Today I did some detailing...

vectra

Beautiful color on that Alfa.

toastedpickles

I'll be in here soon enough with a few before and afters, my car is currently filthier than some lads mothers i know :P

Noccy_Mondy

I've been meaning to get pics up this past few days. I've a few beading shots as well. Car is soo shiney. Not for long though. I'll post up a few pictures of the state of my road too, which will show how pointless all my hard work is....

Noccy_Mondy

De tarred de-everything'd the car, polished, and sealed, along with the alloys last week. My God, it'll be a while before I do it myself again! Never in Winter again, that's for sure.



My lovely scrape on the back, must get that seen to soon



Some beads....







And, as promised, a pic of my lovely road......
No wonder I get disheartened with cleaning

JAMES VTI S

A friend of mine asked me to detail this Bentley early on this month.

Boi OH Boi this is one of the most beautiful cars i'v ever detailed and i think after spending some time with it it is my favorite, the level of detail and thought that's in this car is something that needs to be appreciated, the british racing green paint alone is like nothing i'v ever seen it's slightly two toned and has zero orange peel it just smooth as silk.

So first thing was to drive it out to be cleaned, I snowfoamed with reflectology R1NE which removed the heavy dirt then i washed the body with my beloved Carpro wool wash mitt (have it almost two years now!) and R1NE again in my cheap ass 20 liter B&Q buckets



After that i started on the 20 inch! wheels with Autosmart smart wheel followed by Autosmart fallout remover, inside and out got mega cleaning.



I continued decontaminating the body with Autosmart tardis (tar remover) and Autosmart fallout remover this time applied by a wash mitt and agitating twice around the car before rinsing off



I finished the decontamination process with my clay cloth which revealed little to no contamination ... she's a protected garage queen you know



Finally I foamed the whole car to remove as much off the paint before drying.





Now the paint was ready for some inspection, great levels across the whole car .... Bentley are very generous with paint







Next I inspected the paint under LED light to reveal any defects.



It was pretty much the same all over the car with the bonnet getting the most abuse from the local wash.

After two stages of machine polishing with Maxolen PM 1 and Carpro Reflect on Hex Logic green and black pads via my Flex X1107 i was left with this :eek:

JAMES VTI S

I finished up polishing and noticed the Mulliner split rim lips were tarnished from either chemicals drying on the wheel or two strong a cleaner being used.



So i polished off that haze with autosol metal polish (GOD IS IN THE DETAIL)



When I was cleaning the wheel I noticed how well the caliper came out (stop N style)



While i had the autosol out I decided to polish the aluminum door sills ans kick panels (no before picture but they really needed this)



Back onto the paint I decided to seal this piece of Art in Swissvax Best Of Show. I choose this wax because the car is garaged all year around so durability was not a concern. Best of show delivered super levels of gloss. :cool:(picture taken after application hence the dust)













On to the interior it was detailed with just as much love as the outside.



With the car finished I packed up and plugged the car back into the battery charger (that's why the booth is open).





Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Thanks a lot for l@@king

myshirt

James, you've come a long way with the business since over the last year and a half. Well done. It's better and better you are getting, evident by the clients you are getting aswell. Well done.

JAMES VTI S

myshirt wrote: »

James, you've come a long way with the business since over the last year and a half. Well done. It's better and better you are getting, evident by the clients you are getting aswell. Well done.

I love playing with cars

Thanks a lot.

cena

Lovely job james. Are you based in Dublin. How much would an Astra cost to get as job like that done

JAMES VTI S

cena wrote: »

Lovely job james. Are you based in Dublin. How much would an Astra cost to get as job like that done

Following the rules every write up done by myself is from either a friend or family member and they have no business ties

Thanks to everyone that thanked the post and I have another one still to come.

bbari

.
Went to the local Petrol Station to use their selfwash, bought 2 minutes to wash the car 1st, Washed the car using 2BM/wash mitt and the shampoo used was Chemical Guys Glassworkz. Bought 4 minutes to rinse the car, dried the car using Drive Me Crazy Towel (everytime I use it, I love it more). The car had 2 coats of Fusso applied already, applied a cost of King of Gloss.

Thanks to everyone especially Curran and Vectra for educating...

bbari

Few more

vectra

Great job bbari

You like the soft99 products?

bbari

Thanks Vectra, I never used wax before (I know!! - Sorry) so I have nothing to compare them too. But they go on easy and come off easyish. I don't have driveway so can't wash the car at home therefore I'm dependent on local carwash to lookafter the car, today I thought to give it a try myself hence I went to the local Esso with buckets etc. The above pics don't do justice, the car is absolutely glossy hence I am loving Soft99. I will get Soft99 Authentic as I heard that is their topnotch wax.

bbari

Guys, how to do you insert images here ? I see that my pictures are coming up as attachments but other users pictures are embedded in the message ?

Noccy_Mondy

bbari wrote:

Guys, how to do you insert images here ? I see that my pictures are coming up as attachments but other users pictures are embedded in the message ?

if you go to an image hosting website such as tinypic, upload the pics and you will get a series of links. Copy the one for forums and paste it in this thread.

JAMES VTI S

This is my latest detail, I finished it Christmas eve.

This car is special as it's been in the family scene new (2008), my buddy wanted to roll back the years on the appearance and then keep it looking that way as long as possible.

The To Do list was (in order):

1. Paint touch ups.
2. Full paint correction.
3. Headlights restoration.
4. Brake calipers painting.
5. Paint protection upgraded to a ceramic coating.
6. Glass coating.

I wont show pictures of the wash and decontamination process as that is mostly the same as in the previous write up: Link

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. - Lao Tzu

#1 Paint touch ups.

My buddy got the paint and clear coat from a VW main dealer in Limerick city which in my experience is the best place to get paint (OEM over halfords ECT) so i marked out all the chips on touch ups and got to work.



I decided to photograph the process of one of the biggest chips as the rest got the same treatment.

Say hello 'chocolate chip'



First action was to kill the rust in the areas I would be painting.



With that done i could do the touch up.

The process I used:

• Paint
• Dry
• Clear coat
• Dry
• Remove excess clear coat.
• Polish

Under LED light

JAMES VTI S

#2 Full paint correction.

First step as always is measure the paint, I'll show the + and -





He did tell me about it being repaired on the offside rear quarter when we met first to talk about the detail/car. Reading in millimeters (762 microns)



This photo was taken after correction hence the flat paint.



'worst paint job ever'

After doing a test spot I settled on Maxolen PM1 on orange and green hex pads via rotary

I taped up trim that was in the working areas to protect them from polish and the machine polisher.



Some before and afters

JAMES VTI S

The paint and plastic cover on the back wiper did not fit in with the rest of the car so they needed to be polished and coated also.





Some 50/50s





I cut back 90+% (approx) of the imperfections, in some areas the clear coat was too thin to remove any deeper imperfections and i did not want to weaken the paint or damage the UV protection.

I reduced the backing plate and pad sizes in the tight areas, 3.5' flexipads backing plate on an orange hex logic pad below.



And a 3.5' flexipads backing plate on an black hex logic pad to polish the grill with Reflect (one stage on this).



For the finishing polish I used carpro reflect on a Black hex logic pad via rotary and got this finish ( )

JAMES VTI S

#3 Headlights restoration.

Typical VW golf headlights need no introduction.





First i sanded them to remove the factory UV protection film, then I corrected with the machine working from wool with PM1 to a black Hex and reflect.



Below is a before and after compounding.














The tail light got machine corrected also.

JAMES VTI S

#4 Brake calipers painting.

First thing was to wash the calipers with acid, i used Autosmart triple X for this then dried the calipers and painted them Silver.

Some before and afters below.









Back on with the wheels and i used a torque ratchet to tighten the wheel bolt correctly, enough force as to not stretch the threads

#5 & 6 Paint protection upgraded to a ceramic coating & Glass coating

The car was taken outside for a wash to remove and polish residue and dust before Finishing the exterior, i also detailed the engine bay at this stage hence the open bonnet.

Can you see the fog :pac:



After drying it off i got down a dirty ... i mean down and clean



The last step product on the paint was to be Carpro Cqurtz UK and the glass got Carpro forte.

I coated the wipers for a judder free wipe every time.



I bought the wheels home to coat them as it was nice and warm.







The tyres got multiple applications of Maxolen tyre and rubber prep.

JAMES VTI S

Finished pictures

JAMES VTI S

If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over - John Wooden
Thanks for Looking

myshirt

Another fantastic write up. Great work.

MetzgerMeister

Well done James, some excellent work right there!

Noccy_Mondy

Super super work James, well done, you're outstanding in what you do!

Nice cat btw :P

JAMES VTI S

Thanks for showing your appreciation and saying some Pawsitive words.

vectra

Super work there James,
You certainly have stepped up over the past year or so.
Excellent.

Mc Love

Lovely work there James!

Curran

Great work James!!

Roughly how many man hours when into that job? There's not that many people out there that would pay for that kind of service on a Golf...lucky your mate has a buddy like you!

JAMES VTI S

Thanks again everyone.

I spent a week and a bit on this approximately.

Curran

JAMES VTI S wrote: »

I spent a week and a bit on this approximately.

To put things in perspective.....
So for anyone who is looking to put a price on having their car detailed, or wondering why details cost so much; labour intensive work, cost of products, cost of unit, heat and electricity, etc....think, what you make a week yourself. Or whats the least amount of money you'd get out of bed for, for a weeks work doing the same.
How much would a skilled mechanic, carpenter, electrician, etc, etc, cost for a weeks labour?

Obviously not all details need to be as intensive, but might help justify the price for some people, who think a detail is just an expensive valet!

ianobrien

JAMES VTI S wrote: »

Thanks again everyone.

I spent a week and a bit on this approximately.

Fair play to you. I wouldn't have the patience to spend that amount of time. I generally have enough after two days and anyway I'd have to go back to work Monday......

MetzgerMeister

Curran wrote: »

To put things in perspective.....
So for anyone who is looking to put a price on having their car detailed, or wondering why details cost so much; labour intensive work, cost of products, cost of unit, heat and electricity, etc....think, what you make a week yourself. Or whats the least amount of money you'd get out of bed for, for a weeks work doing the same.
How much would a skilled mechanic, carpenter, electrician, etc, etc, cost for a weeks labour?

Obviously not all details need to be as intensive, but might help justify the price for some people, who think a detail is just an expensive valet!

JAMES VTI S

ianobrien wrote: »

Fair play to you. I wouldn't have the patience to spend that amount of time. I generally have enough after two days and anyway I'd have to go back to work Monday......

I have a short attention span but music is a great help, hence the earphones under the ear muffs

Bpmull

I don't often come on here but just to say you did some job on that golf james same with the bently great work. Even with the headlights on the golf you completly brought them back to new although they don't look like OE headlights must have been replaced at some stage as there is no vw logo on the dipped bulb cover inside the light.

JAMES VTI S

Your very kind :-)

It's an older model maybe that's why, that's what I thought anyway, I thought that was a bit strange also.

Bpmull

JAMES VTI S wrote: »

Your very kind :-)

It's an older model maybe that's why, that's what I thought anyway, I thought that was a bit strange also.

Ah right maybe the first of the mk5 didn't have them I think they all had it from 2006 onwards.

delthedriver

Stunning work James,

Congratulations, car is a credit to you

Best wishes:)

JAMES VTI S

Best wishes to you too, Thanks.

JAMES VTI S

Yesterday i valeted and detailed this Mini cooper S at the same time!.
Did I hand apply Paul Daltons crystal rocks, was there missed bits after hoovering, did i even clay the paint!!! .. No :mad:
Did I make someone happy .. hell yes I did.









What i'm saying is don't get caught up in the jargon, I know 'detailers' that are really valeters and i know 'valeters' that are actually detailers

delthedriver

Wow ! Mini looks like it has rolled off assembly line. Well done!:)

Gordy6040

Lovely job James.
Can I ask what you used on the wheel arches?

TheBigGreen

Great stuff as always James!

I'll be calling to you sometime later on in the year for a detail.

ShaunieVW

Sunday I finally cleaned the a3! I used Orchard Auto Care iron cleanser diluted 2 parts water to 1 part Iron cleanser, not much came up which surprised me as I hadn't done it on the a3 before, should I use a harsher mix?

Curran

Colour is the car? And by "come up" do you mean the purple reaction? How long did you leave it sit? Buy it recently or have it some time? As of its clear like water, its the first version and non-concreted, if its gold like, ahem, pi$$, the it is the concentrated version and is dilutable.

ShaunieVW

The car is grey, I bought it from yourselves in November IIRC, its clear alright! I just followed the instructions on the bottle! Yeah not a huge amount of purple reaction. I know there is some ones that simply turn purple to impress but not do much so just presumed this went about its job quietly. I remember using Iron X on my red s3 and the car turned purple but that was put on neat I think.

JAMES VTI S

Thanks again everyone, this was just a standard valet/detail, basic wash and wax followed by a valet/detail of the interior :-D

This Mini is an R56 second generation and it has fabric covered wheel arch liners, the first gen had plastic only wheel arch liners so all that was needed was a good power hose to remove and dirt, no tar removal or dressings needed on this one.

Anytime, David, do you still have the VRS ?

Curran

Shaunie, try it neat on a small area and see what the reaction is like. The lower half of the front arch between the door and wheel is usually heavily contaminated.

TheBigGreen

JAMES VTI S wrote: »

Anytime, David, do you still have the VRS ?

Yea still have it and it could do with a clean!!