Roy
Newbie
Hello All,
I hope everyone is well. Apologies for my long absence on the forum, I have been snowed under with various projects including trying to find a unit for the company and also trying endless samples of the wax that is being developed, I am now up to sample 40 and it is nearly there.
I thought I would start to post up the backlog of cars that are sitting on my laptop, so over the next few weeks I will post them up.
Here are the first few below, in no particular order.
2005 911 (997) Carrera S
This detail came about from a very kind referral from Dave McCarthy and so bright and early on a Monday morning it was in to London to carry out a correction detail on the car.
Apologies for the lack of crispness in some of the photos however my generator decided to pack up right at the end when I had my halogens set up perfectly, so I had to rely on the underground lighting.
The car was first foamed with P21S Auto Wash degreaser and then washed using Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II. The wheels were cleaned with P21S Wheel Gel. A tar and glue remover was then sprayed on to the lower half of the panels and wheels. Once all washed and dried it was then clayed and to be honest I was surprised at the amount of contaminants that came off the paintwork.
After a number of paint thickness readings were taken it was on with the correction. Black is one of those colours that can look incredibly tired but once corrected it really looks fantastic. As you can see from the photos below, the left half is the pre correction paint and the right hand side has been machine polished.
Once all the correction was completed the car was then sprayed with a solution to remove the polishing oils and reveal the true surface. Then the car was cleansed and waxed using Swissvax Saphir. Whilst the wax wax curing it was on with other jobs such as exhausts, tyres and glass. The Alloys were also given a coat of wax. The wax was then buffed off and given a final spray down with Zaino Z-8 Grande Finale Spray Seal to give it that extra something!
2005 Mercedes E320 CDI
Well it was down to Suffolk for a blistering hot day out in the sunshine detailing this Merc E320 CDI. The owner had only recently purchased it and was keen to get the car looking as good as possible. It had only had one previous owner and had been well looked after.
So the usual foam, wash and rinse process. The car was then clayed and taped up ready for correction. Usually it is nice to have some sort of shade to carry out the correction in as if the panels get incredibly hot then the polishes start to play up, however it was just going to be sun all the way that day so I kept fingers crossed.
After many paint thickness readings I was ready to carry out the correction. It was determined that the Bonnet, front wings and Bootlid had at some point been resprayed. It did seem however that this was to a high standard, however it does make my life a little more difficult in that it is not possible to know exactly what paint depth you are dealing with and so you tend to have to tread a little more carefully on the resprayed areas.
Mercedes paintwork is known for being rock hard as they now use paints with ceramic clear coats, so it was no surprise to find that this particular car was the proud owner of bullet proof paint! After working my way up through the various pad and polish combinations I ended up about one combination away from having the neccessary tools to split a diamond in half! After the swirls were removed it was then on with a change of pad and polish to go round the car again and refine the finish.
Once completed the car was then cleansed and waxed with Swissvax Mystery.
It was incredibly difficult to get any sort of correction photos as the sun was so strong that on the light blue paintwork it was simply too dazzling! Anyway here is the finished article:
2002 Ford Focus RS
Again down to Suffolk for a full correction detail on an extremely well maintained Ford Focus RS. The owner had a very impressive array of cleaning materials himself however he just wanted it to look even more special than it did already.
So after the usual wash, clay routine it was then taped up ready for correction. The paint thickness readings were taken and it was determined that the car had healthy paint all round. Now usually Ford paint is particularly soft and this was no exception, with it only need a finishing pad and polish to remove the light swirls.
After the correction was completed it was then on with cleansing and waxing. The wax of choice for this job was again Swissvax Mystery (Retail £300 per pot). The wheels were also given a coat of this wax too.
Once completed it was given a spray of Zaino Z-8 to really bring out the colour in the paintwork. Enjoy!
A swirl free bonnet.
A CAR WASH NIGHTMARE! Ford Racing Puma
Now if anyone needs an example of how repeated use of car washes will harm your paint then this was it! I was booked to carry out a correction on this Racing Puma, it was only to be a one stage correction to get out as much as possible but even so it was going to be a mammoth task.
Whatever light the car was parked in it was obvious that the finish was completely flat, with no shine at all. The previous owner was the wife of the Managing Director of a Ford Dealership and to be honest it must have gone through a car wash at least once a week because the paintwork was some of the worst I have seen.
You see what I mean!
Now as mentioned earlier Ford's usually have very soft paint but to be honest this one was a little harder and to get at least a reasonable percentage of defect removal it was going to have to be back to the Diamond cutting combination!
As you can see the left side has been corrected and the right is still a scratched nightmare.
After the whole car was corrected I then went back and refined the paintwork with a finishing polish. Although this was supposed to only be a one stage correction I simply couldn't have got the results I was happy with unless I went to two stages.
So the car was then cleansed and waxed using Zymol Concours Wax.
The results:
200 BMW 323i Coupe
So down to the South Coast for this Black 3 Series. The owner wanted it looking as good as possible however it had already been mentioned that the paintwork wasn't in an ideal condition.
The usual foam, wash and clay routine was carried out. I got through nearly two full clay bars doing this car as there was a huge amount of bonded contaminants to be removed. Once the paint was back to a silky smooth state it was then all taped up ready for correction.
With the first glimmer of sunshine it was obvious that getting a really good level of correction was going to be a serious challenge. There were many areas that had lots of filled in stone chips, scratches etc. It would have been an option to wet sand out the scratches but from the paint thickness readings it would seem as if someone had given the car a big go over at least once before as the thicknesses varied wildly on even the same panel, with a couple of areas that looked like scorch marks from very poor machine polishing.
Anyway it was on with the correction. As you can see the actual results were very pleasing, with the left side being still original condition and the right having been corrected.
Once finished the paint was now Black instead of having a very dull grey looking colour.
The wax of choice for this job was again Swissvax Mystery. I have to say overall this was a hugely satisfying detail as the car did look incredibly tired at the beginning of the day and by the end of it the owner was thrilled.
Well that is the end of Part one of the write up, I will be adding more over the next couple of weeks.
Thanks again for looking and if you have any questions then just let me know.
Cheers,
Roy
I hope everyone is well. Apologies for my long absence on the forum, I have been snowed under with various projects including trying to find a unit for the company and also trying endless samples of the wax that is being developed, I am now up to sample 40 and it is nearly there.
I thought I would start to post up the backlog of cars that are sitting on my laptop, so over the next few weeks I will post them up.
Here are the first few below, in no particular order.
2005 911 (997) Carrera S
This detail came about from a very kind referral from Dave McCarthy and so bright and early on a Monday morning it was in to London to carry out a correction detail on the car.
Apologies for the lack of crispness in some of the photos however my generator decided to pack up right at the end when I had my halogens set up perfectly, so I had to rely on the underground lighting.
The car was first foamed with P21S Auto Wash degreaser and then washed using Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II. The wheels were cleaned with P21S Wheel Gel. A tar and glue remover was then sprayed on to the lower half of the panels and wheels. Once all washed and dried it was then clayed and to be honest I was surprised at the amount of contaminants that came off the paintwork.
After a number of paint thickness readings were taken it was on with the correction. Black is one of those colours that can look incredibly tired but once corrected it really looks fantastic. As you can see from the photos below, the left half is the pre correction paint and the right hand side has been machine polished.
Once all the correction was completed the car was then sprayed with a solution to remove the polishing oils and reveal the true surface. Then the car was cleansed and waxed using Swissvax Saphir. Whilst the wax wax curing it was on with other jobs such as exhausts, tyres and glass. The Alloys were also given a coat of wax. The wax was then buffed off and given a final spray down with Zaino Z-8 Grande Finale Spray Seal to give it that extra something!
2005 Mercedes E320 CDI
Well it was down to Suffolk for a blistering hot day out in the sunshine detailing this Merc E320 CDI. The owner had only recently purchased it and was keen to get the car looking as good as possible. It had only had one previous owner and had been well looked after.
So the usual foam, wash and rinse process. The car was then clayed and taped up ready for correction. Usually it is nice to have some sort of shade to carry out the correction in as if the panels get incredibly hot then the polishes start to play up, however it was just going to be sun all the way that day so I kept fingers crossed.
After many paint thickness readings I was ready to carry out the correction. It was determined that the Bonnet, front wings and Bootlid had at some point been resprayed. It did seem however that this was to a high standard, however it does make my life a little more difficult in that it is not possible to know exactly what paint depth you are dealing with and so you tend to have to tread a little more carefully on the resprayed areas.
Mercedes paintwork is known for being rock hard as they now use paints with ceramic clear coats, so it was no surprise to find that this particular car was the proud owner of bullet proof paint! After working my way up through the various pad and polish combinations I ended up about one combination away from having the neccessary tools to split a diamond in half! After the swirls were removed it was then on with a change of pad and polish to go round the car again and refine the finish.
Once completed the car was then cleansed and waxed with Swissvax Mystery.
It was incredibly difficult to get any sort of correction photos as the sun was so strong that on the light blue paintwork it was simply too dazzling! Anyway here is the finished article:
2002 Ford Focus RS
Again down to Suffolk for a full correction detail on an extremely well maintained Ford Focus RS. The owner had a very impressive array of cleaning materials himself however he just wanted it to look even more special than it did already.
So after the usual wash, clay routine it was then taped up ready for correction. The paint thickness readings were taken and it was determined that the car had healthy paint all round. Now usually Ford paint is particularly soft and this was no exception, with it only need a finishing pad and polish to remove the light swirls.
After the correction was completed it was then on with cleansing and waxing. The wax of choice for this job was again Swissvax Mystery (Retail £300 per pot). The wheels were also given a coat of this wax too.
Once completed it was given a spray of Zaino Z-8 to really bring out the colour in the paintwork. Enjoy!
A swirl free bonnet.
A CAR WASH NIGHTMARE! Ford Racing Puma
Now if anyone needs an example of how repeated use of car washes will harm your paint then this was it! I was booked to carry out a correction on this Racing Puma, it was only to be a one stage correction to get out as much as possible but even so it was going to be a mammoth task.
Whatever light the car was parked in it was obvious that the finish was completely flat, with no shine at all. The previous owner was the wife of the Managing Director of a Ford Dealership and to be honest it must have gone through a car wash at least once a week because the paintwork was some of the worst I have seen.
You see what I mean!
Now as mentioned earlier Ford's usually have very soft paint but to be honest this one was a little harder and to get at least a reasonable percentage of defect removal it was going to have to be back to the Diamond cutting combination!
As you can see the left side has been corrected and the right is still a scratched nightmare.
After the whole car was corrected I then went back and refined the paintwork with a finishing polish. Although this was supposed to only be a one stage correction I simply couldn't have got the results I was happy with unless I went to two stages.
So the car was then cleansed and waxed using Zymol Concours Wax.
The results:
200 BMW 323i Coupe
So down to the South Coast for this Black 3 Series. The owner wanted it looking as good as possible however it had already been mentioned that the paintwork wasn't in an ideal condition.
The usual foam, wash and clay routine was carried out. I got through nearly two full clay bars doing this car as there was a huge amount of bonded contaminants to be removed. Once the paint was back to a silky smooth state it was then all taped up ready for correction.
With the first glimmer of sunshine it was obvious that getting a really good level of correction was going to be a serious challenge. There were many areas that had lots of filled in stone chips, scratches etc. It would have been an option to wet sand out the scratches but from the paint thickness readings it would seem as if someone had given the car a big go over at least once before as the thicknesses varied wildly on even the same panel, with a couple of areas that looked like scorch marks from very poor machine polishing.
Anyway it was on with the correction. As you can see the actual results were very pleasing, with the left side being still original condition and the right having been corrected.
Once finished the paint was now Black instead of having a very dull grey looking colour.
The wax of choice for this job was again Swissvax Mystery. I have to say overall this was a hugely satisfying detail as the car did look incredibly tired at the beginning of the day and by the end of it the owner was thrilled.
Well that is the end of Part one of the write up, I will be adding more over the next couple of weeks.
Thanks again for looking and if you have any questions then just let me know.
Cheers,
Roy
