Today I did some detailing...

Mc Love

Well that sucks - really wish I had a garage!

Stallingrad

Mc Love wrote: »

Well that sucks - really wish I had a garage!

Preferably in another country!

ianobrien

Ive finally finished the long overdue detail on the motorhome. The process was

1. Bilt Hamber Auto-foam snowfoam, diluted about 1:8 and allowed to dwell for 10 minutes.
2. 2BW with AG Shampoo, roof included.
3. Tar-X in the paint but not on any graphics and washed again
4. Bilt Hamber Korrisol fallout remover and not on any graphics. Washed again.
5. Clayed with a claycloth and the usual home made lube (4 parts water to 1 part Fairy washing up liquid?
6. CarPro Eraser on paint but not on graphics. The label said it could be used to remove stickers so I kept it well clear of the graphics.
7. Two coats of Collinite 845, applied two days apart. Buffed by hand (me left shoulder is still half numb)
8. Wheels were Bilt Hamber Autowheels, wheel woolies and Bilt Hamber Surfix on the back of the wheeltrims. Wheels had AG EGP and CarPro PERL diluted 1:3 on the wheeltrims. Tyres were Orchard Tyre Glitz.
9. Windows were AG Fast Glass on the glass and CarPro PERL 1:5 on the motorhome windows. Buffing was needed after the PERL.
10. Plastics which included rubbing strips, rear bumper, rear step, front grill, fridge vents, toilet door, water filler and external 220V socket done with CarPro PERL 1:3. The mudflaps were also done in the same way.

The (poor) photos (camera phone and fading light)







The attempt at protecting the paint before PERL was applied

punisher5112

Should really wrap the whole thing in paper....

Only messing it's some bus.

Fair play some work put in.

leupold90

Gave the car a maintenance wash yesterday. I used Pearl Rain gloss enhancer shampoo which I had a sample bottle of - and used some Chemical Guys Afterwash when drying.

ianobrien

punisher5112 wrote: »

Should really wrap the whole thing in paper....

Only messing it's some bus.

Fair play some work put in.

All I've left is the bike rack (aluminium so I'm not too sure what to do, Collinite maybe), awning (Collinite I recon but ladders are needed for access) and dash. I've the interior timber done with Lord Sheraton silicone free furniture polish. Quite a lot of furniture polishes contain Silicone and they can leave a blotchy finish (and the residual silicone are almost impossible to remove from timber)

Its not often you'll find mentions of furniture polish in an automotive detailing forum!

Foxhole Norman

Gave my buddies E46 some prep for a wedding at the weekend, he got an M3 interior for it recently and got it retrimmed in a savage orange, I have it now coated with Dye Blok.

E39MSport

3M finesse stick, fine paper, DA with Sonus #2.

Bandito909

E39MSport wrote: »

3M finesse stick, fine paper, DA with Sonus #2.

What's 3m finesse stick?

edburg

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

Gave my buddies E46 some prep for a wedding at the weekend, he got an M3 interior for it recently and got it retrimmed in a savage orange, I have it now coated with Dye Blok.

Orange????

That not tan or has camera fooled me. It is great looking, reading the orange bit I was expecting bright ford asbo orange seats

micks_address

Snow foam, 2bm wash then colinite.. Didn't need to clay as only did 8 weeks ago... Wheels dressed with meguiars.. No point posting pictures as nothing you haven't seen before.. Good Saturday workout...

vintagevrs

That E46 is class. Really nice/tasteful mods on it. An Eisenmann exhaust on a diesel, who knew!

ronnie3585

After spending 8 hours on the car today, giving it a two stage paint correction, I have a whole new level of respect for professional detailers.

I took the plunge during detailingshed's recent sale and bought a Das 6 Pro, CarPro Fixer and Essence and CarPro's Flash, Orange and Gloss pads.

The car's a black Mk6 GTi which had some very bad swirls and holograms after years of cosmetic neglect from its previous owner. I washed, clayed and decontaminated the car last night so I could start the polishing first thing this morning. I started with Fixer on the Orange pad. Being a complete novice I was a little apprehensive to begin with but I took it slow and soon got the hang of it. They were a good combination and cut through the swirls very well, however the pad gunked up very easily and had to be cleaned after every pass. Fixer did the job however it produced an unholy amount of dust. By the time I was done it looked like Tony Montana had sneezed over the car! I used the Flash pad too for some deeper swirls and scratches and it worked a charm.

Once I'd finished compounding (which took almost 5 hours!) I gave the car a wipe down and moved on to the polishing using the Gloss pad and Essence. I had read a lot of the hype about Essence and I'm glad to report that it lives up to it. In comparison to the compounding, it was a joy to do and the results were fantastic. Once finished, I had to give the car a blast of the power hose to remove the dust from the rubbers and seals, after a dry with the MF towel the car was gleaming.

Part two will commence tomorrow morning - two coats of CQuartz UK and then I'll top it off with Reload. Quick question for the experts here - the car will be wet come morning, either rain or dew, is it okay to dry it off with the MF towel and fire straight into the CQuartz, or should I give it a wipe down with Eraser first?

As for the obligatory pictures...there was very little light by the time I finished so pictures were useless, but I'll take a few tomorrow and stick them up!

micks_address

ronnie3585 wrote: »

After spending 8 hours on the car today, giving it a two stage paint correction, I have a whole new level of respect for professional detailers.

I took the plunge during detailingshed's recent sale and bought a Das 6 Pro, CarPro Fixer and Essence and CarPro's Flash, Orange and Gloss pads.

The car's a black Mk6 GTi which had some very bad swirls and holograms after years of cosmetic neglect from its previous owner. I washed, clayed and decontaminated the car last night so I could start the polishing first thing this morning. I started with Fixer on the Orange pad. Being a complete novice I was a little apprehensive to begin with but I took it slow and soon got the hang of it. They were a good combination and cut through the swirls very well, however the pad gunked up very easily and had to be cleaned after every pass. Fixer did the job however it produced an unholy amount of dust. By the time I was done it looked like Tony Montana had sneezed over the car! I used the Flash pad too for some deeper swirls and scratches and it worked a charm.

Once I'd finished compounding (which took almost 5 hours!) I gave the car a wipe down and moved on to the polishing using the Gloss pad and Essence. I had read a lot of the hype about Essence and I'm glad to report that it lives up to it. In comparison to the compounding, it was a joy to do and the results were fantastic. Once finished, I had to give the car a blast of the power hose to remove the dust from the rubbers and seals, after a dry with the MF towel the car was gleaming.

Part two will commence tomorrow morning - two coats of CQuartz UK and then I'll top it off with Reload. Quick question for the experts here - the car will be wet come morning, either rain or dew, is it okay to dry it off with the MF towel and fire straight into the CQuartz, or should I give it a wipe down with Eraser first?

As for the obligatory pictures...there was very little light by the time I finished so pictures were useless, but I'll take a few tomorrow and stick them up!

Love to hear more... Never used a polisher... Or compound or essence

MetzgerMeister

Ronnie, if the pad was gunking up, you were putting too much polish on the pad. Too much polish can be as bad as too little and can decrease the cutting ability of the pad. 4 small dots on the pad is all you should need when working on an area say 3 times the size of the pad. Better off to concentrate on smaller areas and not get carried away.

ronnie3585

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Ronnie, if the pad was gunking up, you were putting too much polish on the pad. Too much polish can be as bad as too little and can decrease the cutting ability of the pad. 4 small dots on the pad is all you should need when working on an area say 3 times the size of the pad. Better off to concentrate on smaller areas and not get carried away.

I was only using about three pea size blobs of polish on a 2ft x 2ft area. I cut back thinking I was using too much but it didn't really stop the pad gunking up.

Curran

Ronnie, when the morning moisture is gone from the air, dry the car off fully, and I'd give it another 30 mins before starting into it.

*Kol*

What about topping up reload? I put on reload a week or two ago but I feel it could do with another coat.

Foxhole Norman

edburg wrote: »

Orange????

That not tan or has camera fooled me. It is great looking, reading the orange bit I was expecting bright ford asbo orange seats

It is a tan but it's a very orange tan, I love it!

vintagevrs wrote: »

That E46 is class. Really nice/tasteful mods on it. An Eisenmann exhaust on a diesel, who knew!

Eisenmann was a special order, very rare they do a diesel one. Not much noise difference but looks the business!

Curran

*Kol* wrote: »

What about topping up reload? I put on reload a week or two ago but I feel it could do with another coat.

It shouldnt be needing a top up already if you applied it neat or 1:1.
By any chance are you using something that is interfering with the surface, and thus how water sits on the car. For example, a shampoo with gloss enhancers will become the top layer on the car, and water will react to this, not the Reload, which is beneath, still doing its job in terms of protection, but not in terms of how water beads / how easy it is to keep clean and clean, etc.

What shampoo / snowfoam are you using?

*Kol*

Curran wrote: »

It shouldnt be needing a top up already if you applied it neat or 1:1.
By any chance are you using something that is interfering with the surface, and thus how water sits on the car. For example, a shampoo with gloss enhancers will become the top layer on the car, and water will react to this, not the Reload, which is beneath, still doing its job in terms of protection, but not in terms of how water beads / how easy it is to keep clean and clean, etc.

What shampoo / snowfoam are you using?

Morning. I am using reset. I just feel I used so little of the reload. There is hardly an inch of it gone from the bottle.

Curran

That's all that's really needed. It's a very powerful product. 3 mists per panel the size of a door, for example.

*Kol*

Grand. That's what I used. I put it on the windscreen but it wasn't as good as Hydro2 was. That's probably what made me doubt it.

ronnie3585

I finished coating the car in CQuartz and Reload this afternoon - my right arm is about to fall off!!

I'm extremely impressed with the finish, it's hugely glossy. The CQuartz required more elbow grease than I expected. Reload was lovely to work with, very easy on and off and buffed up a beautiful shine.

Last question for the experts - the CQuartz package says to remove any water for the first 24hrs. The car's outside, while there's no rain forecast for tonight, I assume it will be covered in dew come morning given the dip in temps we'll see over night. I've read a lot of differing opinions online about whether water needs to be removed after the first couple of hours and would be interested in peoples' opinions on this here. I've no problem giving it a wipe with the MF towel first thing in the morning, just don't want to waste my time if it really isn't (the neighbours already think I'm mental!)

Curran

No need to dry it if you will be driving it!
Personally, Id dry it, Id hate to waste all that effort and potentially not achieve maximum performance!

Arbo94

ronnie3585 wrote: »

I finished coating the car in CQuartz and Reload this afternoon - my right arm is about to fall off!!

I'm extremely impressed with the finish, it's hugely glossy. The CQuartz required more elbow grease than I expected. Reload was lovely to work with, very easy on and off and buffed up a beautiful shine.

Last question for the experts - the CQuartz package says to remove any water for the first 24hrs. The car's outside, while there's no rain forecast for tonight, I assume it will be covered in dew come morning given the dip in temps we'll see over night. I've read a lot of differing opinions online about whether water needs to be removed after the first couple of hours and would be interested in peoples' opinions on this here. I've no problem giving it a wipe with the MF towel first thing in the morning, just don't want to waste my time if it really isn't (the neighbours already think I'm mental!)

Can I pm you about this I have a few questions

ronnie3585

Arbo94 wrote: »

Can I pm you about this I have a few questions

Absolutely, feel free.

Curran wrote: »

No need to dry it if you will be driving it!
Personally, Id dry it, Id hate to waste all that effort and potentially not achieve maximum performance!

Cheers Curran - I'll give it a wipe in the morning.

Here's a before pic I took a few weeks ago which kinds of shows the damage, as you can see loads of nasty swirls and holograms:



Here's an after, it was very dull and the light was fading so it's not a very good photo. I'll stick up some better ones once we get a bit of sun. The paint is hyper-glossy and has a mirror finish all over. I'm happy to report the virtually all of the damage in the first photo is gone, save for some deeper hairline scratches that I wasn't brave enough to keep compounding.

Curran

Very nice work indeed Ronnie!

Ded_Zebra

I guess I'll be speaking out of turn here and what I have to say will go down like a sh!te sandwich but here goes anyway.

I just don't "get" that E46 320D at all... I mean he clearly spend thousands on the interior/retrim and wheels and exhaust and the bodywork. At the end of it he's still left with a 320D for M3 money . Also spends loads of money on cosmetics but has the cheapest ****tiest tyres possible on it

Fur coat and all that.

micks_address

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Absolutely, feel free.



Cheers Curran - I'll give it a wipe in the morning.

Here's a before pic I took a few weeks ago which kinds of shows the damage, as you can see loads of nasty swirls and holograms:



Here's an after, it was very dull and the light was fading so it's not a very good photo. I'll stick up some better ones once we get a bit of sun. The paint is hyper-glossy and has a mirror finish all over. I'm happy to report the virtually all of the damage in the first photo is gone, save for some deeper hairline scratches that I wasn't brave enough to keep compounding.

Amazing results fair play

Curran

Ohhhh DZ, controversial :P

I can see this going like a certian Celica thread :P Im getting the popcorn!

I know where you are coming from - but its his car, his money and if he's happy, then Im happy for him! Perhaps its a keeper, and the value he'll get from the money invested over a number of years, will be that he's in a very nice cabin!

Foxhole Norman

Ded_Zebra wrote: »

I guess I'll be speaking out of turn here and what I have to say will go down like a sh!te sandwich but here goes anyway.

I just don't "get" that E46 320D at all... I mean he clearly spend thousands on the interior/retrim and wheels and exhaust and the bodywork. At the end of it he's still left with a 320D for M3 money . Also spends loads of money on cosmetics but has the cheapest ****tiest tyres possible on it

Fur coat and all that.

Mainly because he doesn't need nor want an M3. The 320D is more than enough for him, he doesn't like to take short cuts and has expensive taste, i.e, the interior/exhaust etc. Regarding the tyres, that's what came on the wheels when he got them, they were a package deal and he's had no problems with them so hasn't changed them out.

Toyotafanboi

Curran wrote: »

I can see this going like a certian Celica thread :P Im getting the popcorn!

You're still thinking about it

In fairness, it's a valid point. Eisenmann exhaust, full leather retrim, €€€'s clearly being spunked at the car, not that there is anything wrong with that...

But a pair of "Goform Zonda" tyres on the business end of a semi powerful RWD car where the owner clearly isn't afraid of spending money at the very least suggests that they have their priorities wrong.

Those colour coded floor mats will do you no favours when you lose the back end on a damp roundabout.

Each to their own, but it makes sense if nothing else.

Foxhole Norman

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

But a pair of "Goform Zonda" tyres on the business end of a semi powerful RWD car where the owner clearly isn't afraid of spending money at the very least suggests that they have their priorities wrong.

Those colour coded floor mats will do you no favours when you lose the back end on a damp roundabout.

Each to their own, but it makes sense if nothing else.

He's had those tyres on for over a year now through winter and all with no problems, if he says they're grand I take his word for it. I certainly didn't think they were bad for grip when I drove it on a wet day!

Toyotafanboi

It wouldn't be for me anyway. No name tyres are generally very poor from what i've experienced, but that's a whole other thread.

Maybe i've been reading CIP4's posts too much, but i'd rather have the car 110% mechanically before I go at the visuals.

Visually it's a very striking car though and I suppose that's the point of this thread

Foxhole Norman

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

It wouldn't be for me anyway. No name tyres are generally very poor from what i've experienced, but that's a whole other thread.

Maybe i've been reading CIP4's posts too much, but i'd rather have the car 110% mechanically before I go at the visuals.

Visually it's a very striking car though and I suppose that's the point of this thread

I'm the same, and I say it to him about the tyres all the time! This car is mechanically sound, there's nothing wrong with it, everything that was faulty is replaced with BMW dealer parts generally. Entire suspension, nut and bolt refresh, discs and Ceramic pads, remanufactured Garret Turbo, everything this car needed it got in a week of a fault showing.

ianobrien

Getting the thread back on topic and away from the handbags. Did a few jobs to the Escort. First was a coolant change.



Thank heavens it's standard suspension allows for a bucket to fit under the front with no jack needed.

Then followed a prewash with Bilt Hamber Auto-foam, 2 bucket wash with AG shampoo, drying and some AG Rapid Detailer. Interior was a good hoover and AG Fast Glass on plastics, vinyl and glass.








Pushing it back into the garage.....






In case you are wondering, no the Chloras is not used to clean the cars.

Also, I found out that no matter how much you scrub the vinyl roof and old window rubbers, the Dry-me-Crazy STILL gets filty!

edburg

Although I agree skimping on tyres would be a no no for me. The changes your man has done are his vision and his choice.

He could look at a comment like that say what boring unimaginative person that person is or perhaps looks at those going clubbing spending 100+ euro getting drunk and waking up with headache face down in toilet and food poisoning from kebab shop and think what a bunch of muppets etc etc

World be a boring place if we were all the same.

vectra

Great job on the Golf Ronnie.
As for drying off the Dew in the morning?
I personally wouldnt.
I did mine outdoors an it worked out fine.
I would be fearfull of dust mising with the dew and you know what happens when you wipe that

Foxhole Norman

I gave this Transporter an exterior decontamination and sealed it with Fusso this afternoon, sorted for the coming Winter months, the paint was a bit dull beforehand.

















His VRS Octavia is next

Ryath

Few hours work sealing the wheels of the new bus with Dlux. Spent a few hours Saturday cleaning the two cars, Bilt Hamber SnowFoam, 2BW, Korrosol fallout remover and Bilt Hamber autowheel. So paint is pretty clean now and wheel face clean.

So time time to tackle the wheels properly, first time putting a car on stands in several years!


Barrels were bad seems like lot of the wax sealant on under carriage ended up on them as well. Looked even worse in the flesh


So Snow Foam, scrub and autowheel they were good!




Ready to dry and final wipe with Carpro Eraser before applying DLux


Finished Wheel





Also did some of the trim and grill



Very happy with the results hopefully it works as promised. Didn't take as long as I feared either about 4hrs with out killing myself. (Applying the Dlux to the wheels on the kitchen table made it a little easier ) Plan now tomorrow to do Cquartz on the paint if I have the time and energy. Assuming I better clay the car first?

Was wondering about the mirrors Dlux or Cquartz? They have a very shiny finish. Also what to use on the rubber trim around the doors?


Good practise before I tackle my wifes Leon as I had put it of and hadn't got all the products to do it. Have kept it fairly clean so shouldn't need to much prep. Taking of the wheels is not as daunting as I feared and I'll see how long it takes tomorrow to do the Cquartz on the Zafira. Hopefully I can get it all done in one day at the weekend.

Just to add a thanks to Curran for all his advice and Detailing Sheds great customer service. Will have to put in another order to get a few more bits. Need more suede applicators at the very least.

ianobrien

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

I gave this Transporter an exterior decontamination and sealed it with Fusso this afternoon, sorted for the coming Winter months, the paint was a bit dull beforehand.

(Loads and loads of pics I'm not going to quote)

His VRS Octavia is next

A clean work can like that does inspire confidence that the person takes pride in their machinery and by extension, their work. If the owner takes such care of their van, they'll (probably) take such care when doing work for me as a paying customer, maybe!

Edit, ignore the thumbs down at the top. I don't know how it got there (fat finger maybe) but I can't get rid of it!

Curran

Great work Ryath!

Cquartz on the shiney black surface on the mirrors, DLUX on the window rubbers!

Foxhole Norman

Got around to giving the VRS a coating this afternoon after work, had gotten very dull from various contaminants, especially Iron!















Finished Product:

ronnie3585

I'm growing more and more impressed with the CQuartz/Reload combo as the days go by. The car looks fantastic, the depth of the gloss is like nothing I've seen before with polish and wax. The hydrophobic qualities are superb. It was covered with a thick layer of dew this morning, by the time I got to work it had completely sheeted off most of the car - the roof and bonnet were bone dry!

Here's a picture of it in the setting sun, it doesn't really capture the depth of gloss but it gives a good idea;

Foxhole Norman

Was able to tackle my buddies previously unloved E39 over the last two days. I spent two days compounding and refining the paintwork, the lights and bumper trims were removed and restored along with all the shadow line window and mirror trims. The wheels and tyres were cleaned, de-ironed, de-tared and dressed. The interior received a thorough valet with new BMW mats fitted and the engine bay was cleaned and dressed.

The exterior was in a poor state for a car with only 88k miles on the clock!

Stallingrad

Epic job Foxhole!

conzy

Its like a new car! Didnt think anything could be done with that swirly bumper!

Bigus

Nice reg plate

Foxhole Norman

Cheers lads, I was surprised with how the bumpers came out, the rear is torn to bits and the front was heavily swirled.