My most recent detail was a tuition detail, where the owner takes part to begin learning the skills of detailing as they work on their own car - I really enjoy these type of details, as working with folks enthusiastic to learn and have a go and develop their own skills is highly rewarding and at the end of the day, seems to deliver people with a real sense of satisfaction that the end results they could play a part in It was a case today of seeing just how big a difference a day of TLC detailing can make on a car's general appearance, and today we went from this: to this... and on to this... ready to be pictured outside... The story of this car Today, Kev, the owner, brought a long a challenge of a car ... This Volvo V40: Dirty? Yup, it was! Bonnet - oh dear, spot the respray! This was going to need serious attention... But first of all, the car was washed and clayed in preparation for the polishing stages... this gave Kev the chance to see the various aspects of washing, from wheels and arches (cleaned with APC and Bilberry), the importance of washing and scrubbing (gently) the tyres to remove ingrained grime and dirt in the rubber which will shorten the life of dressings and cause the browning of tyres over time. Aspects of foaming and two bucket wash were covered with Kev, and a demonstration of claying techniques - something very hard to describe in words, but when claying use minimal light pressure and sweeping action with the clay until the clay feels like it is running smoothly. Tar removal was also covered as required on the car The wash stage left us with the following results - the car already looking much better, but the paintwork was looking a bit flat and faded... My first task of the day was to be the bonnet, but while I got started there, Bryan introduced Kev to the Dual Action polishing technique... You can see from the 50/50 shot the difference being made The bonnet was to be my challenge and a demonstration to Kev of the abilities of the rotary polisher and compounding techniques... The bonnet before was showing evidence of a poor respray finishing... and general heavy swirling as well... The bonnet was corrected in this case using a heavy compounding technique by rotary - 3M Fast Cut Plus, Meguiars W7006 cutting pad, applied as follows: Spread at 600rpm Begin working at 1200rpm Compound at 2000rpm, slow machine movements with heavy pressure* * This technique generates significant panel temperatures so care must always be taken to ensure the safety of the paint finish. Also, paint can "swell" with heat, making the finish look better than it is on initial wipe off, so all assessment of thickness and of the finish were made after the panel had cooled to allow all "fall-back" to occur. This was then followed with Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish on a Meguiars W8006 polishing pad, using a traditional Zenith Point technique as follows: Spread at 600rpm Begin working at 1200rpm until residue evenly spread Work at 1800rpm, steady sweeping rotary motion, moderate head pressure, until residue goes clear Refine at 1200rpm, light head pressure and slow machine movements To round and knock back any deep scratches left by two hits of the FC+ above. Finally, the finish here was refined using Menzerna PO106FA Final Finish using a Zenith Point technique as follows: Spread at 600rpm Begin working at 1200rpm, until the residue evenly spread Work at 1500rpm, steady sweeping rotary motion, medium to light pressure until reisude goes clear Refine at 1200rpm, slow machine movements, light pressure Burnish at 900rpm, slow machine movements, supporting rotary weight for very light pressure over head The end results - gloss and clarity restored to the bonnet: And under the Sun Gun... Other panels on the car were showing evidence of fading and deep RDS... Correction here was carried out using 3M Fast Cut Plus applied as follows using a Meguiars W7006 cutting pad: Spread at 600rpm Begin working at 1200rpm Work at 1800 - 2000rpm with light to medium pressure and steady machine movements, pressure lifted near panel edges This was then refined using 106FA Final Finish as above. Still some deeper RDS remain in the finish, but a vast improvement to the clarity and and colour restored as can be seen with the following after shots The roof of the car before... During... and after... The end results of the polishing process seen inside the unit show the enhancement to colour, clarity and gloss achieved on the day which turned the look of the car around The finish was then glazed using Clearcoat Yellow Cream Wax and protected with good old Meguiars #16 for an easy to apply, durable finish that is well proven of the years for its ability to last well. Great value for money too Tyres, rubbers and plastics were dressed with Meguiars All Seasons Dressing, including the wheel arch liners. Glass was cleaned using Stoner Invisible Glass. The end results, very rewarding we felt after a hard day's work The owner was very happy with the finish, and at the end of the day, a lot of the finish quality here was very much down to his own hard work guided by ourselves. Very rewarding for me too, to see folk achieving the results themselves, something I very much enjoy. The after pics: I was quite proud of the efforts on the bonnet Nothing like getting stuck into an old run of the mill car and making it look a million miles better
Absolutely amazing results..I still can't get over the hood, the reflections in the fluorescent lights was just sooo dull, and what you came out with is superb. You are doing a great thing with these tuition details Dave.
great work and its great seeing a tuition detail. Maybe the owner is now or is an existing DB member to comment.
Awesome work!! That car was filthy before :applause2: I agree, it's nice when people actually take an interest in what you are doing to their car, so many people think a wash & wax is just that, wash with some rags and then wax it :loud:
