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Seat Leon TDi - Dark Blue Metallic

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  • Seat Leon TDi - Dark Blue Metallic

    This is another Krankies detail - both Bryan and me working on this one with Dave's (the owner) help too! :thumb:

    The car on arrival was very clean:



    Closer inspection of the paint however revealed swirling which was robbing the finish of a good gloss, so the task in hand was to remove the swirls and get this cracking colour looking as good as we could.

    First off, after a rinse down with the Karcher, Bryan applied Autoglym Powermax3 through the foam gun on the Karcher...



    Bryan also used APC on the arches to clean and dressed later in the process with Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care. Wheels were cleaned with APC, then Chemical Guys Blue Rim Cleaner.

    After TFR and rinse, I set to washing the car with Meguiars #00 Hi Tech Wash using a sheepskin washmitt and the two bucket method to show the car owner the safe washing techniques. The car was then rinsed by Bryan using the Karcher and I dried the car using a Meguiars Water Magnet...

    At this stage, the rain was threatening, so we moved the car into the garage for the claying. Using Meguiars Mirror Glaze Mild (blue) clay, both Dave and myself set to claying the car using Last Touch as a lube while Bryan masked the car up. There was only mild contamination on this car, but the clay ensured a glassy finish to the paint.

    Once clayed, out with the Brinkmann to have a close look at the swirls...









    Medium swirling, heavy in places - and this was Seat paint (VAG group) so I suspected that it would be hard. So I aimed to use the Makita rotary on this one - out with the PTG to measure the paint thickness. With a consistent 120um+ plus of paint over the entire car, with the lowest readings being patches of 115um, I decided the rotary would be a safe way to go to remove the defects...

    My weapon of choice here was Menzerna Intensive Polish (PO85RD3.01) on a Meguiars W8006 Polishing pad. This was spread at 600rpm, then two or three passes at 900rpm then two or three passes at 1200rpm and a final couple of passes at 1500rpm. At this stage the polish bloomed nicely and began to go clear so I stopped and wiped off the residue. 95% of the defects had been removed: all of the swilrs, and some of the deeper marks, only isoltaed deeper scracthes remained. After discussion with Dave on the merits of full 100% defect removal and the merits of keeping a large quantity of clear, it was decided to run with the full swirl removal but leave the isolated deeper scratches that looked like cat clat claw marks. So Power Gloss and cutting pads were left in the box. :thumb:

    The finish from the IP alone was very good, but I decided to refine this further using the PC and Menzerna Final Finish (PO85RD) on a Meguiars W8006 Polishing Pad and this brought up a great gloss and a swirl free finish:





    So, after performing this on the test spot and agreeing with Dave that he was satisfied with the finish, I proceeded to remove the defects using IP on the Makita while Bryan followed with FF on the PC. Dave also had a shot of applying the Final Finish on the PC with Bryan, as Bry talked him through how to use the PC, and he soon became comfortable using the PC. :thumb: Small areas and plastic bumpers were cut in using a 4" pad on the PC.

    Once the finish had had defects removed, it was then time to add some wettness and gloss to the shine. For this, I chose Chemical Guys E~Z Glaze applied by PC using a Sonus DAS Green pad - spread at speed 3, two passes at speed 3, and three passes at speed 5. Remove with Cobra Microfibre, and this brought out a nice wet gloss to the finish - some reflections after the EZ:





    and Bryan working the PC:



    To top off the finish, I opted for Chemical Guys Instawax followed by XXX. I spread the Instawax onto the paint using a Meguiars Ultimate Wipe and let it dry to a haze. Then sprayed with some last touch and applied XXX over the residue using the PC and a W9006 Meguiars Finishing pad. Residue buffed off with a Cobra microfibre.

    This resulted in some nice tree refelctions.... pity the sun wasn't out to show the colour off at its best, but we can't have everything :









    Bryan and Dave cleaned the glass inside and out using Meguiars Glass Concentrate to clean, followed by Autoglym Glass Polish to give a nice finish. The wheels were waxed with Chemical Guys Instawax, tyres with Optimum Tyre Shine and trim with Meguiars #38.

    The completed car:















    Many thanks to Dave for coming up to Dundee today for the detail. I had a really enjoyable day working on this car!
    "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness; .... "

  • #2
    Great work!

    One question:
    Did you buy the Brinkmann from the USA or do you have a dealer in europe? Still looking for this Brinkmann tool.... :-(

    Oh, additional question: I also have this Karcher high pressure washer, but still looking for this special foam gun... couldnt find this on their website! Any hints?

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    • #3
      Hi mate, the Brinkmann I got from the USA - it was a group buy organised on another detailing forum that I frequent.

      Afraid I cannot help you re: foam gun attatchment, as it is Bryan's Karcher... but I will ask Bryan tomorrow while we're working on a Rolls Royce and find out the details for you.
      "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness; .... "

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      • #4
        Karcher Foam Attachment is available from Halfords in the UK (I have one) was about £20.00 i think.

        You may be able to get it sent to Germany via mail order.

        Rob

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        • #5
          Thank you guys for your answer! I will check what I can do....

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          • #6
            The Brinkmann isn't that special, it's actually a bit of a cheap brand in flashlights Well, I'm sure it's fine, but what you really want is any high power flashlight, with a Xenon bulb!

            One highly regarded brand is Surefire, who makes tactical-grade flashlights for military and police use But then again they might be a bit overpriced... But there are other brands like for instance Streamlight, or Wolf-Eyes (which I plan on getting myself). You should be able to find one of these brands.

            You can also try searching online for xenon + the german word for flashlight, which if I recall is something like "taschenlicht" right? This should bring up some shops.

            Btw, the Leon looks good
            "Now Biff... make sure that we get two coats of wax this time..."
            - Back To The Future

            Comment


            • #7
              Wow!! Once again the two of you do such great work and I just love opening one of your posts and seeing all the pictures actually taking you there to the detail of the vehicle. Great work and I look forward to seeing another job by you guys!!
              Trent W.

              ------------------------------


              2002 Ford F-150 SuperCrew FX4
              2002 Chevrolet Tahoe LS

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