Training day - black Mazda MX-5 Convertible

[AutoSpaClub]

On one Saturday of January we worked (me, Colin and Karol) on the beautiful and mature (8 years) Mazda MX-5 in the one true color that is ... black
This was the second training session at Auto Spa Detailing Enthusiasts Club.

The following pictures show how the car looked after arriving.

The work started around 9:30 from a very thorough washing of "the patient".

We started with Shiny Garage Perfect Active Foam (about 200ml to 700ml of water in foam lance) as a pre-wash and to cool down the car
then 303 Fabric/Vinyl Convertible Cleaner with brush for the roof
then Meguiar's Wheel Brightener with wheel woolies for rims
then CarPro IronX on the whole car and wheels
then Shiny Garage Red Devil HD Nano (1:2) for nooks and crannies
then had wash with Chemical Guys Strong Wash (Bug Bugger) (shampoo, 150ml to 15l of water)
then we applied Pricbort MAC124 tar&glue remover on the whole car
then 3M blue clay bar with Dodo Juice Born Slippy Concentrate (1:10) as a clay lube
then second hand wash with Shiny Garage Perfect Active Foam
and before the final rinsing have been also very thoroughly washed tires using Garage Shiny Red Devil HD Nano (1:2) and a brush.

The car was carefully dried and the following pictures show it real condition

Best regards

 

[AutoSpaClub]

Work with varnish started from a few attempts. First Sonax Perfect Finish PROFILINE on an Urban yellow pad with Flex 3401. The effect was far from ideal and I knew at that moment that awaits us two staged correction. After a few more attempts with Rupes 15, Flex 3401, Flex PE14-2-150, wool, foam and MF pads we chose the following sets:

Cutting (3 people at the same time):
1) Rupes 15 and Rupes Mini with Rupes green, yellow pads with Rupes Zephir compound.
2) Flex 3401 with various pads (Urban white, Urban Honey orange, Sonus white and yellow) with Megiuar's M101 mixed with Meguiar's D300.

Finishing:
1) Flex 3401 and Rupes Mini with CG HexLogic black pads with Sonax PROFILINE Perfect Finish.

Finishing with rotary did not work - varnish disliked this machine, even Polish Angel Escalate lotion on a black soft pad made a light holograms.
I was afraid of cutting with the use of a rotary machine due to the very thin paint - as seen in the pictures above. Additionally I realized experimentally several times already that cutting with Rupes goes faster because you need to do fewer steps.
MF pads and wool pads (LC purple) cut it just a little better than foam pads but created a big mess. Another intermediate step was needed then before the finish.

Best regards

 

[AutoSpaClub]

After correction, which took us about seven hours the car was again washed with a strong foam, then Eraser wipe down and we proceeded to finishing. Washing windows, polishing exhausts and of course protection.

Windows: ShowCarShine Titanium Glass Guard
Rims: Wolf's Chemicals Rim Shield
Tires: Shiny Garage Back2Black
Paint, lights and trims: Naviwax Ultimate

And here, unfortunately, made it felt very high humidity (over 80%) in the garage. The wax did not want to leave the paint and unfortunately we had the so-called "dancing holograms" - something that looks like a small hologram, but changing the location after wiping with MF. In more normal conditions Naviwax wipes perfectly, but not this Saturday. This problem is not serious because after a few hours everything disappears, but it is annoying when you just want to do the final photo session: (

The works finished about 21:00. The effect is shown in the following pictures and video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEzg1HGwLvE

And some photos from the next day in daylight after driving 600km.
All these photos were taken and are owned by Karol.

Best regards

 

[AutoSpaClub]

Short, facetious video from the Saturday with Mazda MX-5.

Author: "Lion in the wardrobe", a friend of the owner of the car.
Music: Bednarek "Think About Tomorrow"
Shots taken with Nikon D7000 and GoPro HD2 by the owner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5b1BaYNxU8

 

[DaGonz]

Sweet!

 

[Scottwax]

Nice correction work! I'd agree that in most cases, a correction can be done faster with a Rupes than a rotary since there tends to be less taping involved and a Rupes can do in two steps what typically takes a rotary three steps to ensure a hologram free finish. 

 

[David Fermani]

Huge transformation. Great work guys!