Polished Bliss: 10 days of Aston Martin...

[cupra_clark]

It's been a good few weeks since my last write up and seeing as we had 4 Astons pretty much 1 after the other I decided I'd just put them into 1 huge write up - so I'd recommend you go and get a cup of coffee to stay awake and I'll try to keep it as simple as possible as we all prefer to look at pictures I'm sure





First up was this V8 Vantage, in for a 2 day minor correction over Monday and Tuesday:

Pre-foam first, using APC:

Left for 5 mins to dwell then rinsed off:

After the wheels/arches/exterior trim etc were cleaned...

...I moved onto the engine bay:

R222 sprayed and then agitated:

Then rinsed off at medium pressure:

The car was then de-tarred with Tardis then put inside for claying:

Now dried off, I took paint readings - with everything showing nice healthy levels:

A few shots of the defects, and being an Aston - there was a nice variety of them...



Some bad swirling:

Some sanding micro-marring:

And finally, some buffer trails:

Having seen plenty of Astons before, this was no surprise as the paint prep on them from the factory is incredibly poor.





Being a minor 1-stage machine polish detail, I needed something with decent cut that would finish down perfectly in one go, so Menzerna P0203S was used in conjunction with a Menzerna Polishing Pad:

Results:

A good 95%+ correction was achieved, with just the deeper traces of micro marring remaining.





The clients LSP of choice for this car was Werkstat Acrylic, of which I managed to apply 5 coats :thumb:

 

[cupra_clark]

After pics

Work time for this one was just over 20 hours (I think!)



Then the next Aston arrived for its detail over Wednesday and Thursday...

Yep - an identical Vantage (except this one had just come back from Prodrive), so a bit of Deja Vu for the next 2 days!

Well, nearly identical - this one had slightly dirtier tyres I guess...

This one was also in for a minor correction so I'll go straight to the defect shots for this one as the wash process was exactly the same as the first.





Buffer trails:

Micro-marring:

General marring and swirling:

Again, Menzerna P0203S was used:

50/50 on the door:

Couple of finished shots:

 

[cupra_clark]

Part of the interior process was a really thorough clean of all the plastics and vinyl as someone had done a pretty poor job of applying some horrible shiny dressing previously:

LSP of choice for this one was Vintage, which helped to give the following results...

Again, around 20 hours work time was needed for this one too

 

[cupra_clark]

Friday saw me working mobile for a change...





A Client who has several cars with us on monthly contracts had just added a brand spanking new DB9 to his fleet, but due to the unit already being in use for another contract customer - Rich took care of that one while I worked on the DB9 at the Clients house.



We always insist on doing all correction work at the Studio but we made an exception this time as I knew the surroundings well (as I do all the clients cars there every month) and was more than happy to work away knowing the same quality levels could be maintained - not something always possible in cramped, cold garages etc







So, onto the car!





Brand new, with only 40 odd miles on the clock, however it was booked in for a 3 day correction as the owner had spotted quite alot of defects in the paint (more of that in a minute):

Pre-foam first, with APC @ 60 degrees (Client has the same pressure washer as ours):

Then rinsed off:

Wheels cleaned with Blackfire Wheel and Tyre Gel:

All the usual wash process was done, including the hood being cleaned with 303 fabric cleaner.





Now inside, I dried and then protected the hood with 303 fabric protectant and left to dry:

Before taking paint readings I inspected all the panel edges and swage lines on the car - something we always do on hand painted cars and especially Aston Martins. Reason being this...

Yep, that's strike though! Different to a paint burn so this would suggest this has happened during the sanding stage of the paint prep on the production line. If you're ever working on an Aston, look hard enough and you'll be pretty much guaranteed to find something like this at some point on the car - and if you do then make sure you document it!



I'd also recommend taping all the panel edges as you machine, they're just too thin to risk not doing it in my opinion.





Again, the usual defects were present:



More mirco-marring:

And the usual buffer trails:

There were also several areas on the top panels where there were some fairly deep scratches, this one's a bit out of focus but you get the idea:

Under the Sun Gun:

Paint readings were taken which showed everything was healthy, which was good as the paint was going to need cutting back quite hard in some areas where some of the micro-marring was really deep - pretty disgraceful on any brand new car, let alone an Aston...





Eventually I had to step up to 3M Fast Cut Plus with a mix of Ultrafina on a Menzerna Polishing Pad to achieve the desired result, although some areas needed 3 hits to get everything out!

Result:

 

[cupra_clark]

The finish was then refined with Menzerna 85RE and a Menzerna Finishing Pad - an awesome combination in my opinion, providing more than enough cut to remove any traces of trails from the compounding stage but still finishing down with crystal clear sharpness :thumb:





The Clients very own Vintage was used as LSP and after 30 hours of work this was the end result:

 

[cupra_clark]

Aston number 4 now - Another DB9, recently fettled with by Prodrive also :thumb:

This one was probably the worst of the lot in terms of sanding marks and deep random scratches, not to mention the usual trails etc. I really don’t know how they get away with it...

Yet again it was 3M Fast Cut Plus with a Menzerna Polishing Pad that was needed to correct the paintwork:

A smaller pad was used for the tighter areas and bumpers etc:

Rear quarter before:

After:

50/50:

Before:

During:

After:

Bad sanding haze on the bottom of the N/S door:

After 3 hits:

Sanding haze on rear bumper before:

After:

 

[cupra_clark]

Before:

After:

Front bumper - Sanding marks before:

After:

Other side, 50/50:

Sanding haze all gone:

As with the previous DB9, the refining stage was done with Menz 85RE and a Menz Finishing Pad - this stage alone took a further 8.5 hours to do (some pics taken after a Top Inspection wipe down, some not):

 

[cupra_clark]

LSP for this one was Vintage and this was the final result after 35+ hours of work, including a 3am finish on the last night:

Thanks for reading, if you made it this far then I'm impressed! :lol:





Clark

 

[porta]

Ace work on those Astons, Clark :bigups



Do you have any pics of the Menzerna finishing pad?

 

[cupra_clark]

Just the one on our website mate:



Menzerna 135 mm Pads - Menzerna Car Care and Detailing Products

 

[bigfish528]

excellent work very detailed, do you have a favorite Aston?

 

[corrswitch]

Beautiful work.



Which one was your favorite?



I liked the last one the most...or maybe its because by the end, I forgot what the previous ones looked like....



Thanks for sharing!

 

[Thomas Dekany]

Stunning, Stunning, Stunning work Clark!!!!! :bow :bow :bow

 

[Pats300zx]

Amazing work Clark....Speechless...:bow

 

[backwoods_lex]

Wow. Those are probably some of the best pictures I've seen posted here. That's some superior picture taking ability.



Thumbs up to Clark :up!



Thumbs down to Aston Martin :down!



Someone should email this thread to the company. That's absolutely ridiculous.

 

[scooby73]

Top job as usual Clark! :bow :bow



Cannot believe the factory get away with the poor prep, when you consider the price of these cars!