Ph2 Pearl Black 172 Enhancement Detail

[Gally]

Hi again chaps!

Fellow forum member Paul contacted me and asked if i'd take a look at his PB 172, maybe see if we could restore some clarity and colour to the paint. The usual Black paint looking Grey! Not worked on a Clio in a while so was looking forward to this one and had to do a write up on it!

First up some pics of what I was up against and then onto the wheels as always...

IMG_2227 by gally.., on Flickr

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Cliosport Yo'!

IMG_2236 by gally.., on Flickr

PW off any loose debris before making contact with the car and the products of choice today. Stjarnagloss Hjul (on trial), G101, Iron X. Wheels were recently bought refurbed so they were in superb condition as it was just some smal bit of baked on brake dust, nothing too bad...

IMG_2239 by gally.., on Flickr

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Snowfoam and wash down with some heavy Apc work, G101 with a Valet Pro brush making light work of this...

Just a note about the detailing brush, by far the best one the market at the moment, at times the Swissvax brush can be too soft and bristles a little long, the VP one just seems to offer a bit more bit with it's shorter bristles whilst remaining soft enough to negate any damage. Very very impressed. I bought another 2 and the SV is redundant at the moment for interiors and the likes.

IMG_2254 by gally.., on Flickr

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Standard, De-tar, Clay and Iron X. No pics of this stage time was a little against me sadly. Hard to picture on Black obviously.

Inside for inspection and drying off. At this stage i'll mention some of the marks on the roof were simply unfixable, when Paul dropped it off he mentioned it may have been a cat, possibly someone dragging tools across the roof. (usual spanner monkey move)

IMG_2269 by gally.., on Flickr

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Before:

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After 1 set: Much better...

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After some localised polishing I had removed a lot of the lighter marks and improved the appearance of the deep ones. Definitely required on Black which as you know can show up the littlest mark.

Polishing on the roof done with some 3M extra fine and 106 FA, the rest of the car done with 106fa with a 3M Yellow pad.

Apart from the roof the bonnet was seriously lacking colour and had some heavy swirling so I spent a good hour and a half on that alone, more than worth it imo, i'll let the pictures do the talking...

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An IPA wipe down with my favourite panelwipe to ensure decent correction and time for some Best of Show. I should add that BOS is a must on almost all Black cars for the show finish, although not the most durable wax I wanted the car to look at it's best for Paul pickng it up...

IMG_2300 by gally.., on Flickr

Whilst this was curing away I finished off the "details"... Revive, Crystal and Megs endurance used...

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BOS removed and outside for the afters...

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Representinzzz'...

IMG_2349 by gally.., on Flickr

Thanks for looking guys.

 

[.GAZ.]

Love this car, owned by my neighbour lol.

Think I might make this number 8.

 

[RDH]

Can't believe some of those 50/50 shots.

Came up amazing I bet the owner was chuffed to bits!

 

[Jay_G]

Gally, where abouts are you located? My car looks near enough the same to the first pic!

 

[Paul.M]

Great write up, good turn around there

out of interest is the megs endurance any good? I was thinking of getting some while halfrauds have the 3 for 2 on

 

[RDH]

Great write up, good turn around there

out of interest is the megs endurance any good? I was thinking of getting some while halfrauds have the 3 for 2 on

It is the best mate. Lasts forever aswell. A year on and I've not used half a bottle yet, and I apply after every wash.

 

[Gally]

Love this car, owned by my neighbour lol.

Think I might make this number 8.

It's a tidy car Gaz!

Can't believe some of those 50/50 shots.

Came up amazing I bet the owner was chuffed to bits!

He was happy although I swear you could see the dust settling a minute after it was outside! I simply could never own a Black car again!

Gally, where abouts are you located? My car looks near enough the same to the first pic!

In central Scotland mate.

Great write up, good turn around there

out of interest is the megs endurance any good? I was thinking of getting some while halfrauds have the 3 for 2 on

As per below. It's the only megs product I actually own so that shows how good it is!

 

[Toby]

Nice one Kev, no action shots of you though

 

[VIICarCare]

lovely work my boy, has the roof had a respray at some point? Looked really grey ?

 

[.Stevo.C.]

I really really like that for some reason.

 

[Paul.M]

It is the best mate. Lasts forever aswell. A year on and I've not used half a bottle yet, and I apply after every wash.

As per below. It's the only megs product I actually own so that shows how good it is!

Great! Ill grab some next time I'm near a frauds then thanks.

 

[Ash']

Job well done mate. Hell of a difference!

 

[.GAZ.]

I really really like that for some reason.

It's lovely Stevo, I've offered to buy it. Twice lol.

 

[Keenan172]

Hi kev, thanks for the write up and i really apprectiate the time and effort you put into the car as the paint was awful nasty in some areas, really really happy by the way it turned out now its just up to me to keep on top lol

I see what you mean about black cars is a nightmare to keep clean but after the detail it looked awesome

Thanks paul

 

[rollerdan]

Thats amazing !

 

[Keenan172]

It's lovely Stevo, I've offered to buy it. Twice lol.

Just bind your time gazza lol

 

[.GAZ.]

LOL! Matching trade in offers FTW!

 

[Keenan172]

LOL! Matching trade in offers FTW!

see what happens over the weekend

 

[.GAZ.]

I would've went with you mate but I'm away for the weekend.

 

[.Stevo.C.]

It's lovely Stevo, I've offered to buy it. Twice lol.

FLOL! You can't keep away from them. My Trophy is for sale

 

[.GAZ.]

I like buying them cheap, when I kill them it doesn't bother me as much lol.

 

[.Stevo.C.]

I like your thinking.

 

[Wick]

Nice finish Gally. 50/50 on the bonnet is incredible!

 

[Christophe]

great work gally! You only used menz 106fa on the bonnet ?

 

[Gally]

Hi kev, thanks for the write up and i really apprectiate the time and effort you put into the car as the paint was awful nasty in some areas, really really happy by the way it turned out now its just up to me to keep on top lol

I see what you mean about black cars is a nightmare to keep clean but after the detail it looked awesome

Thanks paul

Thanks again Paul for bringing the car through, hardly close by, hope it was worth the trip!

Nice finish Gally. 50/50 on the bonnet is incredible!

Thanks mate, did spend a bit of time on it tbf.

great work gally! You only used menz 106fa on the bonnet ?

Yeah mate, I found although the paint was hard, letting the polish work away through a few sets the paint removal was very minimum whilst giving good correction. Adjusting techniques is rather important. I done an enhancement on an EOS recently and the paint was rock solid but correction was achievable, it just takes more time than going at it with a harsh compound. Everyone is different.

I'm possibly doing an Evo6 this weekend and through a quick test I could probably correct it using water on a 3M yellow pad! Soft! I'll see how it goes.

 

[Christophe]

You used 3M Yellow pad with the 106fa. what the equivalent colour for the hex pads? Did you use a rotary ?

 

[Gally]

3M Rotary mate, White or Green Hex, I prefer the Green, just a tad more bite, usually a little refining with 3M Blue after Green Hex for some reason. Some paints are fine.

 

[Chip-mk1]

Have you got an after picture showing this bit:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8011/7638193046_5618534916_z.jpg

As quite interested to see how you tackled that?

 

[Christophe]

Nice one. I sometimes wish i bought a rotary instead of a DA, as i'm sure it would be easier. But as i have never done it before thought I'd play safe. Good to know 106fa can achieve great results. Just need to practice i guess.

 

[Gally]

Have you got an after picture showing this bit:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8011/7638193046_5618534916_z.jpg

As quite interested to see how you tackled that?

I'll have a look on the laptop at home mate, you wouldn't really see much difference as it's through to the plastic. There were a few touch ups on the car though. With more time I like to touch up, cure with the heat lamps and get it wet sanded. One of my favourite bits of detailing.

 

[Chip-mk1]

I'll have a look on the laptop at home mate, you wouldn't really see much difference as it's through to the plastic.

Oh right, always seems weird when people take pictures of faults on the before pics and then do nothing about it and just omit them from the after pics and only show the good bits.

Would be nice to see a more balanced set of pics sometimes I think, showing the best and worst bits before and after, rather than the worst bits on the before and the best bits on the after.

Not a dig at you, seems to be what everyone does with these threads.

There were a few touch ups on the car though. With more time I like to touch up, cure with the heat lamps and get it wet sanded. One of my favourite bits of detailing.

Thats the bit that requires a lot more talent than just the giving it a good clean and polish IMHO, even I can do that bit reasonably well but Im rubbish with paint.

 

[Scrooge]

Good work Gally. Awful lot of people tackling detailing on this site now

 

[Gally]

Oh right, always seems weird when people take pictures of faults on the before pics and then do nothing about it and just omit them from the after pics and only show the good bits.

Would be nice to see a more balanced set of pics sometimes I think, showing the best and worst bits before and after, rather than the worst bits on the before and the best bits on the after.

Not a dig at you, seems to be what everyone does with these threads.




Thats the bit that requires a lot more talent than just the giving it a good clean and polish IMHO, even I can do that bit reasonably well but Im rubbish with paint.

I'd totally agree, and as a severe critic of peoples detailing, especially these days, dirty car to clean car I try to steer away from that a little. This wasn't a good example.

The fact I don't do full corrections anymore doesn't help. Time constraints are also a hindrance, as you can imagine stopping to take pictures every 2 minutes isn't viable but I appreciate your comment and agree 100% with it, it's very prevalent the days with any Tom, Dick and Harry setting up a detailing business. I like to think because I do it as a hobby I put a little more car into it. There is no way I would do it full time. I'd simply lose the love too quickly!

The touch up and sand are a great thing to have in my locker as most cars have battle scars, again time is a problem though.

 

[Chip-mk1]

I'd totally agree, and as a severe critic of peoples detailing, especially these days, dirty car to clean car I try to steer away from that a little. This wasn't a good example.

The fact I don't do full corrections anymore doesn't help. Time constraints are also a hindrance, as you can imagine stopping to take pictures every 2 minutes isn't viable but I appreciate your comment and agree 100% with it, it's very prevalent the days with any Tom, Dick and Harry setting up a detailing business. I like to think because I do it as a hobby I put a little more car into it. There is no way I would do it full time. I'd simply lose the love too quickly!

The touch up and sand are a great thing to have in my locker as most cars have battle scars, again time is a problem though.

Thankyou very much for taking my comment in context, I was worried you would take it as a personal dig when it wasnt. Its nice to have a grownup discussion on CS

Yes its far too easy to do a quick clean of a car and then take some pictures that make it look amazing, in fact TBH Ive worked with photographers who can make even tatty cars look totally epic in the pictures even without needing photoshop, just down to the right use of light and filters etc.

"Detailing" as a phenomenon seems to actually be MORE about camera skills than paint correction skills in many ways in fact.

 

[Gally]

Camera skills in detailing? Don't get me started!

My Frp looked concours in some pictures! Imo it was most definitely not!

I'm lucky that a lot of people see my work in the flesh so I couldn't get away with anything even if I wanted to. The detailing industry is certainly a strange one. Sadly the people in to make a fast buck are the ones that ruin it. There are some epic detailers out there.

 

[Chip-mk1]

Camera skills in detailing? Don't get me started!

My Frp looked concours in some pictures! Imo it was most definitely not!

I'm lucky that a lot of people see my work in the flesh so I couldn't get away with anything even if I wanted to. The detailing industry is certainly a strange one. Sadly the people in to make a fast buck are the ones that ruin it. There are some epic detailers out there.

The parallels to the tuning industry in that respect are all too obvious sadly.
Show off your "skills" in a very carefully executed way (some runs on your own dyno, or some photos on your own camera) and then get a few "testimonials" from easily influenced customers, and hey presto you are a detailer/tuner.

Take a load of people who think you have a good reputations money, and by the time everyone realises how rubbish you are, you are long gone.

Happens SO often in all aspects of cars as a hobby sadly

 

[Lou]

Cracking work as always!

 

[Gally]

Thanks Lou. Hoping to have a good write up from the Evo on Sunday. See how I go time wise!

 

[R-Sport.]

Do you manage to do anything on the bumper scratch?-- looks well down to the base --

S

 

[Gally]

See the earlier comments. It was through to the plastic.