This detail has been a little while in the pipeline for writeups, but with recent events we had to prioritise ensuring that issues were fully addressed before resuming normal service 
The owner of this new Focus RS was unhappy with the way the car was delivered from the dealers... and after our standard wash procedure it was very easy to see why! Starting with the bonnet, under the Sun Gun, you can see clearly the swirls in the paintwork:






Things actually got worse under the daylight striplights, lights which are superb at capturing the deeper marks often masked by the bright glare of the Sun Gun - camera used in manual focus mode to capture fully the defects...



Although correction of the swirls was quite easily achieved with a finishing polish (this Ford paint proved pretty soft as assessed by the removal rates), we had to step up to remove the above deeper marks... Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish was the chosen polish, on a Chemical Guys Hexlogic White pad applied roughly as follows:
No refinement stages were made here, as Intensive Polish was used simply for correction, with refinement left for a dedicated finishing polish stage. Level of correction achieved (pictures taken to focus on the surface of the paint to highlight the level of correction achieved, note how the light bulb reflection is out of focus for this!):



This deeper mark...

Required a single hit with 3M Fast Cut Plus on a 3M Green Spot pad to remove...

Following the correction stage the full panel was then refined using Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish on a Chemical Guys Black Hexlogic finishing pad, applied as follows:
End results of correction shown above, the quality of the machine finish (clarity and hologram free) is then best assessed using the Sun Gun:








Moving on to the sides, and we start with the passenger side front wing and door befores...











After shots, following both correction and refinement:












Rear 3/4 on the passenger side before...









and after...








The driver's side was much the same - front wing before...





and after...






Onto the driver's door and driver's side rear 3/4 before...















The door sills were pretty bad, as you can see from the strip light shots, deep marks to be removed...


Alas, following two hits of 3M Fast Cut Plus, we decided that the removal of paint from this was significant and that further correction was not safe or in the best interests of the long term life of the paint finish - so an improvement, but not 100% correction on these sections...


Following correction and refinement on door and rear 3/4 (including the sills):
















In our humble opinion, this is how the paintwork should have looked when the owner first got it!
The paintwork was waxed for protection, wheels protected and tyres dressed, plastics and rubbers dressed and the glass cleaned... not outdoor afters owing the the late finish time unfortunately, but we did get some indoor shots of the car
...










This is the first of three Focus RSs to writeup - the next two are white and will be up soon :thumb:

The owner of this new Focus RS was unhappy with the way the car was delivered from the dealers... and after our standard wash procedure it was very easy to see why! Starting with the bonnet, under the Sun Gun, you can see clearly the swirls in the paintwork:






Things actually got worse under the daylight striplights, lights which are superb at capturing the deeper marks often masked by the bright glare of the Sun Gun - camera used in manual focus mode to capture fully the defects...



Although correction of the swirls was quite easily achieved with a finishing polish (this Ford paint proved pretty soft as assessed by the removal rates), we had to step up to remove the above deeper marks... Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish was the chosen polish, on a Chemical Guys Hexlogic White pad applied roughly as follows:
- Working a roughly 1' x 1' square area (large work areas adversely affect both the available correction and the quality of the overall finish)
- Spread polish at slow speed, and build the speeds to the working speed of 1800rpm
- Steady passes with moderate pressure, monitoring the panel temperatures to esnure they do not become too hot
- Work until residue clear
No refinement stages were made here, as Intensive Polish was used simply for correction, with refinement left for a dedicated finishing polish stage. Level of correction achieved (pictures taken to focus on the surface of the paint to highlight the level of correction achieved, note how the light bulb reflection is out of focus for this!):



This deeper mark...

Required a single hit with 3M Fast Cut Plus on a 3M Green Spot pad to remove...

Following the correction stage the full panel was then refined using Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish on a Chemical Guys Black Hexlogic finishing pad, applied as follows:
- Work a roughly 1' x 1' square area
- Spread the polish at slow speed and gradually build to the working speed of 1500rpm
- Steady passes with light to moderate pressure until the residue goes clear
- Step back down through the speeds, 1200 then 900rpm, with lightening pressure to refine and jewel the finish
End results of correction shown above, the quality of the machine finish (clarity and hologram free) is then best assessed using the Sun Gun:








Moving on to the sides, and we start with the passenger side front wing and door befores...











After shots, following both correction and refinement:












Rear 3/4 on the passenger side before...









and after...








The driver's side was much the same - front wing before...





and after...






Onto the driver's door and driver's side rear 3/4 before...















The door sills were pretty bad, as you can see from the strip light shots, deep marks to be removed...


Alas, following two hits of 3M Fast Cut Plus, we decided that the removal of paint from this was significant and that further correction was not safe or in the best interests of the long term life of the paint finish - so an improvement, but not 100% correction on these sections...


Following correction and refinement on door and rear 3/4 (including the sills):
















In our humble opinion, this is how the paintwork should have looked when the owner first got it!
The paintwork was waxed for protection, wheels protected and tyres dressed, plastics and rubbers dressed and the glass cleaned... not outdoor afters owing the the late finish time unfortunately, but we did get some indoor shots of the car











This is the first of three Focus RSs to writeup - the next two are white and will be up soon :thumb:
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