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Detailing for Concours d'Elegance

On March 15, 2008 American Service Center and Al Lewis, ASCs manager of vehicle preparation operations at ASC, hosted a GWS-sponsored presentation on preparing a Mercedes-Benz for a concours d'elegance.

The event was a masters class on detailing led by Ellen D. Ruck who, along with her husband Fred Perry, is a regular competitor (and winner) at GWS concours events. The event began with a light luncheon (provided by ASC) and a one-hour classroom session.

So, what is detailing?

Ellen defines detailing as the art of meticulous and intense hand cleaning and parts replacement of luxury automotive machines to OEM standards for personal pride, improvement, and investment purposes to produce a near perfect specimen as it originally arrived from the manufacturing plant, no matter the current age or mileage given.

Ellen calls detailing “The last step before the body shop.” Proper application of the techniques and materials in this review will produce superior at-home results for the owners of Mercedes-Benz (and other fine) automobiles, providing you with satisfaction and pride in knowing you're driving a beautifully clean machine.

Why do we do it?

1. Personal pride.
2. Long term investment.
3. Preparation for resale.
4. Discovery of worn or damaged parts.

How often we do it is based on:

1. Regularly garaged or
2. Exposed to the elements;
3. Use of automated car washes;
4. Colors sensitive to exposure (e.g. red);
5. Hardness and durability of the wax used.

During the classroom session, Ellen discussed her five-step approach to preparing a car for concours - a process she characterized as being much more detail oriented than anything you're likely to have done if you take your car to a detailer. The full process can take up to twelve hours to complete, but is guaranteed to have your car in shape to score well at any Mercedes-Benz Club concours d'elegance. The five steps in Ellen's process are:

1. Wash;
2. Clean;
3. Polish or prep;
4. Wax;
5. Dress.

Stop! Before you go any further, please read Ellen's disclaimers.

Caring for painted surfaces

Since concours judging occurs outdoors under natural light, that's where Ellen prefers to work.

Ellen's tips for good results

1. Avoid circular motions when using rags and cloths - strive to work in aerodynamic front-to-back strokes in keeping with natural air and water flow over the car's surface.
2. The goal is to REMOVE dirt through cleaning before any final dressing can be applied.
3. Work in the correct order - start with the gentlest possible treatment when dealing with problem areas. Work your way up to the strongest/harshest materials only as needed, and always make sure the material you're using won't cause damage.
4. Use your sense of touch avoiding fingerpads to detect contaminants.
5. Always check the area you're working on by looking at it from several angles to make sure you've dealt with all the defects you found in your initial inspection. If at all possible, do this under a sunlit sky.
6. Do not overclean or strip areas beyond OEM grading expectations.
7. Always wear soft clothes, remove personal jewelery. Ladies with long hair, tie up in pony tail for safety.
8. Always wear surgical supply or detailer's gloves based on allergy preference and use eye protection when spraying or working with HazMats.
9. Store all chemicals in child-proof, non freezing area above 40 degrees for safety and longevity.
10. Never decant chemicals into odd bottles. Always and only use OSHA-approved containers. Some chemicals may react with soft plastics in unapproved containers and cause damage to local surfaces in contact.
11. Always drape an old bath towel as Fender Cloth to protect and pad work surface when working under the hood and in door sill areas.
12. Never work or spray chemicals into heated engines.
13. Use caution and do not oversaturate delicate or aged engine parts with excess liquid.
14. Work in a 6-12 inch square foot area of attention at all times and do not jump around work area; mind all tools used and return to carrier promptly.

Wash: Use a good quality car shampoo (Mercedes-Benz car shampoo or equivalent). Wash from the top down. Use a clean white terrycloth face towel - be sure to remove the tag to prevent scratching. If you drop your wash cloth on the ground, don't try to rinse it out - use another one. To help speed drying, sheet rinse water onto the paint rather than spraying. Dry with a towel. Wash wheels and tires separately using sponges, brushes, etc. reserved for use with wheels and tires.

Cleaning: After drying the car, walk around looking for contaminants bonded to the paint (e.g. tar, bug jerky, ...) that need to be removed before you start the Polish and prep step. Remove adhered contaminants using body solvent (hazmat item - wear gloves and apply carefully).

Polish or Prep Ellen prefers good quality materials (see lists below) with clean applicators and clean towels to remove residue. In response to a question about clay, Ellen agreed that clay does remove contaminants from paint - the problem with clay is that the contaminants you remove end up in the clay and you can end up putting contaminants right back on the paint if you're not careful.

Wax (see lists below) The choice of wax depends on the normal use of the car. Zymol's Hard Carbon Wax produces a superior shine, but requires more effort. For daily drivers, which require more frequent cleaning, prep, and waxing, Ellen recommends Meguiars Yellow Carnuba Wax - it produces a good shine, is fairly easy to use and holds up well under daily use.

Dress: The last step is dressing items like bumper trim, door handles, .... For cars with black trim, Ellen recommeded caution when applying the recommended Griot's Garage product as it can stain paint.

Using the right materials is important. That means clean good quality cloth or special applicator pads when applying cleaners, polishes, and wax. Good quality cloths for removing products, and micro-fiber for that final polish and for touch up with the recommended detail spray. Always work one small section at a time. Avoid circular motion when applying and removing cleaner, polish or wax - use an aerodynamic front-to-back motion and apply lots of pressure. Be sure to thoroughly remove all residue. One more thing - use the recommended detailing spray with a clean cloth to remove bird droppings from your paint as soon as you can - be a little cautious as some bird droppings can contain gritty material that may scratch your paint if you're not careful.

A few words on materials and equipment. Towels and cloths used may be washed and dried as you would similar items you use in your household with one exception - NO FABRIC SOFTENER. AND, never put your cleaning towels and rags away dirty - toss them in the wash so they're ready for your next session. For those who prefer a little help with prep, polishing, and waxing, Ellen recommends a good quality random-orbital buffer (Porter-Cable or equivalent) - expensive but a random-orbital buffer will help you avoid burns and other problems that can happen all too easily with standard sanders/buffers. When using a buffer, be sure to use the appropriate applicator and polishing pads.

Cleaning under the hood

Start with about a gallon of water in a bucket. Add a capful of car shampoo and a dash of Murphy's Oil Soap. Use a small clean terry towel (facecloth) and start near the battery. Work your way around the engine bay cleaning one area at a time. Use Griot's Engine Cleaner as needed. For baked on grease and dried oil, Meguiars sells a commercial-grade degreaser (a small bottle was in the provided kit) - this is a hasmat item and you should wear gloves and use extreme caution as it can damage paint. In general, it's not a good idea to try and remove cosmoline (a waxy yellowish substance) on engine parts - its presence won't hurt during judging, and it's really hard to completly remove. For corroded parts (fasteners, fittings, etc.) use 0000 steel wool to remove the corrosion - polished parts look good to concours judges. Don't forget to clean inside the fan shroud and other areas the judges may be able to reach in their search for less-than-showroom clean surfaces. Replace small soft parts that are hard to clean or that have deteriorated. Don't use dressing on hoses.

Cleaning Upholstery & Carpeting

Use good quality cleaning products such as the recommended Lexol products (see lists below). Apply cleaners and preservatives by spraying them on a good clean cloth. Wipe surfaces clean. Buff treated surfaces with a separate clean cloth.

Use Lexol's Vinlyex on non-leather surfaces such as dashboards. Why not ArmorAll? The reason is silicon - it produces a quick shine but can react with and degrade plastics over time. So, if you plan to keep your car a long time, avoid ArmorAll.

When spot cleaning carpeting, apply the cleaning product carefully, and BLOT the spot - rubbing may just spread the dirt or stain and make things worse. Deep cleaning all of the carpeting is best done with an (expensive) Automotive Carpet Extractor - leave this to a professional.

Cleaning Glass

Ellen recommends a good quality clear cleaner such as Window Cleaner from Griot's Garage (included in the supplied kit). Use only lint-free, high-fiber content paper products or cloth towels.

Now that it's clean...

Here are Ellen's suggestions for Daily Detail care:

1. Wear leather driving gloves to avoid gunking up your steering wheel.
2. When entering your car, put your rear end into the seat then knock your shoes together to remove debris. Once that's done, swing your legs over the door sill and into car. If you're wearing abrasive clothing (e.g. jeans) consider putting a towel on the seat before you get in.
3. Wipe all spots quickly as possible using a clean cloth and detailing spray.

4. Hot sun is damaging to paint and plastics: use a good quality car cover when possible and leave one or more windows slightly open to help keep the interior as cool as possible.
5. When you can't use a cover, do use a sun shade for the windshield - your local Mercedes-Benz dealer sells good quality custom fitted sun shades for many models. Use shades for other windows too if you can find suitable ones.
6. Avoid driving directly behind construction vehicles, dump trucks, etc. on the highway - they typically have just come from off-road and may be spewing stones and other debris that can chip paint and crack windshields.
7. Avoid the temptation to go off-road to the right to get around a car turning left on a two-lane road - there's lots of nasty stuff there just waiting to cause tire damage, chip undercoating, and cause other time-consuming problems - particularly for show-class cars.

Disclaimers

Return to the process description

Detailing as described is the intellectual property of Ellen D. Ruck prepared for training lectures and represents her personal opinion. Ellen is not paid by, nor does she receive any endorsements from the Product Manufacturers listed in the recommended Supplies List. Other indivduals and Car Clubs must ask Ellen's permission to reprint any of the text.

Always use the recommended chemicals in accordance with the labelled directions and do not mix liquid products under any circumstance except as mentioned in car wash section. The recommended chemicals are VOC Compliant. Please discard all used and contaminated rags properly and do not discharge liquid effluent into streams or groundwater source under penalty of law.