Deep Black Pearl Golf 7 .:R - Detailed by Lawrence

[lawrenceSA]

It felt so wrong having to correct a brand new car (this one only had 534km's on the clock when it arrived on Friday night) but unfortunately it had already been on the receiving end of some abuse.

Look I don't particularly enjoy hating on anyone, but I found it truly Amazing how little regard some people have for other's pride and joy and I therefore had mention a little of the car's history - this car had gone to a well known commercial 'make your car shiny' place in Durban, for the installation of PPF, and presumably their new car 'detail package'. Needless to say they left the owner feeling rather unhappy with the quality of their work, and he had to go back and have the PPF removed from the bonnet and other areas as their workmanship was that bad that the owner could not stand looking at it.

This is what the PPF installation on the mirrors looked like


There was evidence of them cutting the PPF on the car


More signs of shoddy workmanship


Carelessness when applying whatever product they did on the trim


Said product seemed to dry rather blotchy on the rubbers


They also managed to scratch the sunroof rather badly


So let's look at the paint itself.... well obviously there was some surface dirt on the car.


And, rather sadly, there were already buffer trails and swirls (nothing like taking a rotary and wool pad to a brand new car)





















Then they inflicted some rather deep scratches into the bonnet when removing the PPF







The wheels hadn't really had a chance to get very dirty yet



So now that we know what we are dealing with, let's start detailing.

Friday night
The interior understandably didn't need much work, so it was vacuumed and wiped down with AF Spritz, the interior glass cleaned using Autoglym Fast Glass, the door rubbers cleaned using Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner and protected using Aerospace 303.

Saturday
So as usual the arches, tires and wheels were cleaned and decontaminated first. Products used were Cyclo APC + Mothers Fender Well Brush, Mothers Tire and Rubber Cleaner + Mothers Tire brush, Mothers FX Wheel Cleaner + Daytona Jnr + Valet Pro brush, Valet Pro Dragon's Breath, Valet Pro Citrus Tar Remover. They would later be sealed using Menzerna Powerlock and Optimum Tire Shine was used to dress the tires, with a coat of Glossworx Tire Shine being used for the front arches (the rears are çarpeted').

Once this was done the car was HP rinsed, the lower portions, front bumper and complete rear end pre-treated using Valet Pro Citrus Pre-wash and the car then pre-foamed using Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II which was left to dwell before being HP rinsed off again. A full 2BM wash followed using Lambswool wash mitts and AF Lather.

I then used Valet Pro Citrus Tar Remover and Dragon's Breath for the first 2 steps of the decontamination and Shield Heavy Duty Clay for the last step with ONR as lube. There was a lot more contamination on the car than you may expect for a brand new vehicle, which again shows that when the car was originally polished, it was done so with all that contamination on the car.

I then took paint thickness readings which showed that for the most part the paint averaged around 135µ with one thin'ish section near the drivers front door at 100µ.

After a few test spots I settled on Menzerna PF2500/ LC Tangerine Hydrotech Pad using the Flex 3401 VRG. The b-pillars would be polished using Menzerna SF4000 on a White LC CCS Pad (4") and further refined using Menzerna SF4000 / LC CCS Grey pad (4") on a shield DA - the same approach was used on the tail lights.

A few 50/50 shots (after wiping down the area with Menzerna Top Inspection to ensure no oils etc were doing any filling)







Sunday
After completing polishing the car was sealed using Menzerna Powerlock. The window rubbers and outside plastics were cleaned using Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner and protected using Aerospace 303. The outside Glass was cleaned using Autoglym Fast Glass and the exhaust tips cleaned up using Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish, one of the advantages of which is the decent layer of protection it leaves behind.

[lawrenceSA]

Some pictures (a mix of cell and DSLR) of the car just before the sun disappeared.









































Total time spent = 18 hours

Thanks for looking and as always and comments or questions are welcome.

[Tato]

Wow, Outstanding work and write up! It's clear you're never happy achieving 'only' perfect results, because every work I see from you looks even better!

It's this passion you demonstrate that amazes me (at least) when looking at your work.

Thanks for sharing,

Kind Regards.

[Desertnate]

Great results on an amazing car. I can hardly wait until those goes on sale here in the US.

[lawrenceSA]

Wow, Outstanding work and write up! It's clear you're never happy achieving 'only' perfect results, because every work I see from you looks even better!

It's this passion you demonstrate that amazes me (at least) when looking at your work.

Thanks for sharing,

Kind Regards.

Thanks again for your kind words Rafael - they are truly appreciated!

Great results on an amazing car. I can hardly wait until those goes on sale here in the US.

Thanks - yeah man what a car - being a complete VW nutter myself, it was truly an awesome experience having one of these in the garage for the weekend - the interior is pretty special too.

One day when I am big

[Sicoupe]

Your work and write ups are nothing short of AMAZING!!! Great work my friend

[jamesboyy]

Superior work on that Golf

[RobRabbit2.5]

And, rather sadly, there were already buffer trails and swirls (nothing like taking a rotary and wool pad to a brand new car)

That anyone would be foolish enough to put a wool pad to a new )(er) MKVII Golf R makes me want to vomit. ###!

Amazing job on an amazing car. I bet the owner wants to be your best friend after this one. You brought this black beauty back from a dark place. Well done!

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Well done Lawrence! Amazing transformation. That black paint looks proper now.

Can't believe the shoddy work put out by them.

[noslef]

Nice work as usual! Such a shame some places do such bad work...