Winter detail (3 months ago!)

[Brand86]

For Ali with love!

A few shots of the 172 after a "proper" detailing session in September, wish I took more photos from a distance, I got carried away with close ups and details to get an overall look at the car lol. Will do next time!

Anyway, spent 3/4 days a few hours at a time prepping my car as best I could for winter and for returning to uni as I knew I couldn't spend much time there cleaning the car.

Did the whole process, exterior, interior, engine bay - down to cleaning out the glovebox and wiping down the crummy leather folders which all the car's documents are kept in. Only thing I couldn't do which I would have liked to was properly seal underneath the car and paint the brake callipers gloss black - I hope to when I get more time.

Anyway, process was:

Exterior.

• Pre-soak with mixture of Chemical Guys Maxi Suds and Super Snow Foam, delivered via Super Spray system. Will be getting the Karcher and Autobrite Foam Lance over christmas if I have been a good boy .
• Wash using lambswool mitt and 3 or 4 bucket method - can't remember those details! Chemical Guys Extreme Wash N Wax was used.
• Clay using Sonus Green and a mixture of shampoos and QDs and water.
• Rewashed with using above method.
• Machine polish, Menzerna Intensive Polish, Final Finish and Autoglym Super Resin Polish via PC, using Sonus 6" and 4" pads.
• Sealed first using Chemical Guys Wet Mirror Finish, a coat of Extreme Gloss Protection then another of Jeffs Acrylic spray sealant for good measure!
• Waxed using Collintes 476, and then layered with Swisswav Onyx. This was the first time I used Onyx and even now 3 months later still looks awesome - will be using this again very soon!
• Wheels polished using Autoglym Super Resin Polished, sealed with Chemical Guys Jetseal 109 (sample courtesy of Riz, cheers mate) - a couple of layered, then finished with some more 476s.
• Arches cleaned with Autoglym Engine and Machine cleaner, sealed with Sonus Motorkote.
• Tyres dressed with Blackfire Tyre Dressing and some Chemical Guys New Look dressing.
• Windows polished during machine polish stage, sealed with 476s.
• All plastics dressed using a variety of products.
• Enginebay cleaned, dressed and sealed, with many of the products mentioned.
• Metal polished using Autosol and Super Resin Polish.

Interior.

• Hoovered out, although was pretty spotless before hand.
• Matts cleaned using some generic valet brand cleaner - does the job!
• Alacantra wiped down using a slightly damp microfibre cloth.
• Leather cleaned and conditioned using Gliptone products.
• All plastics dressed with Chemical Guys Silk Shine dressing.
• All faux-metal pieces buffed with a microfibre towel and some QD.

Anyway, sorry for lack of pics - and also the size of these images, if anyone knows how to resize let me know please! Also how to do those cool black borders I keep seeing!

Cheers
Tom

 

[BRUN]

what are you using to resize your images ?.......they dont seem to have turned out very well

 

[Rich]

Looks superb only 3 months late, love that flake pop on the tailgate but can see the final niggly few swirls that a mare to remove.

 

[Tyssen]

How much do you charge? That looks awesome

 

[mattjk]

How much do you charge? That looks awesome

Charge for what?

Looks good mate - i gave mine a proper going over the ther day with the pc found it hard to get all the tiny swirls out so just accepted it lol

 

[Diesel_Power]

Lovely, cant you move the wheel weights onto the inside of the rim? Wont eat away at the paint then.

 

[Brand86]

Cheers.

Yeah Rich noticed those marks too - you can't see them in normal conditions, I think the sun being directly on them brought them out - but I do accept leaving some minor marks rather than risking going through clearcoat, I am anticipating keeping the car for a while and there a few marks from the first owner (Although he kept very good care of it!) so want to keep a decent amount.

As for moving the wheels balances - didn't know that was possible, some guy changes my wheels and leave him to it lol! Having said that there was a mark on one wheel last time he did it which took ages to polish out. Is this easy to do? Might ask him next time I need a set.

 

[riz]

im not too sure whether your choice of sealants will bond well? WMF is WTF!!, i would just use the jeffs and layer it loads then wax, but otherwise looking good

 

[Christopher]

great results

 

[Alan]

Top job matey...

 

[Brand86]

im not too sure whether your choice of sealants will bond well? WMF is WTF!!, i would just use the jeffs and layer it loads then wax, but otherwise looking good

They seemed to, I did some reading about the products before using them together and as it contains some more micro-abrasives like the SRP, it seemed to create an even better surface to work on - and built up the layers from there.

Having said that it was abit of an experiement and not so sure it added much to the overall look.

I am now going to SRP or Sonus Paint Cleanser > Jeffs > 476s > Onyx. Want to do it today but what time does it get dark lol?! Best get moving!

 

[MikeLYR27]

I thought i was a hardcore detailer! But my crummy, wash, rinse, wash, rinse again, dry, (now and again) Megs paint cleaner, SRP, EGP seems so feeble! Oh... and all done by hand coz i dont have a PC and would be to scared to fcuk up my liquid yellow!

 

[young_lew]

wish i had that sort of paitience!

 

[mattjk]

I thought i was a hardcore detailer! But my crummy, wash, rinse, wash, rinse again, dry, (now and again) Megs paint cleaner, SRP, EGP seems so feeble! Oh... and all done by hand coz i dont have a PC and would be to scared to fcuk up my liquid yellow!

on a side note i think youd struggle to ruin your paint with a PC even at its fastest speed held in the same spot wouldnt do much unless like more than 15-20 seconds!!

 

[Rich]

Even 15-20 seconds in the same spot you would struggle to do much. In the same token I struck through paint on a 182 in much less.

Tom - I know what you mean, I have not even used a cutting pad on most of mine as I know it will be hear for the long term.

 

[Brand86]

Yeah, getting a few marks is inevitable, my car is pushing on 36k miles and gets driven most days, so have accepted can't get it (or keep it) 100% like I might be able to iif it was a second car. With grad jobs on the horizon, and potential company cars, I may be forced to sell the 172 at some point, although if I can afford to I would love to keep both. Only problem is that I don't have a garage to store it in We will cross that hurdle as it arises though!

Just given it an SRP and one layer of Jeffs before I got too cold and too dark - plus the Arsenal game is about to start. Will continue this session at a later date, just pleased to have got the worst part over with! As much as I love the PC, the amount of noise it produces etc annoys me at times, I am a hand-job traditionalist at heart!

 

[DebV6]

Wow, that looks really shiny!

 

[Ali]

Fantastic work wee guy!

 

[Brand86]

Fantastic work wee guy!

It's all worth it now

 

[Diesel_Power]

Yup you can have the weights on the inside of the rim, just easier to balance on the outside so tell them to stop been lazy. Get it rebalanced, well worth it.

 

[Brand86]

Yup you can have the weights on the inside of the rim, just easier to balance on the outside so tell them to stop been lazy. Get it rebalanced, well worth it.

Its not that much of an issue now but I definitely will do next time I need a new set - was wondering how comes some wheels don't have them - now I know why!

Right pain to clean around and like you say it leaves a mark when they are removed that is a pain to clean up.

 

[Gaz_]

Just given it an SRP and one layer of Jeffs before I got too cold and too dark - plus the Arsenal game is about to start. Will continue this session at a later date, just pleased to have got the worst part over with! As much as I love the PC, the amount of noise it produces etc annoys me at times, I am a hand-job traditionalist at heart!

I hear you, i find PC'ing over a day well tiresome tbh. Giving mine a final finish over xmas, topped off with some Collinites

 

[Rich]

Just given it an SRP and one layer of Jeffs before I got too cold and too dark - plus the Arsenal game is about to start. Will continue this session at a later date, just pleased to have got the worst part over with! As much as I love the PC, the amount of noise it produces etc annoys me at times, I am a hand-job traditionalist at heart!

I hear you, i find PC'ing over a day well tiresome tbh. Giving mine a final finish over xmas, topped off with some Collinites

I was hoping to give mine a lick over but it is too bloody cold, copat of wax if it's lucky!

Yup you can have the weights on the inside of the rim, just easier to balance on the outside so tell them to stop been lazy. Get it rebalanced, well worth it.

Its not that much of an issue now but I definitely will do next time I need a new set - was wondering how comes some wheels don't have them - now I know why!

Right pain to clean around and like you say it leaves a mark when they are removed that is a pain to clean up.

The problem with those clip on outer ones is they damage the paint when removed

 

[Gaz_]

*Thread highjack!!
oooh Richy i need some advice!!! I have some carlack 68 paint cleaner. As i'm going over the car with some final finish xmas week, do i really need it? As in should i just was the car etc, then Final Finish with PC, the top off with some collinites?

 

[Rich]

For a light clean up Final Finish will work nicely I would just go with that.

Which final finish FF/FA or 85D ?

 

[Gaz_]

Thats the idea, just a light going over, not been done since Aug, as for the FF.............um, its in the shed! (far too cold to venture out now lo!!!l) Would it matter?

 

[Rich]

No it being the FF is a good thing, has a bit more bite to do a light clean up. Sometimes the 85 is not quite enough.