Today I did some detailing...

Great results! Not bad for a newbie!

Some lovely beading from fusso 3 months on.


Holding up very well hoping it will last the winter. Has anyone tested the 12 months this is supposed to last?

vectra wrote: »

You wont get 12 months out of it
I reckon 6 tops.
So 3 gone and 3 to go. That would leave you slap bang in the middle of horrible weather.
If it were me I would plan on another coat shortly before the weather goes downhill.
Great beading there :cool:

I have a lovely warm shed to do it in so it doesn't really bother me! If I were to alloy another coat soon would it involve stripping or can I just throw it on top after the usual wash?

vectra wrote: »

No stripping
Just top it up
How many coats initially did you give it?
2 is recommended 24 hours apart.

I gave it 2 about a week and a half apart, just wasn't sure if there are many contaminants built up since then. I don't really have the time with college at the moment to strip it properly, hence why it was done in the summer so if I can't just throw an extra coat on top of what's there I'll do it :-)

Must be fierce handy mini pad that.

Was looking at the newish mini rupes, if only a lotto win came my way.

edburg wrote: »

Must be fierce handy mini pad that.

Was looking at the newish mini rupes, if only a lotto win came my way.

It's very very handy! We have both the Rupes 21 Mk2 and mini, while great, my DAS-6 Pro Plus and definitely the ShineMate do equally as good a job!

ronnie3585 wrote: »

You really have a way with a machine polisher FN!

How did you do the lights? Wet sand followed by a polish or can you hit it with a cutting pad?

As an aside, the red stripe on the dash of the BMW is awful, is that factory?

Haha cheers, just a lot of practice/experimentation

That photo of the amber lights is only midway through compounding, I finished them today:







I wet sanded them with 800/1500/2500, ideally you'd go 3000 but I didnt have it to hand. Then I compounded them with Menzerna 300 on a hard mini pad then polished with Menzerna 2200 on a medium 3" pad and finally polished again with Meguiars PlastX.

That strip is standard, think you can either get it in red or blue!

First ever time to do a bit of special stuff when washing a car! My partner and I handwashed with autoglym stuff, used a clay bar & detailing spray, polished and waxed. Not sure the photo picks up the difference in shine but the paint feels like glass!

Before


After

Very nice improvement there! Good work!

Good to see 50:50 shots too , proving its not down to camera work!

How many passes and what combo of pad and polish did you use to achieve that 50:50?

Savage job Arbo!

The E90 is looking well etxp!

Its not to do with natural or artificial light - its to do with direct light.
If it was day without clouds and the sun was high in the sky, your bonnet, roof and boot lid would show up every little defect; whereas the doors wouldnt really show anything. In the evening when the sun is lower in the sky, your doors will show up everything!!

My girlfriend bought this yesterday, 2007 Nissan Note. It was her granny's since 2008.
Engine: 1.6 4-speed auto
Mileage: 29,000km (13,000 covered before the end of 2007!)
NCT: Tested until May 2017
Tax: Up at the end of the month
History: Serviced annually with Nissan, up until 2014, sitting up since then.
Price: 2500.

So here it is when we picked it up:



And here it is after the following:

1. Wash without soap to try and remove all loose ****e.
2. Wash with soap, still filthy!
3. Rinse, rinse, rinse
4. Car somewhat clean at this point, began to polish with autoglym resin polish.
5. Buff off any residue from the polish paying particular attention to the hand prints which could be the dreaded sun cream.
6. Wax time. Chemical guys carnauba wax. Apply, allow time to dry and buff off.
7. Tire shine time, and putting on the wheel trims. I also freshened up the exterior plastic too.
8. DESTROY THE WINDSOR NUMBER PLATE SURROUNDS!!
9. Remove all interior windows stickers, AA, Windsor, RAC etc etc.
And bam:



It'll be oil service next, oil, oil filter, air filter, cabin filter. Looks handy enough, nice having a relatively high car to work on!

SuperGurrier's Zed:

vectra wrote: »

I notice SG gave you a great help

I was too busy freezing to death

Need to knock abit of work out of those junglads.

Thanks again FN atleast its Fusso'd for the time being until worst of winter is done and its deep polish and ceramic coating tyme

Have been working on this V12 E38 for the last two days, even though it looks quite good there the paint was in terrible condition. I'm currently midway through the second stage of polishing which I'll finish tonight and finish the car tomorrow.







Here they are after two stages, all that's really left is the odd random deep scratch.

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Awesome car! And lovely work as always.

Cheers Ron!

Here's the pictures of the final result, I really need to start using my actual camera





























Tried out a new sealant on it, Menzerna's Power Lock and was blown away with how easy it goes on and comes off and left an amazingly slick surface, will definitely be using it a lot more often now! Delighted with the result, great car to work on and in a good unit and thanks to the owner for giving me free roam of their Summer house for the few days!