Black Magic Pearl 9N Polo - Detailed by Lawrence

[lawrenceSA]

Last week the owner came around to my place and we tested out the difference in correction between a cleaner wax and a dedicated polish / wax combo and we decided to proceed with the latter, and so I knew before even beginning this detail how the paint correction would be done.

Here is the result of the test spot, a week later after being subjected to the elements etc...


As the owner was on a bit of a budget the intention of this detail was purely to freshen up the paintwork through a one-step polish, with no work being done on the interior and only a basic wash for the wheels

Here are some pics showing the condition of the car on arrival. Not only was it dirty, but the paintwork was pretty shagged - swirls, lots of deep scratches and chips and a horrendous amount of contamination.













Just check out the awesome reflection in this shot :bang:












Not even the windscreen could escape from the swirl monster


All the plastic trim on the car was also looking very tired indeed


I commenced later than usual with cleaning the wheels due to some family commitments in the morning and so landed up working quite late into Saturday night in order to complete the detail in time. Autofinesse Imperial Wheel Cleaner was used on the wheels, Meguiars Wheel and Tire Cleaner on the tires and Cyclo CM30 APC on the arches, along with various brushes. Despite not being in the scope of the detail, I had to remove all the tar deposits though.... there were a lot of them and they were really detracting from the look of the cleaned wheels, so I just went ahead and did it....









After


It was then time to clean out the door shuts, in and around all the badges/emblems and inside the fuel flap (Cyclo CM30 @ 3:1)






With all of that out the way, the car was snow foamed and washed / dried. I then began the decontamination process, using Autofinesse Oblitarate and Autofinesse Iron Out and completed it by claying the entire car. There was a lot of contamination of the car even after de-tarring and de-ironing and I should really have used a Medium Grade clay to speed up the claying process, however after conducting a test spot, it marred the paint very badly..... this in itself is not a problem as the marring easily polished out, however I chose not to as it would have made for some rather horrendous 50/50 shots and I wanted to rather show the true condition of the correction....

Here are some shots post claying




I then began correction, using Menzerna FG400 on a LC Orange pad worked at speed 4






Identifying some major defects along the way, the roof being the worst area of all.


RDS


Water spots


Etching




And the beginning of clear coat failure


The tail lights were then polished (Menz PF2500/Menz SF4000)
Bottom corrected, top not


The headlights were also looking very dull on arrival and so these were also given a polish using Meguiars Ultimate Compound and sealed using Smartwax Smart Sealant
Before




Afters can be seen in final after shots

Once correction was completed I did a final polish using Chemical Guys Blacklight (not in the original scope of the detail but I just wanted to add a little something special to the paint) on a Crimson LC pad and followed this with a coat of Smartwax Smart Sealant by hand. Tires were dressed using Optimum Optibond tire gel, and plastic trim with Shield Sheen.

The weather in Durban yesterday was terrible but I did manage to grab a few shots of the car outside, albeit not in direct sunshine.

















It then started to rain so I pulled the car back in the garage and snapped these
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Wonderful weather


And lastly, although not a very well executed shot I managed to snap the reflection of my daughter on her scooter in my polo (the blue one), which is actually a reflection off the back off the black polo's boot....


Total time spent = 21 hours

As always thanks for looking and any comments are welcomed.

[vet]

Excellent Work Lawrence! (as usual) Metallic black as it should look.

[tuscarora dave]

Nice work!! I just can't help myself sometimes, and turn a simple 1 step into a 20 hour job. I reserve the right to do so from time to time though it's not good for the bottom line...

[lawrenceSA]

Excellent Work Lawrence! (as usual) Metallic black as it should look.

Thanks (as always) vet

Nice work!! I just can't help myself sometimes, and turn a simple 1 step into a 20 hour job. I reserve the right to do so from time to time though it's not good for the bottom line...

Thanks - agree with you 100%.... it is not always good for the bottom line, although one thing I often wonder about is if that 'little something extra' I do won't be the thing that really WOWs the owner into recommending me to someone else...?

If I am doing someone's car for the first time who is a completely new customer (with no affiliation to any existing clients) I will often try to really blow their socks off (even if it means doing a bit more than what he paid for) in the hope of securing future referrals.

I had one customer who I did this for, who has sent me at least 12 other cars to detail.....

But yeah, I am always cautious of giving away too much for free....

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Incredibly well done Lawrence. Your dedication to write-ups alwyas impress me.

[lawrenceSA]

Incredibly well done Lawrence. Your dedication to write-ups alwyas impress me.

Thank you Mike - I appreciate your kind words

I post up all my detailing work on our local VW Club forum too, which happens to be where a lot of my work comes from, and so I always try to be thorough when compiling the write-up as you never know which part of it will 'sell' a detail to a reader....

They do take a fair amount of time to put together though, but it is all part of the 'job' I suppose.

[530inv]

Very nice work. Great turn around. I wish some individuals would get help before it gets to that point.. lol

[lawrenceSA]

Very nice work. Great turn around. I wish some individuals would get help before it gets to that point.. lol

Thank you.

Yes, it is truly shocking how little proper maintenance is done on most people's cars.

I am not sure what it is like over there, but here in South Africa detailing is still a very small 'industry'. The province (state over there I guess) in which I live (Kwa Zulu Natal) is roughly the size of Portugal (36,433 sq mi) and has a population over a little over 10 million.

I only know of 5 other detailers besides myself currently operating in this area. I am sure there must be a few more, however they do not frequent any detailing forums etc. and are certainly not that 'visible'....

So, if we as detailers are such a small % of the population, it is very easy to see why the general public simply has no awareness of paint maintenance as the only source of proper advice thereon stems from us detailers.

So there are A LOT of really trashed cars frequenting our roads.... sad to see on the one hand, but I suppose a big potential client base on the other..... the only problem is the amount of education required on our part to make a weekend car wash guy willing to drop the increased money on proper detailing.