Megane R26
First up, apologies for the quality of these pictures, my camera seems to struggle somewhat with taking pics indoors, which has really annoyed me for this detail, as the car looked stunning at the end (modest I know, lol!). If anyone could recommend a better camera for indoors, I'm all ears. I have a Panasonic TZ6 which is spot on in natural light/outdoors, but awful indoors...
Anyway, on to the detail....
I was contacted earlier this week with regards to restoring a bit of life back into the paint of this stunningly stealthy Evo X FQ360. Like most Jap cars, Evo's have notoriously soft paint, and often very, very thin, making them very challenging to detail as you often don't have a lot of clearcoat to play with. This particular example had been subject to repeated 'immigrant car washes' over its 3 year life, so I was expecting the paint to be pretty bad...
So anyway, I arrived to begin this car at 10am. Here are a few befores:
As ever, I started with the wheels, arches and tyres, using AS G101 and various brushes:
Rinsed off:
G101 via foaming spray head applied liberally and worked:
Then rinsed off (blurry pic - grr!)
The car was then washed with Zaino Z7 Car Shampoo, using two bucket method and Dodo SN Sponge.
It had been de-tar'd and clayed for me last week, so this stage was skipped (I checked to see if it needed doing again), so the car was rinsed off and dried:
Next up, I began to assess the paint. I expected the paint to be relatively thin, but...
That was one of the higher reading on the bonnet and roof! The lowest ws 69.1!!!
The sides of the car had a bit more to play with:
I really need to invest in a better PDG, allowing me to measure the different layers, as I was slightly apprehensive about polishing the roof and bonnet on this car. Gently does it...
The paint itself, as expected, was in a rather sorry state... (illuminated with a Brinkmann)
Swirl city then!
After playing with a few combinations, I was getting very good results from Megs 205 via 3M Polishing Pad (Yellow) on my 3M Rotary with 3M backing plate.
This 50/50 shows the level of correction:
As you can see, some deeper RDS remain, but I agreed with the owner that chasing down each and every scratch isn't the wisest move given how thin the paint is on this car.
Another 'after'
Before:
After:
An after showing remaining RDS, which I didn't attempt to correct further:
Bonnet before:
Bonnet after:
Lime Prime was used on the carbon fibre skirts and various parts around the car, via 3M 3" Polishing Pad (Yellow)
A random arty after:
After the polishing stage was completed, I did a thorough IPA wipedown to remove any polishing oils, and followed up with one of my favourite sealants...
Z2P was applied via MF pad with a spritz of Zaino Z6, then left to cure for 30 mins and removed via Poorboys Mega Deluxe MF and Z6 spritz.
I followed this up with a couple of layers of Z8, approx 30 mins apart, and a final Z6 wipedown.
Also:
- Glass with AS 50/50
- Wheels with Zaino Z2P
- Tyres with Pinnacle Black Onyx
- Plastics with 303
- Exhaust with Optimum Metal Polish
The afters...
Total time - 8 hours!
I have an RB320 Impreza next weekend, and a Pearl White EvoX FQ300 the weekend after... I quite enjoy doing these 'rally saloons'. Luckily the next two are outdoors, so hopefully the pics will be a lot better!!
Thanks for reading
Russ.
Anyway, on to the detail....
I was contacted earlier this week with regards to restoring a bit of life back into the paint of this stunningly stealthy Evo X FQ360. Like most Jap cars, Evo's have notoriously soft paint, and often very, very thin, making them very challenging to detail as you often don't have a lot of clearcoat to play with. This particular example had been subject to repeated 'immigrant car washes' over its 3 year life, so I was expecting the paint to be pretty bad...
So anyway, I arrived to begin this car at 10am. Here are a few befores:
As ever, I started with the wheels, arches and tyres, using AS G101 and various brushes:
Rinsed off:
G101 via foaming spray head applied liberally and worked:
Then rinsed off (blurry pic - grr!)
The car was then washed with Zaino Z7 Car Shampoo, using two bucket method and Dodo SN Sponge.
It had been de-tar'd and clayed for me last week, so this stage was skipped (I checked to see if it needed doing again), so the car was rinsed off and dried:
Next up, I began to assess the paint. I expected the paint to be relatively thin, but...
That was one of the higher reading on the bonnet and roof! The lowest ws 69.1!!!
The sides of the car had a bit more to play with:
I really need to invest in a better PDG, allowing me to measure the different layers, as I was slightly apprehensive about polishing the roof and bonnet on this car. Gently does it...
The paint itself, as expected, was in a rather sorry state... (illuminated with a Brinkmann)
Swirl city then!
After playing with a few combinations, I was getting very good results from Megs 205 via 3M Polishing Pad (Yellow) on my 3M Rotary with 3M backing plate.
This 50/50 shows the level of correction:
As you can see, some deeper RDS remain, but I agreed with the owner that chasing down each and every scratch isn't the wisest move given how thin the paint is on this car.
Another 'after'
Before:
After:
An after showing remaining RDS, which I didn't attempt to correct further:
Bonnet before:
Bonnet after:
Lime Prime was used on the carbon fibre skirts and various parts around the car, via 3M 3" Polishing Pad (Yellow)
A random arty after:
After the polishing stage was completed, I did a thorough IPA wipedown to remove any polishing oils, and followed up with one of my favourite sealants...
Z2P was applied via MF pad with a spritz of Zaino Z6, then left to cure for 30 mins and removed via Poorboys Mega Deluxe MF and Z6 spritz.
I followed this up with a couple of layers of Z8, approx 30 mins apart, and a final Z6 wipedown.
Also:
- Glass with AS 50/50
- Wheels with Zaino Z2P
- Tyres with Pinnacle Black Onyx
- Plastics with 303
- Exhaust with Optimum Metal Polish
The afters...
Total time - 8 hours!
I have an RB320 Impreza next weekend, and a Pearl White EvoX FQ300 the weekend after... I quite enjoy doing these 'rally saloons'. Luckily the next two are outdoors, so hopefully the pics will be a lot better!!
Thanks for reading
Russ.
