lawrenceSA
New member
- Feb 7, 2012
- 1,713
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When the owner of the car arrived on Friday night to drop the car off, the first thing I noticed was that it was a very new car (2200miles on the clock) and that it was covered in holograms :doh:
Upon querying this with the owner he admitted that it had been sent to a well known (over here) 'glazing' company for a 'detail'..... :dunno:
Knowing that rain was predicted for the remainder of the weekend and that there would be no sun to capture the holograms nicely, I tried to capture them as best as I could in the garage. The problem being that none of my lighting was showing them nicely, so I eventually landed up with my a torch app on my cell as the light source, and the DSLR to capture the pics with - unfortunately trying to hold both and manually focus (auto focus kept 'hunting' for sufficient contrast to focus on) proved to be a little tough, so apologies in advance for the crappy pics
At this point I must acknowledge that for the most part, whatever swirl removal they had attempted had yielded fair results.... there were only 4 sections on the car where I had to remove swirls that they had missed, but it was their finishing off that left a lot to be desired (i.e. a glaze used to mask the holograms instead of following up with a 'refining polish' to remove them. Of course it is impossible to know if they removed more clear than was necessary to remove whatever swirls may have been in the paint.
Anyway, moving on....
So Friday night was spent cleaning up the leather (using Cyclo CM 30 APC @ 20:1 and various brushes / MF Towels). Here you can see the amount of dirt that came off the drivers seat (bottom half of the towel)
The leather was then conditioned using Cyclo Leather Tone
The dash and other interior surfaces were only wiped down using a damp MF towel and the interior vacuumed.
Saturday morning presented the perfect weather for detailing.... not!
Cold, rainy and windy..... lovely :lol:
Before moving the car out into the rain I snapped these 3 pics showing the surface dirt on the car
and of the many RIDS on the roof (which were unfortunately too deep to safely remove)
So first up were then wheels, tires and arches.
They were washed using Autofinesse Imperial Wheel Cleaner diluted at 1:1, the tar deposits were removed using Autofinesse Oblitarate and the Iron deposits removed using Autofinesse Iron Out. The rims were then clayed using Clay Magic Blue Clay and later in the detail were sealed using Smartwax Smart Sealant. Tires were dressed using Optimum Optibond Tire Gel and the arches dressed using Chemical Guys Bare Bones.
I then got stuck into cleaning all the door/boot shuts, inside the petrol flap and in and around all the badges/emblems etc using various brushes and Cyclo CM30 APC @ 3:1
I then pre-foamed the entire vehicle using a mix of Cyclo CM30 APC and Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II
Unfortunately dwell time was compromised by the on-going rain
I followed this with a 2 bucket wash to ensure the car was thoroughly clean before commencing with tar and iron removal on the vehicle itself. This was followed by a full clay using Clay Magic Blue Clay
I then spent the rest of the day on Saturday polishing the paintwork. I used Menzerna FG400 on a LC Cyan Pad for those areas still requiring swirl removal and for the remainder of the car, Menzerna SF4000 on a LC Tangerine Pad.
Sunday morning I polished out the B-pillars and tail lights using Menzerna PF2500 on a LC White Pad followed by Menzerna SF4000 on a LC Black Pad.
At this point the sun decided to make an appearance so I quickly pulled the car out to check my work and snap some sun shots....after taking these the car was pulled back into the garage where the following was completed:
1. Final polish using Chemical Guys Blacklight on a LC Crimson Pad
2. 2 Coats of Smart Sealant
3. Windows cleaned
4. All exterior plastic trim treated
5. Engine bay blown out/wiped clean / dressed
6. Exhaust tips polished
Then back in the garage a few more pics
Total time spent = 23 hours
Thanks for looking and as always and comments are welcome.
Upon querying this with the owner he admitted that it had been sent to a well known (over here) 'glazing' company for a 'detail'..... :dunno:
Knowing that rain was predicted for the remainder of the weekend and that there would be no sun to capture the holograms nicely, I tried to capture them as best as I could in the garage. The problem being that none of my lighting was showing them nicely, so I eventually landed up with my a torch app on my cell as the light source, and the DSLR to capture the pics with - unfortunately trying to hold both and manually focus (auto focus kept 'hunting' for sufficient contrast to focus on) proved to be a little tough, so apologies in advance for the crappy pics
At this point I must acknowledge that for the most part, whatever swirl removal they had attempted had yielded fair results.... there were only 4 sections on the car where I had to remove swirls that they had missed, but it was their finishing off that left a lot to be desired (i.e. a glaze used to mask the holograms instead of following up with a 'refining polish' to remove them. Of course it is impossible to know if they removed more clear than was necessary to remove whatever swirls may have been in the paint.
Anyway, moving on....
So Friday night was spent cleaning up the leather (using Cyclo CM 30 APC @ 20:1 and various brushes / MF Towels). Here you can see the amount of dirt that came off the drivers seat (bottom half of the towel)
The leather was then conditioned using Cyclo Leather Tone
The dash and other interior surfaces were only wiped down using a damp MF towel and the interior vacuumed.
Saturday morning presented the perfect weather for detailing.... not!
Cold, rainy and windy..... lovely :lol:
Before moving the car out into the rain I snapped these 3 pics showing the surface dirt on the car
and of the many RIDS on the roof (which were unfortunately too deep to safely remove)
So first up were then wheels, tires and arches.
They were washed using Autofinesse Imperial Wheel Cleaner diluted at 1:1, the tar deposits were removed using Autofinesse Oblitarate and the Iron deposits removed using Autofinesse Iron Out. The rims were then clayed using Clay Magic Blue Clay and later in the detail were sealed using Smartwax Smart Sealant. Tires were dressed using Optimum Optibond Tire Gel and the arches dressed using Chemical Guys Bare Bones.
I then got stuck into cleaning all the door/boot shuts, inside the petrol flap and in and around all the badges/emblems etc using various brushes and Cyclo CM30 APC @ 3:1
I then pre-foamed the entire vehicle using a mix of Cyclo CM30 APC and Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II
Unfortunately dwell time was compromised by the on-going rain
I followed this with a 2 bucket wash to ensure the car was thoroughly clean before commencing with tar and iron removal on the vehicle itself. This was followed by a full clay using Clay Magic Blue Clay
I then spent the rest of the day on Saturday polishing the paintwork. I used Menzerna FG400 on a LC Cyan Pad for those areas still requiring swirl removal and for the remainder of the car, Menzerna SF4000 on a LC Tangerine Pad.
Sunday morning I polished out the B-pillars and tail lights using Menzerna PF2500 on a LC White Pad followed by Menzerna SF4000 on a LC Black Pad.
At this point the sun decided to make an appearance so I quickly pulled the car out to check my work and snap some sun shots....after taking these the car was pulled back into the garage where the following was completed:
1. Final polish using Chemical Guys Blacklight on a LC Crimson Pad
2. 2 Coats of Smart Sealant
3. Windows cleaned
4. All exterior plastic trim treated
5. Engine bay blown out/wiped clean / dressed
6. Exhaust tips polished
Then back in the garage a few more pics
Total time spent = 23 hours
Thanks for looking and as always and comments are welcome.
I promise if I get another one to do I will snap a whole lot of pics of the interior so you can check it out. It really is a nice interior and the seats are drool worthy....