S Class - Dad Tank II
Discussion
Trustmeimadoctor said:
yes im bitter as mines had everything but i had to pay to fix them ;(
But they are awesome cars so hopefully worth it. Funny thing is that I went to pick up my eldest daughter in my other half's CLS350 CDI. Same engine but the car is that bit more sporty. Now I've always consider the CLS to be a great cruiser and one you can really do some long drives in. Yet compared to the S, it felt too harsh not because it is but because the S is so refined. Even now it surprises me as to what a relaxing drive it is.
One of the handy things of working from home is having 3 hours of my day back from no commute. Decided to give the S Class a clean now it's got it's newly refurbished wheels fitted.
Gave the car a rinse and citrus pre-wash as usual and washed. I finished off with another layer of Meguiars Hybrid Ceramic. I'm still going on about this stuff as it's impressed me more than other products, even other spay on rinse off sealants. I've heard the term 'self cleaning' with coatings and waxes but I can honestly say that seems to apply to the finish this leaves behind. Other half's car has this applied, covered in bird sh*t, heavy rain washed it all off.
Gave the interior a wipe down. This Chemical Guys Inner Clean claims to have UV protection built in it but I like the matt finish and it smells nice!
Dr Leather cleaner for the seats, again just a cleaner, gentle and smells like leather.
Thought I'd try the liquid Meguiars Hybrid Ceramic Wax on my wheels. Means I can top up with the spray next time, let's see how it lasts.
Gave the car a rinse and citrus pre-wash as usual and washed. I finished off with another layer of Meguiars Hybrid Ceramic. I'm still going on about this stuff as it's impressed me more than other products, even other spay on rinse off sealants. I've heard the term 'self cleaning' with coatings and waxes but I can honestly say that seems to apply to the finish this leaves behind. Other half's car has this applied, covered in bird sh*t, heavy rain washed it all off.
Gave the interior a wipe down. This Chemical Guys Inner Clean claims to have UV protection built in it but I like the matt finish and it smells nice!
Dr Leather cleaner for the seats, again just a cleaner, gentle and smells like leather.
Thought I'd try the liquid Meguiars Hybrid Ceramic Wax on my wheels. Means I can top up with the spray next time, let's see how it lasts.
With regards to the wheels, a detailer recommended CarPro Deluxe Sealant Kit.
JIMMYJ4ZZ said:
Looking fantastic.
Thanks. I'm really pleased with how it's looking now, certainly seems to be defying it's 12 years! 
bolidemichael said:
With regards to the wheels, a detailer recommended CarPro Deluxe Sealant Kit.
Nice one, I'll have a look into that. I'll be aiming to have the wheels off the car again at some point to give the wheels a proper coating. Thanks. Hoping to use a polisher on my car for the first time and looking at a Ceramic finish, Car Pro Quartz Lite, but Meguiars Hybrid Ceramic is cheaper, what do you think of it? Whats the bedding like? Did you put a detailer on top of it when finished. New to this so getting confused on how it works
aaron_2000 said:
What did you use on the tyres?
Just the Meguiars tyre gel, it's one of those products that just works and lasts so haven't deviated from it in years. Only thing I would say is that I wouldn't ordinarily put it on so liberally if I was driving the car in the next few days as it will fling off the wheels a little. But the car isn't moving for two weeks now so will dry well. I have an old rag I'd wipe over the tyre with after to leave a more subtle finish and to remove any excess.
AMG01 said:
Hoping to use a polisher on my car for the first time and looking at a Ceramic finish, Car Pro Quartz Lite, but Meguiars Hybrid Ceramic is cheaper, what do you think of it? Whats the bedding like? Did you put a detailer on top of it when finished. New to this so getting confused on how it works
I wouldn't class this as a completely ceramic solution, I guess that term is a bit like 100% carnauba was ten years ago. Every product is supposedly ceramic in one sense or another. So with this product, I use it to top up the sealant I have on the car already. So I polished the car (by hand for now) and applied two coats of Britemax Extreme Elements which is a sealant that should last 6-12 months. I've then used the Meguiars Hybrid Ceramic wax to top that up and so far it's done an excellent job.
To apply it you wash and rinse the car, then whilst it's wet you spray it on and for the first coat you just dry the car. That spreads the product and leaves a base coat. After that you can simply spray on a wet car after washing and rinse to top up, although I think the spray and dry method is better. I have used it as a standalone product on another car and it works well. The liquid version I used on my wheels I would imagine works best on it's own and then top up with the spray.
It's not to be confused with proper ceramic coatings which when applied properly will last years and years but for a nice easy top up it's excellent and leaves a nice slick feel to the paint. Beading is really good too...
Hope that helps mate.
AMG01 said:
It does thanks, alloys also getting refurbished next week and may add cermaic wax to them, your car looks amazing btw.
It's meant to last really well and let's face it, in the summer there's less nasty stuff on the road compared to the winter so should see them through no problem. Thanks for the complement mate, it's certainly now how I would want it. Bodywork is nice, interior looks pretty spotless and the wheels are doing the car justice now.
Next on the list will probably be the steering wheel as the top has worn, clearly a few years of someone driving with their hand at the top of the wheel. Also a re-map will make a huge difference. My previous E320 was mapped and it felt so much better. The S320 is slower despite more torque and comparable power but it's obviously more heavy. A bump up to 280bhp and 470lbs-ft will make all the difference.
Mezzanine said:
Fantastic looking barge.
It’s threads like this that can lead a man to troubled lands
Thank you mate. It’s threads like this that can lead a man to troubled lands
Haha it's a compelling argument for buying cars like this. On one hand, I expect it to be costly to maintain fortunately I have had a handful of known issues resolved under the warranty but even things like tyres and brake discs won't be cheap.
On the flip side, even if I'd paid for the repairs myself I've got say a £10k car which offers everything it did when it was £65k. My experience of big Mercs is that they wear their miles well. Even at 142k my old E Class looked good and drove brilliantly. I'm hoping this will give me a good few years of extremely comfortable service haha
Well working from home certainly has it's perks, in that I can go and get the car re-mapped in my lunch break!
Since buying the car the only thing lacking about the driving experience is the power. It's far from slow, it has 234bhp and 398lbs-ft as standard but my previous E320 was re-mapped and had slightly more power and torque but was a lighter car.
So I booked in with a local mapper who I used before. He knows his stuff and uses Quantum re-maps, laptop plugged in and original map modified. The claimed figures are 283bhp and 476lbs-ft which is comparable torque to my CLS63!
I did over 20k on the last map I had from them, it really transformed my E Class. I've only done a short drive in the S since it's done but it pulls significantly better, in gear is quite something. Next is to see how well the fuel economy is on a long run!
Since buying the car the only thing lacking about the driving experience is the power. It's far from slow, it has 234bhp and 398lbs-ft as standard but my previous E320 was re-mapped and had slightly more power and torque but was a lighter car.
So I booked in with a local mapper who I used before. He knows his stuff and uses Quantum re-maps, laptop plugged in and original map modified. The claimed figures are 283bhp and 476lbs-ft which is comparable torque to my CLS63!
I did over 20k on the last map I had from them, it really transformed my E Class. I've only done a short drive in the S since it's done but it pulls significantly better, in gear is quite something. Next is to see how well the fuel economy is on a long run!
Just a quick clean up of the car today and a once over with some more Meguiars Hybrid Ceramic, still loving that stuff! :thumb:
Was trying to catch the metallic in the finish of the wheels, comes out really nicely in the sunshine!
Quick vacuum and wipe down in here.
And the same under the bonnet.
Was trying to catch the metallic in the finish of the wheels, comes out really nicely in the sunshine!
Quick vacuum and wipe down in here.
And the same under the bonnet.
J4CKO said:
Your cars always look better than they did when they left the factory, I thought I was a bit fussy !
Thanks mate, I'm not sure it's quite factory fresh but I'll definitely try my best to get it as close to that as possible. I'm contemplating having the same guy out to repaint the back seats as did the fronts. They're not particularly worn but it would be nice to see them as good as when they left the factory.
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