imported_Dave KG
New member
Todays detail was on my dad's car... He picked this Astra 1.4LS Estate up the same day I picked up the S60, and its paint always looked a little tired so today, the Dundee Detailing Team (complete with new member, Bryan's son Stu :thumb: ) set about giving the red paint the finish it deserved...
The car was dropped off at 830am this morning, and while I took my dad home, Bryan and Stu set to work washing the car and claying the car in preparation for the paintwork correction... With the car cleaned and clayed, the severity of the swirls on the paint soon became clear. Severe swirls existed across the whole car, looked as if the car had been washed with wire wool, or T-cutted by the previoius owner very badly...
The first choice to tackle this was, as Vauxhall paint is regarded as quite soft, Menzerna PO106FF Final Finish on the rotary using a Meguiars polishing pad... 600rpm to spread, then 900rpm for two passes, 1500rpm for ~ten passes, then 900rpm for two passes to finish. The results was removal of the haze and about 50% of the deeper swirls... but a much more curious result. Despite not showing adverse paint readings, this car has obviously been fully resprayed: there was clearcoat on this flame red! Perhaps resprayed when it went pink and this was the owner's solution for fixing it...
The paint therefore was now a complete unknown, and compared to normal butter soft flame red, this paint was medium hardness. So, out with the PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish, also on a polishing pad and this made a bigger impact, with one set achieving about 70% correction. A second set took this up to 90 - 95% which we were happy with as there was now a notable amount of paint being removed, so the deeper scratches had to remain.
First off, a couple of 50/50 shots from during the polishing process:
As mentioned at the start, the team has a new member now - Stu:
Stu was using both the PC and the rotary to great effect today (Bryan showing him the PC, me showing him the rotary), and with three working, it made finishing in a day a comfortable target while still achieving as close to perfection as we could in the finish.
The full car was machined using Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish, which left the finish crystal clear and LSP ready with not need to follow with a lighter p[olish by using the well broken down abrasives in the IP as a quasi-finishing polish. The beauty of this product allowing good correction and crystal clear finish from one set.
The machine polishing afters:
Now, a before and after shot on the passenger front door - using the camera flash to detect the defects in the paint (a hugely effective light for seeing swilrs... Before, then after:
Once the paint was prepped, Bryan retired to bed as he was working night shift (many thanks for staying up till 3pm when working that shift, Bry, thats dedication! :thumb: ), so Stu and I finsihed off the car. Stu cleaned the glass using Autosmart Clear Glass, while I treated the black plastics to Autoglym Bumper Care, tyres to Megs Endurance.
Given we have flame red here, we used Meguiars #7 Show Car Glaze pre wax, and this gave a lovely wettness to the solid red paint and set the finish up nicely for the wax. The wax of choice was a first outing for us with the Dodo Orange Crush Wax, blended for warm colours I thought this would be ideal on flame red to compliment the #7. And, indeed it was leaving a beautiful warm glossy glow on the wettness left by the glaze. A few indoor shots of the finish:
Alas, the horrible summer weather we are enduring put paid to any sun shots outside...
But as my dad rolled the car out the garage to take it home, we snapped some out door pics of the car in rather dimmer light, which still showed up the finish very well... a lovely warm gloss on the red:
Then, a little brighter weather at home, so a few pics of the car after its 6-7 mile drive home through the rain...
All togther, I have to say I am very impressed with the finish left by the Dodo Orange on the solid red paint, and using it was a doddle too... applied by applicator pad in a thin layer, and it buffed off very easily - did the car in quarters, apply to quarter, then go back to start and buff off. The car will receive a secoind coat of this wax easrly next week and then we will assess how durable the finish is on the car.
Another great day of detailing, and a warm welcome to the world of detailing for Stu who acquitted himself very well indeed on this car for his first detail! Nice one! :thumb:
The car was dropped off at 830am this morning, and while I took my dad home, Bryan and Stu set to work washing the car and claying the car in preparation for the paintwork correction... With the car cleaned and clayed, the severity of the swirls on the paint soon became clear. Severe swirls existed across the whole car, looked as if the car had been washed with wire wool, or T-cutted by the previoius owner very badly...
The first choice to tackle this was, as Vauxhall paint is regarded as quite soft, Menzerna PO106FF Final Finish on the rotary using a Meguiars polishing pad... 600rpm to spread, then 900rpm for two passes, 1500rpm for ~ten passes, then 900rpm for two passes to finish. The results was removal of the haze and about 50% of the deeper swirls... but a much more curious result. Despite not showing adverse paint readings, this car has obviously been fully resprayed: there was clearcoat on this flame red! Perhaps resprayed when it went pink and this was the owner's solution for fixing it...
The paint therefore was now a complete unknown, and compared to normal butter soft flame red, this paint was medium hardness. So, out with the PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish, also on a polishing pad and this made a bigger impact, with one set achieving about 70% correction. A second set took this up to 90 - 95% which we were happy with as there was now a notable amount of paint being removed, so the deeper scratches had to remain.
First off, a couple of 50/50 shots from during the polishing process:
As mentioned at the start, the team has a new member now - Stu:
Stu was using both the PC and the rotary to great effect today (Bryan showing him the PC, me showing him the rotary), and with three working, it made finishing in a day a comfortable target while still achieving as close to perfection as we could in the finish.
The full car was machined using Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish, which left the finish crystal clear and LSP ready with not need to follow with a lighter p[olish by using the well broken down abrasives in the IP as a quasi-finishing polish. The beauty of this product allowing good correction and crystal clear finish from one set.
The machine polishing afters:
Now, a before and after shot on the passenger front door - using the camera flash to detect the defects in the paint (a hugely effective light for seeing swilrs... Before, then after:
Once the paint was prepped, Bryan retired to bed as he was working night shift (many thanks for staying up till 3pm when working that shift, Bry, thats dedication! :thumb: ), so Stu and I finsihed off the car. Stu cleaned the glass using Autosmart Clear Glass, while I treated the black plastics to Autoglym Bumper Care, tyres to Megs Endurance.
Given we have flame red here, we used Meguiars #7 Show Car Glaze pre wax, and this gave a lovely wettness to the solid red paint and set the finish up nicely for the wax. The wax of choice was a first outing for us with the Dodo Orange Crush Wax, blended for warm colours I thought this would be ideal on flame red to compliment the #7. And, indeed it was leaving a beautiful warm glossy glow on the wettness left by the glaze. A few indoor shots of the finish:
Alas, the horrible summer weather we are enduring put paid to any sun shots outside...
But as my dad rolled the car out the garage to take it home, we snapped some out door pics of the car in rather dimmer light, which still showed up the finish very well... a lovely warm gloss on the red:Then, a little brighter weather at home, so a few pics of the car after its 6-7 mile drive home through the rain...
All togther, I have to say I am very impressed with the finish left by the Dodo Orange on the solid red paint, and using it was a doddle too... applied by applicator pad in a thin layer, and it buffed off very easily - did the car in quarters, apply to quarter, then go back to start and buff off. The car will receive a secoind coat of this wax easrly next week and then we will assess how durable the finish is on the car.
Another great day of detailing, and a warm welcome to the world of detailing for Stu who acquitted himself very well indeed on this car for his first detail! Nice one! :thumb:
