A friend of mine who works in the same research group as me, Tom, has a little Vauxhall Corsa 1.0 Comfort. Smart wee car, hardy and drives well - but Tom told me that the pinkness to the paint was really annoying him... :doublesho A red Vauxhall going pink?! Surely not!! :lol: :lol: Another one indeed - flame red now gone candyfloss pink. So today, Tom and I took the car to Bryan's and the three of us set to making the car look the way it did when it rolled off the production line back in 2001. We went from this at 9am: to this at 4pm: So here's the story. At 9am, after Tom and I arrive to find Bryan already started working on the wheels - Chemical Guys Premium Blue to clean them, Meguiars APC in the arches: While Bryan washed the wheels, I set to the bodywork with Meguiars Shampoo Plus and once the car was fully washed and rinsed, it was left wet ready for claying using Sonus Green. Tom said he was keen and interested to see what I go on about in the office all the time: "detailing, whats this detailing?!" So, I handed him some Last Touch and some warmed Sonus Green clay, showed him how it was done (light pressure, plenty of lube, work until the clay runs smooth) and left him to the driver's side while I went down the passenger side. Bryan began drying the clayed areas and taped up the car ready for the transformation to begin... Once washed and clayed, car was rolled into the garage. The bonnet was the chosen test spot, and this really was a faded mess: Under the light, it looked white!! A couple of combos tried, here's the results of Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish applied using a Meguiars W8006 polishing pad as follows: Spread at 600rpm, 1 pass Begin work at 1200rpm, 2 passes Working at 1800rpm, 10 or so passes till clear Refine at 900rpm, 2 or 3 passes Results of this: Tom was convinced, and he stood back happy and impressed... I didn't. Still seemed just a little pinker than it should've to me, and there were deeper scratches. Still plenty of paint to play with, it was time to crack out the bigger guns (yes, on soft Vauxhall paint!)... MarkV Mystique on a LakeCountry CCS Yellow cutting pad applied as follows: Spread at 600rpm, 1 pass Begin to work at 1200rpm, 2 or 3 passes Work at 1500 rpm, 5 passes Work at 2000rpm, 5 passes Refine slightly at 1500rpm, 3 or 4 passes One hit, coluor restored fully. Two hits and the deeper scratches removed or significantly reduced! To enhance the gloss a little after the compounding stage, Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish was applied using a Meguiars W9006 tan finishing pad as follows: Spread at 600rpm, 1 pass Begin to work at 1200rpm, 2 or 3 passes Work at 1500rpm, then or so passes till clear Refine at 1200rpm, 3 or 4 passes Burnish at 900rpm, 3 or 4 passes The end results of this stage: And the finish under the lights: Much happier now, I set about one side of the car. Tom, keen to learn about detailing, set about the other side of the car with the PC and two hits of Intensive Polish where the fading was less severe and required less correction. A quick demo from me, and then under the watchful eye of Bryan who was working on the roof, Tom took to the PC effortlessly and was happily correcting the passenger side of his own car. Nice one! :thumb: Although... the jokes involving the vibrations of the PC were too much for my innocent mind!! :doublesho :doublesho :lol: :lol: I picked up the PC for another demo to Tom, this time on the bootlid: Using Intensive Polish on a Sonus SFX-2 4" Polishing pad, spread on speed 2, worked on speed 5 for three or four passes and then worked on speed 6 for around eight to ten passes until the residue went clear... Half way through: Completed: Tom worked on polishing the glass with Autoglym Glass Polish while Bryan prepared the polished paintwork for wax with Clearkote Yellow Cream wax which added a nice extra wettness to the glowing and glossy red paint. Wax of choice which I applied was Autoglym High Definition. Applied using the enclosed red sponges which were damp, spread easily in a thin layer and left fifteen minutes before effortlessly buffing off the residue. This deepened the gloss very slightly on the red paint, and added what appears to be its trade mark look - a subtle sparkle to the paint. Really liking this wax at the moment. Meguiars All Seasons Dressing was used to revive the faded trim, and after a final wipe down with Meguiars Last Touch to remove little smuges and finger prints, the car was rolled outside into the sunshine D) for some after photographs: Tom is delighted with the results - as well he should be, as he played a big part in achieving them alongside Bryan and myself today. A very rewarding detail for all involved, and just one final picture: As good as the day it left the factory? We think so
