Tornado Red Golf 7R - Detailed by Lawrence

**lawrenceSA** · 02-17-2016, 01:16 PM

An existing customer of mine recently purchased this car and with roughly 30k km's on the clock, it was obvious the previous owner didn't show it any love. The swirls you will see ran so deep into the paint, 2 compounding session wasn't enough to remove all of it, and in hindsight, a full wetsand would have probably been a better approach - but that wasn't the scope of the detail.

Whichever 'body shop' did the repaint on the front end also didn't show much love for their work either, but that's unfortunately par for the course in a lot of cases...

So time to get started. The engine bay was tackled first. It wasn't all that dirty and so the a basic clean was performed - everywhere was cleaned using Carchem APC and MF towels, Q-tips, a blower and various brushes. The plastics were then dressed using Autofinesse Dressel and the painted surfaces cleaned/polished/protected using Autofinesse Tripple

Next up the wheels. I was asked by one of the forum members to show the brushes I use for wheel cleaning so here is a small sequence of pictures to show what I typically do when cleaning the wheels.

First, I have a dedicated wheel bucket with a grit guard in it

I usually fill it halfway with hot water, then to 3/4 with cold, and some shampoo, and hit it with the hosepipe to create some suds

I then take my brushes

And place them in the bucket a short while before getting started on the wheels/arches/tires etc.

This is what the wheels looked like on arrival

It was still early in the morning making it difficult to capture the defects in the paint

This was all over the passenger side rear quarter panel

Tar remover was used to knock off the bulk off it (the rest was polished off)

Then it was time to tackle the door jambs and boot jamb, and other little areas all too often overlooked.

Cleaned/Polished/Protected - Autofinesse Tripple | Q-tips | MF towels

The sunroof also needed some attention

Exhaust tip cleaning - Carchem APC
Exhaust tip Polishing and Protection - Menzerna Polishing Cream | Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish

Then it was time to tackle the paint.

Paint readings
Bonnet - 189µ to 264µ
Driver's side A-pillar 74µ to 93µ
Remainder of the car - 102µ to 138µ
Paint Correction - Menzerna FG400 | Blue Lake Country Hybrid Wool Pads / Flex 3401 (twice everywhere, with certain spots hit for a third time)
Paint refinement - Menzerna SF4000 | White Lake Country Hybrid Pads | Flex 3401
Paint Inspection / Pre-sealant Clean - Gyeon Prep
Protection - Dodo Juice Iron Gloss Sealant | Dodo Juice Orange Crush

Then the interior was sorted out

Glass - Autoglym Fast Glass
Plastics - Clean with Carchem APC | Wipe with damp MF towel | Protect with 303 Aerospace
Carpets - Vacuum | Brush | Vacuum
Leather - Clean with Carchem APC | Wipe with damp MF towel | Protect with Collinite 855
Door rubbers - Clean with Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner | Protect with Aerospace 303

Finally the exterior rubbers and glass were tackled.

Exterior Rubbers - Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner | Aerospace 303
Exterior Glass - Gyeon Prep

**lawrenceSA** · 02-17-2016, 01:17 PM

Some after shots with my cell

And with my DSLR

Total time taken 48 hours

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

:hi:

**11Silverado** · 02-17-2016, 03:09 PM

I love your show n' shine posts. I noticed you taped off a body line when compounding/polishing the doors. Is it necessary to do this? I know it's a case by case, but I've always wondered when and which body lines should taped off.

**Sizzle Chest** · 02-17-2016, 04:34 PM

Great post!!! Excellent work! Thanks for posting!

**FrankS** · 02-17-2016, 06:49 PM

Excellent work as usual Lawrence!

**Priyaka** · 02-17-2016, 08:43 PM

Beautiful job! Great detailed write-up as well. Thanks for sharing.

**Mike@DedicatedPerfection** · 02-18-2016, 01:02 AM

Wowzers. Outstanding work as always Lawrence. Love your attention to detail.

You mentioned you had to perform two compounding steps from the severity of defects. You may want to grab some SC300... Don't worry, the 3401 equipped with the white Hybrid/SF4000 has the ability to pull out the more aggressive cutting step.

Thanks for sharing.

**lawrenceSA** · 02-18-2016, 01:30 AM

Originally Posted by 11Silverado

I love your show n' shine posts. I noticed you taped off a body line when compounding/polishing the doors. Is it necessary to do this? I know it's a case by case, but I've always wondered when and which body lines should taped off.

Thank you very much. I guess its a case of each to his own when it comes to taping, but I always tend to err on the side of caution - a roll of tape and an hour to tape up over the detail is far less of an issue to me, than potentially striking through an edge and having to absorb the cost of a repaint, and a knock to my credibility.

I typically assess each panel before correcting it and if I feel there is any possibility that I cannot properly correct the panel without the polisher running over an edge, I tape it up. This is only for the compounding step - for final polishing I don't usually tape up

Originally Posted by Sizzle Chest

Great post!!! Excellent work! Thanks for posting!

Thanks Scott

Originally Posted by FrankS

Excellent work as usual Lawrence!

Thanks Frank

Originally Posted by Priyaka

Beautiful job! Great detailed write-up as well. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you

Originally Posted by Mike@DedicatedPerfection

Wowzers. Outstanding work as always Lawrence. Love your attention to detail.

You mentioned you had to perform two compounding steps from the severity of defects. You may want to grab some SC300... Don't worry, the 3401 equipped with the white Hybrid/SF4000 has the ability to pull out the more aggressive cutting step.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Mike. Oh how I wish for some SHC300.... As I have mentioned before, the availability of detailing products over here is limited primarily to 2 companies that bring stuff in.... and only 1 has been bringing in the Menz products, and even then it has been pretty much only FG400/PF2300/SF4000, 3-in-1 and Powerlock... It looks like they are however phasing that out and focusing on Angelwax products, and so I am going to have to start bringing it in myself if I want it.

The problem though is a) the current exchange rate is beyond a joke for us and b) as everyone knows, shipping costs are quite crazy (especially bringing in some weight) and are only exacerbated by the exchange rate...

I am in the process of trying to find some local guys who would be willing to do a group buy and split shipping costs, but its proving a bit tougher than I'd hoped.

Glad to know though that SF4000/white has enough pull to deal with the hazing from the initial cut with SHC300