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I thought I'd post this up here for people to just be nosey at.
I can't take credit for the write up, but have a read....:cool:

After a bit of free time over the Christmas period Spacemonkey and i decided to get together and give his car the full works. No many pictures for this one unfortunately!

There were a few additional parts which needed doing in this detail. Namely some stone chips on the bonnet and a nasty scuff on the rear bumper. Lee also wanted the wheels looking at properly so he could maintain them.

The day started with me rushing out to Toomey Renault to pick up a Racing Blue touch up set and getting some artist brushes to apply the paint with.

So the first day started at about 2.30pm with the following:
  • Foamed with CG's Citrus Wash and Gloss (strong mix) via the Glimour Gun[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
  • Pressure washed and re foamed[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
  • Washed with 2BM and CG's CW+G[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
  • Dried with Sonus Der Wunder towels[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
  • Lower halfs of car clayed with Megs Mild Detailing Clay[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
  • Lower halfs cleaned with Last Touch QD and a plush MF cloth (i wasn't too worried about marring as i knew it was going to machined)[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
  • Paint depth readings taken[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
  • Chips cleaned and paint applied[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
First inspections of the car:

182Clio001.jpg

182Clio007.jpg

182Clio010.jpg

182Clio003.jpg

In the last photo you can clearly see the scuff and parts that needed to be treated with more paint.

The car is really well looked after and was wearing a couple of coats of Nattys Red. The paint had no contaimantion and had only medium swirling.

Lee using the Glimour to foam the car:

182Clio012.jpg

Next i turned my attention to the scuff:

182Clio016.jpg

There were a couple of raised plastic parts when the car had been scuffed, these were clayed leaving a flat surface.

All of the stone chips were also treated

Me treating the scuff:

182Clio020.jpg

I filled each of the items with enough paint to be proud of the surface. To allow the paint to dry sensibly we left it over night.

The next morning i wiped the car down using Last Touch QD and a Miracle Drying Towel.

The order of the day was going to be:
  • Wetsand painted items[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
  • Tape up the car using 3M Tape[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
  • Remove each wheel and clean + arches[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
  • Machine Polish car[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
  • Apply Dodo Juice Lime Prime via PC[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
  • Apply Dodo Juice Diamond White Carnuba Wax[/*:m:3ui5wbus]
I looked at each of the painted items, checked they had dried sufficently for sanding, then moved on to wetsand each item. On the rear bumper 2500 grit paper was used followed up with 3000 grit. On the stone chips 3000 grit was used.

After machine polishing out the wetsanding marks (3m polishing pad with Menz 3.02 @ 1200rpm on plastics and 2000rpm on the metal panels) we were left with this:

182Clio059.jpg

Not 100% but certainly a vast improvement from before! Unfortunately i didn't get any pictures of the stone chips on the front but they were removed.


The car was then taped and ready for machine polishing. A test section showed that the paint was suprisingly hard (not a touch on BMW paint though
laugh.gif
) and i needed to use the 3M Black polishing pad, Menzerna 85RD 3.02 and 2000rpm on the Makita rotary.

After reviewing the paint depth readings from the previous day, they showed a very healthy average of 150um and no indications of sprayed panels.

The paint was in good shape with only medium swirling and a few RDS (random deep scratches). Again i have no befores of the swirls which is VERY poor but we just didn't get round to taking them
sad.gif


Here is an idea of the level of correction i achieved:

182Clio039.jpg

With Flash:

182Clio038.jpg

Sunlight:

182Clio028.jpg

I'd say a correction of roughly 95% with some RDS still remaining.


Whilst i was doing the polishing work Lee was sorting the wheels and arches.

Minature Fat Budda at work (his words not mine
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):

182Clio030.jpg

Lee was using Megs APC cut 10:1 on the arches followed with Megs All Season Dressing. On the wheels Lee was using Megs Wheel Brightener cut 4:1, Sonus Grey clay with Last Touch QD on the more stubborn pitting and finally he topped them with Colinite 915. Again no pictures

With the wheels and polishing done it was time to apply the Dodo Juice Lime Prime. I handed the PC to Lee, he did all the panels with a 3M finishing pad and buffed off. I cleaned the glass with Clearkote Vanilla Moose Glaze and treated the trim with Megs All Season Dressing. The car had a nice thin layer of Dodo Juice Diamond White applied. Here are the after pictures:

182Clio061.jpg

182Clio062.jpg

182Clio071.jpg



Thanks for looking

Andy

The pictures honestly do not do the car justice now imo.
The paint feels so smooth it's unreal. I haven't felt paint so smooth on a new car in all honesty.

Andy certainly knows his stuff & was very patient with me asking questions every 5 mins. I would recommend him to do work on any car tbh.

I will give it a very quick wash & a coat of Natty's Red & take some pics @ a fav location nearby when I get a chance.

Massive thank you to Andy again ;):cool::cool::cool::cool:
 
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Looks immaculate mate, 2nd pic from the bottom shows your work of well. 474 could do with a day of pampering. I thought you had an arctic 182 cup,obviously not :lol:
 
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