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Orchard Autocare: Mercedes ML320 Butchered by a detailer and a chance to win a prize

46K views 114 replies 97 participants last post by  ibiza55 
#1 ·
For a chance to win a prize, place a comment below and we will pick someone at random to win a 500ml bottle of Wheel Cleanse.

Hello all and welcome to another write up from Orchard Autocare. This time we have a molested Mercedes ML320 that has just been detailed by one of the "top detailer's in Ireland" that are popping up all over the place. yes you read right this has JUST BEEN DETAILED!!! I'm not talking about the after shots at this point I am talking about the before. The owner went to a guy recommended to him and after a healthy dose of fast cut plus and then the "detailer's go to product over here" Black hole it looked pretty ok until he says the sunlight got onto it then he washed it the following week and this is what he was faced with. This is becoming a regular trend with us "fixing" approx 1-2 cars per month as an average. So buyer beware yes the £70 detail sounds great but this is what you will get for your £70. worst thing is they are getting wise and he paid considerably more and this was 4 days work!!! Now that takes skills!

Anyhow she has reached the home of pretty cars (OCD-hq) and its time to get to business. Firstly a careful reading of all surfaces to assess paint depths also all edges were gauges and thankfully this time no strike through or low edges were found. When fixing jobs it is important to take extra care to assess ALL edges and gauge them they will read higher but it should be uniform as a low spot will strike through even when finishing. Any low spots mask off and leave well alone!

Firstly onto the wash session thankfully this part was ok with little work needed done and only minor tar spotting and no real Iron fallout either so happy days time to crack on!!!





Now onto correction. Firstly, we used the Meguiar's Microfiber correction system to level the surfaces and give an even correction once this removed about 80-90% of defects we then followed behind with the good old rotary and a combination of Meguiar's 105 and 205 to address the deeper marks in total only a handful of marks were deemed too deep to remove so were hidden as best as possible. Some needed localised wet sanding and then flattened using the rotary.

































Once all of the ML was corrected, it was a very long and gentle refining using Megs 205 and a blue 3M waffle pad to really bring out the sparkle of the Obsidian Black Once this was completed we lavished Orchard Autocare Luminos Paint Cleanser Applied via DA. this removes all polishing and filler oils from the surface, and holograms will also be totally removed and it leaves a squeaky clean surface to allow the LSP to fully bond to the surface, No IPA needed so no risk of inflicting swipe marks either!















Once the ML was ready, we applied several coats of Orchard Autocare Speed Seal then topped with Orchard Autocare Perfection to all surfaces including plastics and glass. and wheels. Tyres were dressed with Orchard Autocare Glitz tyre dressing and the interior was hoovered and the leather conditioned!

Now for the afters!!








































Again many thanks for taking time to read my write up. As usual all C&C are very welcome.

Rollo
 
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#21 ·
I would say an old hard pad with chunks out of it and never cleaned would be more like it lol!!

Looking good as always Ronnie. Really need to get to ProCar to get some of your gear too as I'm running low.
Deffinitly Paddy. Davey will keep you right thats for sure!

Great work Rollo, some turnaround there. Worries me about these folk popping up all over the place
Cheers Will, Personally im all on for it we all have had to start somewhere, look far enough back on here and most of the top guys we doing it on the side in the beginning doing it right is teh key a mess like this shows the lack of knoledge and experiance the person had they would be better starting with a DA and doing it for fun and beer tokens for a while longer.

Stunning transformation on the big Merc there, in this post is a lesson for all who think they can detail a car and want to set up their own business.

Think hard people, do you want to be known as a 'top detailer' who butchers someones pride and joy??
I would agree see work they have done chat to the detailer themselves see what they say. When they say things like 100% correction, products they use are tehy suitable to the paint type of the car have tehy checked for repair work as it makes a huge difference to teh finish etc etc then they don't have a clue

Very nice work :thumb:
Many thanks.

Now that's a proper job! Nice one!
Cheers Luke

I would believe the car was just detailed, since you've mentioned it so emphatically. No one in their right mind can call it detailed.

Great turnaround in the after pics. The black looks superrrrr!
Oh she was I saw te Jeep at his place about a month before I first had to over to us.

Looks stunning, great turnaround!
Looks like you have some stiff competition with other detailed in Ireland if that's their work....
Like the sound of Luminos :buffer: looks great now :thumb:
It is great stuff thats for sure.

Fantastic work :)
Cheers.

Just shows, you get what you pay for!

This condition after 4 days "work" is ridiculous.

Well done for sorting this beast out, lovely when detailed correctly :)
Agreed many thanks!

Great work as always, stunning looks on that paintwork now. Keep up the good work sir.
Cheers Lloyd,,

Nice work, shame the owner had to pay out twice
I would agree but its a growing problem and now they are charging top dollar money as well which fools people.

Fantastic work :thumb:

I can only imagine how delighted your customer was after seeing those end results. Hopefully she spreads the word about "proper" detailing instead of the work carried out by the first cowboy :doublesho
Cheers he was over teh moon and for a while even scared to drive it, but I told him go enjoy it he looks after it very well and he has it still looking perfect nearly 6 months later.

Stunning work as always big lad :)
cheers lad!!

Looking good Rollo!!!

I really must get myself sorted and contact you about your 1-2-1 machine tuition days.

Keep up the good work.
Many thanks..yea give me a buzz as I will be doing them over the winter months.

Great results....how someone can stand over charging for what they had done to the car before you got it is beyond me....

As a keen amateur, I enjoy playing with pads and compounds, but after seeing this, I cant wait to try out my bottle of Luminos :)

Will be interested to see how it fares on Frozen White paint :)
Cheers Brocks tell me how you get on its a very handy product thats for sure dont IPA at all now.

amazing turnaround. you just cant beat a freshly detailed black car
Agreed!!

Can't believe the state beforehand, excellent turnaround mate.
Many thanks there literally was no reflection once the black hole was removed! Just goes to show how effective it is at masking marks.
 
#18 ·
Great results....how someone can stand over charging for what they had done to the car before you got it is beyond me....

As a keen amateur, I enjoy playing with pads and compounds, but after seeing this, I cant wait to try out my bottle of Luminos :)

Will be interested to see how it fares on Frozen White paint :)
 
#22 ·
Awesome work. Amazing difference. How it shouldve been done the first time.

Every valeter now thinks they are a detailer too.
So many cowboys and its a shame folk pay them over a real pro.

Glad its sorted. I kinda feel bad for person paying out twice and other hand i dont as they choose the cheap guy because of price instead of getting it done by someone with good portfolio and experience.

Guy made more mess than what ot was before he started i bet.

Some of the products sound real interesting.
Will keep my eye out for them
 
#23 ·
Awesome work. Amazing difference. How it shouldve been done the first time.

Every valeter now thinks they are a detailer too.
So many cowboys and its a shame folk pay them over a real pro.

Glad its sorted. I kinda feel bad for person paying out twice and other hand i dont as they choose the cheap guy because of price instead of getting it done by someone with good portfolio and experience.

Guy made more mess than what ot was before he started i bet.

Some of the products sound real interesting.
Will keep my eye out for them
Cheers tbh this guy is charging more then I do! he is a good valeter but not good with the buffer! interior and engine bay were faultless and TBH I only hoovered and striped teh mats and few the leather so he was not all bad plus he did the wheel arches so I didn't have to lol! The owner was not "into" detailing and in his defence knew very little about it but he does now.
 
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