Good Afternoon
This detail is quite a special one for me as this particular car is the reason I fell in love with detailing, the reason I love old cars that have been redone and the reason I now own a detailing company.
This car and I have a history because this was the first car I ever detailed.
The first time I laid hands on this car was when it was a year old; the owner had found a scratch and wanted it removed. I swooped in having a genuine interest and soon this car was the test subject of a 17 year olds research and interest into making cars look good.
Five years later, with 28 000km on the clock the owner hearing I had officially launched my company asked me to come pamper his GTI, one of his all-time favorites, such a favorite that he also has a 2011 MK6 GTI which is featured in this write up.
I arrived early, excited to re-visit my old friend and found this waiting on the driveway:
A quick inspection revealed that the car was still immaculate, with only a bit of everyday grime here and there.
Work began with the 18 inch Monza Rims being coated in APC along with the arches which was left for a moment and then agitated with brushes.
I then continued to foam the car, followed by a re-wash and hand dry.
At this point I would like to move away from the write up and tell you a bit more about general paint maintenance and how to know when your car needs to be waxed.
If you take a look at the following pictures of this GTI:
You can see the water on the paintwork "sheets" as opposed to forming beads and running directly off. The water on this GTI clings to the paintwork - This is a sign that your car needs to be waxed.
This sort of water "behaviour" can also be caused by mild to heavy oxidation on the paintwork. Either way, your car needs paint maintenance.
If your paintwork although looking wonderful is not beading and resembles this GTI please consider either waxing the car yourself or making use of a detailer that offers this service.
Back to the detail, with the car dry I did two passes with Ultimate Compound alone as the paintwork was virtually spotless leaving me with the following finish:
Notice the metallic flake and how the paintwork soaks up the colour from the lighting in the garage? Perfect paintwork on a five year old car!
With polishing complete, the car came outside for a quick re-wash (Notice the dust on the bumper) with big brother watching from the side lines.
Then it was time for the final touches, two coats of Chemical Guys XXX Hardcore Pure Paste Wax and a touch of Wet Butter Wax with the Monza's coated in Rim Wax and all trim, tyres and plastics dressed.
Nice clean engine bay:
The interior was vacuumed, leather conditioned and glass cleaned with Fast Glass by Autoglym.
I will let the results speak for themselves.
The owner was extremely happy with the finish and has booked the MK6 GTI in for early next year for the same treatment.
For me, this was a fantastic detail on a spotless car. It was wonderful seeing this car again and getting to work on the car that started all of this.
Thank you for reading, all comments are welcome!
Mike
