Detail and protect my red GTI

sebastianlieken

Hey all, long time since I've posted in here as I've been without a car for a year and a half. Got rid of my black MK5 Golf in Belfast when I left, and just picked up the Tornado Red Mk6 Golf GTI here in Brisbane the other week.

I spent a bit of money the other day picking up a few detailing bits; DA polisher, Soft waffle pad, Fine clay bar, Menzerna 3500, Collinite 845, NXT car wash, some foam applicators, and some microfibers.

The black golf was a divel for showing up swirls, red is a bit more forgiving I guess but I do want to do some correction straight off the bat. My concern for the Red is colour fading over time; especially considering the Australian Sun is a different animal altogether compared to even the hottest heat wave in Ireland, the heat from the sun and the UV index here is pretty high. Speaking of heat, I'm also slightly concerned about the interior, Vienna Leather.

• So, Keeping it topped up with Collinite 845 to battle the sun? any alternatives or additional layers that are also UV protective? so many cars here have sun damage!
• Black Vienna Leather, how do I clean/protect this stuff? leather interior is new to me. I understand there are different types of leather, and that the vienna leather is painted and sealed or something normal leather conditioners and moisturisers don't soak in to this as they do with dyed leather? (I'm considering window tints to help out)
• I've noticed the tail lights are a bit swirly aswell, can I DA these with the Menzerna 3500?
• All the black trim (like the honeycomb grill at the front), what's the best stuff to use there? (again, keeping it protected from the sun)
• Red brake callipers ... I've also never paid attention to detailing these on my previous car as they were small and insignificant, can I collinite the callipers themselves or am I just better off getting a can of brake cleaner and giving them a blast every so often?

Any waxes that I can put over the collinite to make the red pop, or any additional tips are all welcome!

Curran

1 - As you probably know, Red is the colour most susceptible to UV damage. The clear coat is your most effective barrier or protection. Adding a layer protection that is 'UV Rated' will help, in slowing down the deterioration process. Collinite 845 does offer resistance to UV, and every product will have varying ability to protect...the reality is, its only a sacrificial layer and at best offers an extremely thin layer to the clear coat, but its better than nothing. Its a combination of keeping the paintwork clean, protected and where possible in the shade that will keep it looking its best for many years.
2 - The manufacturing process of leather changed circa 1990. Pre 1990 leather would damage quite easily if not conditioned, but since then, the have become much more hard wearing. People in the leather care business will tell you that conditioners are wasted on modern leather as they simply do not absorb into the material, due to them no longer being a breathable material. A quick test is to drop a few droplets of water on the surface, if the water absorbs / soaks in, then its worth conditioning, if not, then at best, cleaning and protecting is the best approach.
there are coatings available for leather that offer resistance to UV damage and dye transfer (from jeans for example), which also make the cleaning/care of them easier too.
3 - Absolutely, you can polish the lights too. Just remember to mask off any areas that might become stained by the polish or that might cause the pad to snag and tear.
4 - Trim dressings again offer resistance to fading / UV damage. Its not the type of job people like doing every other week, or however long the dressing will last, so its worth looking into a nano technology dressing that will last 12+ months
5 - Collinite will help to keep the calipers a bit cleaner, anything is better than nothing, right but wont stand up to the heat for too long. If you were to choose CarPro DLUX as your nano technology trim dressing, it's a product that doubles up for alloy wheel protection too and would also be suitable for the calipers as it is resistant to heat.
6 - There are products that would be designed with specific colours in mind. They have additives in them to try help enhance the appearance of the given colour. When achieving the best appearance possible, 90% of the battle is in the preparation of the paintwork a) that its free of any contamination, (tar, iron, etc) and b) that its polished if it needs it (to remove swirls); if both are done well, any product applied will look amazing. The other 10% is what you might want to look at if you are wanting a show winner. Every product offers different attributes, ease of application, ease of removal, appearance, durability, price, etc, and often people have 2 or 3 'go to' products. Maybe a sealant in winter for the protection, or a soft paste wax during the summer to help give the paint that extra bit of pop or wet look. But in fairness, its hard to look past Collinite 845; its a superb all rounder!
Hope this helps!
Any other questions - fire ahead!

sebastianlieken

Curran, you're some man!

The car will be parked underground for the majority of the time so I guess that's a plus. Like you said, waxing is better than nothing so I'll keep up with a fairly consistent regime.

I'll try the water drop test on the leather later on, if it is just cleaning and protecting then have you any recommendations for black leather?

That CarPro DLUX looks pretty good, i'll see if I can pick some up in the next few days. Trim, Wheels, and callipers! okay. I do like products that have a bit of versatility (like collinite)

I'm gonna get a reflective windscreen shield for when she's parked outdoors, window tints aswell, anything that can protect against the sun! back in Ireland it's a game of protecting against all the wet, muddy, salty stuff on the roads. Now the rules have changed for me somewhat and I want to make sure I keep on top of the preventive side of detailing.

Curran

Well if you manage to find a supplier in Oz for CarPro for the DLUX, they are likely to have CarPro Leather & Vinyl Coat!

Senecio

Are modern red cars still susceptible to oxidation these days? I would have thought with clear coat layers they would have been better protected than they were in the days before clear coats.

Curran

Oxidation is far more associated with single stage paint, where you get obvious fading of the paintwork. It occurs on clear coat too, but rather than an obvious fading, its a dulling of the appearance.

Yes, the clear coat is the biggest factor in preventing colour fading from happening on modern cars, but still, UV rays can penetrate and affect the pigment of the colour underneath, and Red is the most easily affected...if you have an issue with faded colour, it cant be corrected by polishing due to the fact you are polishing the clear coat and not the colour of the paintwork.

sebastianlieken

I believe oxidation in paint will always occur no matter what, it's just down to the physics of how light from the whole spectrum is absorbed and reflected from surfaces to create colours.

Red is most susceptible as it is on the opposite end to Ultra Violet on the visible light spectrum.

We see red, not because the surface is "red", but because red is the colour in the visible light spectrum that is reflected by that surface - and therefore every other colour is absorbed by that surface. So, with Red being on the opposite side of UV, red light is reflected, and ALL of the energy rich UV is absorbed. All this UV energy that is absorbed by the red paint breaks down the chemical bonds of the colour pigment and makes it fade.

Over time, all colours will fade and lose their intensity, it's just how colours do their thing. Luckily for you guys in Ireland, Ireland has a very low UV index whereas Australia has an intensely high UV index.

Technology has gotten better over the past few years making paint more UV resistant with additives and protective layers but you can't stop the effect.

Curran, I never thought about it aswell that if you have a clearcoat and the paint fades that it's irreversible through polishing as that oxidised layer is inaccessible through the clear coat.... damn.

*applies Factor 50+ to car* :cool:

sebastianlieken

Also, I polished up the car over the weekend. Dual Action and Menzerna 3500 didn't really have enough cut... I'm more used to the rotary getting rid of the top layer along with all those deeper swirls. I'd say I got rid of 80-90% of swirls, I'm pretty happy with that though and recon I'm gonna leave it there.

When I was working with my black car and single stage paint, I could see that paint was being removed and it made me clean the pad regularly; with the red 2 stage paint though I only realised half way through that it wasn't turning the pad red because it was clearcoat *durrr* and that it was actually removing something after all... probably should have cleaned the pad more frequently.

Also, I didn't realise that dual actions are so easy to stop rotating... like, you can firmly place your hand up against the pad and prevent it from rotating, it just oscillates. super safe and kinda idiot proof to use I guess!

vectra

Just adding to what Curran advised.
I have carpro Dlux on my wheels with 9 months and they still bead as day one and are so easy to clean.

Also
I had a red vRS and sorry to say but it was a nightmare to avoid swirls. I do swear they were appearing before my eyes just to annoy me.

Curran.
Would CQ ( UK ) be any advantage to him?
I can assure it is a major help in keeping my paint as swirl free as humanly possible.

Foxhole Norman

I'd definitely recommend coating it with CQUK or similar, Ceramic coating has already drastically reduced the amount of swirls I get on a black car!

Curran

Yes, Cquartz is rated as having UV protection.
While the Cquartz coating offers a slightly harder coating, it too, over time will swirl...but give that the coating will be 1um - 2.5um, in thickness, its a bit more to work with if you were to be machine polishing.

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

I'd definitely recommend coating it with CQUK or similar, Ceramic coating has already drastically reduced the amount of swirls I get on a black car!

:eek:
What way are you washing your car that you have noticed a dramatic reduction in the amount of swirls you get on your paintwork??
You only have the coating on a few weeks - are you washing it non-stop as a test of how good it is?

Foxhole Norman

Curran wrote: »

:eek:
What way are you washing your car that you have noticed a dramatic reduction in the amount of swirls you get on your paintwork??
You only have the coating on a few weeks - are you washing it non-stop as a test of how good it is?

When I say swirls what I really mean is those hairline looking scratches, whatever I did I could never seem to stop those on my car, I'd notice one or two after I'd wash it after it had been polished before, since the coating is on, none. Black unfortunately will never ever be perfect