Mrs Al's Lupo GTI - Correction Detail

[RussZS]

This lovely example of a Lupo GTI belongs to the wife of my mate who owns the 5 door Golf GTI 'show car' which I detailed a few months ago (its won a few awards this season - congrats Al :thumb:)

The car itself is in generally very good condition for a 10 year old car, but the flat black paint had very obvious swirling and scratches (visible in natural daylight) and the car needed some protection.

Please note that the wheels are for sale and being replaced with original Lupo GTI wheels, which are being refurbed by A1 Wheels in Anthracite, which will be on the car after I have protected them, mid next week.

I actually started the car last weekend, but got rained off just before I started the correction process, but this meant I was able to play with the new Meguiars D300 and MF DA System, which I'd purchased last week from Tim@CYC (thanks Tim!).

I also took the opportunity to test out some more Auto Finesse products, so I'll add thoughts and comments on these too...

So, to start off, some befores...


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As ever, I started with the wheels.

First off, I rinsed the wheels and arches with my Karcher X5.700:


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Next up, I used Auto Finesse Imperial Wheel Cleaner and consciously worked quickly given the potentially delicate nature of the polished part of the wheels.


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Applied liberally - I like the way this product foams up, it's very easy to work with


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Worked with an Envy Brush and Wheel Woolies:


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Tyres and Arches were dealt with via Autosmart G101 @ 4:1


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Lots of dirt in the upper part of the arch:


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Rinsed:


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Next I worked around the car with G101@10:1 and dealt with the shuts, petrol cap, etc etc:


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Grill cleaned with Wheel Woolies and G101:


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Next, the whole car was rinsed, then washed with a lambswool wash mitt and Auto Finesse Lather.  Lather has impressed me to the point where I have sold off all but one of my other shampoos - I love it that much!  It cleans very well, foams up well, clings well and rinses very cleanly.  Perfect shampoo for my personal taste:


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Car all washed - looking better already :)


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I then clayed the car with BH Auto Clay Soft and Water with a dash of Lather as lube (which worked really well!)


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The Lupo was then rewashed, rinsed and dried with Uber Drying Towels:


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I then went round the car with my Aeolus 901 removing any trapped, excess water:


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Straight away, the freshly cleaned car was beginning to show up the issues with the paintwork, in the bright Sun:


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---------------------------------------------


At this point, I got rained off :censored:

So, I returned again today, to pick up where I left off.

The car was still very clean, so I quickly cleaned the wheels, tyres and arches with G101.

I then got to try out one of my new products - Auto Finesse Citrus Power, which I used on the dead insects on the front of the car and the wing mirrors:


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No pics of it in action I'm afraid, but it was VERY effective at breaking the bugs down, which simply rinsed away with a quick blast from my pressure washer - it's a very promising product.

Dried again with an Uber Drying Towel:


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Few cheeky pics of my Golf with Al's...


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(I really need those Xenons!!!)

I then assessed the paint on the car, to see what I had to play with.

I was getting generally healthy readings of 160 ish over most of the car:


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However, there was some evidence of paint on the rear NS wing:


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-------------------

[RussZS]

As mentioned at the beginning of this write up, I took the opportunity to have a play with Meguiars new MF system on this car (after trying it on my own yesterday, of course!)

So a CYC DAS-6 Pro:


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Meguiars D300 Compound:


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and various cutting pads:


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Paint before...


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Now, after briefly having a play with Scholl S17 on a White SSP last time, and getting about 80% correction via Rotary, this surprised me....








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:doublesho:doublesho

That's without refining too...

After:


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Very, very impressive!  I won't go into my thoughts on this system here, I'll do a specific review, but it's very impressive and certainly has its place, but I need to have more of a play to find a way to tackle RDS's, as a rotary is a lot more effective, at least based on my experience level, and you really do need to keep the pads clean and primed, or the performance drops off.  I think coming from a rotary to this system is more of a sideways step, but its a great system for somebody looking to step up from a frustrating DA experience, to something which will cut a lot more effectively, but the system is quite fussy, so requires you to follow the instructions pretty much to the letter.  I'd suggest buying a fair few pads too, as I was preferring to use a new one every panel or two, despite cleaning the pads with a Megs Triple Duty brush.

Anyway, some more correction pics:

Note the difference in colour (right side polished)


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This is the resprayed panel:


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Deeper RDS remain:


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Roof before:


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After:


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Post polishing pics, no LSP at this stage...


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Boot before:

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After:


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Once I'd finished polishing, there was a fair bit of dust on the paintwork, so I decided to rinse it off.  At this point, I was very impressed with the beading on the paintwork from the polishing stage


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Auto Finesse Triple was then used to cleanse the door shuts and sills:


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I finished up with Auto Finesse Crystal on the glass and Auto Finesse Gloss on the tyres.

I then used Auto Finesse Passion on the paint work.  Like the other AF waxes, it smells lovely and was a pleasure to use.  Some afters:


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That's it for today!

However, I'm not quite finished, so when the wheels are back I need to go and seal them for Tash, and at the same time, I need to sort the plastic trim with Auto Finesse Revive, which I should hopefully have by mid next week.  I also need to correct under the door handles and spend some time polishing the exhausts with wire wool (I'm all out!).  I may also seal the glass with Carlack if there's time.

Cheers for letting me loose on your beloved Lupo Tash and enjoy Ed38! :)

Thanks for reading!!

Russ.

[Tfsi_Mike]

 

[nads1_uk]

Good work mate looks the dogs danglies!!   

[Frenzy]

Top class! 

[Tfsi_Mike]

P.s where is that towel from!?

[ianc1990]

Very good finish indeed! 

[big al]

Fantastic work again Russ, Tash is over the moon with it, even though it was covered in rain yesterday morning the beading looked fantastic and the paint just shines!

[JoeDarKa]

Looks absolutely brilliant! Want to do mine?! 

[jonm]

flippin awesome work

[Schnaffler]

 

[stealthwolf]

Love the finished result. Am becoming impressed over some of the Auto Finesse stuff. I kinda had a look at the stuff on their stand at Inters but wasn't really taken by any of it.