Enhancement Detail - BigAl's GTI!

[RussZS]

Today saw me nervously travel to a not very sunny Wolverhampton, with my fingers firmly crossed that the rain would stay away, so that I could spend the day giving Al's beautiful GTI a bit of love.

As ever with lighter cars, the difference isn't as obvious as a swirly black car, especially without any decent sunlight, but I think it's turned out very well, and the paintwork is certainly a lot cleaner than it was.

A couple of before shots...


P1050198 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050200 by RussZS, on Flickr


As ever, I started off with the wheels, tyres and arches with G101 and various brushes.  This followed with G101 on shuts, sills, petrol cap, grille, etc.  I then washed the car with Optimum Car Shampoo and rinsed off.

I followed this up with Tardis (which removed very little!), then Wolf's Decon Gel, which did a great job of removing the additional contaminants:


P1050202 by RussZS, on Flickr

I then followed this up with Elite Polyclay and Citrus Bling lube.  The roof in particular was quite bad.  This pic is from just one quarter of the roof!


P1050201 by RussZS, on Flickr

Next up I decided to tackle the deeper scratches in isolation, as most of the paintwork was only suffering from relatively light swirling, aside from a few key areas which needed heavier compounding.

First up, the door handles, which were pretty bad:


P1050204 by RussZS, on Flickr

and after...


P1050206 by RussZS, on Flickr

RDS on the roof:


P1050211 by RussZS, on Flickr

and after (you can just make it out, but largely removed)


P1050213 by RussZS, on Flickr

I then set about cleansing the paintwork with Auto Finesse's Rejuvenate, stepping up to Menzerna 3.02 in place, where needed.

Rejuvenate is a very impressive paint cleanser, with a great level of cut if used with the right technique.  This is my polishing pad after half of a panel...


P1050207 by RussZS, on Flickr

and after half of the roof.........!!


P1050224 by RussZS, on Flickr

Unfortunately a lot of the correction shots didn't come out too well, but here is an example of a 50/50 on the passenger door:


P1050237 by RussZS, on Flickr

A few quick pics after polishing:


P1050218 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050221 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050223 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050225 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050229 by RussZS, on Flickr

There's a lovely gloss and glow to the paintwork, but also a nice sharpness to it.

I followed this up with Wolf's Body Wrap Nano Sealant (which I also used on the wheels).  I used 3M Tyre Restorer on the tyres, 20/20 on the glass and Optimum on the exhaust.

Some 'afters':


P1050239 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050241 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050242 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050243 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050244 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050245 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050246 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050250 by RussZS, on Flickr

and down looooooooow (Air is so cool!)


P1050252 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050253 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050255 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050256 by RussZS, on Flickr


P1050257 by RussZS, on Flickr

So, big thanks to Al for giving me the opportunity to work on his car, much appreciated.

Mrs Al is also going to hopefully take some pics when its a bit brighter, showing off the true finish, which I feel is masked by the poor lighting and clouds.

Thanks for reading!

Russ.

[Tfsi_Mike]

Great work!  Where are you based?

[Boothy]

Nice job there mate and loving the stance with those rims. 

[RussZS]

Great work!  Where are you based?

Cheers :)

I'm in Walsall, near Birmingham 

[JPC]

Russ are you sure you clayed the car? lol looking at that pad, theres a lot of contamination coming off the paint! 

[RussZS]

Russ are you sure you clayed the car? lol looking at that pad, theres a lot of contamination coming off the paint! 

Yep, very sure!!  I spent a good 60 mins or so claying it!  I was surprised too... it was mostly like that on the roof.

[Greeners]

Looking very good, nice one Russ! 

And Al your just a big tart!! 

[stealthwolf]

Awesome turn around. And shame on big al for allowing it to get in such a state!  

[big al]

Awesome turn around. And shame on big al for allowing it to get in such a state!  

Don't blame me, it's been in the bodyshops recently more than it's been with me! 
I try to clean it every weekend, but with a dog with cancer treatment going on have not had as much chance as I would like.
Thanks so much for the work carried out Russ, great write up and fantastic result. 

[percy]

Nice job there again Russ! Will send you some pics of the LM'S as ive got the tyres on now and waiting to find time put them on!