My fiancée is always moaning about how much time i spend cleaning my car and never even touch her car so decided to spend yesterday and today giving it a real good clean.
Started off with a good hoover throughout (always hoover first, stops blowing dust around a freshly cleaned interior!), armoralled all the interior plastic trim (which came up really well, was quite surprised at how well actually) and then cleaned all the inside glass).
Her car is a pug 106 L reg, in white. She gave it a wash and when she finish you could see all the old oxidised paint.
So went and bought 2 tins of simonz rubbing compound, blagged a bottle of t-cut from her old man, grapped my turtle wax emerald wax from the shed and got my autoglym extra gloss protection from my car cleaning bits box.
Done on epanel at a time in small-ish sections. Started off with the rubbing compound which was quite coarse and wondered if it might be too strong. Gave each area a firm rub in straight lines (following the flow of air of the section, ie from front to back of the bonnet), then went over the same sections with a bit less pressure and then again with plenty of water and even lighter pressure and then moved on to the next section.
Followed this up on each small section with a light rub of t-cut (again, in the driection of air flow) to remove any very fine/fine defects left by the compound and buffed this of with a clean cloth. Then used my electric buffer with a lambswools bonnet to really buff the surface. By this stage the paintwork really started to glow.
Next came the turtle wax emerald wax. This is a 100% carnuba blend wax (not a polish) and done the whole panel and let if haze for a few minutes. Got a nice fresh terry towel cloth (which id seasoned the night before in a warm water/vinegar solution - honestly... stops the towels from linting and makes them very, very soft!) and gave a very light buff to remove the excess wax. Then went over it with my electric buffer again. The paint looked amazing, especially when you compared the door i had done next to the back door which i hadnt touched.
Finally, on went the autoglym extra gloss protection. left for about 30 mins, while i started on the next panel with the rubbing compound). Fresh terry towel again, lightly removing excess then came the buffer again. i can honestly say I have never seen a finish liek this and an older car before. in fact i think it looked better than some newer car ive seen. And not a swirl mark in sight.
As a truly finishing touch I tried some turtle wax tyre dressing, not only on the tyres but also on her huge black plastic bumpers. really looks good on the bumpers.
Claire is well chuffed with her "new" car... and so am I. Hopefully, if she washes it every couple of weeks, to stop any bonding of surface contaminents, it should look good for a long time to come.
Sorry to prattle on, but just wanted to let others know what i achieved this weekend. Time well spent I think.
Well, now off to bed to get paid - Mustnt say that
See ya,
Face
