PhD during the week, detailing at the weekend - I love the summer! A Ford S-Max, mid-grey, a family car with its fair share of swirls robbing the finish of gloss. The remit: get rid of the swirls! Car was washed and clayed, and brought inside (too hot to be working outside...) to assess the finish. Starting out on the bonnet: A few processes were trialled, and for correction we settled on Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish applied by rotary using a Meguiars W8006 polishing pad. Standard Zenith Point technique, 600rpm to spread, work up the speeds to 1800rpm to work the polish until clear, then reduce speeds back down to 1200rpm and then buff off. This delivered correction of the swirls easily, and most of the RDS (soft paint). Some areas received a second hit to fully rid the RDS. Finishing was a choice - Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish, or Meguiars #205 Ultra Finishing Polish. In the end, I settled on the latter as the rotary was gliding just beautifully with it, and the finish was if anything just a bit sharper than that of 85RD. The polish seemed to love the paint and it made the refining and finishing a real joy - I was actually sad when I got to the end!! 205 applied using Zenith Point, max speed 1500rpm. Results of the process on the bonnet: Onto the driver's side... Before: After the above correction and refining process: Up close and personal, making sure correction achieved right up to edges... and on the door handle itself... More afters... Doors below styling line required two hits of IP, with deeper scratches... after: The same process was adopted by Stu as we worked down the passenger side of the car After an IPA wipedown and assessment of the finish, it was time for protection. Durability was requried, so we went for Duragloss 105 Total Performance Polish first off - this is cleaning and a sealant with long durabilty so makes an ideal base for other products or a good product in its own right. After application and removal, we set about all other tasks to allow the layer time to cure before topping. Wheels were clayed, and then sealed with Duragloss 105. Rubbers with All Seasons Dressing. Tyres with Meguiars Endurance. Arches left until outside so as not to have any overspray or drips of ASD on the owner's garage floor! Glass was cleaned inside and out with Swissvax Crystal. Tyres dressed with Meguiars Endurance. The final layer on the paint was chosen to be Collinite 845 Insulator Wax, a product Stu has been trialling on his silver BMW and is rating very highly especially for durability which was key here. Applied and removed by hand. The end results in the garage... Rolled out into the sunlight for assessment... Arches then dressed with ASD, and tyre dressing completed to ensure full coverage. Any remaining residues fully buffed. The end results... (please note, no full car pics as the owner's family was in the car and I refuse to take pics of people). A very pleasant detail this one, lovely paint to work on and lovely weather for after pics aswell - love it when the sun shines, shows a finish at its best
I couldn't get a full car shot on this one, as the owner's family were in the car just as we rolled it out - they were off to the beach. So no full car pics, just pics where I was avoiding taking photos of people. The S-Max is a quasi-MPV (Multi Purpose Vehicle we call them in the UK, I think they are called Minivans in the US?) ... 2.0TDCi Turbo Diesel engine in this one, but think only has five seats... Not really my cup of tea, I like luxury saloons
