Lapiz Blue Golf 7R - Detailed by Lawrence

[lawrenceSA]

I have been wanting to detail one of these ever since they came out. I just love the color :drool:

This one only had 25k km's on the clock but was sadly in shocking condition for such a new car. A combination of regular visits to the local 'let-me-pay-you-to-scratch-my-ride-for-me' car wash and very improper home washing had taken their toll on the paint, and everything was just really dirty and uncared for. It had also recently been sent for a polish and predictably there was plenty of wax and/or old polish residue left for me to clean up, along with the obligatory buffer trails.

Bird droppings should be removed as soon as possible, failing which they will start to etch into the clear coat and can often require the removal of large amount of clear coat to remove. Another point to note is that they will often be very gritty in nature which can lead to scratches when removed using the incorrect techniques.

Leave a bug like this on your car and go straight to washing and you will rub that all over your paint, leading to scratches.

Yuck

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It was still quite early and so the sun wasn't out in full force yet but you get an idea of what the paint looked like...

Engine bay
-Blow loose dust off with air blower
-Clean with Cyclo APC, MF Towels and various Brushes
-Clean/Polish/Protect (AIO) using AF Tripple by hand with a MF applicator
-Dressed with Autofinesse Dressel

Arches, Tires, Wheels

First the lug nut covers were removed

To make it easier to clean all of this mess out

This is what the wheel looked like before

-HP rinse arches, tires and wheels.
-Clean arches with a Cyclo APC using a Mothers Fenderwell Brush
-HP rinse
-Clean tires with Valet Pro Billbery Wheel Cleaner @ 1:6 and a Mothers Tire brush.
-HP rinse
-Repeat tire cleaning

-HP rinse
-Wash wheels and brake calipers with VP Bilberry Wheel Cleaner @ 1:6, Daytona and Daytona Jnr brushes and Valet Pro Boars Hair Brushes
-HP rinse
-Dry
-Remove tar using Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover
-Spray with APC and HP Rinse
-Dry
-Remove bonded and embedded ferrous contaminants on wheels and brake calipers with Autofinesse Iron Out, Daytona (big and small) brushes and Valet Pro Boars Hair Brushes

-HP Rinse + flood rinse
-Dry
-Polished with Menzerna 3-in-1 on a Mothers Power Cone
-Tires dressed with 2 coats of Gyeon Q2 Tire

Wash
-HP rinse
-Applied Carchem Snowfoam via Crazy Detailer V2 Foam Cannon, left to dwell
-HP rinse
-Applied Valet Pro Citrus Pre-wash via a spray bottle, left to dwell
-HP rinse
-2BM wash using lambswool wash mitts and Cyclo Shampoo
-HP Rinse
-Flood Rinse
-Dried using ONR and WW drying towels

Decontamination

-Tar removed using Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover
-Iron removed using Autofinesse Iron Out
-Remaining contamination was clayed off using Shield Heavy Duty clay with ONR as lube.

Paint correction

The paint readings ranged from 115µ to 145µ
Menzerna FG400 / Blue Lake Country Hybrid Foamed Wool
Menzerna 3-in-1 / White Lake Country Hybrid

Before

After

Glass
- Clayed using Shield Heavy Duty clay with ONR as lube
- Glass polished using the Flex 3401 / Autoglym Glass Polish / 6" Green Lake Country Polishing pad
- Cleaned using Autoglym Fast Glass

Door rubbers, window rubbers, exterior plastic trim
- Cleaned using Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner
- Protected using Aerospace 303

Interior
-Blow out loose dirt with blower
-Leather cleaned using Carchem APC and various brushes and MF Towels
-Leather protected with Collinite 855
-Plastics and dash cleaned with Carchem APC then given a final wipe using Autofinesse Spritz
-Vacuum

Some clarity was restored to these using Meguiars Ultimate Polish

Exhaust tip (these had been left far too long without a decent clean and the finish has become stained and pitted)

Before

-Cleaned using Carchem APC
-Polished using Menzerna Metal Polish followed by Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish

One of the attributes I like about the Meguiars Metal Polish is the protection it offers

And on to some after shots....

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd393/polo_playa/Detailing%20-%20Lenny%20Golf%207R/IMG_1915_zpsjcekzkfs.jpg[/img
Total time spent = 27 hours

As always, thanks for taking the time to read this, and any questions or comments are welcome

:hi:

 

[Ish]

Nicely done Lawrence!

 

[HUMP DIESEL]

Great work as always.

HUMP

 

[Desertnate]

Amazing work. The R should only come in this color. I love it, a real head-turner.

Is the wheel cracking in that first close up of lug nuts?

 

[Sicoupe]

Fantastic job Lawrence! That blue is beautiful. Hope you had a great thanksgiving my friend

Kyle

 

[AZ Mike]

Beautiful job and great write up. That blue is fantastic.

 

[xtina]

The wheel has a massive crack in it in the lug nut pic. How is that even possible?

 

[emmjay]

As you know I have a thing for MK7's...haha

Beautiful as always and I love how the Lapiz blue pops!

 

[RFrommann]

I just completed a golf R yesterday too!
This is actually the 4th markvii I've done. White, black, grey, red


Very nice work!

 

[Aaryn NZ]

Lawrence my friend - that is some absolutely beautiful work! rops:

Wow! The gloss in those pictures is just plain silly! You done a remarkable job making a sweet car look just how it should. I agree on the colour . . . I'm a sucker for a white GTi but man, thats got some depth! Some of the best reflection pics I think I've seen. :dblthumb2:

A superb write up Lawrence, stunning photos & flawless workmanship. Top detail! :dblthumb2:

Thank you for sharing mate.

Aaryn NZ.

 

[lawrenceSA]

Nicely done Lawrence!

Thanks

Great work as always.

HUMP

Thanks so much

Amazing work. The R should only come in this color. I love it, a real head-turner.

Is the wheel cracking in that first close up of lug nuts?

Thanks. It is such a lovely color isn't it. What looks like a crack is actually just a really thick build up of old wax and/or polish residue from whomever worked on the car before me.

Fantastic job Lawrence! That blue is beautiful. Hope you had a great thanksgiving my friend

Kyle

Thanks Kyle. We don't really celebrate Thanksgiving over here but I appreciate the sentiment. I did notice though that South Africa has decided that we too now need a black Friday sale and it was quite a site to behold.... I've never seen so many deal hungry shoppers going crazy over specials before. Crazy I tell you.

Beautiful job and great write up. That blue is fantastic.

Thanks Mike

The wheel has a massive crack in it in the lug nut pic. How is that even possible?

Like I mentioned, it is a 'crack' in the thick wax/polish residue and not actually a crack in the wheel...

As you know I have a thing for MK7's...haha

Beautiful as always and I love how the Lapiz blue pops!

Thanks - When they first came out I was a little slow in liking the shape on the MK7 but they have really grown on me and I am really loving them now, especially the R, and especially in this color...

I just completed a golf R yesterday too!
This is actually the 4th markvii I've done. White, black, grey, red


Very nice work!

Thanks - the red is really popping - nice:xyxthumbs:

Lawrence my friend - that is some absolutely beautiful work! rops:

Wow! The gloss in those pictures is just plain silly! You done a remarkable job making a sweet car look just how it should. I agree on the colour . . . I'm a sucker for a white GTi but man, thats got some depth! Some of the best reflection pics I think I've seen. :dblthumb2:

A superb write up Lawrence, stunning photos & flawless workmanship. Top detail! :dblthumb2:

Thank you for sharing mate.

Aaryn NZ.

Hi Aaryn

You have been quite lately buddy - hope all is ok. Thanks for taking them time to check out my thread and for posting your kind words - they are much appreciated indeed.

 

[noslef]

Awesome work as usual! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Beautiful work Lawrence! Really like the color. Looks great on this Golf.

I like your two step choice. I see it worked out very well.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[lawrenceSA]

Awesome work as usual! Thanks for sharing!

Beautiful work Lawrence! Really like the color. Looks great on this Golf.

I like your two step choice. I see it worked out very well.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks very much guys:dblthumb2: