GTI-Rog's Mk5 GTI "Rejuvenation" Thread (Pic Heavy)

[Monster_Mike]

Thanks for posting up all the work you have carried out, I've got to do many of these my self and you've broken them down in nice bite size chunks.. Especially doing both front and rear light lenses..

Mike

[GTI-Rog]

Another great guide Rog, looks much better now

Thanks Liam 

Thanks for posting up all the work you have carried out, I've got to do many of these my self and you've broken them down in nice bite size chunks.. Especially doing both front and rear light lenses..

Mike

Thanks Mike, it's my pleasure mate! I really enjoy doing the thread

I've learnt so much from similar posts like this over the years. I feel I'm doing my bit to help or inspire people do these jobs....which the dealers would charge a small fortune for doing. When all it takes a bit of knowledge and a few basic tools.

I've also made a great record of the progress that I can look back upon, in the years to come and reminisce 

[FrameSet]

Brilliant transformation! Didn't think much to the black GTI's but this has converted me. Small touches definitely make the biggest differences!

[RyanGTI]

Thanks for posting up all the work you have carried out, I've got to do many of these my self and you've broken them down in nice bite size chunks.. Especially doing both front and rear light lenses..

Mike

I second this, finding this thread very inspiring and helpful to those of us who aren't so confident diving in and doing stuff our self's. Thanks!

[Monster_Mike]

I'd love to give a machine polisher a go, always been a bit apprehensive I guess.. Now I've just got my black gti its defo entering my mind again. And seeing your results, if I can get mine looking 50% as good it'd be a great improvement! Did you follow a guide on the lenses? I guess you used wet and dry paper on the 800 and 2000 grits before you buffed them up? Are you going to buff up your exhaust tips? One of mine looks like yours did with the sun blistering sort of damage on it.. You did an amazing job on yours though.. Look brand new now!!!! 

[GTI-Rog]

I'd love to give a machine polisher a go, always been a bit apprehensive I guess.. Now I've just got my black gti its defo entering my mind again. And seeing your results, if I can get mine looking 50% as good it'd be a great improvement! Did you follow a guide on the lenses? I guess you used wet and dry paper on the 800 and 2000 grits before you buffed them up? Are you going to buff up your exhaust tips? One of mine looks like yours did with the sun blistering sort of damage on it.. You did an amazing job on yours though.. Look brand new now!!!! 

Cheers Mike 

As you probably know, black cars are a lot harder to keep. They will always keep you busy cleaning and detailing mate, I've had four black cars now and they have all needed major paint correcting....but they look immense when detailed and polished

Machine polishing (with a DA polisher) isn't too bad, you just need all the right products to begin with. Then you need to ideally get a professional to show how to use it! If you can't get that  you can pick it up from YouTube. Practice on an old panel to begin with to get the desired results. Although you would have to go mental to damage the paint with a DA! Never say never though

Go over to Detailing world for loads of info on what products you need and loads of video how to demos to guide you.

I did a 3 day course a few years ago, one to one with top (ex swissvax instructor) Detailer, Tony Spears. (Look him up ) cost me a bit. But, I learnt how to use a Rotary polisher properly and how to detail a car without all the marketing bullsh*t!.

To do the headlights, yeah I used wet and dry, going in opposite directions for each grade of paper, low to high grade, then buffed the sanding marks out, with the a rotary polisher. They look better but really need replacing as they're still not 100%..

There is a great how to guide by AMMO NYC on YouTube, which is what I went by.

The exhaust tips, I polish with Autosol and wire wool, then follow up with Britmax Twins metal polish, every time I detail the car. The tips are quite old and tired, so are nearly impossible to get perfect. They certainly look better than when I first picked the golf up 

[Monster_Mike]

Yeah a DA polisher is probably what I'm looking at.. something like a DAS-6 Pro.. I had a good read of Jay's guide on here.. http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,74892.0.html  So maybe looking at a mix of CG Hex pads and Menzerna products.. But I will definitely have a look over at Detailing World and see what other recommendations are there.. I have a car breakers right near me so I can get car panels for pennies to practise on.. (which i definitely intend on doing before the Gti!)

From what I've read about DA and Rotary polishers there is definitely a high level of expertise to master the art of the rotary.. Think I'll leave that to the pros like you 

I'll give the lights a go for sure.. and as you said, even if they aren't perfect i guess it'll do until a cheap set pop up on here or on the bay..

Autosol and wire wool was exactly my plan so thats good.. Did you seal them afterwards? or is there no need?

I'll defo put together a progress thread once I get started on mine, ordered a few bits online so hoping to get going later this week..

Whats next on yours??

Mike

[dazza]

Good work as always Rog.

From what I've read about DA and Rotary polishers there is definitely a high level of expertise to master the art of the rotary.. Think I'll leave that to the pros like you 

You could go for a forced drive dual action polisher. I have a das 6 and will be upgrading to a FLEX XC 3401 VRG Positive Drive Orbital Polisher soon. As a newbie don't trust my self with a rotary polisher.

[RyanGTI]

Yeah a DA polisher is probably what I'm looking at.. something like a DAS-6 Pro.. I had a good read of Jay's guide on here.. http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,74892.0.html  So maybe looking at a mix of CG Hex pads and Menzerna products.. But I will definitely have a look over at Detailing World and see what other recommendations are there.. I have a car breakers right near me so I can get car panels for pennies to practise on.. (which i definitely intend on doing before the Gti!)

From what I've read about DA and Rotary polishers there is definitely a high level of expertise to master the art of the rotary.. Think I'll leave that to the pros like you 

I'll give the lights a go for sure.. and as you said, even if they aren't perfect i guess it'll do until a cheap set pop up on here or on the bay..

Autosol and wire wool was exactly my plan so thats good.. Did you seal them afterwards? or is there no need?

I'll defo put together a progress thread once I get started on mine, ordered a few bits online so hoping to get going later this week..

Whats next on yours??

Mike

I have been looking into this also and when I saw how good rogs work was I dropped him a message about which DA polisher might be good to start with, pretty sure that's the one he suggested I'm going to grab one next month and have a go at my mums car, if that no good, then my sisters, basically anyone's but mine until I get half decent at it

[Monster_Mike]

Yeah a DA polisher is probably what I'm looking at.. something like a DAS-6 Pro.. I had a good read of Jay's guide on here.. http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,74892.0.html  So maybe looking at a mix of CG Hex pads and Menzerna products.. But I will definitely have a look over at Detailing World and see what other recommendations are there.. I have a car breakers right near me so I can get car panels for pennies to practise on.. (which i definitely intend on doing before the Gti!)

From what I've read about DA and Rotary polishers there is definitely a high level of expertise to master the art of the rotary.. Think I'll leave that to the pros like you 

I'll give the lights a go for sure.. and as you said, even if they aren't perfect i guess it'll do until a cheap set pop up on here or on the bay..

Autosol and wire wool was exactly my plan so thats good.. Did you seal them afterwards? or is there no need?

I'll defo put together a progress thread once I get started on mine, ordered a few bits online so hoping to get going later this week..

Whats next on yours??

Mike

I have been looking into this also and when I saw how good rogs work was I dropped him a message about which DA polisher might be good to start with, pretty sure that's the one he suggested I'm going to grab one next month and have a go at my mums car, if that no good, then my sisters, basically anyone's but mine until I get half decent at it

haha Definitely doing the same as you Ryan... Trial session on mums MG first just in case.. 

[RyanGTI]

Yeah a DA polisher is probably what I'm looking at.. something like a DAS-6 Pro.. I had a good read of Jay's guide on here.. http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,74892.0.html  So maybe looking at a mix of CG Hex pads and Menzerna products.. But I will definitely have a look over at Detailing World and see what other recommendations are there.. I have a car breakers right near me so I can get car panels for pennies to practise on.. (which i definitely intend on doing before the Gti!)

From what I've read about DA and Rotary polishers there is definitely a high level of expertise to master the art of the rotary.. Think I'll leave that to the pros like you 

I'll give the lights a go for sure.. and as you said, even if they aren't perfect i guess it'll do until a cheap set pop up on here or on the bay..

Autosol and wire wool was exactly my plan so thats good.. Did you seal them afterwards? or is there no need?

I'll defo put together a progress thread once I get started on mine, ordered a few bits online so hoping to get going later this week..

Whats next on yours??

Mike

I have been looking into this also and when I saw how good rogs work was I dropped him a message about which DA polisher might be good to start with, pretty sure that's the one he suggested I'm going to grab one next month and have a go at my mums car, if that no good, then my sisters, basically anyone's but mine until I get half decent at it

haha Definitely doing the same as you Ryan... Trial session on mums MG first just in case.. 

Safety first! Always wanted to learn to do it will be a valuable skill. Thanks for the inspiration Rog!

[GTI-Rog]

Yeah a DA polisher is probably what I'm looking at.. something like a DAS-6 Pro.. I had a good read of Jay's guide on here.. http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,74892.0.html  So maybe looking at a mix of CG Hex pads and Menzerna products.. But I will definitely have a look over at Detailing World and see what other recommendations are there.. I have a car breakers right near me so I can get car panels for pennies to practise on.. (which i definitely intend on doing before the Gti!)

From what I've read about DA and Rotary polishers there is definitely a high level of expertise to master the art of the rotary.. Think I'll leave that to the pros like you 

I'll give the lights a go for sure.. and as you said, even if they aren't perfect i guess it'll do until a cheap set pop up on here or on the bay..

Autosol and wire wool was exactly my plan so thats good.. Did you seal them afterwards? or is there no need?

I'll defo put together a progress thread once I get started on mine, ordered a few bits online so hoping to get going later this week..

Whats next on yours??

Mike

The Das-6 Pro is an ideal polisher to start with, you'll get some great results with the right polish and pad combo's..

Jay's guide is excellent, very comprehensive and detailed indeed, that should help you get going.

I highly recommend Menzerna products, They are simply the best IMO.(especially on VAG's hard paintwork) There are many types, I mainly use IP 2200/2400 and FF4000. These get great results without ripping all the clearcoat off your car 

I would say, keep it simple and basic to start and as your knowledge and confidence grows, start adding more to your product list. It's a slippery slope, I can tell you. Before you know it you'll be detailing other peoples cars on weekends, like I did for 4 years 

For the exhausts tips, as well as Autosol,  I use the Britemax Twins Kit, Easy cut to clean and polish and Final Shine to seal.
Link here: http://www.shopnshine.co.uk/britemax-metal-twins-kit?gclid=CJ_X49Peq8gCFeoBwwodbNYLvQ

Definitely get a progress thread going, it would be great to see how you get on 

The next things on my list, is Ed30 front lip or whole bumper, as mine is slightly damaged (not that bad).
Get my dent man out to take out the many small dings around the car.
After that I don't know....remap

[GTI-Rog]

I have been looking into this also and when I saw how good rogs work was I dropped him a message about which DA polisher might be good to start with, pretty sure that's the one he suggested I'm going to grab one next month and have a go at my mums car, if that no good, then my sisters, basically anyone's but mine until I get half decent at it

aha Definitely doing the same as you Ryan... Trial session on mums MG first just in case.. 

HaHa.....Yep, practicing on/ruining someone elses car is one way to go 

[GTI-Rog]

Safety first! Always wanted to learn to do it will be a valuable skill. Thanks for the inspiration Rog!

No problem Ryan

I'm glad I invested the time, money and energy into doing stuff myself....it pays for itself in the long run 

[Monster_Mike]

I agree with keeping it simple for sure.. Just gotta keep my expectations realistic, and know the more times your practise the better I'll get.. Might order the polisher tomorrow with a few other goodies...    It won't need a deep cut.. but as you know with black cars just needs a good freshen up.. Is it difficult going around handles, indicators and other bits that stick out on the car??

That Britemax kit looks good.. Will defo look into that thanks, i like the fact it will protect it after cleaning..see if i can find a deal somewhere..The whole car just needs TLC and attention to details that the previous owner didn't..

The ED30 front lip, can you get them direct from a dealer? They do look a lot better than stock for sure.. You've gone with the 18" diamond cut monzas on your too, they look sweet..

Getting a remap is like having that ace card up your sleeve.. knowing you can always make the car a hell of a lot quicker for relatively small investment is brilliant..