Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Another previous customer contacted me recently asking me to give his Mini another thorough tidy up - the last time I'd visited it was 2 years ago for a protection detail.
It was booked in for another protection detail - albeit a thorough one - including the removal of the wheels at the clients request.
Here it is upon arrival:
Luckily I was joined again by Stu today - as you can see we had our work cut out!
First up was to remove a wheel at a time - Autosmart G101 to clean & degrease the arches, followed by Tardis. They were later dressed with Autosmart Rubber & Plastic dressing.
Wheels were cleaned with Meguiars Wheel Brightener, followed by CarPro Iron X, Tardis, clayed with Bilt Hamber Regular and later sealed with Zaino ClearSeal. Tyres were degreased with Autosmart G101 and dressed with Espuma RD50.
Engine bay was cleaned with Autosmart G101, metal work later tidied and sealed with Carlack NSC and all plastics dressed with Autosmart Rubber & Plastic:
Roof cleaned and reproofed with the Autoglym kit.
With the 'extra's' out of the way, it was on to the usual meticulous wash routine; pre rinse / foam with ValetPro Orange pre wash, shuts, seals, trim cleaned with Autosmart G101 and rinsed.
Paintwork washed using Espuma Astro (amazing stuff!) via 2 bucket method, rinsed and dried.
Tar spots removed with Autosmart Tardis, metallic particles with CarPro Iron X and clayed with Bilt Hamber regular.
One area that stood out like a sore thumb was a repair that I'd noted on my previous visit, however since then, the filler was sinking, badly. An area to treat with caution!
Even after a thorough wash & decontamination, the paintwork was looking very tired:
So the hand polishing stage was ditched in favour of a single pass of Meguiars 83 on a Chemical Guys Hexlogic green pad via the DAS-6 Pro.
A poor 50/50 - difficult to capture on camera tbh, but made a vast difference in person:
There were also signs of suncream handprints:
Which were also removed during the polishing stage ( no afters I'm afraid of this in particular!)
Whilst I worked my way around the car with the DA, Stu turned his attention to other tired areas such as the exhaust:
Wire wool and various metal polishes did the trick. The chrome trim such as the wing mirrors was also in need of some TLC:
Carlack NSC bringing these up nicely.
Stu also worked his magic on the interior, full thorough hoover, followed by leather clean & condition with Dr Leather, plastics deep cleaned with Meguiars APC etc etc:
Paintwork was glazed with Chemical Guys EZ Creme Glaze and sealed with 2 coats of Chemical Guys Blacklight, followed by a Zaino Z8 wipedown.
Black trim bought back to life with Autosmart Trim Wizard, grilles and vents with CarPro Perl. Glass cleaned with Espuma Crystal Blue and sealed with the Carlack twins.
A combined 12 hours later, we were left with a much more respectable looking Mini:
Thanks for looking,
Rich @ Refined Detail
[Edited on 01-05-2011 by Rich H]
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Corsa_Sport21
Member
Registered: 13th Apr 08
Location: Leven, Fife. Drives : 205 GTi
User status: Offline
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So good that you posted it twice.lol.
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Should be sorted now lol, fooking wireless keyboard keeps delaying doing anything so my typing and copy / pasting atm is awful 
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Jake
Member
Registered: 24th Jan 05
User status: Offline
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loved the second one mate
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Ojc
Member
Registered: 14th Nov 00
Location: Reading: Drives : Clio 197
User status: Offline
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Lovely, what do you use on the plastics on the Mini?
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VegasPhil
Premium Member
Registered: 16th Jan 05
Location: Fareham, Hants Drives: Octavia VRS
User status: Offline
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Worth reading twice  . Awesome.
Corsa 2.0 16v Vegas - Sold
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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 Jake / Barnshaw.
Ollie - Predominantly Autosmart Trim Wizard, but I have about 6 different ones on trial on mine atm, so I'll let you know the outcome of that one!
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Ojc
Member
Registered: 14th Nov 00
Location: Reading: Drives : Clio 197
User status: Offline
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The best one I used from years ago still got it is a Turtle Wax trim wax, it's black and covers really well and isn't sticky at all.
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taylorboosh
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
User status: Offline
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i bet you hate cleaning your own car
nice to see you so busy...well deserved from what i can see
keep it up
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Ollie - I'm making a big attempt to ditch as many silicone heavy products as possible - the Trim Wizard being the main last one.
Now trialling long term sealants and dressings with anti static properties so dust doesn't get attracted to it etc
Turtle wax is also silcone heavy, but from what I remember from back in the day, it wasn't horrendous tbh!
John - Cheers  This year is just mental tbh! In regards to cleaning my car, I don't mind it, I just never have time to It rarely gets driven though tbh! It's predominantly used as a test bed (along with my van) for new products though so still get's looked after. What I call dirty is probably most peoples idea of clean still on my Mini tbh
[Edited on 01-05-2011 by Rich H]
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Ojc
Member
Registered: 14th Nov 00
Location: Reading: Drives : Clio 197
User status: Offline
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I do have a Sonus trim detailer as well but I use it on the tyres as well, it's clear but doesnt last very long on the tyres. Might give it a try, doesn't go very far though.
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Ojc
Member
Registered: 14th Nov 00
Location: Reading: Drives : Clio 197
User status: Offline
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Rich,
Is Mini paint quite soft? Just seems that my recent European trip has made a mess of the front end, it did need a respray and I didn't exactly rush to get the flys off but it did have a coat of wax before I left, it just seems like the flys have soaked into the paint. Also every time I wash it, it's very streaky. It needs to be polished everytime you wash it which wasn't such the case on say my Corsa VXR.
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Ojc
Member
Registered: 14th Nov 00
Location: Reading: Drives : Clio 197
User status: Offline
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...I have got the flys out with a combo of Tardis and Megs Mild clay bar but just something I've noticed.
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Sorry mate, just got in from today's bookings.
The paint on mine definitely isn't soft, and I haven't found it on any of the other's I've worked on before ( I have heard horror stories of certain limited edition R56 JCW's though about how soft they are)
Bugs are etching in to paintwork quicker atm with the heat though I'm finding.
To shift the bugs easier, spray some mild APC on the the areas required whilst washing - softens them up nicely.
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Ojc
Member
Registered: 14th Nov 00
Location: Reading: Drives : Clio 197
User status: Offline
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How do you go about getting the etching out from their guts
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Machine polishing is the only way! Sometimes pretty aggressively too - their guts are quite acidic
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AndyCorsaSport
Member
Registered: 12th Feb 06
Location: Horsforth, West Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Paintwork on them 1/4s is pretty shit isnt it!! And the sunk filler!
Top job on it though!
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