Today saw me travel to a sunny but chilly Shrewsbury to Lee@BespokeCarCare's unit, to meet my mate Dale and spend some time giving his recently acquired R26.R some love ahead of it being put to bed for Winter.
The aim of the day was to restore a bit of life into the paint and lay down some solid protection for it. Dale was also planning to make some small additions cosmetically.
The car itself is a firm personal favourite of mine and a great car to detail, as you have plastic windows, plastic wings, titanium exhaust, carbon fibre bonnet and red wheels - certainly very different to most cars.
We got cracking about 8:30 - some befores:
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
Wheels first:
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
Smart Wheels and EZ Brush on rear of wheels:
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RussZS, on Flickr
Swissvax Brush of face and calipers:
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
G101 on tyres:
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RussZS, on Flickr
and rinsed!
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RussZS, on Flickr
Foamed next with Megs Hyper Wash:
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RussZS, on Flickr
Shuts and sills worked with G101, washed with Auto Finesse Lather and rinsed:
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RussZS, on Flickr
Next I tackled the bonded contamination, of which there seemed to be very little. Dale has clayed the car very thoroughly recently, so IronX did very little, aside from the boot:
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RussZS, on Flickr
and the bottom of the petrol cap...
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RussZS, on Flickr
Tardis and claying was not needed at all...
Next, the .R was moved inside, ready to be assessed for paint thickness and defects:
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RussZS, on Flickr
Healthy, average readings of about 172 on most panels:
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RussZS, on Flickr
General idea of the swirling - it's so bad, that it appears to be a single line in the pic, but the swirling was very heavy:
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RussZS, on Flickr
After playing with various combinations on Rotary, I settled for the Megs MF system via DA, which was giving me 90% correction or so from a single set:
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RussZS, on Flickr
The correction shots are a little disappointing, but the difference is hopefully clear:
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
Quite severe defect on the bonnet...
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RussZS, on Flickr
A couple of hits of Megs 205 via Rotary and 3M Yellow Pad:
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
Some random carbon fibre pics :D
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
Boot after:
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RussZS, on Flickr
Before the ZAIO cleanse to prepare the paint for Z2, Dale added the missing vinyl graphics to his car:
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RussZS, on Flickr
After:
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RussZS, on Flickr
Rear bumper before:
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RussZS, on Flickr
During:
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RussZS, on Flickr
After:
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RussZS, on Flickr
We also added the updated RenaultSport logo:
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
We finished up with Mint Rims on the wheels:
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RussZS, on Flickr
ZAIO base and Z2 on the paint:
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
AF Crystal was used on the glass and a final wipedown of Z8 on the paint:
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RussZS, on Flickr
I also had some spare time to do something with the rear lights, so before:
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RussZS, on Flickr
After (out of focus slightly)
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RussZS, on Flickr
and finally, some finished pics:
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
and a few interior shots, which may interest some people:
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
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RussZS, on Flickr
Thanks once again to Lee, you're a legend Sir! Also thanks to Dale for allowing me to work on this superb machine and for his help and company!
Thanks for reading
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RussZS, on Flickr
Russ@MidlandsCarCare