White Jaguar XKR Detail

[evo6rss]

Hi Guys and Gals.

This is my first post in the Show & Shine and in fact my first post on Autogeek, although I have been lurking for a while.

I had the pleasure of detailing my good friend Tim’s Jaguar XKR this weekend. It’s a beast of a thing, 5 litre V8 Supercharged with 500whp on tap.

Having driven down in convey to Le Mans with this car, I can tell you it goes like a missile and on full chat sounds absolutely glorious..

Having discussed Tim’s requirements, the products and time required to detail a car of this size, we moved onto discussing the overall condition of the car. Tim, the owner agreed with my estimation of its condition. It’s what I would call a 15 yard car. I.e. it’s looks nice from a distance, but closer inspection reveals some pretty serious issues with its general condition.

We both agreed, that the car needed a lot of work and settled upon a 2 day detail with a single stage paint correction.

Being a weekend warrior, with around 12 months experience and 3 full paints corrections under my belt in the last 6 months, this is where the story goes a bit south. Don’t worry this won’t be a horror story, all proper processes, procedures and due diligence were employed. It’s more of a, ‘Have I got some serious respect for the Pro’s now!!’

This detail absolutely canned me, 24+ hours all in all, with at least 14 hours on the Flex 3401 over the 2 days.

So this is how the car arrived with me, looking generally clean but with some traffic film and brake dust.

General Condition:

Front End:



Front Bumper giving me some concern on the colour match and panel gaps.

Back End:



Before we go any further, this was the work planned/done and products used for each step:

Wheels and Arches:

1. Wheels off – Decontaminate (AF Iron Out), De-Tar (AF Obliterate), Wash (AF revolution) with wheel woollies, AF brushes and WoWo Mitt, scrub tyre walls (AF Verso), dry then Seal (AF Mint Rims)
2. Arches - De-Grease (Citrus Power) and Clean (AF Verso) with Vikan Brushes

Body Work:

1. Pre-Wash (AF Citrus Power) and snow foam (AF Avalanche)
2. 2BM Wash with neutral PH shampoo (AF Lathe) and Wool Mitt (WoWo Mitt)
3. Decontaminate (AF Iron Out) and De-Tar (AF Obliterate)
4. Full Clay (AF Clay/AF Glide)
5. Dry with Microfiber Madness Dry Me Crazy and blow out shuts with Metro Vac Air Force Blaster
6. Bring inside and then tape up with 3m
7. PTG readings and access paint condition under lighting
8. Test spot and abrasive selection
9. Paint correction
10. Glaze (AF Ultra Glaze) and then LSP (AF Desire/AF Illusion)
11. Final Wipe down (AF Finale)

I have to apologise, as I didn’t get any 50/50 and only a few before and afters as I was really up against it. I started on the wheels and arches at 07:30 and they took a good 3 hours, and were absolutely bogging, I don’t think the wheel barrels had ever seen a mitt in 5 ½ years. The car also needed 2 hits of iron out after the wash. The amount of tar on the car required a significant investment in time and then needed claying as well, buy the time I had dried the car it 14:30. Did I mention something about proper respect for the pros?

Wheels:

Front wheel before:



And after:



Rear end after Decontamination and Clay:



Paint evaluation and machining steps:

This is the part where the story goes even further south. Having pulled the car in and assessed the paint, it was in pretty bad shape, very very swirled, with lots of RDS, but being white a lot was masked with it being an overcast day outside on the wash stages.

So, I broke out the PTG and started measuring. Average readings were coming out at about 95 microns, thinning down to 80 microns at the bottom of the doors, edges of panels. So I started measuring the inside of the door shuts which came out at just under 50 microns average.

Example PTG:



The really weird thing was that in certain places on panels I was getting circa 120 microns readings clustered together, indicating a normal amount of clear coat to work with.

Not wanting to take any undue risks, with what is a circa 35K car, I sat down with a brew and had a chat with the owner.

Explaining that, IMO, with the obvious collision repairs, the fact the nearside wheel was newer than the offside and that panels didn’t line up perfectly on the nearside, the car had seen a body shop at some point in its life, probably at the main dealer and probably not long before he bought it.

The owner concurred and said the paint was fantastic when he got it, which all of a sudden made the paint readings click. Maybe someone had compounded the paint in past.

We both agreed on a test spot or 2, to see how the paint would react to polishing and to assess removal rates, I advised him I would not be using any aggressive compounds or pads because caution was required.

First test spot was conducted with a Red Lake Country Hydro-tech and Menzerna 3800, which yielded a gloss improvement but no real correction.

So onto the second test spot, Menzerna 3500 on a Red Lake Country Hydro-tech, removal was minimal at only 2-3 microns average and was only giving a partial correction.

Both sets were 8 passes, medium pressure to engage abrasives working a 2x2, easing off to finish the set.

Broke out a fresh Tangerine Lake Country Hydro-tech polishing pad did a test spot with 3500. Correction was much better, with just a few RDS remaining, but the gloss wasn't great. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn't bad, but not as good as 3800. Removal rates were sensible at around 6-8 microns, the polishing pad clearly giving some extra cut.

Hmm. So we have medium to soft thin paint that won’t finish down nicely. 2 Step required. Aww, great. Got to check haven’t I. Hit the last test spot with 3800 on the red pad, with 4 passes and light pressure. Wow. Finishing out really nice.

This was the make or break part of the detail, do I admit defeat, glaze the paint, LSP and hand a car back looking better than before, or grow a big pair and attempt a 2 step in day and bit.

Tim, the owner chimed in at this point, being a really good mate, he said, what if I glaze and wax the panels after you correct them, will that give you enough time.. Yeah I said, let’s get it done.

Weapons of Choice:



I started on the roof first, with it being a big car, I didn't want to leaning across panels later on..

Roof after correction and refining:



Close up:



Some Action Shots:

Refining The Bonnet:



Polishing Drivers Door:



Refining the Drivers Door:



Reflection Shots:

Glazing the Drivers Door:



All Done:



Before/After:

Apologies this is the only one I got, but is indicative of the overall condition the paint was in.



Looking better, but not perfect. The massive RDS is still there, TBH the only thing that was going to sort that was paint..



Time for some LSP:



With the time approaching 5pm on Sunday, the car was finished, Desire and Illusion applied and rolled out into the fading light.

Front:



Side:



Overhead:



Detail:



Thanks for looking guys. All comments welcome..

EVO6RSS..

[BucboyInPa]

Sweet Job,looks Awsome!

[cmichael258]

Beautiful. Great work!

[jamesboyy]

Marvelous work you've really perfected that pearl

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Beautiful work. That Jag looks proper now.

Thanks for sharing.