Partial Wet Sand Enhancement Detail - Ford Focus ST500 with Auto Finesse Desire

[RussZS]

The Focus ST500 is a limited edition run of 500 pre facelift Focus ST's, each loaded with equipment including scarlet leather Recaro seats, Xenon headlights, sat nav, rain-sensing wipers and limited edition decals.

This particular example was without its decals and had seen some paint on its rear quarter, which had been finished poorly with signs of pig tailing, sanding marks and very poor clarity in the clearcoat. The rest of the car was suffering from very heavy swirling.

The aim of this detail was the wet sand the repainted area to improve its appearance, then to enhance the paintwork to remove as much swirling as possible.  I also took the opportunity to try Auto Finesse Hide out on the Leather Interior...

A few befores:


DSC03390 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03391 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03392 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03393 by RussZS, on Flickr

As always, wheel area first with Smart Wheels, G101 and various brushes:


DSC03397 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03398 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03399 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03401 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03402 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03403 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03404 by RussZS, on Flickr

Followed up with IronX to remove embedded brake dust:


DSC03405 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03406 by RussZS, on Flickr

Next the car was foamed with AS Duet:


DSC03407 by RussZS, on Flickr

(That's after 5 mins dwell)

Next:

- Hand washed with AS Duet
- Rinsed
- IronX applied to entire car to remove any fallout
- Tardis to remove tar

Then the car was moved inside for claying:


DSC03411 by RussZS, on Flickr

BH Clay Soft:


DSC03412 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03413 by RussZS, on Flickr

The car was then dried with CG Wooly Mammoth:


DSC03414 by RussZS, on Flickr

I decided to wet sand the rear quarter first, then machine polish the rest of the car afterwards.

Some pics of the rear quarter:


DSC03408 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03410 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03409 by RussZS, on Flickr

As you can see, very poor general finish and reflections!

Now ideally I'd be getting this panel perfect, but given that the rest of the car is very 'orange peely' from Ford, my aim was to restore the depth to the paint, but not remove the Orange Peel completely.

Depth wise, we were looking at an average of about 650 on this panel:


DSC03422 by RussZS, on Flickr

I decided to begin with 2500 grit, then follow up with 3000.  This combination was chosen to not remove the peel completely, but to finish down the poor finish as well as possible and to try to 'match' the rest of the car.

I also had the issue that various areas were worse than other parts of the panel, so I changed pressure and working time based upon this.


DSC03425 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03427 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03428 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03429 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03433 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03435 by RussZS, on Flickr

After 3000:


DSC03436 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03437 by RussZS, on Flickr

I corrected the 3000 with Scholl S3 and Scholl Spider Pad:

(Slightly out of focus - apologies)


DSC03439 by RussZS, on Flickr

After:


DSC03440 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03441 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03444 by RussZS, on Flickr

The peel is still present, but the reflectivity and depth have been restored. 


DSC03448 by RussZS, on Flickr

I then began working on the rest of the car, which was averaging about 170 microns:

Before:


DSC03415 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03416 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03417 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03467 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03471 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03452 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03453 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03456 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03461 by RussZS, on Flickr

Old ST stripe residue still present:


DSC03458 by RussZS, on Flickr

After:


DSC03520 by RussZS, on Flickr

Now I had a real struggle finishing down well on this paint. Megs 205 and Menz 106FA were leaving very faint holograms which were simply not acceptable.

Britemax Black Max came to my rescue and allowed me to finish down perfectly using a 3M Finishing Pad and DA:


DSC03473 by RussZS, on Flickr

The Hide Pair was used on the interior along with Spritz:


DSC03475 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03476 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03477 by RussZS, on Flickr

Mint Rims on the wheels:


DSC03479 by RussZS, on Flickr

Mercury on the exhaust:


DSC03482 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03483 by RussZS, on Flickr

Crystal, Revive and Black Onyx used in their respective areas:


DSC03500 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03523 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03524 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03526 by RussZS, on Flickr

LSP for today was Auto Finesse Desire...


DSC03480 by RussZS, on Flickr

Curing:


DSC03481 by RussZS, on Flickr

[RussZS]

and finally, some afters...


DSC03484 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03486 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03487 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03489 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03490 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03492 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03494 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03497 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03498 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03501 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03502 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03504 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03505 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03507 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03508 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03510 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03511 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03513 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03514 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC03515 by RussZS, on Flickr

Next up, we have a yellow Camaro...

Thanks for reading!


DSC03518 by RussZS, on Flickr

Russ.

[Deako]

Nice work on the wet sanding Russ. Impeccable finish again! 

[craigy123]

Great work mate 

[welikeaps]

another cracking job Russ! Looking forward to the TTRS and Edition 30 writeups

[Tfsi_Mike]

Wow 

[nathangallo]

Just a little question I have monza 18's that white worm has started but on the edge there are stubborn brake dust from previous owner it's nothing major would ironx agitate the white worm more?

[glenn_g60]

Thats a nice job there. Cant wait to see the yellow camaro!

[SRC]

 
Very nice job, and an impressive match to the rest of the car.

BTW, I like Mini the Moocher, too!

[Gene Hunt]

Quality work.  Can i have one of those mats it's parked on please & what is the best thing to remove old wheel weight tape please?.

[MC71]

WOW Wet Sanding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That finish

[percy]

Top job there again mate!

[v2brett]

  top work there fella.  looks great

[Frenzy]

top work. Wet sanding is amazing, it seems counter intuitive but the results are amazing. Even if i learned how to do it i think i'd need balls of steel