Megane R26
Today's detail saw me travel to sunny Stone, to give my mate Russ' newly acquired Ford Focus ST3 a bit of love. I agreed to do what I could in the 8 hours or so that I had...
A few pics of the car when I arrived:
I started with the wheels, arches and tyres, and set to work with my new favourites - Autosmart Smart Wheels and G101. I stand by my view that this is the best combo for the money - they were flawless yet again today.
However, I did have a small problem...
Luckily, I had some Tardis to hand, which quickly dealt with this heavy contamination. However, the back of the wheels still need a bit of care, which Russ is going to take of himself when the weather improves a bit (Russ - let me know if you want some Tardis mate)
Next up, the car was snow foamed using 60ml of AS AutoWash and warm water:
Pretty good cleaning:
Next up, the car was rinsed with my Nilfisk E140, hand washed with Zymol Bucket, Sonus Mitt and Dodo BTBM, then onto the claying. I used Elite Poly Clay with Born Slippy lubing it up.
As I began claying, I noticed large chunks of tar all over the car, so these were dealt with first with Tardis and an MF, then onto the claying. The used claybar:
Not too bad at all...
Next up I dried with my new AS Drying Towels (great towels!). A few 'after wash pics':
Next up, the car was moved into the garage (a god send today, was a bit nippy!!), and the paint was assessed.
Overall, it wasn't too bad - just general swirling, with a few stone chips and a few RDS's, particularly on the bonnet. I was struggling to get my camera to focus, but here are a few pics of the swirling/paint defects:
The paint averaged about 180, with some higher and lower readings in places, but plenty of paint and a good, even coat:
After trying a few combinations, I was getting near 95% correction with Dodo Juice Lime Prime, on a Planet Polish Hex Ring Green Polishing Pad, worked by my Chicago Rotary.
Again, I struggled with the focus on my camera, but here's a 50/50:
and corrected paint:
I did step up to 203S in parts on a yellow Hexo Ring Pad, and did my best to address the RDS's, but in most cases we decided to leave them for today. The worst part was the bonnet, which had some very deep scratches, but Russ is intending on getting his front end resprayed anyway, so I corrected the swirling, and left some of the deeper RDS's. If I'm honest, they needed wet sanding, which is beyond my level of capability at present.
Anyway, some afters after the polishing stage:
After correction, I opted for Auto Smart 'WAX', which I have been testing on my own car, with very impressive results - great sheeting and beading, which will make this car a breeze to clean for the coming months. This was followed with a Britemax #6S wipedown.
Glass was cleaned with Megs Glass Concentrate, tyres dressed with CG NLTG and exhausts polished with Megs NXT
A few finished pics, but unfortunately the lighting wasn't the best
Thanks for looking - I'm knackered!
Cheers,
Russ.
A few pics of the car when I arrived:
I started with the wheels, arches and tyres, and set to work with my new favourites - Autosmart Smart Wheels and G101. I stand by my view that this is the best combo for the money - they were flawless yet again today.
However, I did have a small problem...
Luckily, I had some Tardis to hand, which quickly dealt with this heavy contamination. However, the back of the wheels still need a bit of care, which Russ is going to take of himself when the weather improves a bit (Russ - let me know if you want some Tardis mate)
Next up, the car was snow foamed using 60ml of AS AutoWash and warm water:
Pretty good cleaning:
Next up, the car was rinsed with my Nilfisk E140, hand washed with Zymol Bucket, Sonus Mitt and Dodo BTBM, then onto the claying. I used Elite Poly Clay with Born Slippy lubing it up.
As I began claying, I noticed large chunks of tar all over the car, so these were dealt with first with Tardis and an MF, then onto the claying. The used claybar:
Not too bad at all...
Next up I dried with my new AS Drying Towels (great towels!). A few 'after wash pics':
Next up, the car was moved into the garage (a god send today, was a bit nippy!!), and the paint was assessed.
Overall, it wasn't too bad - just general swirling, with a few stone chips and a few RDS's, particularly on the bonnet. I was struggling to get my camera to focus, but here are a few pics of the swirling/paint defects:
The paint averaged about 180, with some higher and lower readings in places, but plenty of paint and a good, even coat:
After trying a few combinations, I was getting near 95% correction with Dodo Juice Lime Prime, on a Planet Polish Hex Ring Green Polishing Pad, worked by my Chicago Rotary.
Again, I struggled with the focus on my camera, but here's a 50/50:
and corrected paint:
I did step up to 203S in parts on a yellow Hexo Ring Pad, and did my best to address the RDS's, but in most cases we decided to leave them for today. The worst part was the bonnet, which had some very deep scratches, but Russ is intending on getting his front end resprayed anyway, so I corrected the swirling, and left some of the deeper RDS's. If I'm honest, they needed wet sanding, which is beyond my level of capability at present.
Anyway, some afters after the polishing stage:
After correction, I opted for Auto Smart 'WAX', which I have been testing on my own car, with very impressive results - great sheeting and beading, which will make this car a breeze to clean for the coming months. This was followed with a Britemax #6S wipedown.
Glass was cleaned with Megs Glass Concentrate, tyres dressed with CG NLTG and exhausts polished with Megs NXT
A few finished pics, but unfortunately the lighting wasn't the best
Thanks for looking - I'm knackered!
Cheers,
Russ.
