Mercedes S-Class (W220) Interior Transformation

KC and I were called in to do a rescue on the interior of a Mercedes W220 S-Class.

The owner had a driver and was mainly concerned about the condition of the front driver seat which was noticeably more heavily soiled than the rest of the interior. The original light grey seats were now brown in color and we were called in to see if we could fix this problem.

A combination of leather cleaner and steam was used to clean all of the accumulated dirt and oils absorbed into the leather.

The rest of the interior was also detailed.

The rear control panel was also a real mess. The soft touch rubber coating had melted in the sweltering Malaysian weather and the panel was sticky to touch and looked terrible.

A few hours later....... better than new!!!

For full details on this interior detail, click the 'Read More' below...

Honda City - Detailed by Father In-Law

While my in-laws were visiting us in KL, I decided to do what I expected to be a quick detail on their Honda City. Unfortunately the 'quick detail' turned out to take much longer. Thankfully my Father In-Law (FIL) was on hand to give me a hand.

Started as usual with an ONR wash and clay. Gave my In-Laws a bottle of ONR and a few microfiber towels and was demonstrating the proper way to use the ONR to my FIL.

Why ONR? Quick and easy. Does not scratch the paint. No need to rinse and no mess. (Note the amount of water on the floor after washing half a car.)

The good thing about driving a blue car is that the swirls are very hard to pick up even with the halogen lamp. Good choice for hiding swirls. I had expected this to be a quick detail as at first glance the paint didn't seem too bad.

However, look hard enough......

My FIL compounding...

Click below to find out how this 'quick detail' ended up.

Porsche 911 GT3...

For details of this detail click the link below:

Optimum Opti-Coat Review - Update

UPDATED: Video of Opti-Coat water beading after 5 months:

http://prodetailing.blogspot.com/2010/10/optimum-opti-coat-review-water-beading.html

It has been two weeks since my attempt at replacing the clear coat on a clear coat failure situation with Opti-Coat. Took some pictures to monitor the progress of the Opti-Coat.
The condition of the test section after the Opti-Coat application two weeks ago.

2 weeks later, after spraying the area with ONR before wiping off.

The area treated with Opti-Coat is still beading quite well.

Untreated.

Opti-Coat.

After wiping down with ONR.

The Opti-Coat seems to be holding up well with some nice water beading and the test area still looking nice and glossy. But, there is a slight issue with a section of the test area.

Although the entire section is still glossy and the Opti-Coat seems to be sealing in the entire test area, the paint below the Opti-Coat at the edge of the test area seems to be fading.

However, the Opti-Coat seems to be working well on the top section.

Bottom.

Top.

Observations so far, with the exception of that one section, the Opti-Coat seems to be holding up well and preventing the clear-coat failure from reappearing. As for the section which is fading again, perhaps the compounding and polishing wasn't sufficient or the Opti-Coat was not applied thick enough in that area.

It will be interesting to see if the fading continues to spread and how long the rest of the test area will lasts.

Stay tuned for further updates...

Optimum Opti-Coat Review

UPDATED: Video of Opti-Coat water beading after 5 months:

http://prodetailing.blogspot.com/2010/10/optimum-opti-coat-review-water-beading.html

I received a sample of Optimum Opti-Coat with a shipment of Optimum products from the US.

Opti-Coat is one of the latest products to be released by Optimum Polymer Technologies. According to Optimum, Opti-Coat forms a permanent coating that acts as a second layer of clear coat that bonds to all surfaces. As the Opti-Coat will seal in any paint defects or contamination on the surface, it is only sold to professional detailers who have to sign a release form before they can purchase the Opti-Coat.

Naturally, after signing a release form and reading about how Opti-Coat forms a permanent coating that acts as a second layer of clear coat, I had to try it out for myself.

Although the Opti-Coat is supposed to provide an additional layer of protection on top of the regular clear coat, what better way to try out a product that is supposed to act as an additional layer of clear coat than on a car with clear coat failure?

I had carried out a trial in 2009 on a Mazda 626 which suffered from clear coat failure on the trunk of the car. At that time I was evaluating the correction potential of a few Meguiar's products.

Some pictures from that trial. Before:

After:

The full details of the trial can be found here:

http://prodetailing.blogspot.com/2009/08/wetsandingm105-vs-m105-vs-m86-vs-m83-vs.html

Note that despite the clear coat failure as evident in the first picture, the paint defects were removed by compounding. However, this was only temporary as the paint would fade back to its original condition due to a lack of a clear coat.

While not designed for this purpose, would the Opti-Coat be able to act as a 'new' clear coat? Only one way to find out.....

Click below to find out more about the Opti-Coat trial: