Question - Detailing 2016 Mercedes

[Dinomax]

Hi All -

I purchased a 2016 Black Mercedes 3 years ago. It was full of swirls. I used Adams

one step polish with a wool pad, followed by Adams finishing polish and a white foam

pad....the results were phenomenal !

 

However, a couple of years have passed, and even washing with foam gun and taking extreme care,

road salt has caused some fine scratches to return.

 

Question - did my prior correcting process remove too much clear?  Can I use another round of finishing

polish to remove the current fine scratches?  If I can - how many times can I use finishing polish with a white pad

before I would remove too much of the clear coat?

 

Any advise or direction would be helpful and appreciated.

 

Thank you !

[The Guz]

Unfortunately there is no set number of times a vehicle can be polished.  A paint gauge does help to understand the amount of material is left on the paint.  With that being said you should be fine polishing again without removing too much paint.  

 

 

[German]

Dino, for what it's worth, my approach on an unknown situation like this is to begin with the softest pad available and increase hardness only if that doesn't do the job (e.g. Adam's red pad, then white). I agree with Michael, though, that another regular polish should be OK assuming that when you got it it hadn't been previously polished/compounded as would appear to be the case.

[falcaineer]

Good advice above. Especially when purchasing a used car, it's difficult to know how it was cared for or not in its prior life, including if it has every been polished, maybe with a rotary. Still, as a general rule start least aggressive because it's easier to step up vs down. That said, Mercedes paint is usually hard so Polish and white foam may not be enough. You could try Compound and blue foam as your next step vs all the way up to what you used before. Here's a paint gauge that both @Dan@Adams and I have, it works well and is a decent value. I also purchased an aftermarket case, link and picture below.

 

Gauge: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081T6L3SF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Case: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E70SBB8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1