New car and a trip to Cheshire Auto Detailing

[Laura]

Well ive been gone a while, between work, holidays and house shopping ive not really had time to put into cars.

The Aston went and was replaced by a truly terrible knee jerk reaction Z3, That lasted 4 months before being sold. So anyway yesterday i picked up this.

E46 320d, 1st impressions are great. really love it.

1st day of ownership and a trip over to the guys at CAD - http://www.cheshireautodetailing.com

The car seems generally to be well looked after with the paintwork clearly having a recent polish. Unfortunately the engine bay seems to have passed them by.

10413343_10153209569603484_2898122024541784051_n by laurataylor225, on Flickr

The wheels got a good clean.

w46-21 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

there was tonnes of tar on the car, it look a good amount of time to remove all of that so the polish could be applied later.

and after a good wash it was off inside.

w46-23 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

A nice selection of goodies.

w46-24 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-25 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

Nothing worse than previous owners dust!!! Eww so a thorough vacuum was in order!

w46-26 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-27 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

Then it was a quick claying.

w46-30 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

Interior glass clean.

w46-31 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

Then polish time

w46-32 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-33 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-29 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

OOOO SHINEY

w46-34 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

Then it was sealed.

w46-36 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-38 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-39 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-40 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

a bit of tyre slick.

w46-41 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

Remember that engine bay?

w46-42 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-44 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-45 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

and some finishing toutches!

Faded and grey!

w46-46 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-47 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-49 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

taaadaaaaaaa

w46-48 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

Finished

w46-51 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-50 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-53 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

w46-54 by laurataylor225, on Flickr

Very happy! Ive never had anything like that done to my car before i usually just wash them myself... badly. Im so impressed I'm not considering having some proper paint correction done.

 

[BGEarles]

Looks very nice

 

[botfch]

Looks tidy!, bet that detail set you back abit.

Surprised you didn't go for a 330D after having an Aston?

 

[Mr Plums]

I thought they would have used a rotary rather than hand.

Looks lovely tho.

 

[Stefan.]

Nice car!

Great results

 

[Gally]

Nice! Never expected you to own something boring though.

 

[-J-]

It's no Aston, but it looks a nice clean example.

 

[Addicted]

Looks very very nice, but not the nicest Red car you've owned .

 

[Matthew]

How much roughly do they charge for a detail like this out if interest?

Love the red!

 

[Laura]

This was a showroom valet with a couple of extras have a look on the website for prices for different things they offer

its no Aston but there we go, I'm actually loving it.

 

[Beef-Mc]

Actually quite like this, whats the drive like Laura?

 

[Laura]

Really well. Love it.

 

[Lawro]

I really like that, best colour for one of these too! Lovely.

 

[JON13S]

Really nice, kind of miss my saloon. Please get the inlet swirl flaps removed if not already. There's a lot of info online with regards to the failures.

 

[Yellow Dave]

Now it's had a good tidy up, look into proper wash and maintenance routine to keep it looking nice. Might mean you find yourself spending more time in the detailing section though!

i do like this era 3 series

 

[kieren17389]

That looks awesome. Though about one of these before i got the clio, making me want one again!

 

[Bluebeard]

This was a showroom valet with a couple of extras have a look on the website for prices for different things they offer

its no Aston but there we go, I'm actually loving it.

Laura, can you pm me what exactly you had done and the price you paid please?

Purely from a 'How is my own pricing comparing' point of view. Not being nosey.

 

[cat171]

Car looks nice, they did nice work on it too.

 

[Coby.]

Car looks great... Is it just me that thinks the polish application looks a bit 'wild' in pic 33, Nice amount but seem very large strokes, I'm used to applying in small circles.

 

[Bluebeard]

Car looks great... Is it just me that thinks the polish application looks a bit 'wild' in pic 33, Nice amount but seem very large strokes, I'm used to applying in small circles.

If you read what Laura had on their website, it's basically a valet. I doubt they have time at £65 to do anything other than do it quickly!

 

[Coby.]

That makes sense then... No taking away from them though as it still seems a great finish and they seem thorough in their work.

 

[Tony Hunter]

If that was £65, then it was well worth it. But I'm guessing more.

 

[Inequality Street]

Am I the only one that wasnt too impressed by the pictures/products/methods used? I get it was a valet not a detail, but still. I wouldnt have wanted to pay a lot for that personally, but going on £30 an hour, I assume roughly two hours or so.

 

[Bluebeard]

Am I the only one that wasnt too impressed by the pictures/products/methods used? I get it was a valet not a detail, but still. I wouldnt have wanted to pay a lot for that personally, but going on £30 an hour, I assume roughly two hours or so.

£65 and you weren't impressed?!

Let's say the guys are on £10 p/h, for 2 hours that leaves £45. (That's assuming only one person touched the car)

£15 worth of products roughly. That leaves £30.

Rent water electric and insurances lets say £10. That leaves £20.

£20. Twenty Pounds.

That's a lot of work for £20 profit!!

 

[Laura]

Like I said before this was a showroom valet, nothing more than a fancy clean and spruce up.


Im tempted to go back and have some paint correction done at some point as the bonnet is a bit spidery.

The he actual detailing these guys do is phenomenal.

 

[Laura]

http://flic.kr/p/ohcZaA

 

[Scrooge]

£65 is a bargain for that. Nice results from it too.

 

[dann2707]

£65 is a bargain for that. Nice results from it too.

Definitely. Especially with an interior clean too.

However they clayed the car and that isn't listed on the £65 service so as said, probably cost more?

 

[_Tom]

Looks great. And Lol at people saying it isn't worth £65.00.

 

[Mr Plums]

Well worth £65!

 

[Chapppers11]

£65... underpricing imo, that's a day's labour if done properly.

After materials, services, insurance, rent etc. they won't be taking much of that home between them!

 

[leeds2592]

Brilliant stuff for £65!

 

[Steve]

I could not get anyone to do my MX5, half the size of your car, locally to me?

Only wanted a hobbyist to tidy it up for me.

You got lucky with £65 I was prepared to pay way more!

 

[imprezaworks]

Bargain @£65