Bentley Continental GTC – Diamond Black
Two day Minor Paint Correction Detail. ~14 hours
Product
· 3M Glass Cleaner
· 3M Extra Fine
· 3M Ultra Fina
· 3M Fast Cut+
· 303 Convertible Top Cleaner
· AutoSmart Tardis
· AutoSmart G101
· AMDetails’ soft clay bar
· Belgom ALU
· Blackfire All Finish Paint Protection
· Chemical Guys JetSEAL109
· Jeffs Werkstat Prime Strong
· Menzerna 85RD 3.02
· Meguiars Last Touch
· Meguiars Super Degreaser
· Meguiars Hyper Wash
The Bentley’s put through a handwash station on a regular basis so required a ‘lift’ to remove the unsightly swirls and defects.
Inspection:
At first glance, “ah yeah. Dull”:
Wheels cleaned inside and out. Various brushes, mitts and products used here.
Tar deposits removed from wheel facing with AS Tardis.
And some rough wheel-weight residue removed:
.
Roof cleaned with 303s Convertible Top Cleaner: (note the wireless remote in my left hand (very handy!!)
And rinsed at a reduced pressure:
Foamed with Megs Hyper Wash to soften the dirt. Pressure rinsed from the bottom up to shift the loose detritus (“damage” material)
Washed with the two-bucket system, an Elite Car Care Merino Wash mitt and Dodo Juice Born to Be Mild shampoo.
Before claying the car to remove any embedded contaminants (industrial fallout, honeydew, brake dust etc) AS Tardis was used to dissolve the stubborn deposits:
Testing AMDetails’ new soft clay bar this time.
After the front end and half the N/S, the pick wasn’t too bad (bonus of keeping your cars undercover!)
The bumper, bootlid and glass however were a little dirty so a worthwhile task. (Liking the new clay bars very much so – will be stocking up on the both the soft (green) and mild (blue) bars in the near future – Thanks Alan)
Dried off and put inside for polishing (albeit the backend sticking out in the rain due to the sheer size of the thing!)
“ugh”… *shudders*
Even without the forced halogen or LED light, you could see the paint was hazy because of the swirls:
The same areas as above, just, under LED inspection:
Whilst outside claying the car, I did notice the N/S looked a little flat. After further investigation and paint measurements, the whole side of the car had been painted (before my customer brought it at only 6 months old from the dealer).
The area photographed below, I couldn’t take paint measurements from (indicating filler!)
Filler or no filler, the finish on the paintwork was awful. The entire car was covered in a grey haze and ‘movement’. Couple dozens of trips to the handwash and a poor machine polish (possibly from the dealership), we’re left with a Bentley in desperate need of attention!
Starting big on the bonnet, a test pass was made with 3M Extrafine/Ultrafina on a yellow polishing pad.
Before/After:
The lip on the edges of the bonnet were brought up with the same polish combo just on a small white Hexlogic spot pad.
Before/After/50/50:
Bonnet 50/50:
Lots of room for improvement though; some of these marks were deep!
Before/After (~70% correction from the single-stage enhancement)
N/S front wing/door 50/50:
Remember, the N/S is the repaired/painted side.
Before: (this is the area where the filler was located (and thickness readings up to 1120um))
After the enhancement pass:
Although much improved, look at the left (right?) side of the halogen; hazy and suffering from sanding marks.
Pushing further for better correction, I upped the approach for Menzerna 85RD 3.02 on a green light cut Hexlogic pad and tried again.
Much better – refined with usual Extra Fine and Ultra Fina combo.
N/S rear quarter. Before/After:
After the single-stage “minor correction” pass, again, there was still plenty of room for improvement. Take the arch for example:
To get the results that I wanted, I had to hit this again… Green light cut Hexlogic spot pad and Menz 3.02. After:
Likewise, deep marks left higher up on the rear quarter.
After second hit..
Bootlid 50/50:
Rear light clusters polished with Menz 203s. 50/50:
Bumper-lip before/after:
Rear bumper before/after:
Boot lid 50/50:
Before/After:
Again, not happy with the finish on the O/S rear arch. Back out with the light cutting pads!
If you thought the buffertrails on the N/S were bad, wait until you see these!
HD Video 50/50:
Natural light haze – before/after:
With the machine work complete, and after a quick blast to remove polishing dusts, the paintwork received an IPA wipedown to remove the polishing oils ensuring a squeaky clean base for the wax/sealant.
In this case, Blackfire’s All Finish Paint Protection was used (seeing as though it worked so well on the last Continental I did)
Glass cleaned inside and out with 3M’s Glass Cleaner (still highly recommend this stuff if you’re after a good glass product). Alloys sealed. Tyres dressed. Britework polished (grille, exhaust etc)
(it’s around this time I get a square index-finger!)
Before/After:
…a painstakingly slow process!
And finished.
I’ve passed on my “Pamper-Pack” kit (which is the essentials needed to perform a safe wash) so here’s to hoping the Bentley will remain this way from now.
Thanks for reading.
Jim
Two day Minor Paint Correction Detail. ~14 hours
Product
· 3M Glass Cleaner
· 3M Extra Fine
· 3M Ultra Fina
· 3M Fast Cut+
· 303 Convertible Top Cleaner
· AutoSmart Tardis
· AutoSmart G101
· AMDetails’ soft clay bar
· Belgom ALU
· Blackfire All Finish Paint Protection
· Chemical Guys JetSEAL109
· Jeffs Werkstat Prime Strong
· Menzerna 85RD 3.02
· Meguiars Last Touch
· Meguiars Super Degreaser
· Meguiars Hyper Wash
The Bentley’s put through a handwash station on a regular basis so required a ‘lift’ to remove the unsightly swirls and defects.
Inspection:
At first glance, “ah yeah. Dull”:
Wheels cleaned inside and out. Various brushes, mitts and products used here.
Tar deposits removed from wheel facing with AS Tardis.
And some rough wheel-weight residue removed:
.
Roof cleaned with 303s Convertible Top Cleaner: (note the wireless remote in my left hand (very handy!!)
And rinsed at a reduced pressure:
Foamed with Megs Hyper Wash to soften the dirt. Pressure rinsed from the bottom up to shift the loose detritus (“damage” material)
Washed with the two-bucket system, an Elite Car Care Merino Wash mitt and Dodo Juice Born to Be Mild shampoo.
Before claying the car to remove any embedded contaminants (industrial fallout, honeydew, brake dust etc) AS Tardis was used to dissolve the stubborn deposits:
Testing AMDetails’ new soft clay bar this time.
After the front end and half the N/S, the pick wasn’t too bad (bonus of keeping your cars undercover!)
The bumper, bootlid and glass however were a little dirty so a worthwhile task. (Liking the new clay bars very much so – will be stocking up on the both the soft (green) and mild (blue) bars in the near future – Thanks Alan)
Dried off and put inside for polishing (albeit the backend sticking out in the rain due to the sheer size of the thing!)
“ugh”… *shudders*
Even without the forced halogen or LED light, you could see the paint was hazy because of the swirls:
The same areas as above, just, under LED inspection:
Whilst outside claying the car, I did notice the N/S looked a little flat. After further investigation and paint measurements, the whole side of the car had been painted (before my customer brought it at only 6 months old from the dealer).
The area photographed below, I couldn’t take paint measurements from (indicating filler!)
Filler or no filler, the finish on the paintwork was awful. The entire car was covered in a grey haze and ‘movement’. Couple dozens of trips to the handwash and a poor machine polish (possibly from the dealership), we’re left with a Bentley in desperate need of attention!
Starting big on the bonnet, a test pass was made with 3M Extrafine/Ultrafina on a yellow polishing pad.
Before/After:
The lip on the edges of the bonnet were brought up with the same polish combo just on a small white Hexlogic spot pad.
Before/After/50/50:
Bonnet 50/50:
Lots of room for improvement though; some of these marks were deep!
Before/After (~70% correction from the single-stage enhancement)
N/S front wing/door 50/50:
Remember, the N/S is the repaired/painted side.
Before: (this is the area where the filler was located (and thickness readings up to 1120um))
After the enhancement pass:
Although much improved, look at the left (right?) side of the halogen; hazy and suffering from sanding marks.
Pushing further for better correction, I upped the approach for Menzerna 85RD 3.02 on a green light cut Hexlogic pad and tried again.
Much better – refined with usual Extra Fine and Ultra Fina combo.
N/S rear quarter. Before/After:
After the single-stage “minor correction” pass, again, there was still plenty of room for improvement. Take the arch for example:
To get the results that I wanted, I had to hit this again… Green light cut Hexlogic spot pad and Menz 3.02. After:
Likewise, deep marks left higher up on the rear quarter.
After second hit..
Bootlid 50/50:
Rear light clusters polished with Menz 203s. 50/50:
Bumper-lip before/after:
Rear bumper before/after:
Boot lid 50/50:
Before/After:
Again, not happy with the finish on the O/S rear arch. Back out with the light cutting pads!
If you thought the buffertrails on the N/S were bad, wait until you see these!
HD Video 50/50:
Natural light haze – before/after:
With the machine work complete, and after a quick blast to remove polishing dusts, the paintwork received an IPA wipedown to remove the polishing oils ensuring a squeaky clean base for the wax/sealant.
In this case, Blackfire’s All Finish Paint Protection was used (seeing as though it worked so well on the last Continental I did)
Glass cleaned inside and out with 3M’s Glass Cleaner (still highly recommend this stuff if you’re after a good glass product). Alloys sealed. Tyres dressed. Britework polished (grille, exhaust etc)
(it’s around this time I get a square index-finger!)
Before/After:
…a painstakingly slow process!
And finished.
I’ve passed on my “Pamper-Pack” kit (which is the essentials needed to perform a safe wash) so here’s to hoping the Bentley will remain this way from now.
Thanks for reading.
Jim
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