-Mat-
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Registered: 13th Aug 10
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Another one to share from about 12months ago
So then, this is a detail that I did on Thursday. This was arranged through a friend, and it was to do his mates Arden Blue Vauxhall Corsa VXR. Nice I thought. I know that the colour looks mint when cleaned up.
The plan was to give it just an "Enhancement Detail". Nothing major, nice simple wash, clay, polish/cleanse and wax. I was already told that there wouldn't be any chance of a PW as there was no hose access due to doing the detail outside their offices.
So then, I arrived expecting to find your "average" dirty car. How wrong I was! :doublesho
Note the buckets of clean water
So, not quiet what I expected. He said he had took inspiration from my Land Rover Defender detail last month. Looks like he not only took inspiration, but that he thought he WAS a Defender
I started off by soaking one wheel at a time with AS Very Cherry. Oh, I must say, I forgot my Vigan and Megs Gold Glass wheel brushes :wall: But luckily had some small one, and noodle mitts.
So I tried my best without a PW. Started on the drivers front wheel, and pulled out a few lumps of clay from the arch.
Here's the water after one wheel, and one wipe of the arch! Yes, just ONE small wipe of the arch.
Leaving about half inch of grit in the bottom:
At this point, I was getting concerned with scratching the paint around the arches, and also the dirt down the side. I had noticed upon arrival that there was a Jet station with a PW about half a mile up the road. So I had a word with the owner, and he let me take it up there just to rinse the car down and blast the arches.... Just used the cheapest (£2.50) cycle which gave me about 5 mins shampoo and probably 5 mins rinse. Don't worry, I did'y use their "brush on a stick"
I had also soaked all the lower panels, wheels, arches etc with Surfex HD at about 5-10% for about 5 mins before setting off to the Jet Wash.
So, back at the office, and the car was now looking like this after a good rinsing.
Now all of that mess was sorted out, let's crack on with the job in hand...
The car (including shuts etc) was washed using 2 Chemical Guy buckets with Grit Guards, Dodo Juice BTBM Shampoo and a lambswool mitt. Then dried using an Ultra Plush Drying Towel from Rubbish Boys.
The paintwork didn't feel too bad. There were spots of tar, but I didn't want to use Tardis for these as I like to give a thorough rinse after using that stuff, but that wasn't possible.
I decided to go ahead with BH Auto Clay and plain old water as "lube"...
After the roof & bonnet
After the passenger side
Drivers side
The clay picked up the tar spots rather well...
Just as I was about to finish the claying process, the owner had popped out to see how things were getting on. He asked if anything could be done with the fog light surrounds as they were looking slightly oxidised/water stained.
Seeing as I had clay in hand, I gave it a go, it shifted a bit of the mess. I folloed this up with a MF and Mark V Uno. Here's the results
before
after
before
after
After the claying stage, the car was given a treatment of Dodo Juice Lime Prime to try and reduce the swirl appearance...
Then onto the grills. These were tricky due to their shape, and also the fact that a lot of dirty water had dried within them
Before
After
50/50
The car was then waxed using Dodo Juice Orange Crush. I got a Panel Pot of this at GTi Inters a few months back, and this was the first time I used it (or and Dodo Juice soft wax for that matter). Went on very nicely, and a small amount spread a long way.
The windows were cleaned using Mark V Window Sheen, tyres dressed with my recent purchse of Megs Tyre Endurance Gel, window rubbers and plastice dressed with AS High Style and the wheels were protected with PB Wheel Sealant.
So, here's some final pictures:
Think that that's about it....
Thanks for reading,
Mat
:thumb:
C&C as always
Here's a few "arty farty" pictures I played around with in Photoshop
My favourite:
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gavin18787
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Feb 05
Location: Basildon, Essex
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Looks good, brave man in these cold climets.
Certainly got his money worth giving it to you like that
Drives supercharged Tec with torque
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-Mat-
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Registered: 13th Aug 10
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Doesn't he just know it! Did it outside his work, so had no PW, and had to take it to local Jet Wash to rinse most the crap off
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noshua
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Registered: 19th Nov 08
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Looks nice and shiny...
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BarnshaW
Member
Registered: 25th Oct 06
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looks good but why not just pressure wash off those massive lumps of clay and save putting all that shit in the bucket
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-Mat-
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Registered: 13th Aug 10
User status: Offline
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read the thread......
No pressure washer to hand, so I took it to a near by Jet Wash (in fact, I stated that 3 posts up )
Edit: even if I did have a PW available, I would have "scooped" most of the crap off anyway to avoid the risk of flying debris scratching the car, and paint on the lip of the arches
[Edited on 28-12-2010 by -mat-]
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DansCorsaSXi
Organiser: Yorkshire Premium Member
Registered: 13th Jan 10
Location: Worksop
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Looks spot on mate
Star silver C20XE SXi Project thread
Smoke Grey Corsa GSi Project thread
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mattk
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Registered: 27th Feb 06
Location: St. Helens
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missed a bit... inside the wheel where the old wheel weight has been
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-Mat-
Member
Registered: 13th Aug 10
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yeah I know Didn't have any tardis to get it off
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mattk
Member
Registered: 27th Feb 06
Location: St. Helens
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i was only kidding, done a cracking job
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-Mat-
Member
Registered: 13th Aug 10
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Cheers fella..... Although the adhesive does let the wheels down. Oh well, this was done over a year ago..... Plenty learned since then
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alan t
Member
Registered: 3rd Sep 06
Location: edinburgh
User status: Offline
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good results mate.
arden blue is a lovely colour when its clean like that
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Robin
Premium Member
Registered: 7th Jan 04
Location: Northants Drives: Clio 182 Cup
User status: Offline
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I probably would have spent the money fixing the osf wheel arch rather than having the car washed.
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