Now that the winters over (he says) I wanted to clean the 172 up, remove all of the salt etc, and seal her in ready for the summer.
Ive been.....collecting products over the past few months and with the arrival of the clay kit, tyre shine and bumper restorer, I took the day off and had an extreme detail.
Here are the products used:
After hoovering and washing (using the 2-bucket method obviously), the intent was to remove the number plates for the arrival of the new ones, but they didnt turn up, so I decided to prep the recesses and get it ready for tomoro (they best come tomoro grrr)
after ALOT more effort than I thought they would take, the sticky pads were no more
Claying:
I must admit I was a tad sceptical about the claying. Ive read alot about it, and heard it is very effective, but can never say Ive seen a car that has been freshly clayed, or experienced a before/after scenario.
I decided to keep one of the clay bars for another time, and focus on the body work, then the windows, then the wheels. I kept the clay in a bucket of hot water between wipes, and had a towel under the panel incase I dropped it, but I didnt.
After a few of the panels, i.e. rear quarter, and top of the wing etc, this was the result I was getting from the clay:
and then after working down the car, the bottoms of the doors and the roof were a bit dirtier:
After finishing the claying, I couldnt believe how smooth the paint was. It reali does feel like glass. I am so glad I spent the time doing it, as it is a time consuming process. It took around 2 hours from start to finish including the windows and wheels.
Polishing:
The paintwork on the car isnt too bad, so I decided to apply 2 coats of SRP. I inspected every panel, and tbh couldnt see any swirls, but then I was only looking in daylight. maybe under halogens it would show up more detail, but very impressed with the progress. Also polished the alloys with one coat.
Waxing:
EGP was the wax of choice, and after applying to the body and wheels, shuts etc, I left for an hour to cure
By this time I was dreading buffing off the wax. I know it is an energy sapping process, but not too long later job done. (then onto dusting all of the powder off the car lol)
the reflection in the paint is pretty impressive in my opinion. It wasnt the sunniest of days, but this came out quite well:
Having used alot of tyre blacking sprays in the past, I decided on meguiars endurance tyre gel this time round, and Ive got to be honest, it is truly amazing stuff. Applied it using an old spongy shoe polishing buffer (that I kept for this reason) and it worked pefectly. After 2 coats:
Took a pic of the engine bay as I spent a little while touching it up (although i usually clean it everyweek with the car)
Thought I'd add a pic of the interior too, as I leather wiped the recaros, and went over the alcantara with a damp cloth (no products)
very impressed with the result. and after seeing it and then seeing the pictures, it was well worth spending the day doing. Im glad I spent the money and got some good products.
the money shot:
thanks for reading =D
edit - im nakered lol
Ive been.....collecting products over the past few months and with the arrival of the clay kit, tyre shine and bumper restorer, I took the day off and had an extreme detail.
Here are the products used:
After hoovering and washing (using the 2-bucket method obviously), the intent was to remove the number plates for the arrival of the new ones, but they didnt turn up, so I decided to prep the recesses and get it ready for tomoro (they best come tomoro grrr)
after ALOT more effort than I thought they would take, the sticky pads were no more
Claying:
I must admit I was a tad sceptical about the claying. Ive read alot about it, and heard it is very effective, but can never say Ive seen a car that has been freshly clayed, or experienced a before/after scenario.
I decided to keep one of the clay bars for another time, and focus on the body work, then the windows, then the wheels. I kept the clay in a bucket of hot water between wipes, and had a towel under the panel incase I dropped it, but I didnt.
After a few of the panels, i.e. rear quarter, and top of the wing etc, this was the result I was getting from the clay:
and then after working down the car, the bottoms of the doors and the roof were a bit dirtier:
After finishing the claying, I couldnt believe how smooth the paint was. It reali does feel like glass. I am so glad I spent the time doing it, as it is a time consuming process. It took around 2 hours from start to finish including the windows and wheels.
Polishing:
The paintwork on the car isnt too bad, so I decided to apply 2 coats of SRP. I inspected every panel, and tbh couldnt see any swirls, but then I was only looking in daylight. maybe under halogens it would show up more detail, but very impressed with the progress. Also polished the alloys with one coat.
Waxing:
EGP was the wax of choice, and after applying to the body and wheels, shuts etc, I left for an hour to cure
By this time I was dreading buffing off the wax. I know it is an energy sapping process, but not too long later job done. (then onto dusting all of the powder off the car lol)
the reflection in the paint is pretty impressive in my opinion. It wasnt the sunniest of days, but this came out quite well:
Having used alot of tyre blacking sprays in the past, I decided on meguiars endurance tyre gel this time round, and Ive got to be honest, it is truly amazing stuff. Applied it using an old spongy shoe polishing buffer (that I kept for this reason) and it worked pefectly. After 2 coats:
Took a pic of the engine bay as I spent a little while touching it up (although i usually clean it everyweek with the car)
Thought I'd add a pic of the interior too, as I leather wiped the recaros, and went over the alcantara with a damp cloth (no products)
very impressed with the result. and after seeing it and then seeing the pictures, it was well worth spending the day doing. Im glad I spent the money and got some good products.
the money shot:
thanks for reading =D
edit - im nakered lol
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