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Child Item

Today I did some detailing...

randy hickey

We have the "Today I Did Something To My Car" thread out in the main forum, and a lot of the posts on it pertain to detailing.
I thought it would be a good idea to give our various detailing activities a thread in their proper home.

I'll get the ball rolling.

Today ( ahem, last night really!), I snow foamed the car
Wasn't able to follow through and wash it properly as my back went, but couldn't believe how well it looked this morning!
In fairness I have a fair bit of LSP on it, but there was ten days worth of road film and tree sap on it.

Well impressed.

Over to you!

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Arbo94

So still somewhat of a work in progress because there's only 1 layer of fusso on it but here's the photos from the other day.

Process was:
The usual decontamination
Compound (M105)
Polish (M205)
Wash (to remove any dust in crevices)
IPA wipedown
Fusso (more coats to come)
Wheels 2 coats of collinite 476s

Before:

And After:

And bonus points for the car in the reflection

So I didn't get to do the paint correction in the unit I usually use and had to make do with the back of the house, honestly I've no idea how anyone does it outside :-D

Any criticism of my photos will be appreciated, I think they need some work.

edburg

Bonus point answer, its a BMW.

Black one looks good to, shiney black cars just give so much satisfaction when done.

Arbo94

edburg wrote: »

Bonus point answer, its a BMW.

Black one looks good to, shiney black cars just give so much satisfaction when done.

It's not actually black ;-) it's a dark grey noticed that the pictures aren't great

punisher5112

Is it not just very very very very very dark blue... No????

Curran

Good work!

Colour of the BMW, I believe is Sparkling Graphite. The one in the reflection is an E30; hard to tell, and early version - Tech 1?

Critique of the photos - Detailing or Photography stand point?? I'll assume you mean Detailing...and Im sure you know this (from your pictures of interior trim posted earler), but also for the benefit of other readers.

You say you machine polished the car, but there is nothing to show this. One could assume, you simply washed the car, put on some QD and took a few pictures down the length of the car, except the last picture.
Its very easy to make a car look very glossy looking or perfect reflections, by taking pictures down the length of it, its not a fair representation. Also, even with head on pictures, such as the last one, if the point of focus isnt on the paintwork, its not showing a true representation either.
A 'before' picture showing wash damage, and an 'after' picture showing corrected paintwork would be far more impressive. These should be taken with a light source shining directly onto the paintwork, and the image taken from the same place; or a 50:50 saves time as its one photo

An image taken direction at the paintwork, with a light source shining away from the paintwork, reflecting on a wall, will also mask any paint defects.
Taking pictures is a painful job, and very time consuming, both during the work, and afterwards to document.
With all above said, there's only a need to take it on board if you plan to build a portfolio, otherwise, just get out there and enjoy doing the work!! One or two before and afters are always nice though!!

From a photography stand point - images are under exposed, but we know that because people seen a black car and not a grey car! :P

Car appears to have gotten a nice turn around, so keep up the good work!

Arbo94

The reason for no pictures of paint condition and 50/50 as I've had before was my dad left for work without giving me the keys to the unit :-( otherwise there would have been loads! Also my halogens were in that unit so al I had was my handheld torch which the camera wasn't picking up well outside. But still thanks for the reply ;-)

high horse

Curran wrote: »

Good work!

Colour of the BMW, I believe is Sparkling Graphite. The one in the reflection is an E30; hard to tell, and early version - Tech 1?

It's an E30 alright but it's a face-lift without a tech 2 kit and it looks like the front bumper is off.
I've never seen a 2 door in that colour so I'm going to guess that it's a convertible?

Arbo94

It is an e30 in calypso red which is quite rare in this I believe, a 4 door not sure about the tech 1 or 2 though sorry

Voodoomelon

Arbo94 wrote: »

After:

Great result, would the shinemate be safe to use on clear plastic? Like the clear sheet that covers the speedo? I have some scuffs infront of my speedo after a steering column repair.

Curran

Safe? In the right hands any machine is safe!

But yes, it would be fine as long as you dont built up too much heat in the plastic - repeated steps to achieve desired results, is better than attempting it in one step.

vectra

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Great result, would the shinemate be safe to use on clear plastic? Like the clear sheet that covers the speedo? I have some scuffs infront of my speedo after a steering column repair.

I removed the clocks from my sons Toledo one time and gave them a quick once over with the normal DA
It made a big improvement on them,
I can only imagine if I spent longer at them, they would have been 100%. So to answer the question, I would say perfectly safe to use.

Arbo94

As Curran said it can be! Personally I wouldn't use a rotary on anything black that I couldn't follow with a DA but I don't have much experience with rotaries. On this trim it didn't seem to leave any trails or marring. I'm going to check my dials now and if they need it I'll give it a shot to let you know

Arbo94

Should I leave it 24 hours between coats of king of gloss too? Or is is fine to top fusso straight away?

Curran

Sorry, Im not to well up on the Soft99 gear!

Sean Quagmire

wash x2 bilt hamber
DA Polish carpro refect
finish with hydro2

happy with results as the car was filthy and had zero protection since i left it so long to wash it.

ronnie3585

Looks great.

everlast75

plenty on here can relate..

16508563_10158875641775377_4412441065067679715_n.jpg?oh=44bc68d3ccabc794b6086b52c1b95f0b&oe=5907F8FC

[Deleted User]

My aunt bought this Megane in late September and it has never been washed until I got it at the weekend. It was fooken manky and I spent a good 10 minutes with the dirt blaster lance on my pressure washer just cleaning down the wheel arches.

It got BH Auto Wheel, Gtechniq Citrus pre-wash, a heavy pre-wash hose down, Gtechniq W4 snowfoam, wash, detar, dry and 2 coats of Gtechniq C2. I also did quite a big job on the interior with regard to hoovering and polishing dash/glass etc.

It was immortally cold the day I did this so didn't take many pics but here's a taste:

ronnie3585

Great job! I went to wash the car yesterday but on walking from the back door to the shed to get the pressure washer I decided it was far too cold:D It was bitterly cold.

[Deleted User]

Yeah it was incredibly cold but I couldn't turn down the challenge! I put on 4 layers, earphones in, metal on and worked away

Those pics are actually proof as to why I love BH AutoWheel. Spray on, let dwell and powerwash off and you get that finish. I did absolutely no scrubbing or rubbing of any kind to clean the wheels.

Slattsy

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Yeah it was incredibly cold but I couldn't turn down the challenge! I put on 4 layers, earphones in, metal on and worked away

Those pics are actually proof as to why I love BH AutoWheel. Spray on, let dwell and powerwash off and you get that finish. I did absolutely no scrubbing or rubbing of any kind to clean the wheels.

Safe to use Autowheel with every single wash?

Picked up my first bottle a while back and have used it twice. Its deadly stuff, always clean in behind the spokes though.

Ron Burgundy II

No need to use it on every wash.

Curran

Yes it is definitely safe to use for every wash, but if you are using it on a regular basis, say a weekly wash, it's a bit overkill. I'd use it on the wheels once a month to keep them tip top and a regular wheel cleanwe for washes in between.

Slattsy

Curran wrote: »

Yes it is definitely safe to use for every wash, but if you are using it on a regular basis, say a weekly wash, it's a bit overkill. I'd use it on the wheels once a month to keep them tip top and a regular wheel cleanwe for washes in between.

Theres an awful lot of break dust coming off it though. Can really see it on the alloys before a wash.
Serious change of colour on the 2 washes to date.

Curran

If you feel as though they need it, be at ease in the knowledge it's doing your wheels no harm anyways!

Slattsy

Curran wrote: »

If you feel as though they need it, be at ease in the knowledge it's doing your wheels no harm anyways!

That's pretty much what I wanted to hear.

What's a good general cleaner for in-between then?

Also, are you still in the same premises or have you moved? Was hoping to get out on Saturday am.

Curran

I like 50Cal Retaliate; works well diluted at 10:1
Same premises, though a move is closing in; hoping to have everything wrapped up on Wed, and move next week; so same place for Saturday anyways!

punisher5112

Curran wrote: »

I like 50Cal Retaliate; works well diluted at 10:1
Same premises, though a move is closing in; hoping to have everything wrapped up on Wed, and move next week; so same place for Saturday anyways!

Where you moving?

Curran

punisher5112 wrote: »

Where you moving?

Not far, the other side of the N3 and near the Blanchardstown Centre....Coolmine Ind Est.

[Deleted User]

It's 100% safe to use weekly and that's what I do main reason being that diamond cut alloys are very susceptible to whiteworm therefore using AutoWheel and then powerhosing off for a 100% clean finish every time means I don't have to use any type of brush which would increase the chances of whiteworm. Before I took delivery of the car all four alloys had to be refurbed due to whiteworm.

Now I also have my alloys (face and inside) coated in Gtechniq Crystal Serum and EXO so they're even easier to clean and don't require as much AW or pressure washing. I have the M-Performance brakes which means a lot more brake dust than normal too.

Is it expensive to use AW for a weekly wash? Yes it is but it dramatically reduces the chances of whiteworm therefore needing a refurb.