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I realise I’m falling fast behind with my writeups at the moment (couple of BMWs, TVR, show Audi, polishing classes all in the pipeline...) – a combination of thesis writing and a new girlfriend have delayed the writeups, but I’m slowly catching up 
Its always a rewarding experience, transforming a car from a swirly mess into a glossy supermodel. But there is a certain satisfaction to faded red cars, seeing the true colour being returned and the look on the owner’s face at the end of the detail! Such was the case with this car – a 2001 Vauxhall Corsa in Flame “Red”...
As it arrived:
And as if left...
The car is owned by a work colleague who is preparing a website for us so in return we detailed his Corsa ready for sale. The car arrived looking a little tired and sorry for itself...
A little bit of fading...
Roof and bonnet were the worst as expected...
With the car washed we rolled it into the unit ready for claying... the paint felt very rough on this car and a wipe down with Tardis to remove the tar spots from the car (good to avoid the clay turning black unnecessarily). When claying, we used Chemical Guys Purple clay, and Meguiars Last Touch as a lube... when claying I always keep the clay in the palm of my hand, not at the finger tips to ensure no heavy pressure is put down on the clay during the process which can cause marring...
The clay after half of a bonnet...
At this stage, the clay is folded in on itself to fold in the dirt and reveal a clean side ready for the next section.
Once fully clayed the car was ready for machine polishing to restore the finish. I started on the bonnet, Gordon kicked off on the passenger side wing (no wishing to break with tradition, this is how we always detail!). The bonnet before was looking very tired...
And under the lights...
A few deeper nasties as well...
As always when machine polishing, we start off with an assessment of the paint to see what it requires to get the desired result with the minimum possible paint loss... so starting with light combinations of pad and polish and then working up until the desired level of correction is achieved (while ensuring the paint removal rates remain safe).
Menzerna PO106FA Super Finish (Mezerna’s best product in my humble opinion) on a Chemical Guys White Hexlogic polishing pad, applied as follows:
1) Spread the polish at 600rpm
2) Begin working the polish at 1200rpm to build a little heat in the panel and get the polish evenly spread and easy to work
3) Work at 1500 – 1800rpm until the residue goes clear, moderate pressure getting lighter as the residue begins to clear, steady machine movements from side to side – takes a good three or so minutes this stage
4) Refine at 1200rpm for a couple of passes
5) Burnish at 900rpm for a couple of slow passes, light pressure
The end results showed a great improvement to the finish colour...
Under the Sun Gun the finish was okay but still showing some swirls...
Under the strip lights (best assessment for deeper marks, and always best to use the camera on manual focus to focus on the paint surface to really highlight these deeper marks) we still see the deeper marks...
As the paint removal rate from this stage was very low (inside the error of the gauge), we stepped up to Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish. This was worked as above, ensuring the polish is fully worked through the stages over a small working area to ensure the abrasives are fully worked and broken down. As is being demonstrated, filling effects can occur in selected cases with “poor” technique, so it is crucial with 3.02 to keep your work time long and fully work the polish, and wipedown carefully (IPA on a cold panel works for me, or Panel Wipe from the bodyshop) before assessing the finish. Much improved results with the more aggressive combination – deeper red showing better oxidisation removal...
Swirl free now...
But still remaining are these deeper RDS...
Given the still low paint removal, the decision was made to step up to 3M Fast Cut Plus on a yellow Chemical Guys Hexlogic cutting pad to make a better stab at these deeper marks, follow with 3.02 (which has a rounded abrasive style which seems well suited to rounding and deadening very deep marks than cannot be safely removed) and then refined with PO85RD Final Finish using the Zenith Point method described above. Fast Cut was applied as follows:
1) Spread at 600rpm
2) Begin working at 1200rpm to evenly spread the compound
3) Work at 2000rpm with firm pressure.
This removed the vast majority of the deeper marks, leaving only the tails of the very deep marks behind which could not be fully removed owing to paint thickness considerations...
After refining, the bonnet was looking far better
Assessed for finish quality under the 3M Sun Gun...
On to the front wing for me, and back to the faded paint...
Correction here, in the absence of deeper RDS, was carried out using Intensive Polish on a white polishing pad, followed by Final Finish to refine, giving...
The driver’s door and rear three quarter before...
And after correction using Intensive Polish (3M FC+ used on spot locations for deeper marks), and refining with Final Finish...
Moving on to the passenger side of the car, the front wing...
And after...
The passenger side door and rear three quarter had been resprayed at some point, with a clearcoat, and so had not faded but you could still see significant swirling in the befores...
Gordon worked with Intensive Polish, Fast Cut where required and refined with Final Finish to achieve the following...
The roof was particularly bad...
We found that Fast Cut Plus was needed across the board on the roof to remove the deeper RDS and fully restore the colour. During:
50/50...
Rather stupidly, I forgot to take full after pics of the roof but as it was 5am by this point, I think that can be forgiven :p
Following the machine polishing stage, the car received a second IPA wipedown and assessed ready for protection – good old Meguiars #16 was chosen for the job
Plastics were treated to Chemical Guys New Look Trim Gel, applied with a sponge applicator and worked into the plastics with moderate pressure and then buffed after half an hour or so to ensure no streaking in the rain.
Glass was cleaned with 3D Glass Cleaner (review to follow soon).
Wheels with FK1000P, arches and tyres with Espuma RD-50.
The after shots in the unit begin to show the transformation achieved...
Owing to our late finish (730am, after starting at mid day the day before!) , we also got some good daylight after shots of the car as well when the owner picked it up
:
We were very proud of our efforts on this little car and the owner was over the moon with it (cue good website!) ... hopefully this will make the car a wee bit easier to sell
Its always a rewarding experience, transforming a car from a swirly mess into a glossy supermodel. But there is a certain satisfaction to faded red cars, seeing the true colour being returned and the look on the owner’s face at the end of the detail! Such was the case with this car – a 2001 Vauxhall Corsa in Flame “Red”...
As it arrived:
And as if left...
The car is owned by a work colleague who is preparing a website for us so in return we detailed his Corsa ready for sale. The car arrived looking a little tired and sorry for itself...
A little bit of fading...
Roof and bonnet were the worst as expected...
With the car washed we rolled it into the unit ready for claying... the paint felt very rough on this car and a wipe down with Tardis to remove the tar spots from the car (good to avoid the clay turning black unnecessarily). When claying, we used Chemical Guys Purple clay, and Meguiars Last Touch as a lube... when claying I always keep the clay in the palm of my hand, not at the finger tips to ensure no heavy pressure is put down on the clay during the process which can cause marring...
The clay after half of a bonnet...
At this stage, the clay is folded in on itself to fold in the dirt and reveal a clean side ready for the next section.
Once fully clayed the car was ready for machine polishing to restore the finish. I started on the bonnet, Gordon kicked off on the passenger side wing (no wishing to break with tradition, this is how we always detail!). The bonnet before was looking very tired...
And under the lights...
A few deeper nasties as well...
As always when machine polishing, we start off with an assessment of the paint to see what it requires to get the desired result with the minimum possible paint loss... so starting with light combinations of pad and polish and then working up until the desired level of correction is achieved (while ensuring the paint removal rates remain safe).
Menzerna PO106FA Super Finish (Mezerna’s best product in my humble opinion) on a Chemical Guys White Hexlogic polishing pad, applied as follows:
1) Spread the polish at 600rpm
2) Begin working the polish at 1200rpm to build a little heat in the panel and get the polish evenly spread and easy to work
3) Work at 1500 – 1800rpm until the residue goes clear, moderate pressure getting lighter as the residue begins to clear, steady machine movements from side to side – takes a good three or so minutes this stage
4) Refine at 1200rpm for a couple of passes
5) Burnish at 900rpm for a couple of slow passes, light pressure
The end results showed a great improvement to the finish colour...
Under the Sun Gun the finish was okay but still showing some swirls...
Under the strip lights (best assessment for deeper marks, and always best to use the camera on manual focus to focus on the paint surface to really highlight these deeper marks) we still see the deeper marks...
As the paint removal rate from this stage was very low (inside the error of the gauge), we stepped up to Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish. This was worked as above, ensuring the polish is fully worked through the stages over a small working area to ensure the abrasives are fully worked and broken down. As is being demonstrated, filling effects can occur in selected cases with “poor” technique, so it is crucial with 3.02 to keep your work time long and fully work the polish, and wipedown carefully (IPA on a cold panel works for me, or Panel Wipe from the bodyshop) before assessing the finish. Much improved results with the more aggressive combination – deeper red showing better oxidisation removal...
Swirl free now...
But still remaining are these deeper RDS...
Given the still low paint removal, the decision was made to step up to 3M Fast Cut Plus on a yellow Chemical Guys Hexlogic cutting pad to make a better stab at these deeper marks, follow with 3.02 (which has a rounded abrasive style which seems well suited to rounding and deadening very deep marks than cannot be safely removed) and then refined with PO85RD Final Finish using the Zenith Point method described above. Fast Cut was applied as follows:
1) Spread at 600rpm
2) Begin working at 1200rpm to evenly spread the compound
3) Work at 2000rpm with firm pressure.
This removed the vast majority of the deeper marks, leaving only the tails of the very deep marks behind which could not be fully removed owing to paint thickness considerations...
After refining, the bonnet was looking far better
Assessed for finish quality under the 3M Sun Gun...
On to the front wing for me, and back to the faded paint...
Correction here, in the absence of deeper RDS, was carried out using Intensive Polish on a white polishing pad, followed by Final Finish to refine, giving...
The driver’s door and rear three quarter before...
And after correction using Intensive Polish (3M FC+ used on spot locations for deeper marks), and refining with Final Finish...
Moving on to the passenger side of the car, the front wing...
And after...
The passenger side door and rear three quarter had been resprayed at some point, with a clearcoat, and so had not faded but you could still see significant swirling in the befores...
Gordon worked with Intensive Polish, Fast Cut where required and refined with Final Finish to achieve the following...
The roof was particularly bad...
We found that Fast Cut Plus was needed across the board on the roof to remove the deeper RDS and fully restore the colour. During:
50/50...
Rather stupidly, I forgot to take full after pics of the roof but as it was 5am by this point, I think that can be forgiven :p
Following the machine polishing stage, the car received a second IPA wipedown and assessed ready for protection – good old Meguiars #16 was chosen for the job
Plastics were treated to Chemical Guys New Look Trim Gel, applied with a sponge applicator and worked into the plastics with moderate pressure and then buffed after half an hour or so to ensure no streaking in the rain.
Glass was cleaned with 3D Glass Cleaner (review to follow soon).
Wheels with FK1000P, arches and tyres with Espuma RD-50.
The after shots in the unit begin to show the transformation achieved...
Owing to our late finish (730am, after starting at mid day the day before!) , we also got some good daylight after shots of the car as well when the owner picked it up
:We were very proud of our efforts on this little car and the owner was over the moon with it (cue good website!
) ... hopefully this will make the car a wee bit easier to sell
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