imported_Dave KG
New member
Been a little while since I posted a detailing write up, those who know me will know I've been working silly hours on my PhD of late so it was nice to relax and enjoy a detail again 
And for this detail, we have a very tidy Astra MkIII GSi, a phase 2 version with the Ecotec engine so quite rare and very rare to see one in such good condition. This car has been fully resparyed recently, the odd little rust spot on is fixed so the car is looking just like it rolled off the production line - apart from some swirls and hazing. So today's detail was to restore the respayed finish to its best gloss and protect the paint ready for the winter.
Bryan started off on this car with washing and preparing the paint for polishing... foam, rinse, wash, clay...
For a car straight from painting, this condition of the paint was remarkably good! No severe holograms, no overspray, no paint runs, and a nice gloss to the finish. Just some light swirls on the wing where we started machining:
Machine polishing was done by rotary, using Menzerna Final Finish on a Meguiars W8006 polishing pad, applied as follows:
This delivered the required correction and brought up a very deep gloss on the red paint...
Moving onto the door...
After polishing:
Some slightly deeper marks were found on the rear 3/4...
so PO106FF was mixed 50/50 with PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish and applied as above which gave the little extra correction required but still finished down ready for wax... Machine polishing:
and the end result:
Working away with the rotary...
4" pad for the tighter areas...
Ensuring the finish quality is maintained on all sections of the paintwork:
The bonnet had a dull haze across it...
But this was easily resovled using the 50/50 mix of Final Finish and Intensive Polish...
Once the car was fully machined, it was wiped down with IPA.
Duragloss was the LSP of choice: car was treated with 601 Polish Bonding Agent, the residue left on. The followed with 111 Clear Coat Polish, Polycharged for additional durability going into the winter, and then buffed off with ease to give a slick feel to the machine prepped finish
Wheels were protected with Smartwax Rim Wax, tyres with Meguiars Hot Rims.
Plastics were treated with Black Wow.
Glass with Autosmart Glass Polish.
The end results, outside in the late afternoon sun:
And for this detail, we have a very tidy Astra MkIII GSi, a phase 2 version with the Ecotec engine so quite rare and very rare to see one in such good condition. This car has been fully resparyed recently, the odd little rust spot on is fixed so the car is looking just like it rolled off the production line - apart from some swirls and hazing. So today's detail was to restore the respayed finish to its best gloss and protect the paint ready for the winter.
Bryan started off on this car with washing and preparing the paint for polishing... foam, rinse, wash, clay...
For a car straight from painting, this condition of the paint was remarkably good! No severe holograms, no overspray, no paint runs, and a nice gloss to the finish. Just some light swirls on the wing where we started machining:
Machine polishing was done by rotary, using Menzerna Final Finish on a Meguiars W8006 polishing pad, applied as follows:
- Spread polish at 600rpm, couple of passes
- Begin working polish at 1200rpm, couple of passes
- Work at 1500 - 1800rpm until residue turns clear
- Refine at 1200rpm until residue vanishes
- Burnish at 900rpm
This delivered the required correction and brought up a very deep gloss on the red paint...
Moving onto the door...
After polishing:
Some slightly deeper marks were found on the rear 3/4...
so PO106FF was mixed 50/50 with PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish and applied as above which gave the little extra correction required but still finished down ready for wax... Machine polishing:
and the end result:
Working away with the rotary...
4" pad for the tighter areas...
Ensuring the finish quality is maintained on all sections of the paintwork:
The bonnet had a dull haze across it...
But this was easily resovled using the 50/50 mix of Final Finish and Intensive Polish...
Once the car was fully machined, it was wiped down with IPA.
Duragloss was the LSP of choice: car was treated with 601 Polish Bonding Agent, the residue left on. The followed with 111 Clear Coat Polish, Polycharged for additional durability going into the winter, and then buffed off with ease to give a slick feel to the machine prepped finish
Wheels were protected with Smartwax Rim Wax, tyres with Meguiars Hot Rims.
Plastics were treated with Black Wow.
Glass with Autosmart Glass Polish.
The end results, outside in the late afternoon sun:
