S3 New Car Detail

[JR001]

I was asked to remove the £300 Supaguard sealant (about £30 for the dealer to buy!) from this 1-wk old sprint blue S3. The panels were to be machine polished with very fine Menzerna Final Finish polishes to remove the SG, tease out the gloss and to remove some very fine marring that was on every panel.

The car was nice and shiny but lacked a bit of depth and liquidity.

My mate was very fussy about the wheels and decided he wanted them off so I left that up to him. They were cleansed and sealed with JEFF'S Acrylic Prime all-in-one and given 3 further coats of acrylic sealant by means of JEFF'S Acrylic Trigger.

Tyres were dressed with 303 Aerospace Protectant.

Pre-wax cleansing was Zymol HD Cleanse and final protection was the lush Zymol Glasur 57% Carnauba wax.

Car foamed, rinsed, clayed, rinsed, dried and taped up ready for the Makita.

Before

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/jr001_2007/S3%20New%20Car%20Prep/100_2547AD.jpg

Minor marring
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/jr001_2007/S3%20New%20Car%20Prep/100_2555.jpg

Corrected
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/jr001_2007/S3%20New%20Car%20Prep/100_2556.jpg

Wheels Off
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/jr001_2007/S3%20New%20Car%20Prep/100_2567.jpg

Afters

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/jr001_2007/S3%20New%20Car%20Prep/100_2581.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/jr001_2007/S3%20New%20Car%20Prep/100_2588.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/jr001_2007/S3%20New%20Car%20Prep/100_2626.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/jr001_2007/S3%20New%20Car%20Prep/100_2625.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/jr001_2007/S3%20New%20Car%20Prep/100_2633.jpg




http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/jr001_2007/S3%20New%20Car%20Prep/100_2617AD.jpg

A cracking car to work on.

Thanks for looking,

JOHN

[tommy-cupra]

beautiful car ;)

[andywell]

Great car and what a lovely colour:D

[rogs]

That looks nice and shiny!
I find new cars all seem to have an orange peel effect to the paintwork which blurs reflections and they just dont look as shiny as they used to, even after a polish.
Is the polish you used on that one easily available and is it expensive?

[rogs]

WOW! just had a look at some of the other cars youve done, you really know your stuff.
I want to buy a buffer / polisher something with variable speed so i dont splatter paste every were but also something that will take a small polishing head to get into the curves and around the awkward bits, is there any paticular machine you would recommend with a budget of around £80 - £100?
regards
rogs

[mluton]

car porn, Nice work

[Foxysvalver]

PIMP i love those cars

[fatblokescanfly]

Lovely job.

How long did all that take you?

[JR001]

That looks nice and shiny!
I find new cars all seem to have an orange peel effect to the paintwork which blurs reflections and they just dont look as shiny as they used to, even after a polish.
Is the polish you used on that one easily available and is it expensive?

Yes, but some worse than others. The Menzerna polishes are available from some of the suppliers on detailing world. I got mine from:

http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/car-care-products-polish.html

I'd wait until you've got another £40 and go for this one:

http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/meguiars-g220-dual-action-polishing-machine-polish.html

It's a dual action, as opposed to a rotary, and can carry out some very good level correction. Unless you've used a rotary polisher on car paint before, I'd suggest starting with the DA. Personally, I kept my DA when I got my rotary and I'm glad because I still use it on some plastics and in the door sills.

Cheers,

JR

[JR001]

Thanks for the kind comments fellas.

FATBLOKESCANFLY: It was over 2 days. The car was given a 2-stage rotary polish; first stage was a cut of 4/10, gloss 9/10 polish and second stage was a cut of 1/10, gloss 10/10 polish. The first stage removes minor swirls and scuffs and contamination that can't be seen by the eye. It was also required to remove the unwanted 'Supaguard' product that the dealers insist on applying.

After the polishing stage, the surface was deep cleansed with a good cleanser which glazed the surface in readiness for the 57% high-grade carnauba wax protection. This final stage took 3 hours alone. The level of finish is 95% due to the level of surface prep. The cleansing and wax just give the paint that extra bit of warmth, depth and glow.

Hope this has been helpful.:D