Midlands Car Care - Mk5 Golf GTI Early Edition Prep - Auto Finesse Illusion!!

[RussZS]

We recently held an open session for a few of the Auto Finesse Sponsored cars to prepare their vehicles for Ultimate Dubs at our unit in Walsall, which isn't too far from where UD13 was hosted in Telford, away from the poor weather and rain at the time.  As part of this day, I helped Emma prepare her Seat Arosa for the show which went on to win Runner Up in the 'Best Seat' category (the other two cars won Best Mk5/6 Golf and Runner Up Lupo).  Emma kindly went on to recommend us to the owner of this Mk5 (which was Runner Up Mk5/6) to help him sort a few of the issues present in the paintwork.  The owner Michael and I agreed a date and aimed to get this looking better ready for Early Edition...

Michael the owner also travelled all of the way up to us from Swindon which was very flattering indeed.

A few befores - this car isn't running air but is 'static' running KW Ultra Lows:


DSC07297 by RussZS, on Flickr


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DSC07300 by RussZS, on Flickr

As the wheels were already very clean, and also relatively delicate, I decided to foam the car initially and use this along with a mixed up spray bottle of Valet Pro's Advanced Neutral to safely clean the wheels and begin to break down the traffic film present on the paintwork.

Wheels rinsed at high pressure first to remove any loose dust and dirt:


DSC07301 by RussZS, on Flickr

The Golf was then foamed:


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Wheel Woolies were used to gently agitate the ValetPro ANSF on the rear of the wheels:


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The smallest of the Valet Pro brushes was used to clean the faces of the wheels:


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Meanwhile, we worked around the more intricate parts of the car with Auto Finesse's new brushes:


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After the wheels were rinsed, Iron Out was used to safely remove any build up on brake dust pitting present:


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Next the whole car was rinsed at high pressure to remove the foam solution and hand washed safely with Auto Finesse Lather shampoo and a CarPro mitt:


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After washing and rinsing again, we began to decontaminate the paint using a 3 stage process - fallout removal, tar removal then claying to pick up anything left such as tree sap.

We used Iron Out and Oblitarate to deal with the fallout and tar respectively:


DSC07322 by RussZS, on Flickr

Then moved the Golf inside to safely clay without any debris falling on the car, with the Auto Finesse clay and Glide for lubrication:


DSC07323 by RussZS, on Flickr

It didn't pick up very much at all - the GTI was actually very clean already, a real credit to its owner.

Next we safely dried the car using a combination of Uber Drying towels:


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and a blower to remove any trapped water:


DSC07327 by RussZS, on Flickr

At this stage we were ready to begin assessing the paintwork.  We already knew that all of the car with the exception of the roof had been repainted - this was reading around 350-400 microns consistently, and the roof being original paint was nearer the 130-140 mark.

After testing various combinations we settled on a mixture of Rupes BigFoot with cutting pad and Zephir and Flex VRG3401 with Lake Country HT Rotary Cyan Cutting Pad and Megs 101.  We did also use the Rotex90 in places and the Festool RAP150 Rotary with extension bars.

Some pics from the corrective stages - all are before refining:


DSC07329 by RussZS, on Flickr


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One of the many deeper scratches on the bonnet and roof:


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There were some pretty heavy sanding marks present in the top edge of the bonnet too:


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More intricate parts were dealt with via Festool Rotex90:


DSC07389 by RussZS, on Flickr

Front bumper before:


DSC07396 by RussZS, on Flickr

After:


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DSC07404 by RussZS, on Flickr

After the cutting stage was completed, we moved the Golf outside (at around 11pm!) and foamed it off and rinsed at high pressure, to ensure any polishing dust was removed:


DSC07413 by RussZS, on Flickr


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We then used the blower to safely dry it.

Next we wiped down the shuts and sills with Finale to ensure all polishing dust was removed:


DSC07425 by RussZS, on Flickr

We refined with a special combination which I have concocted using Flex 3401VRG and Red LC HT Pad, then cleansed with Rejuvenate by hand:


DSC07439 by RussZS, on Flickr

We used Mercury on the exhaust and Mint Rims on the wheels:


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Two coats of Satin were used to dress the tyres to get a glossy look:


DSC07430 by RussZS, on Flickr

Revive was used on plastic trim and door seals:


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50.50


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We finished with Auto Finesse's show car wax - Illusion!


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Then a final spot check with the 3M Sun Gun:


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and finally, some afters:


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We will hopefully get some sun shots in the morning too if the rain holds off.  Next up we have a Mk2 Focus RS in UG, Kia Sportage New Car Protection, Focus ST3 New Car Protection and a VW Scirocco for Full Correction, Engine and Interior!

Thanks for reading:


DSC07506 by RussZS, on Flickr

Russ.

[Deako]

Lovely work Russ, but why the rejuvenate step?

[RussZS]

Lovely work Russ, but why the rejuvenate step?

Thank you :)

I tend to always use the respective manufacturers paint cleanser or Eraser/IPA to ensure the best performance from the following protective product.  It takes minutes to apply by hand on freshly polished paint and just ensures peace of mind really.

[Deako]

I use rejuvenate as a cleanser/light polish. But would have thought it would have mild filling properties and a slight cutting action, negating your hard work with the rotary. Was just curious why it was used instead of IPA.

[RussZS]

IPA isn't generally good enough to remove most fillers so we use Nanolex's Paint Cleanser after machining which is far more revealing.

Rejuvenate via hand worked with no pressure adds a nice slickness to the paint and is designed for AF waxes to sit on top of. 

I'm sure Michael will let you IPA the car if you're insinuating its been filled? 

[Scottymon]

WOW, it looked clean before it went in!

But afterwards! Amzing work.

[Deako]

IPA isn't generally good enough to remove most fillers so we use Nanolex's Paint Cleanser after machining which is far more revealing.

Rejuvenate via hand worked with no pressure adds a nice slickness to the paint and is designed for AF waxes to sit on top of. 

I'm sure Michael will let you IPA the car if you're insinuating its been filled? 

Only asking questions Russ. No need to get so defensive. As an owner of many AF products, I'd just not seen it used in place of an IPA. I just use it as a manual polish.

[gobbleplease]

That looks lovely !!

Was there any reason you didn't use the Autofinesse polishes ?

[edd666999]

been a while since i have seen a golf and wanted to marry it 

[DFish]

Nice products, nice work, nice car, shame about the wheels.

Fish

[TheBIGJAYY]

  amazing work mate!! such a nice colour to work with too

[Steve Saunders]

Stunning work mate.