Case Study: 2012 Mercedes CLS550 4Matic

Today’s case study is a 2012 Mercedes CLS550 4Matic, in Gunmetal Grey.

This car belongs to a long-time client and dear friend of mine. He doesn’t drive much, and he likes to take very good care of his car. (In fact, the dirtiest part of the car was the trunk, full of grass trimmings from the golf course.)

The owner recently had a break-in incident, where someone smashed his rear-right car window, in an attempt to steal a bag from the back seat of the car.

The burglar got away with $50-worth of groceries, but my client was left with a hefty bill to fix the damage.

Although the glass repair company did a pretty thorough job at removing the broken glass pieces from the inside of the car, there were still some very tiny glass shards left behind on the back seat itself. The glass pieces were so small in fact that you couldn’t see them unless you shone a light at them at a certain angle.

They looked more like “glass splinters”, which is why I think the glass repair company missed them in the first place.

Anyways, this was my client’s main concern in cleaning his car, as he occasionally has family members traveling with him in the car, and he didn’t want to risk any of them getting hurt.

This is a tricky situation because, even though the glass pieces are not large enough to cut your skin or hurt you badly, they can still get under your skin and get infected — not to mention the pain and discomfort of dealing with such thing.

As you can see in the pictures, the Mercedes CLS550 has only 2 individual seats in the back — instead of a 3-seat bench — so my main focus during this clean was the rear passenger seat.

I vacuumed the seat thoroughly, and then carefully wiped it with a microfiber cleaning cloth to pick up any potential glass shards missed by the vacuum.

A microfiber cleaning cloth is a very effective tool in such situations because it has thousands of micro “tentacles” which sweep the surface, and grab onto the smallest pieces of dirt, removing them from the surface being cleaned.

In my experience, the microfiber cleaning towel is one of the best, and the most under-rated, tools for car cleaning and detailing. Whether you’re cleaning brake dust from the wheels, stains from the interior carpet, or smudges from interior car windows, a microfiber cleaning towel is nothing short of a “miracle worker”.

Anyways, back to our Mercedes CLS550.

Clean My Car to the rescue…

I picked up the car from my client’s office in Downtown Vancouver, and brought it over to my shop.

The exterior looked decently clean, mostly because my client takes such good car of his car, which is being parked indoors all the time. Even with that, there was still a noticeable improvement after the cleaning session was completed.

Quite typical for European cars, the wheels had a ton of brake dust, which made the rims look almost black instead of silver.

The interior was a different story…

It wasn’t dirty by any standards, but I still spent quite a bit of time making sure no glass was left on the rear back seat.

Also, vacuum grass trimmings from the trunk is a time-consuming task, because the grass interlocks with the carpet fibers, and simply refuses to “leave”.

(to see our Car Interior Cleaning Process, go here)

We always get better results cleaning a higher-end car, such as a Mercedes, which is mostly because of the quality materials Mercedes uses in assembling their cars.

Just like anything else in life, with cars you get what you pay for. In this case, you pay more for a Mercedes than you’d pay for most cars, but you get much better, and more durable finishings.

The Ozone Shock Treatment also helped with freshening up the interior, as Ozone is capable (in certain concentrations) of killing microorganisms, such as mold, germs, and bacteria. Ozone can also dramatically reduce, or even completely eliminate, pungent odours from tobacco, spoiled food, dogs, or even vomit.

(to check out our Car Interior Sanitizing service, go here)

If your car has such “impossible” carpet, it may not come completely clean and debris-free, no matter how much effort the car cleaner is putting into it.

This wasn’t the case here, as Mercedes typically use higher quality materials than most other car makers.

Quick side note: Many car owners expect an interior in such condition to come out clean with “just a quick vacuum”. This is never the case. Aside from a thorough and extensive vacuuming, the carpets need to be shampooed, otherwise the improvement is minimal at best.

In this particular case, the client followed my advice, and chose the appropriate cleaning package.

A few hours of solid and meticulous cleaning, and my client’s Mercedes is completely transformed…

The interior is now spotless — dirt and debris gone. It also smells fresh.

The exterior has regained its true colour, and it looks (almost) like a brand new car.

My client was super happy with the results. This is what she had to say about it, on Google reviews:

Alex, thank you for taking care of my old car. I was really worried about any of my family getting hurt because of the glass pieces on the rear seat. I no longer worry about it, thanks to your impeccable service. See you soon!

If you own a Mercedes, and would like to get it properly cleaned and detailed, by someone with experience in the peculiarities of the Mercedes brand, you’re in the right place.

Visit CleanMyMercedes.ca for details.

(On the other hand, if you’re driving a minivan or pick-up truck, our premium car cleaning service may not be right for you.)

Not quite ready to book an appointment right now? Click here to request your Free INFO KIT (including a complimentary $100 car cleaning Gift Card — plus a copy of my book, “How To Have Your Car Cleaned Properly, At the Lowest Possible Price”)