Hi Everyone, I have been feeling really sorry for the Fiat for a bit now. It has been thoroughly ignored since some time late 2009, probably 5-6months without a wash. Thus I thought it should be time it gets a clean, and also a fresh cleanse/polish with SRP and then a summery layer of CG's Butter Wet Wax. Products used: Wheels - Bilberry Wheel Cleaner - EZ detail brush - standard sponge Wash - Pressure wash down - Sonüs gloss shampoo - Eurow wash mitt - CYC super drying towel, (or whatever it's called, the big 'un) "Polish" - AG Super Resin Polish - applied with a MF applicator 'sponge' pad thing - buffed with a MF - Meg's NXT metal polish - applied to exhaust with old tea cloth style towel Wax - Chemical Guy's Butter Wet Wax (smells so delicious) - applied with a MF applicator again - buffed off with MF Misc - Tyres dressed with Meg's endurance - black trim dressed with meg's endurance via MF (very little meg's) - windscreen cleaned with carlack cleaner - windscreen sealed with carlack glass sealant Picture time!! Before Sorry for the quality of these pics, bright sunlight made it difficult, you guys generally take really good clear pics for befores and afters, but mine always seem shoddy in comparison, but here we go... Front on, doesn't look too awful for 5-6months of winter driving: Upon closer inspection: In general the mess across the most part of the car was dust.. dust and more dust: The chrome mirror housings looking not great: There was also some mess from country lanes: And the wheels weren't great, tyres starting to go brown... Front: Rear, not so bad because of drum brakes: The exhaust looking quite terrible: And on a side note, I'd given the interior a quick hoover and a good clean of the steering wheel and gear stick, (white leather... :? ), and the drivers seat, which no matches the passenger seat for cleanliness thankfully. carpets, no stripes or anything just dirt free... :wink: : The steering wheel shocked me with it's whiteness, I'd never cleaned it properly and evidently forgot it's original colour, (no before, sorry!): During wash First I pressure washed the wheels and the arches, I hadn't applied any bilberry at this stage or cleaned the wheels in case lots of dirt sprayed from the arches with the PW. After a quick spray the wheels did look slightly improved, Front: Back: Then, with bilberry applied to wheels and tyres it started working it's magic, Front: Back: And the wheels after the wash completed! Front: Back: Here are my buckets ready for the car to be washed, big white one contains water and a grit guard for the rinsing, orange one has the Sonüs suds in it! Mid wash: A friendly reminder, even though the weather is beautiful and warm, waterproof shoes, namely wellies, are recommended!! And post wash, still wet: The reflections are starting to come back! And now dry: "Polish" and wax At this point I moved the car to a sheltered environment, judging by the weather it wasn't going to rain, but I was going to have dinner so it was going to be dark and this place has lights... I just love indoor reflections, (no LSP at this time) : I organised all the products about to be used, so that I had the right amount of MFs etc, didn't want to get to the last stage and realise I didn't have a cloth for the job!! (oh, and the febreeze is actually just water, for use with the carlack kit). Hit up the minor glass, (side windows), with some simple household window cleaner: Now the Auto Glym Super Resin Polish was going on: And coming off: Already I feel the car was looking glossier and more like some kind of sweet treat, mainly the rear lights, the glossiness makes me want to eat them! Now I started applying the Chemical Guys Butter Wet Wax, I love the finish the comes off on this colour, from this product, and of course it smells unbelievably good, car detailing isn't great if you don't want to snack, after smelling BWW for all that time I just wanted to raid a sweet shop: I also love the look of lit up car interiors in low light: I left the CG BWW curing for a while and put some elbow grease into the exhaust, much better: And off comes the wax, the car is looking genuinely buttery and delicious, hope you agree! Wheels complete with tyres dressed: And a few more reflections! ----------- That's that, I will take some pictures in daylight tomorrow as I just finished and it is now rather dark, I look forward to it myself seeing it in the daylight! Any suggestions for process or products, feel free, and I hope you enjoyed the quick flick through my afternoon! Charlie -
Charlie...thanks for posting that up. It looks great, nice glow to it. The cool thing is that car is coming over to this side of the pond this year.
Yes! I am looking forward to it being for sale in the US market, to hear opinions and stuff like that! Unfortunately (if you like it) this colour won't be available, it was discontinued shortly after they launched the car. Shame, I really like it, and it has to be seen in real life to be really appreciated, I think at least. Anywho, thanks for the note, and, have a nice day!
