Hi,
With a nice week off work and some time to kill on my various geeky hobbies, 1st on the list was to sort my grubby looking car!!
Before - not too bad on the pics, but swirls and no wax!:
Exterior -
Washed - Meguires gold class 2 bucket method etc etc
Dried - Meguires water magnet (ok-ish)
Clayed - ebay special, lubed with Optimum instant detailer & gloss enhancer. You dilute this stuff and use a spray bottle, it lasts ages and is highly recommended.
Now for the exciting bit (for me anyway), first ever machine polish! I got the expert services of clio_rich to do this, i'd seen his work posted here before and he is based in south east and he does alloys / polish / chips etc for a living so i knew i was safe.
With the car freshly clayed, time to get stuck in. Lots of mini swirls that refuse to show up on camera.
A selection of product - not a clue, but they look good as did the 3 different pads he used!
We were struggling a bit with the sun, the car was getting too hot and was disrupting the flow, so time to stick up the marque:
An example of a before (key marks by boot catch)
And after - an AMAZING transformation!! Rich got out the wet and dry for this, i acted all cool and casual but deep down was bricking it! Results speak for themselves
:
After a few hours hard work from Rich, a play with a cute puppy that nearly pissed on my foot, and 2 layers of Meguires deep crystal carnauba wax this is the result. Miles better than i was expecting, i hear a lot about BMW's having hard paint etc so set my expectations low, but I'd say we got a 90% + correction level, and you can barely see any swirls or marks anywhere now! Was really interesting to watch the process take place (damn, i'm being a geek again) :slap:
Big huge thanks to clio_rich for a perfect job, a true pro and top bloke, I'd recommend him to anyone! :star::star::star::star::star:
Engine -
A marmite effort, I used a 99p engine degreaser from the pound shop, and also used this on the wheels, i was blown away at the results, stuff paying a tenner for the same thing. I then dressed it with Autoglym vinyl and rubber care, came out a bit too shiney for my liking, but life's hard at times, you have to man up in these situations!
Before:
After:
Wheels after:
Interior -
Now this in an area i'll go cheap on, i dont spend out on interior cleaning at all.
Windows - Tesco's cheapest window cleaner
Dash and plastics - Tesco dash shine
Seats - I think it was even shampoo, dried with a bath towel then some cheap leather wipes.
Brushed metal trim - Tesco window cleaner again (works amazing)
Mats and carpet - Ariel excel gel with Acti-lift!
For the mats, hovering them doesnt bring that pile up enough for me, so its dump them in the bath! Warm water and Ariel washing gel, give it a good soaking, look at the dirt lifting out!:
Afterwards they are like new, the pile is deep again and they smell like washing:
End result:
Thanks for looking.
With a nice week off work and some time to kill on my various geeky hobbies, 1st on the list was to sort my grubby looking car!!
Before - not too bad on the pics, but swirls and no wax!:
Exterior -
Washed - Meguires gold class 2 bucket method etc etc
Dried - Meguires water magnet (ok-ish)
Clayed - ebay special, lubed with Optimum instant detailer & gloss enhancer. You dilute this stuff and use a spray bottle, it lasts ages and is highly recommended.
Now for the exciting bit (for me anyway), first ever machine polish! I got the expert services of clio_rich to do this, i'd seen his work posted here before and he is based in south east and he does alloys / polish / chips etc for a living so i knew i was safe.
With the car freshly clayed, time to get stuck in. Lots of mini swirls that refuse to show up on camera.
A selection of product - not a clue, but they look good as did the 3 different pads he used!
We were struggling a bit with the sun, the car was getting too hot and was disrupting the flow, so time to stick up the marque:
An example of a before (key marks by boot catch)
And after - an AMAZING transformation!! Rich got out the wet and dry for this, i acted all cool and casual but deep down was bricking it! Results speak for themselves
:After a few hours hard work from Rich, a play with a cute puppy that nearly pissed on my foot, and 2 layers of Meguires deep crystal carnauba wax this is the result. Miles better than i was expecting, i hear a lot about BMW's having hard paint etc so set my expectations low, but I'd say we got a 90% + correction level, and you can barely see any swirls or marks anywhere now! Was really interesting to watch the process take place (damn, i'm being a geek again) :slap:
Big huge thanks to clio_rich for a perfect job, a true pro and top bloke, I'd recommend him to anyone! :star::star::star::star::star:
Engine -
A marmite effort, I used a 99p engine degreaser from the pound shop, and also used this on the wheels, i was blown away at the results, stuff paying a tenner for the same thing. I then dressed it with Autoglym vinyl and rubber care, came out a bit too shiney for my liking, but life's hard at times, you have to man up in these situations!
Before:
After:
Wheels after:
Interior -
Now this in an area i'll go cheap on, i dont spend out on interior cleaning at all.
Windows - Tesco's cheapest window cleaner
Dash and plastics - Tesco dash shine
Seats - I think it was even shampoo, dried with a bath towel then some cheap leather wipes.
Brushed metal trim - Tesco window cleaner again (works amazing)
Mats and carpet - Ariel excel gel with Acti-lift!
For the mats, hovering them doesnt bring that pile up enough for me, so its dump them in the bath! Warm water and Ariel washing gel, give it a good soaking, look at the dirt lifting out!:
Afterwards they are like new, the pile is deep again and they smell like washing:
End result:
Thanks for looking.
