BluKoo
Member
Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
User status: Offline
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Quick bit of info on this one - The car had been washed pretty much from new by the Poles at the local car wash, the owner had since realised the error of his ways and came to us to see if we could help. Did we manage? Read on!....
Here's the car on arrival, not too bad considering it's a daily driver and spends alot of time on the track :driver:
A nice scratch where someone had kicked the rear quarter! 
Loads of product residue:
As well as the plates, I removed a few other pieces to make the detail that bit easier and thorough:
The wheels were up first as always, a thorough pre-rinse to start:
Gloss-It wheel gel (4:1) was then sprayed on...
...then left for 30 seconds...
...then agitated with the various brushes...
...followed by a rinse off:
The tyres and arches were then cleaned with Meguiars Super Degreaser (4:1):
The engine bay also received the Super Degreaser treatment...
...Left for 20/30 seconds...
Then rinsed off, the plastics beading show everything's nice and clean now:
All exterior trim and door shuts etc were then agitated with a Raceglaze Detailing brush and Meguiars APC:
Once they were all rinsed off it was time to foam the car, this time using R222@60 degrees:
Then rinsed off at the same temperature:
I then washed the car with the 2 bucket method and Meguiars Shampoo Plus:
Autosmart Tardis was used to remove all the tar spots from the paintwork, glass and wheels and the car was then put inside for claying:
As you can see, very little contamination present.
The car was then dried off with PB Luxury Drying towels and the Black Baron Dryer was used to blast all the excess water from the crevices and panel gaps etc:
I then gave the car a thorough IPA wipe down...
Then got the lights out to take a few pics of the defects...
hmmmm, not great!
But with just natural light you can see it was much much worse...
And a Sun Gun shot just for fun:
So, as you can see - I had my work cut out as the car was covered in proper full on scratches, not just the usual marring and moderate swirls.
Detailed paint readings were taken next to see what I had to play with:
The lowest reading I found:
And the highest:
The car was averaging around the 140-160 mark which was good, nice to have a car with healthy readings all round with no scary low spots! 
Before I started polishing I removed the door handles too, I hate not being able to cut in tight to bits like these as it makes such a difference to the overall finish - just make sure you either take one off at a time or have some way of ensuring both the doors can’t shut as that would be a problem  (I just lay a large trying towel on the sill to prevent any problems :thumb
I also suggested to the owner that I paint the rest of the wheel bolts black as they looked a bit odd being silver compared to the locking nut...
These were done in between polishing stages.
Given the amount of full on scratches evident on every single panel I didn’t even bother wasting time by trying a moderate level of pad and polish combination as starting off point - I went straight to Meguiars 105 and a Lake Country Foamed Wool pad, this was the result after 2 hits:
Correction overall was very good but there was always a good handfull of RIDS left which can be seen in the above pic. Fortunately the paint thickness allowed me to go at it hard and eventually remove just about every scratch visible.
The paint was also extremely hard (no real surprise there) and paint removal rates were between 1-2 microns after the first hit and then approx 1 micron per hit thereafter (measured with the Laser Pen method) - some panels required up to 5 or 6 attempts to gain the desired correction so a maximum paint removal of around 6 or 7 microns was the result on this one, a bit more than usual but still perfectly acceptable and perfectly safe
Here's a few correction shots, in no particular order I should add:
Boot lid spoiler before:
During (Gloss-It Grey wool being used as its size was ideal for this):
After:
After an IPA wipe down you can just see the wool marks left over from the compounding:
This is typical of what can often be left behind from wool pads so after each panel was compounded with wool I polished with Lake Country Light Cut Pads and Menzerna 3.02:
The areas such as the one highlighted by the arrow are the ones that can so often contribute to such lengthy machine polishing times, getting panels corrected hard up against window rubbers and trim etc can be a right pain in the back side sometimes! (always worth it in the end though).
3M Fast Cut Plus was used for the bonnet, although not to correct it - it's the perfect size for propping it up to make machining the edges easier
The wool compounding was done at speeds from 2000-2700rpm's depending on the size of the panel:
When it comes to avoiding sling from the wool pads, I always place the polish in a ring in the middle of the pad as below...
The pad is then placed on the panel and I start the machine at approx 2000rpm's and hold it on the spot for a second or two, this then loads the pad up and as you can see from the above pic the polish never works its way out towards the edge of the pad - just make sure you spur the pad each time to keep it clean
Onto the front wings - these are plastic so the composite gauge was needed to obtain paint thickness readings:
Nice and healthy - same as the metal panels!
The wool pads are a godsend on plastics as they run so much cooler than foam, you still have to keep an eye on temperatures though.
Front of the wing corrected:
50/50:
Fully corrected and wiped down with IPA - some nice trails from the wool
The Gloss-It Grey wool was used for the vent as it was a good size:
Passenger rear quarter - loads of tightly packed scratches:
Before:
After:
Onto that scratch from where some kind person had aimed their foot - this was too deep for polishing alone...
...So this was sanded with a Mirka disc and the DA machine:
The result after the sanding haze was polished out:
Nearside front wing before:
After:
After Menzerna 3.02:
Rear lights before:
After Menz 3.02 & Gloss-It Polishing Spot Pad:
Rear Bumper before:
After:
Top of the bumper before:
After:
My custom made parking sensor covers
Lake Country Light Cut Pads and Menzerna 3.02 were used for the grills:
Same combination on the headlights:
Before:
After:
The side skirts were a complete pain to do as they were seriously scratched, think I spent approx 2.5/3 hours on each one!
Before:
After:
Once the first two stages of machining had been completed I put the car back outside for a thorough foam and rinse as it can get a bit dusty with these major corrections!
It was then rinsed with filtered water and then dried with the Black Baron Drier before the 3rd and final polishing stage was carried out.
The rest of the detail process was as follows (hopefully haven't forgotten anything!):
- Paintwork refined with Menzerna 85RE and Lake Country Polishing Pad
- Paintwork wiped down with IPA
- Raceglaze 55 applied and removed with PB Luxury Buffing Towels
- Paintwork wiped down with Migliore Detail Spray
- Glass polished and protected with Werkstat Prime Strong
- Tailpipes polished and protected with Werkstat Prime Strong
- Engine bay dressed with 303 Aerospace Protectant
- Wheels sealed with Blackfire Metal Sealant
- Tyres dressed with Gloss-It Tyre Gloss
The interior was fully detailed too but I didn’t take any pics as it was pretty clean to begin with
So I think that's enough talking for one write up, here is the end result of 92 hours worth of work - I was pretty happy with the outcome :thumb:
Nice matching wheel bolts:
Hope you managed to make it to the end - thanks for looking
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MatthewR
Member
Registered: 21st Oct 02
Location: Rickmansworth
User status: Offline
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stunning
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DannyB
Premium Member
Registered: 6th Feb 08
User status: Offline
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I've missed reading these, doesnt he have someone to take the pics for him?
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Corsa_Sport21
Member
Registered: 13th Apr 08
Location: Leven, Fife. Drives : 205 GTi
User status: Offline
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What would have been the outcome if it was rinsed and washed at 50degrees??
What is the temperature of the water in the bucket??Does it need to be re-filled every few minutes to stop it going cold??
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John
Member
Registered: 30th Jun 03
User status: Offline
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It looks good at the end but a full days work for 2 guys for a whole week?
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BluKoo
Member
Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by DannyB
I've missed reading these, doesnt he have someone to take the pics for him?
They sometimes work with Tim Wallace.
An example of those pics can be seen HERE
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BeetleGav
Member
Registered: 27th Jun 10
Location: lancashire, nelson
User status: Offline
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Amazing stuff!
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JayCarr
Member
Registered: 19th Dec 02
Location: Cambs Drives:M3 & X3
User status: Offline
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Awesome. Black cars look so good clean.
The paints scratched to hell like that on mine but i couldn't get any of the swirls out myself. 
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Jake
Member
Registered: 24th Jan 05
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by John
It looks good at the end but a full days work for 2 guys for a whole week?
strange. a man of johns calibre would have it done in half an hour
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SetH
Member
Registered: 15th Jul 01
User status: Online
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Master craftsmanship at work there, superb 
and :doyle: at the owner for using the local poles to clean it, so many of my friends do this and they are like "whats the problem?".
[Edited on 03-07-2010 by SetH]
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Rob-e91
Member
Registered: 11th May 09
Location: South Wales
User status: Offline
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92 hours!  thats some serious hard work mate, and what an end result
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Ben J
Member
Registered: 31st Jan 05
Location: Cheshire
User status: Offline
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Beautiful.
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jacko198
Member
Registered: 1st Mar 07
Location: Buckinghamshire
User status: Offline
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Shiny shiny, good stuff. Sanding the side of a car seems so dodgy though
How would the owner keep it looking shiny now then? Just be carefull when he washes it, 2 bucket method etc?
Is it possible to clean a car without adding ANY swirls, just a quick wash and dry?
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Rob R
Member
Registered: 31st May 03
Location: Kent
User status: Offline
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immense amount of work gone into that. i wouldn't like to see the bill for it though!
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Daveskater
Premium Member
Registered: 29th Apr 08
Location: Oxford, UK Drives: Jap wagon
User status: Offline
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Glorious 
Numberwang!
Originally posted by AlunJ
I like you Dave, you are a man of men
Originally Whatapp'd by Neo
Dave's maybe capable of a drive-by cuddle
Look at my pictures
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ed
Member
Registered: 10th Sep 03
User status: Offline
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Yummy
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C2RL R
Member
Registered: 28th Mar 02
Location: Redcliffe, QLD
User status: Offline
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i lose interest when i clean a car after 30 mins. fuck doing it fo 92 hours. my vans paint looks the same as that. i'd love to get it sorted but i cant bring myself to spend that much on a van.
[Edited on 03-07-2010 by C2RL R]
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Nic Barnes
Member
Registered: 5th Apr 04
Location: nowhere near ginger people
User status: Offline
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i just ragged the crap out of mine on some b roads through some cow shit and there are dead flies and wasps in my radiator.
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taylorboosh
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
User status: Offline
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you really are awesome a what you do
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Adam-D
Member
Registered: 11th May 02
Location: Cheshire
User status: Offline
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looks amazing.
seen cars comeout of showroom lookin worse.
the wheel cleaner stuff... it doesnt affect the brakes does it?
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DannyB
Premium Member
Registered: 6th Feb 08
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by john-d
you really are awesome a what you do
It's his brother
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taylorboosh
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
User status: Offline
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i knew that 
i get confused between polished bliss and rich aswell
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Jambo
Member
Registered: 8th Sep 01
Location: Maidenhead, Drives: VXR Arctic
User status: Offline
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Awesome, wish i had the time and the patience/space
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SteveW
Member
Registered: 15th Jul 02
Location: Up in the clouds
User status: Offline
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wicked.. how much did that cos the matey ?
my car is in desperate need of attention
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DannyB
Premium Member
Registered: 6th Feb 08
User status: Offline
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Probably the wrong side of £1500 Steve
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