Sunlight Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail

[Chapppers11]

A friend has just acquired a Mazda RX-8 and asked if I could give it a good going over for him to maintain.
It wasn't in a bad condition at all and I was impressed with the paint condition, only a few marks all round, but I had it in on Sunday to do my best.

A few before's:

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Someone popped by to say hi -

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

First up - Wheels & Arches.
Bilberry Wheel Cleaner
Britemax Grime-Out for Tyres
Citrus Power used for Arches
Various brushes - ValetPro, Wheel Woolies and EZ Detail.

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Small holes on the wheels were cleaned with the VP brushes in a slightly different way:

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Looking better -

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

The wheels were also IronX'd and sprayed off, but I didn't get photos for some reason.

After the wheels and arches were dealt with, the car was then rinsed off and snowfoamed, and intricates addressed with AF Citrus while the snow dwelled. Was a warm day so had to get round quick.

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Finally decided to use my new Dodo Juice buckets with a Meg's Microfibre Mitt and Dodo Juice Basics of Bling.

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Foamed up:

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

The two buckets after washing.

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Car then dried off quickly inside, decontaminated with Tardis and IronX

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

The paint was very rough, but it wasn't tar that was the problem..

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Iron fallout was causing the rough texture, some pictures of it being dissolved:

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

The paint was then assessed all round to decide on polish combo's. Quite reasonable thicknesses all round for these cars, reading circa 110.

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

The front door after 2 passes:

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

The filler cap brought back up to a shine

Before:

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

After:

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Previous polish residue was removed from parking sensors before taping up the bumper:

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Plastic brought back to a shine -

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

I did make attempts at 50/50's but it was SO hard to catch with the camera, I gave up.
Thanks to Caroline at Kleers, I picked up a few new products to try, The glass Cleaner and The Metal Polish.

First up - the Metal Polish :
Up against AF Mercury - which is my current go-to metal polish - I will be honest and say that the texture, smell, colour and abilities were identical! I would have no issues in using it again and I will be pricing it up against AF.

Before exhaust:

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

After

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Boot shuts cleaned

Before

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

After

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

before:

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Trims revived with C4

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

After on the left / Before on the right.

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Wheels dressed with Meg's Endurance and Poorboys Wheel Sealant.

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Next to try was the Kleers Glass Cleaner
Went on really well without smearing, seemed to evaporate quickly after wiping as well, with a very nice shine left behind.

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

The car was sealed with AF Tough Coat after an IPA wipe-down.

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

unfortunately it was getting dark but here's some finished photos with the new plates on. (thanks for sorting them Ady!)

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

Sunshine Silver Mazda RX-8 10-Hour Enhancement Detail on Flickr

I also gave it a few sprays inside of Stripper Scent to impress the ladies...

Sorry again about the AWFUL photos, my friend was very happy when he saw it and hopefully I will be having a visit from an Audi R8 soon...
Thanks for reading!

 

[Scrooge]

Lol @ stripper scent.

Great work dude!

 

[JamesBryan]

Looks tidy.

Maybe some before pics of the polishing stage so we can see the difference.

 

[Chapppers11]

I tried hard to get some 50/50's but it just wasn't happening, swirls were hard to spot under any light, let alone catch on camera!

 

[MatthewR]

Looking great!

 

[Eddie.]

Very nice mate

 

[Christopher]

Looks great Andy!

 

[Chapppers11]

Thanks guys.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Nice work!

I thought the dog was peeing on the car as soon as I saw the photo lol!

 

[Chapppers11]

FLOL, it would probably work as a degreaser I suppose.

 

[Gally]

Nice work mate. Good reflections!

Really is an utter nightmare getting 50/50's on Silver. Need a dark room and a very good lamp/gun.

Polish/Pad combo?

 

[Chapppers11]

Thanks!

I did have my Brinkmann but like you said, it wasn't dark enough.

After a bit of trialling I decided on Menzerna PF 2500 on a yellow pad finished with FF 4000.

I very nearly finished with Amigo but thought I may as well get some 'real', lasting results by finishing with another Menz polish.

 

[JD]

Looks good, no claying?

 

[Chapppers11]

Yarp, don't know why I didn't mention it, it didnt pick much up though after IronX and Tardis tbf.

 

[Bluebeard]

Some peoples choice in tyres astound me at times!

Car looks great though.

 

[Ady182]

Number plates look good lol, car looks great also!!

 

[Chapppers11]

Thanks mate, they took ages to stick on without any bubbles lol