home, break out the waterless wash and get all the dust off of the car. Unload the equipment, park it in my shop and detail it. (BTW - I just ordered the original CA Duster that the Junkman has a video on. May decrease using the waterless wash so much.)

 

Have a nice home on an acre. Big shop. Well water. Two choices. Hope to get the well water problem solved. If so, will have one of those metal garage type buildings built, big enough for two cars fully enclosed with heat. Detail there. If that doesn't work, will sell this place, get on City water and still have the metal garage built strictly for detailing. Probably? go with the latter. To much work taking care of a huge yard - grass, flowers, fruit trees, etc and then trying to stay ahead of the detailing. It's going to be cutting into my motorcycle riding this summer. :help:

 

I did find out one thing about myself. I have both the Flex and the PC. Gobs of Adam's supplies. Had all of this for a very long time. But, "Fear" kept me from taking the PC and detailing the Merc. Hours of watching Adam's and Junkman's video's. More hours of reading all those who write great posts. Dylans's Advice. Talking to Adam and Ashley to whom I owe a huge amount of thanks to. Finally I just grabbed the PC, took my time by working 2x2 areas.

 

One drawback to all of this. "Love" detailing. However when using the regular and 4" PC pads, can't get into all those small places. Very time consuming by hand. May be doing something wrong. Not satisfied with my hand detailing small areas. Doesn't seem to produce the same exact shine.

 

Now that the egg shell of fear has been broken, it can only get better. :thumbsup:

 

Just for grins - my 2004 Harley with the "original" chrome and paint. Adam's products made this chrome look as if it came right out of the boxes. Pic #0018 is actually looking through what was once a very badly scratched windshield. Using Adam's Revive Hand Polish made it look as if one was not looking through it. Sorry, pic # 0018 is the last one.

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Well, the MB has a harder clear coat (so I am told), so the correction goes a little more slowly than on other softer clear coats. Looking good!

 

Yea I made sure on both vehicles that there was a super clear coat because I was not going to take a chance and have to re-paint either one. :D

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Good results. To be honest I still havent completely mastered the PC and I've done a few cars. Practice makes perfect though :)

 

Well this is the "wife's" and of course her black one had to be done before my new 2012 Dodge and it too is "black. :lol: It was a huge chore but I loved every bone aching minute of it. :rockon:

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AWESOME Work! Still Learning my self but have already corrected two cars so far. just takes alot of practice, but looks like your well on your way.

 

Many TKS! Got a long ways to go but having just got a 2012 Dodge Outdoorsman pick-up and of course I bought a "black" one, I got my work cut out for me. Probably cut into my motorcycle riding time this summer.

:(

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