This Octavia is owned by the wife of the owner of the Amarok I detailed last weekend and was booked in for a full weekend for a full correction detail as the paint was in a rather bad way, going pink in places and covered in swirl marks and scratches.
Unfortunately I somehow managed to take the first few pics without a memory card in, so apologies for the lack of pics for the start of the process.
The process was:
- Wheels, Arches and Tyres with EZ Detail Brush, Valet Pro Wheel Brushes, Auto Smart Smart Wheels and Britemax Grime Out
- Next the car was foamed with Megs Hyper Wash and intricate areas cleansed with Grime Out and VP brushes
DSC04271 by
RussZS, on Flickr
- Car Rinsed then washed with Britemax Clean Max Shampoo
- The car was then rinsed again
IronX was used next to safely melt fallout and brake dust from the wheels and paintwork. This was left to dwell for 3-5 minutes then rinsed off with the Kranzle K7:
DSC04269 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04270 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04273 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Tar on the paintwork was address next using a dedicated tar remover to safely remove it - Auto Smart Tardis:
DSC04276 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04278 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Next the car was rinsed again then moved inside out of the ever warming Sun to begin the claying process:
DSC04279 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04280 by
RussZS, on Flickr
IronX and Tardis do their jobs very well - not much left for the clay to remove.
Next I began to assess the paintwork. It was evident very quickly that the bonnet was littered with stone chips which had been poorly repaired.
Some of these stone chips had been subject to a very poor attempt at wet sanding:
DSC04282 by
RussZS, on Flickr
This particular one had resulted in the clearcoat being penetrated:
DSC04283 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04284 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04285 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Otherwise the car was just generally swirly:
DSC04307 by
RussZS, on Flickr
The paint was VERY hard on this car - similar to another red Octavia I'd done in the past which was the same colour. Given that I knew I had it for a couple of days I decided on a 2 stage machine polish - 1 intensive stage to remove as many of the deeper defects as safely as possible, then refine the cutting stage to leave the crispest finish possible within the time allowed.
After playing with a number of combinations, I was getting best results from a mixture of Megs D300 and Cutting Disc via DA and/or Scholl S3 Gold via Spider Sandwich Pad. The MF system was allowing me to finish down slightly better but I find it never leaves the same crisp finish a rotary does so would require further refining to achieve the desired results:
Before:
DSC04307 by
RussZS, on Flickr
After:
DSC04308 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04318 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04319 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04324 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04330 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Most of the car had clearcoat present, with the exception of the rear spoiler and wing mirrors bizarrely.
DSC04334 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04335 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Poor MF pad:
DSC04331 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Some more 50/50's:
DSC04343 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04341 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04347 by
RussZS, on Flickr
After:
DSC04345 by
RussZS, on Flickr
My mate popped by for a quick hand getting his car to look its best and grab a few pics, so some Z8 later, we have a very nice Bora!
DSC04348 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Day 2 saw me continue with the correction work:
DSC04359 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04362 by
RussZS, on Flickr
I was also tasked with removing the stickers from the boot:
DSC04364 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Heated up and carefully removed:
DSC04366 by
RussZS, on Flickr
The lights were also corrected:
DSC04367 by
RussZS, on Flickr
The Sun was shining directly on my bonnet at this stage, so I took the opportunity to grab a quick pic!
DSC04372 by
RussZS, on Flickr
After the cutting stage, the finished was refined via Rotary using Megs 205 and a 3M Polishing Pad. The finish was then wiped down with CarPro Eraser to ensure the finish I see reflects its true condition and no filling is masking any defects.
Now the LSP stage was done a bit differently on this car. I decided to use Zymol Glasur as I firmly believe a decent nuba wax gives the best results on a flat red. In the past I have suffered with gassing from Glasur, but I have found that applying, removing the leaving in the sun for a period helps this process along, so that the gassing can be removed ahead of collection by the customer:
DSC04378 by
RussZS, on Flickr
This next set of pics is after one layer of Glasur, but nothing else has been finished yet (wheels, tyres, plastics, glass, exhaust etc)
DSC04379 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04380 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04381 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04383 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04384 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04385 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04389 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04394 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Next the car was moved back inside to finish up:
Revive on the plastics:
DSC04395 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Before:
DSC04396 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Impressive difference as always:
DSC04397 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04398 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04399 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Next the Milltek exhaust with Britemax Metal Twins:
DSC04400 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Before:
DSC04401 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04402 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04403 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Wheels are tyres with:
DSC04420 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Interior and glass with:
DSC04421 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Milly was on hand too:
DSC04418 by
RussZS, on Flickr
2nd layer of Glasur added:
DSC04424 by
RussZS, on Flickr
and finally, after two long days, some afters!!
DSC04404 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04405 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04410 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04413 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04417 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04416 by
RussZS, on Flickr
Not bad for 10yo car!! Aside from the defects in the bonnet, it's near perfect now!!
The Amarok turned up a bit later to collect the Skoda...
DSC04431 by
RussZS, on Flickr
I nearly cried...
Meanwhile, Milly also took the opportunity to give her Mini a quick protection top up - suitably dressed for it!
DSC04429 by
RussZS, on Flickr
We ended the day with a few quick pics of the Mini and my Golf together in Tesco:
DSC04435 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04437 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04434 by
RussZS, on Flickr
DSC04440 by
RussZS, on Flickr
A bit of a mixed write up and apologies for the lack of pics at the start of the process. Thanks once again for reading!!
Next up we have another Mini Cooper, a 300C Estate and a Ferrari 360!!
Russ.
