A change from all the big fancy cars you typically see being detailed... A Nissan Micra! This car is owned by a colleague's girlfriend, its her first car and after it being parked in a train station car park, it picked up quite a few deep scratches, we think from people resting bags on it .... Anyway, I said I'd sort out the marks as best I could and tidy the whole car up so it was looking nice - all cars can be detailed to look their best after all, regardless of what they are! :thumb: And I personally quite like the old model Micra Plus - this was an opportunity to dry Duragloss products out on a full car, after they have been impressing me on test panels of late. So - on with the detail! We started around 930am and Bryan wasted no time in getting the car washed: Some tar spots were hit with Tardis... Although a couple of particularly stubborn ones wouldn't shift with repeat applcations, but Sonus Grey clay and plenty of time soon saw to them The entire car was clayed with Sonus Grey, and it certainly needed it as a lot of contamination was pulled from the rough feeling paint. After a clay, the car was already looking better: So it was rolled into the garage to look at the finish and see the scratches up close, here are a few of them: The finish too was looking a little worse for wear under the garage lights, in need of a good freshening up: Under the sun gun: A test spot with Menzerna PO106FF Final Finish revealed great correction of the general swirls and marring and made a notable improvement just under the garage lights to the test patch (front bonnet corner): However looking closely under the Sun Gun, you could see with all the general swirls removed there was a lot of deeper marks in the paint and these needed some serious treatment to remove... I finally decided on 3M Fast Cut Plus for correction, using a Meguiars W7006 burgandy cutting pad applied as follows: Spread at 600rpm, 1 pass Worked at 1200rpm, 2 or 3 passes Worked at 1500rpm, 6 or 7 passes until marks removed No attempts made here to finish down, simply using the aggressive compound to remove the marring. A dedicated finishing polish was then used to refine the finish and burnish it to a high gloss: Menzerna PO85RD applied using a Meguiars W9006 tan finishing pad as follows: Spread at 600rpm, 1 pass Begin working at 900rpm, 2 passes Work at 1200rpm, 4 or 5 passes Work at 1500rpm, 7 or 8 passes until residue clear Refine at 1200rpm, 2 or 3 passes Burnish at 900rpm, 2 or 3 passes The results of this process on the bonnet and front wings: Next up was the driver's side, marks visible without dedicated light source: And under the sun gun: Ouch: This was actually a dent as well, but was removed using the above process as best as possible: and the rest of the area: Much better Nice gloss after correction: Passenger side before correction: and after: Door handle area cut in by hand using the easy to break down Menzerna PO91L Intensive Polish, which still offers a very decent cut too. Before: After: Some other post-correction shots: LSP choice for today was Duragloss. First off, a combination cleanser and first sealent layer: Duragloss Polish & Cleaner (101), was applied by hand and worked into the paint for a few passes: This was left while the whole car was completed, the residue practically vanishing during this stage, and buffing off very easily: This was then followed with Duragloss Total Performance Polish (105), applied by hand to the whole car and removed. The paint was then wiped down with Duragloss Aquawax, simply sprayed on, spread with a microfibre and then buffed until dry. Plastics were looking a little tired: Bryan applied Meguiars All Seasons Dressing to them: 50/50: Afters plastic: Much better, I will be reapplying more coats this coming week, as this car parks next to mine in St Andrews, just to ensure the plastics are well treated Glass was polished inside and out with Autoglym Glass Polish, and tyres dressed with Meguiars Hot Shine. The end results in the garage: Liked the gloss here: And outside: I then went away to pick up the owner, and while I was gone, Bryan applied Zaino Z8 to two panels on the car... can you guess which, because I was hard pressed to... The answer is the two front wings. In person, the difference was nigh on impossible to spot, with the Z8 areas perhaps just slightly more "glassy" looking but there was seriously very little in it! The whole car received Z8 though before it left for a little extra slickness to the already slick finish: One very happy owner, and a very enjoyable detail. A full write up of my thoughts on these Duragloss products to follow soon in the LSP section
Z8 is really s spray sealent, from Zaino the Z6 is the spray quick detailer that adds a tiny little bit of gloss... Z8 adds protection as well as making the finish a little slicker, but I wouldn't uise it for general QD duties... I'd only use it as a top up spray sealent, and it does this very well indeed.
Dave..great job on the Nissan! I, too, love DG products and is pretty much all I use as an LSP now. Do you have any 501? The reason I ask is I think 501's cleaning abilities are stronger than that of 101. I precede 105 with 501 and love the results. I also use 501/105 combo on wheels for similar results. Check out some of my S&S's and you'll see. (I just completed a Camaro that the flakes were jumping out of the paint on). Let me know what you think of the 501..I guarantee you'll love it as much as 105!!
