A big thank you to Christian Taylor, MD of “Obsessive”, (formerly known as OCD) and his team who hosted 34 members of the club for a technical session on the intricacies of car detailing and the different approaches to paint protection and products available.
When we arrived, there was a lovely selection of sandwiches and snacks available to be washed down with a hot coffee on a sunny and clear but still chilly winter day.
This gave the members gathered an opportunity to check out a selection of cars “Obsessive” were working on and to catch-up and meet with fellow club members.
Following a brief introduction about “Obsessive”, what it does and the programme for the morning, Christian explained the development of paint types and the various care products available from the organic waxes through to ceramic coatings and beyond.
Then on to the live demonstration and discussion about car wash techniques including the two- bucket wash method, how to clay bar, the importance of lubricants, and what accessories to use.
Senior Detailing Specialist (Nash) was all the while showing us how to properly prepare, clay bar, mask up, and progressively polish the bonnet of this member’s “Obsidian Black” R230 SL500 daily driver that had not seen a bucket of water for over a week (a week! Ed).
We were each able to inspect and feel (using the magic magnification of feel through a plastic bag) the before and after impacts of stages of his work. This spawned questions and discussions about some specific features of Mercedes paint, trim, etc and the effect of day-to-day hazards like rain, bird droppings, sunscreen, pollen, sap, tar, etc.
The discussions carried on to the pros and cons of protection provided by organics vs ceramics vs self-healing films, and included frank discussions about how and where they were each applied and the importance of doing it right (the right thing, in the right place, done the right and safe way). The “Obsessive” mantra painted in big letters on the workshop wall is “Quality. Service. Care.”
Somewhat of a sobering surprise was the health risk of silicosis for detailers and DIY’ers that can come with breathing in vapours from applying many SI02 based ceramic coatings without using appropriate techniques and breathing protection.
At the end of the session, during some spirited product purchasing by members, Nash had kindly carried on and finished “polishing” the whole bonnet of the demonstration car and out in the sunlight the quality of the reflection was stunning. Another visit for that car to Obsessive is being planned to do some sympathetic work on the rest of the body. It will never be a proper show car but could still turn a few heads.
There is a club special (10% of the entire range) at Detail Mart for the remainder of July. Use the code “mercedes 10off” at checkout.
Ken West
Click here to view more photos on our Gallery page and there are more photos at https://ibb.co/album/pJB6P2
