Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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I was originally contacted by the client a few weeks ago - he had just purchased the car from a Mercedes dealer, and had paid for the StarGard paint sealant to be applied. However, upon delivery, he was dismayed at the overall appearance of the car, and the obvious lack of preparation prior to the StarGard being applied.
Due to how sunny it was last weekend (when the detail was carried out) the photos don't really depict just how dull and lifeless the paint appeared -with the metallic flake struggling to 'pop'
The car is a daily driver, and lives outside, so imho mild or major paint correction would be a waste of the clients money, and my time. Instead we opted for a customised version of my enhancement detail to drastically improve the overall appearance of the car, whilst leaving plenty of scope for future work should it be required.
The car upon arrival:
The roof was cleaned & reproofed first, using the Autoglym convertible kit:
Re-proofer applied and left to dry.
Tyres & arches were cleaned & degreased with the new formula Autosmart G101:
Wheels were cleaned with Autosmart Smart Wheels and various brushes.
Door shuts were cleaned with G101 too.
Paintwork foamed with Autosmart G101 to aid removal of the StarGard (although there was very little sign of it's presence anyway!) and rinsed off after a couple of minutes to prevent it drying and staining the paintwork.
Washed via the 2 bucket method using ValetPro concentrated car shampoo.
Decontaminated in 3 stages using CarPro Iron X, Autosmart Tardis and the new medium grade Bilt Hamber clay (awesome stuff)
allowing us to assess the true condition of the paintwork:
Trim taped, and roof covered, it was time to experiment with pad & polish combo's - I settled with Scholl S17+ on a 3M yellow pad, using the new 3M rotary (big thanks to Matt @ i4detailing for super quick delivery!) which yielded good results:
50/50:
Corrected shots:
Before:
After:
Paintwork was refined by Stu using the DAS-6 Pro with Meguiars 205 on a Chemical Guys Green Hexlogic pad, and later prepped for Zaino using Chemical Guys EZ Creme Glaze.
1 coat of Zaino Z2 was applied, left to cure and buffed off, before calling it a day for day 1:
The next day, the car was refoamed with ValetPro Citrus pre wash to remove the very small amount of dust that had settled overnight, and to rid the shuts of the previous days polishing dust:
and rinsed:
cue some arty beading shots:
Dried, and given a Z6 wipedown:
Stu set about the interior. A thorough hoover:
folllowed by cleaning & conditioning the leather with Dr Leather wipes, and wiping down all plastics with Meguiars APC:
whilst I applied a further 2 coats of Zaino Z2, with Z6 wipe downs inbetween:
Final touches were addressed:
Cotton bud & Carlack NSC:
No need for them to be getting any further advertising!:
Plastics dressed with Aerospace 303 protectant:
Wheels were sealed with FinishKare FK1000P, Tyres dressed with FinishKare Top Kote Tire dressing. Exhausts polished with Autosol, Glass sealed with Carlack glass sealant, Arches dressed with Autosmart Rubber & Plastic.
Final Z8 wipedown left the following results, after some 21 hours hard graft:
Certainly looking a lot more lively and reflective. A few deeper swirl& RDS remain, but now looking a lot less defect free :thumb:
And a video write up too - the original aim was to do a full timelapse video, but due to parking arrangements on the drive, this didn't pan out as hoped. Still something a little bit different to my usual photographic reports :thumb:
http://youtu.be/8qYfiOzjGoU?hd=1
Thanks for looking,
Rich
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taylorboosh
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
User status: Offline
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good work as usual, much prefer your posts to the pb ones, they are so fucking anal and never look any better than your work
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Nath
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 02
Location: MK
User status: Offline
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I'd be fuming if I bought a Porsche and it looked as bad as that upon collection.
Nice work as usual.
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Ian W
Member
Registered: 8th Nov 03
Location: Wirral, Merseyside
User status: Offline
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Looks very good 
Guy in work has a Boxster S, stunning cars.
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VegasPhil
Premium Member
Registered: 16th Jan 05
Location: Fareham, Hants Drives: Octavia VRS
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You are fucking good at your job dude. You must be getting heaps of repeat business now.
Well done. Another excellent job. 
Corsa 2.0 16v Vegas - Sold
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taylorboosh
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
User status: Offline
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the thing is if he goes in with a cba attitude once and does a shit job his rep will be fucked...
not something i could keep up
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Tomnova16
Premium Member
Registered: 21st Jan 06
Location: Gerrards Cross Drives: Porsche 911
User status: Offline
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Never seen those wheels before. Quite nice
oh and top work as always mr detail
http://www.lemass.co.uk/ for all your automotive/bodyshop needs
Located in Chalfont st Peter
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gooner_47
Member
Registered: 20th Jul 04
Location: Bexhill/Croydon
User status: Offline
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Looks great. How are you able to do the cars in direct sunlight? Is it only bad to let them dry out that way, as long as you keep it wet you're alright?
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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john-d - cheers, although please don't bring PB into this - I'm not trying to / want to be compared to them or see them get slated
Nath - Cheers, this was a used car on a Merc forecourt, but regardless, should have been prepped better. That's the problem with contract valeters though!
Ian - Cheers! Yeh despite being the 'poor mans Porsche' I quite like them!
Phil - Aww thanks mate! Yeh repeat custom is what I'm doing a large % of the time!
Tom - No I hadn't either - nice and easy to clean though! 
gooner_47 - Cheers. You can work on a car in direct sunlight if you work quickly and use the right products etc. It's not ideal, but needs must - otherwise I wouldn't work in the summer due to the sun, and the winter due to the rain and snow 
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Brett
Premium Member
Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
User status: Offline
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Good work as usual, Rich
I'm gonna go make a hilarious piss take in mspaint.
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Ingham
Banned
Registered: 9th May 08
Location: Burnley, Lancashire
User status: Offline
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Same as Nath, I'd be fuming if I paid for something like that and it wasn't even done reyt! 
Work looks brilliant as usual, lovely depth in some of the photos!
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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The bit I felt most sorry for was the client paid an extra ~£400 for the StarGard paint sealant which I then had to strip off!
StarGard is also about as useful as a chocolate teapot tbh!
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Ingham
Banned
Registered: 9th May 08
Location: Burnley, Lancashire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Rich H
The bit I felt most sorry for was the client paid an extra ~£400 for the StarGard paint sealant which I then had to strip off!
StarGard is also about as useful as a chocolate teapot tbh!
Yeah but you get what you pay for and I'm sure your protection is miles better. [/asslicking]
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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I was cheaper than the StarGard!
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Ingham
Banned
Registered: 9th May 08
Location: Burnley, Lancashire
User status: Offline
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Win all around then  but I still understand how the bloke must feel having to take a £400 protection off and then having to pay more. How much would something like this cost if you don't mind me asking?
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Definitely - I think he was planning on going back to Mercedes to complain, but have a feeling they'll show no interest now I've gone and done it properly ( I did warn him that btw!)
I don't like to discuss prices too much tbh, but I'll make an exception this time now I've said I was cheaper than the Stargard This was £380.
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Ingham
Banned
Registered: 9th May 08
Location: Burnley, Lancashire
User status: Offline
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They won't even pay attention to him tbh. Oh and fair enough, should have just PM'd me
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big eck
Member
Registered: 20th Apr 03
Location: Tullibody. Drives - Audi B8 S4 & Fiesta Zetec-S
User status: Offline
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*EDIT*
just seen your price, £380 aint to shabby
[Edited on 15-04-2011 by big eck]
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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 2 posts up
That's including paying extra for the roof clean & reproof and Zaino LSP upgrade too
[Edited on 15-04-2011 by Rich H]
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andys sxi
Premium Member
Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Chester Drives:Scirocco tdi bluemotion
User status: Offline
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i love reading these posts, your work is always good
April 08 feature car
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Jambo
Member
Registered: 8th Sep 01
Location: Maidenhead, Drives: VXR Arctic
User status: Offline
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Very nice Rich, those pipes are solo chromey[/magpie]
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Cheers guys.
The client is pretty up on keeping his cars clean already, so will be predominantly maintained by him, although I will be revisiting it from time to time for protection top up's
That's Stu's handy work on the exhausts - he loves to make them as shiny as possible
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Jake
Member
Registered: 24th Jan 05
User status: Offline
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what did he reckon to the car once you finished? i think you should get a video of their reaction like when someone walks into a suprise party
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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From an email earlier when I sent him a link to the video and confirmed a booking for another of his cars:
"Richard you did a great job on the Boxster"
He was happy with it on the day though - some people's reactions are brilliant, others barely show any signs of what they think
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Jake
Member
Registered: 24th Jan 05
User status: Offline
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i didnt know your name was richard mate i thought it was rich
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