Today I did some detailing...

Jaysus lads, I'm not that proud of myself that I'm getting locked in the shed with the car and having a sing song!

Although if I were to be so happy, it would be because of my new snow foam lance. It's the only creamy goodness in town! :P

I snow foamed it today when I was washing it to get the polish residue off it. I didn't really have to foam it, but i just wanted to, to ensure the new lance was still up to scratch.

This video may be upside down (I thought my phone would automatically correct it) but youtube is flipping it for me. If it's upside down then they just haven't applied my 'changes' yet.





And a photo incase the video's assways;






Here's a quick beading show after I washed it (so this is just the polish, there's no wax on the car just yet)



(not bad for just the polish, in my opinion. I haven't really seen anything from the wax yet, but im curious to see if it improves at all).



The result of me trying to get rid of a scratch on the wheel arch.. it got caught when I put too much pressure on it. May it Rest In Peace.






And a quick question for ye (answer below):

Which side of the bonnet was given a good 'ol glazing? And which side wasn't?














Answer: ... The side that was glazed was the left side. That was all the glazing I did. It made no difference whatsoever. It only looks cleaner in the photos because of the dust on the right side. I expected more, but Im not sure why (I don't really know how you'd improve on how it looks at the moment).



And to end, a few random photos:










(A classic boards 'water shot'! :pac: )






I still have to do the glass and re-do the interior, but i;ll leave them until tuesday. Wont see my brother until then, and i'll only end up destroying them in the mean time if i do them now (again).

vectra wrote: »

You should be proud of yourself with that result.

I actually am, to be honest. Well not so much proud of myself, as much as I'm just happy with the progress (which is mostly due to the constant opinions and advice on here).

It really looks a lot better, but the plan now is to do it to a non-black car and see how I get on. Apparently black cars are the worst for showing up stuff.

Then after a non-black car, when I'm feeling more comfortable with the DAS and such, I'll tackle my own car again.

Curran wrote: »

Using a glaze after correction work isnt going to havr a hugely dramatic effect...the polishing has done that...but it should give an extra bit of wet look to the appearance...which itself will be difficult to notice indoors.
Have you wax it yet?? Be sure to do so or your glazing will be in vain!

I have it waxed, yeah. It's waxed in the photos of it above (the close-ups and outdoor shots).

The wax, again, didn't really add any extra shine at all. Though to be fair, ever since the polishing, it's been crystal clear anyway. I won't lie; I would have liked a slightly 'wetter' look to it (and was hoping the glaze would do this) but all in all, I'm very happy with it.



Everything has kinda went a bit better than I anticipated.

Can I ask; how many cars would you get out of a hex-logic pad? I notice they wear down a fair bit over the course of a car (or half a car, as the yellow one tore half way through and then I used the orange from that point on)?

Is one go usually all she wrote, or can you expect multiple polishes/glazes per pad?

I'd say the glaze will come out better on the Rav. I know both cars are black, but the Rav seems to be a deeper black or something. Not sure how to describe it. Megane seems a bit glossier or greyer in appearance when say next to the Rav4.

I did the front of the interior again and i used CG's Fabric Clean at a dilution ratio of about 1:1. I let it sit for a while, too, and then i rubbed it in with a microfibre cloth.

I didn't really pass any remarks to it, as it still all looked a bit hazy when I was rubbing it in, but on the drive home I looked over at the passenger seat and footwell and it just kinda hit me: All the upholstery looked brand new. Maybe I just wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been but it took me off guard for some reason.

But it's enthused me enough to want to re-do the entire interior again before handing it back, just to see if it makes as much of a difference as I hope it will (and practice makes perfect and all that).

The only 'sore thumb' of it all are the marks on the side of the car, on the trim piece that seperates the doors.

This piece here (photo from before i started doing anything to it)




Can't think what to do with it. The really white piece near the top of the sreatches (the second one down) can be felt and is dug into the trim, but the rest aren't able to be felt, so I thought maybe a polishing but... to no avail.

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

That's like whiteworm on GTI alloys. The lacquer coating on the polished face was damaged and water ingress destroyed the wheel. only solution is a refurb.

Ah... well I'm not going that in depth with it (though at some stage in future I'd like to learn how to do alloys wheel refurbishment, for my own car/s down the line).

Mc Love wrote: »

Well done KKV that is stunning work - really pleased that you finally experienced some actual snow!

Cheers!

And I have to say it is actually really satisfying getting proper 'sit on the car' snow foam. I didn't realise how pleasurable it would actually be spreading a thick white creamy coating all over the car.


I plan to go a bit further with it the next time and try and make it really thick by doing a 1:1 dilution ratio or something. Just to see how it comes out (assuming it doesnt get too thick and just jam up the lance?! )

cena wrote: »

The main question is what was your brother like when he seen the car after

Yet to see it. I won't see him around until Tuesday (hence holding off on re-doing the interior as I'll only have it destroyed in the meantime anyway!).

I'll do the interior and glass tomorrow, along with another snow foam, 2BM, rinse and dry.


My Dad has my old Focus. I only drove it for about two months (was my first car) before falling in love with a Black Rav4 that drove past me one day, and I decided i needed to own one (aww... the memories... brings a tear to my eye).


But the bonnet on the Focus is in bits. So, although I'm fairly confident that a good claying, polishing and waxing will do it absolutely no good whatsoever (and may actually do damage!), I have plans to do it tomorrow anyway.

I'm assuming the bonnet was changed at some point, or someone vandalised it by pouring something on it or such, because it looks like the paint is just stripped off it in parts altogether.

Respraying it would be a sensible thing to do, but not something I'd justify.








The paint on the rest of the car isn't bad at all, though. Lots of scratches and scuffs, but nothing you wouldn't expect from a 00 that looks like it had several owners who never really cared too much about it.

I really don't believe my fcuking luck!

Brother decided to come home early from a weekend away and an hour before giving the car back tonight, i was rushing to just do the interior and glass, so in a rush to bring it into the shed - I catch the fcuking side of the bumper against the wall!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:


Some lovely new scratches added to it. Paintwork I can handle but I've no idea if the scratches on the bumper part (just on the curve of the rear wheel arch, deep enough to feel) will be as easy to get rid of.

Of all the jocking cnuting luck!!


My own fault, I know but... AAARGH!

Seen as this is more of a general thread, I figured I'd put this up as it may help someone out.

Homestore and more have a sale on, on clothes storage.

I've got two of THESEplastic storage units in black, which I picked up in Homebase for €22 each. They're grand and handy (as they're in a shed and will get cold/wet, etc.) and store a fair few bits.

But in HomestoreandMore yesterday, I came across THIS WARDROBE for €25 and took a punt (as i needed another one of the above units, so decided i'd try this instead).

And it's surprisingly sturdy and has lots of space for all my crap.

Just thought I'd mention it incase anyones looking for a cheap and cheerful way of organising their detailing or general shed/garage stuff. For €25 I think it's a bargain, and, as I say, it's sturdier than I'd have expected, too.


Like i say, it's not really detailing gear, but might help someone. Makes me wish I'd never bothered with the homebase plastic storage (they're now pretty much redundant, I think).