Reflect Silver VW Polo 9N3 - Detailed by Lawrence

[lawrenceSA]

Products used
Wheels and arches
Cyclo CM30 @ 3:1
Meguiars Hot Rims All Wheel and Tire Cleaner
Autofinesse Iron Out
Autofinesse Oblitarate
Optimum Opti Bond Tire Gel
Collinite #845
Chemical Guys Bare Bones
Door shuts, badges, emblems
Cyclo CM30 @ 10:1
Autofinesse Oblitarate
Chemical Guys V7 Spray Sealant
Engine Bay
Cyclo CM30 @ 3:1
Chemical Guys Bare Bones
[b]Washing[/u]
Chemical guys Maxi suds II
Decontamination
Autofiness Oblitarate
Autofiness Iron Out
Carways Mist and Wipe
Clay Magic Blue Clay
Glass
Carways Mist and Wipe
Clay Magic Blue Clay
Autoglym Fast Glass
LC Tangerine Pads
Meguiars Cleaner Wax
Tail lights
LC White polishing pad
Menzerna PF2500
Paint correction
LC Cyan Pads
Menzerna FG400
Meguiars Ultimate compound (used under door handles only)
Interior/Exterior Trim
Smartwax Smart Dressing
LSP
Collinite #845

Friday evening was spent cleaning out the interior, which as you can see by the amount of dirt that came out of it, was filthy dirty. All the plastic trim, dash and center console were cleaned and then dressed and the interior was vacuumed clean.


Saturday morning I started on the wheels, and used Meguiars Hot Rims All Wheel and Tire Cleaner for the first time. I was really impressed with the ability of this product to clean tires and it worked a lot better than my previous 'go-to' tire cleaner, Cyclo CM30 APC. I also really enjoyed the foaming trigger on the bottle, and will definitely be using more of this product going forward.









The wheels were then de-tarred and all the iron deposits removed, and the arches were also scrubbed cleaned and dressed

Once this was completed I then started cleaning out all the door/boot shuts, petrol flap, and in and around all the badges and emblems.
Before
















After







I then moved on to the engine bay which again looked like it had never had a decent clean before. After covering up the alternator and other sensitive electronic equipment the entire bay and underside of the bonnet were cleaned and rinsed. I then started the car to let some heat build up in the engine to aid the drying process, and completed the rest of the drying using a blower. The bay was then dressed.
Before














After

[lawrenceSA]

The car was then washed and dried before all the tar deposits were removed from the paintwork.
Before























During


This was followed by a full iron decontamination and I then clayed all the glass and paintwork to remove an remaining contamination. During the claying process I came across one section of the paint on the drivers door, underneath the side beading where the clear coat had completely failed. I then taped off around this area and never polished it at all for fear of making the problem worse. This was pointed out to the owner, who mentioned something along the lines of 'vigorous rubbing and thinners' in an attempt to remove some 'heavy' dirt :crazy: :fear:
Here is what it looked like




There was also evidence of RDS's

And water spots


And bird dropping etching



I then performed a few test spots looking for a '1-step' that would cut sufficiently whilst still leaving an acceptably glossy finish, and got stuck into correcting the paint which continued well into Saturday evening, and completed on Sunday morning. Anyone who has tried to take 50/50 shots of swirl removal on silver paint will know how difficult a task that is, so I gave up trying ops: :lol: I did however manage to snap a few pics of some swirl marks, and then some sun shots post polishing without any swirl marks.

Before






After













Once paint correction I also polished out the tail lights

Before

[lawrenceSA]

After





When this was completed I waxed the car, treated all the exterior trim, polished the front windscreen, did a final glass clean and vacuum and dressed the tires.

Here are a few pics of the completed car – who says you can’t get decent reflections off silver paint?










Total time spent = 23 hours

Thanks for looking and as always and feedback is welcomed.

[vet]

Awesome! From trashed to treasured!

[Father87]

edited pics....

j/k, you know I love you Lawrence, you're my favorite! What camera?

[lawrenceSA]

Awesome! From trashed to treasured!

Thank you very much.

[lawrenceSA]

edited pics....

j/k, you know I love you Lawrence, you're my favorite! What camera?

Thanks, but my pics are not edited apart from a re-size and sticking the black border around them... I prefer to correct paint with a machine, pads and polish, not photoshop

Camera wise it is my first DSLR and so I bought a 2nd hand Cannon 400D and it only has the standard kit lens 18-55mm on it. I also have a cheap tripod. Really nothing special at all, and the photography side of things is still very new to me.

I am spending a lot of time online though trying to educate myself in the art of photography (and there is almost more to learn than about detailing).

With me detailing only on weekends (I have a 'normal' Mon-Fri job) I find that the only time I am actually spending behind the lens is during a detail, and therefore always feel 'rushed' when taking pics.

I must set some time aside to spend behind the lens in a more relaxed environment, where hopefully I will be able to improve on my technique.

[lawrenceSA]

Just noticed a typing mistake in the thread title...

The color is Reflex Silver, not Reflect

[Father87]

Thanks, but my pics are not edited apart from a re-size and sticking the black border around them... I prefer to correct paint with a machine, pads and polish, not photoshop

Camera wise it is my first DSLR and so I bought a 2nd hand Cannon 400D and it only has the standard kit lens 18-55mm on it. I also have a cheap tripod. Really nothing special at all, and the photography side of things is still very new to me.

I am spending a lot of time online though trying to educate myself in the art of photography (and there is almost more to learn than about detailing).

With me detailing only on weekends (I have a 'normal' Mon-Fri job) I find that the only time I am actually spending behind the lens is during a detail, and therefore always feel 'rushed' when taking pics.

I must set some time aside to spend behind the lens in a more relaxed environment, where hopefully I will be able to improve on my technique.

lol I was totally joking, you're the man!

Yea definitely, I have a few photographers at my job so I know what you mean

[noslef]

I especially like your posts not only because of the awesome work, but also because a lot of the cars you feature are not available over here and it's great to see something different.