Some friendships has grown up via our german Astra Forum astra-h-forum.de. So my friend Benno asked me since the last winter to detail his single painted red Astra GTC. The car was built in 2006 and has a 1.7 CDTI engine. The paint was in good condition, but had many swirls and a few light scratches. Benno had already cleaned inside, so job for today was the paint and the engine. First foamed with ECC Snow foam, washed with Megs Shampoo plus and lambswool mitt. Clayed with Meguiars prof. detailing clay blue (dont like this stuff), washed again and dried with guzzler. Engine was cleaned with APC 1:10, Swissvax detail brush and treated with Megs Hyper dressing 1:4. The results were wonderful as always. Paint looks quite good, but only in this pics. Some areas on the hood and the roof had light oxidations, the red color began to turn in white. So I took the Makita 9227 CB, orange LC Pads and Megs #83/IP 3.02 and most of the scratches, swirls and oxidations were gone. Smaller areas with Makita, small 76mm Elite pads orange and IP3.02. Some areas where treated a second time with Megs #83 and all swirls were gone. The consumption of pads was very high. After this stage about 5 160er Pads and 3 76mm pads were turned red :doublesho. This was the most importent but the most difficult step in the detailing process. Because Benno is a beginner in detailing, I asked him to help me, so he was happy to use the Makita and the towels in some areas. It was 12.00 a clock and high-noon, so my girlfriend came out with a very good meal and cold water. Many thanks Sandy :argie:. After the meal I took the Rotex 125, other orange LC pads and the Menzerna PO85RD and brought the last gloss out in the finish. Benno loved to work with the Makita and the Menz. Benno was very happy about his new colored car, red, nothing then glossy red . Rear lights were polished with Makita, orange ECC pad and Megs #10, #17. To gave the polished paint a very good cleaning, I took the Rotex, a white Lc pad and Swizzvax Cleaner Fluid (love this stuff). Benno wiped the CF down. My best choice for red is only one sealant: the wonderful Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant v3.0. Rotex, black lc pad and few minutes later a final wipe down with a monster fluffy the gloss had blowed us away. Its amazing, its incredible how this sealant works, especially on red paint. :doublesho Benno polished the wheels with 3M and sealed 2 times with Porrboys whell sealant. Plastics were detailed with Megs #40. Glass was cleaned with IPA and sealed with the great C1 glass sealant from Gtechniq. Last step was to protect the tires with Surf City Garage. These are the crazy people who loves a very glossy cleaned car .
