Well after months and months of waiting my Dads new car finally arrived
John and I went to inspect the car as soon as it arrived at the compound just outside of Aberdeen, you wait ages to see one and then two turn up at once
Can't say I was overly impressed at the level of "care" taken with either of the cars at this point, how hard is it to get in and out of a car without kicking the sills to bits?
The 500 behind my dad?s had similar greasy/oily marks to the one above including a massive hand print right in the middle of the bonnet. It looks like the bonnet will be getting re-wrapped as nothing was shifting it last time we spoke with the owner!
Few more pics to give you an idea of the condition of the car at this point:
And a quick note of the mileage in case anyone decided to take it further than the distance from the compound to the PDI centre:
Despite being filthy, both John and I were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the wrap. We've read so many horror stories about all the other 500's which maybe lead us to expect a lot worse but bar 2 tiny little imperfections the wrap was pretty damn good - definitely one of the lucky cars to pass through I think - I was just hoping this would still be the case once it was properly clean!
With everyone in sight instructed not to touch the car we'll fast forward a couple of days to where the car was left with us ready to be detailed just in time for our open day which was planned for the Saturday:
The "do not touch" instructions obviously fell on deaf ears as there were loads of new hand prints and finger marks all over the car
Anyways, hoping that all these new marks wouldn't prove too difficult to remove the car was put outside and the detail began.
As I was busy working away on the 993 turbo during this week Alan did the majority of the work on the RS (nothing like pressure eh, my Dads car and a matt finish to work on!
) all be it with me watching him like a hawk :lol:
Up first were the wheels, these were given a thorough pre rinse to get rid of the majority of the grime:
Then sprayed with Gloss-It Wheel Gel (4:1)...
...agitated with the various brushes...
...then rinsed off:
Arches and tyres were cleaned with APC:
...then thoroughly rinsed...
The engine bay was cleaned with APC also:
All the shuts and exterior trim were then cleaned but this time using a hot water and Swisswax Opaque Shampoo Mix as you don't really want to be using APC's or regular shampoos and snow foams on the exterior if you can help it:
Once they were done it was time to give the car a thorough rinse at a temperature of 50/60 degrees:
The car was then washed
twice with a Lambs wool mitt, 2BM and Swisswax Opaque Shampoo. The vinyl seemed to hold onto a lot of the dirt first time round even after a good pre rinse so a second wash was necessary.
A few minor tar spots were taken care of with Autosmart Tardis before being rinsed off and put inside for a bit of claying on the painted parts:
The car was then dried off with the Black Baron drier, very handy for a car like this:
It was at this point I could get a really good look at the quality and condition of the wrap and luckily there was nothing too major to report - still a slight hint of a few oily marks but this was to be removed with the next stage which was the Swisswax Pre-Cleaner Opaque:
This was sprayed directly onto the vinyl and thoroughly worked with a Swisswax microfibre:
This made quite a noticeable difference already and fully removed any minor marks.
The Vinyl now ready to be protected (I think it should have been protected as soon as the car was wrapped in all honesty, this would have prevented a lot of problems for other 500 owners IMO) with Swisswax Opaque:
This was applied to a couple of panels at a time and then buffed off:
