after 12 hrs of detailing....
 

well...
car went tough Chicago winter and got kinda..well...see for yourself.
heres some before pics:
trunk before
http://i12.tinypic.com/4ibgcjc.jpg
hood before
http://i18.tinypic.com/2zg973p.jpg
calipers painted aluminum silver, and new wheels installed after selling chrome AMG monoblocks
http://i11.tinypic.com/2iiwdbr.jpg

here are the after pics, enjoy
trunk after :)
http://i17.tinypic.com/2hewrkm.jpg
http://i17.tinypic.com/2z4lcw4.jpg
http://i15.tinypic.com/2mchtmv.jpg
http://i17.tinypic.com/29ygsbb.jpg
http://i17.tinypic.com/2s0bcyx.jpg

just a little tired, but GF appreciates all the effort and time put in :cheers:

Nice job!

I dig that black grill. Did you paint it or did you/she buy it that way?

ddb

Dj, looks very nice! I like the de-badged rear end on that MB.

Hey, know you really know why the g/f gave you the Orbital Buffer before your birthday! The women in our lives are very-very smart! :)

Nicely done! Black is a workout. I like the Benzs sporty look blacked out and no badges. You did a super job with the wheels... those are tough. I had a similar set on my BMW and it took me hours to clean those babies!

For a second there I thought this thread was going to have another dozen shots of your Boxster.

lol

^
dont make me post them :)
couse you know i got a few pics of the box here and there heheh

Hi DJ, Nice job on the black, I had 1 black truck and let me tell you never again will i buy black. :(

On a more serious note did you get compensated before the job or after or are you just a nice guy and got a rain check :D

Married for 20 years and I'm just wondering if anything has changed or are we all in this vicious game together. Please answer yes or I'll feel like a fool :o

oo i got compensated alrite, i was like this banana in my sig afterwords ;)

Now you need to teach her that putting her purse down on the rear deck while she searches through it is a NO-NO!

lol, its not from that.
we both think that its from one o those snow scraper/brush things from cleaning the snow off the car.
but earlier that day she was washing her car, and i showed her how to do the 2 bucket method, and to clean from top to bottom, and not to miss washing parts of the car, so hopefully now it will look like this for a long time

good job,DJ! that looks awesome :cheers:

and i bet, the compensation is much better :D

Yo DJ,

The car looks great. I really like the stealth look of the debadging, subtle tint and black grille. Did you do that?

What did you use to take the scratches and spider webs out? Does it look as perfect in person as it does in the photos? How about a step by step of what you did to it?

thx for the reply guys,
as for the appearance Qs, when she got the car we took off the C320 off the back, got rid of the orange sidemarkers up front, got rid of the nasty looking mercedes star off the front of the car and replaced by flat logo, and painted the grille black with plastidip (which is like rubberized flat black paint, and when all the rocks and whatnot hit it they jsut bounce off, been like that for a year and no chips or anything, and best part is you can peel the paint off if you want with some effort if you want to go back to nasty chrome)
now for the products used (sorry for big pic)
http://i12.tinypic.com/2w4k7cj.jpg
1. wash car
2.wash car with dawn to get rid of old wax or anything else
3.dry car
4.wash wheels and wheel wells, i used for the 1st time that 3 finger triangle thingy (wallmart $1.50, love it, keeps fingers clean and one side gets rid of brake dust, other side cleans fine finish)
5. put extreme tire shine gel on tires
6.clay the car, using Meguiars clay bar kit which includes the QD, clay bar, and some random wax that i didnt use
7. tried the product all the way at end...got rid of some scratches, but nothing major
step 8 &9 used orange pad with random orbital speed 3 first, then 5-6
8. used Meguiars swirl remover 2.0
9.followed by fine-cut cleaner
10.after inspecting the car foloowed it up with a coat of Z2
11. plast x on headlights (really made them look better)
12.z2 on headlights and tail lights
13.vacumed interior, followed by Meguiars gold class rich cleaner whipes
14.took wheels off (bad idea after putting the gel on lol, it was ok)
15. cleaned the calipers with wire brush and brake cleaner solution
16. painted calipers with 500 degree engine paint (silver/aluminum)
17.before putting wheels on cleaned the inside of them
took pics

car looks better in person than in the pics i must say, but there are some deeper scratches that those products didnt take out, so once i get some of those i will address those spots, but there are only few and only are noticeable if you know where to look, but im a perfectionist and id like to do it.
heres some more random reflection pics for you:

http://i12.tinypic.com/2yl63pd.jpg
hood
http://i12.tinypic.com/2reqkxi.jpg

and the good ol'trunk, looks new again
http://i18.tinypic.com/34glvdx.jpg
rear 1/4 panel
http://i14.tinypic.com/2rw1cwl

Man I wish I had your patience. Great looking car.

nice, did the after inspection pass the halogen lamp test?
DeSwirling takes time, there's no short cutting that step. At least an hour. First time took me several hours because I kept stopping to check out the work and I wasn't using the lamps and was using a polishing pad instead of a cutting pad. the products I was using were also not abrasive enough.

The only thing that is quicker is the rotary, a pro can knock that out in a fraction of the time. Saw a guy polising some marble in an office building the other day with a Metabo rotary. Imagine taking that to a an expenisve car without the necessary skill? Helllo repaint.

yeah it actually did, after a few passes at lease hehehe.
i bought a 500 watt halogen lamp, but damn do those get hot, i always forget and i think i burned myself at least 5 times

that's one hella shine you got there!

good job....all the hard work paid off! :cheers:

Really nice work dj!! Really sweet!!

Weekly care for the car
 

Wow, your car shines! I tried to keep my car in top shape but really don't know how to get my car to shine like that. I had people telling me to polish and not wax and honestly, what is best for the car? wash and wax? wash and polish? Thanks!

well polish really makes the paint shine and gets rid of the swirl marks and scratches, and then you wax it after that to bring out best of the shine (some people choose sealant, which is better for people who dont have much time to wax their cars as often)
you polish it once, and then wax every few weeks or so and you will love the results