Starting point
Jon (Epoch) and I stopped talking and turned towards the deep throated rumble approaching us. We stood there in awe, following a very early start, watching the Veyron approach up a cobbled mews in Central London. Although not the first time I’d seen a Veyron in the flesh, this particular colour combination really made the details of the shape stand out. It was a beauty.
We caught up with a friend and shared his excitement of a truly magical purchase. Following the car through quiet streets displayed the respect this vehicle can command, everybody up that early on a Sunday morning stopped, turned around and pointed. Even this part was pure excitement and really set the mood for the day.
We soon arrived at the pre-arranged location for the detail, a private underground car park, which was accessed via my first trip in a car lift.
The underground car park was complete with a full wash bay, with running water, a hot pressure washer, most of the Autosmart range and other equipment found in a quality valeting bay. However we’d brought enough equipment to only require running water and a power plug as we’d not wanted to fall short at the first hurdle.
The lighting wasn’t studio quality, however the first few pictures gave us a clue to the potential after shots of this beast’s evocative shape and the fun this day was going to be.
Washing
The car only bore a few hundred miles of road muck, but, as with all the following processes, the care and attention learnt by detailers would clearly be taken very seriously today.
Pre-foamed and rinsed twice using the Gilmore filled with a Dodo Juice Born to be Mild (BTBM) and Valet Pro PH Neutral snow foam mixture; this softened and removed the particulates dragging them down with the weight of foam falling.
The remaining traffic film was removed using more BTBM with two grit guard buckets and Zymöl Sponges. During the rinse stage the level of protection currently present was found to be fading and poor.
A feel of the paintwork and a quick test with Bilt Hamber AutoClay Soft during this stage confirmed the absence of any bonded contaminants and we didn’t feel claying would add anything to the process, only reduce our ever shortening time span.
The wheels, covering those huge carbon ceramic brake discs, were fully cleaned up using another bucket, more BTBM and many brushes. The PAX system and weight saving minimalist magnesium design of the wheels really make the inner rim interesting to work on.
Drying then took place using Sonus Der Wunder towels this extended over the bodywork, vents, glass, shuts and wheels. A few glances and shots at this point showed the car had been looked after to this point in its life.
Evaluation
The bodywork was then visually examined by the light of a Brinkman for evidence of swirl marks and scratches. The paintwork was almost flawless, only one stone chip type nick in the clear coat and an apparent indent into the clear coat like something may have lent on it during curing. These marks were examined using the laptop and microscope which showed them not to breach the outer surface, other quick examinations also showed up the depth of flake in the multiple clear layers.
Paint depths were generous over the carbon and aluminum body panels probably the consequence of multiple layers of coloured and flecked clear coat topped with a generous layer of clear. All of which generated the most subtle pearlessence that both the cream and baby blue exhibited without a trace of orange peel on the surface or between the layers. A true sign of a manufacturer correctly presenting a vehicle finish.
Surface preparation
Clearly striking out the rotary and any form of polish would only have removed unnecessary clear coat at this point, some would argue a light finishing polish “might” have added to the gloss, but standing in front of that car on the day knowing it would be a regularly used car, we’d say preservation was the better option. A test panel may have detracted from the overall aim for the exterior with the time that we had, when you see the finish we achieved I’m sure you will agree with us.
The
Flex 3401 was brought out and a Sonus SFX 2 pad along with Zaino ZAIO. A meter reading confirmed the garage was at 85% humidity and we had concerns over the Zaino curing in such a damp environment. A test panel was set out while we tidied the wash equipment away. Curing time was a little extended, but did fully occur and we felt we would get the rest of the intended process completed in the remaining available time we had. The
Flex applied AIO was then worked across the cars bodywork, Jon and I sharing the machine work and we all buffed residue when curing had taken place using Dominique France Concours towels. Zaino AIO was applied by hand to all the areas the machine couldn’t safely reach, including all panel edges, bonnet (boot area) and door shuts and under the huge rear spoiler/airbrake. Wheels were prepped with Swissvax cleaner fluid.
Protection
The light bright pearlessence paint finishes were then further emphasized with a few thin layers of Zaino Z2 enhanced with ZFX curing accelerant and then buffed off again using super fluffy alpine fibre towels. Jon had been saving the DF towels for a big Zaino application and although they go against current mf convention they worked perfectly with the Zaino system, Sal was right.
Curing times were increased a little due to the underground damp location but the Zaino behaved beautifully and left the signature bright finish.
Wheels were treated to Swissvax Autobahn applied by hand to everywhere we could reach, and left to bond for 30 mins before being buffed off to a beautiful shine.
Interior
The interior brief was to look to remove some denim jean die transfer from the cream leather without compromising the surface finish and some scuff marks that have appeared on the Alcantara door sills.
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Alcantara
Jon undertook a lot of research and speaking to the manufacturer, importer and many suppliers about how to work with this interior, and he stuck with the manufacturers only approved cleaning method on the Alcantara, warm slightly damp terry towels to lightly pad the finish never making it wet, which removed 80% of the marking but didn’t risk damaging the pile or delaminating the delicate finish. By agreement of the owner we will try the next stage up on the next visit.
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Leather
Using the bespoke car care kit for LTT, the fresh die transfer was successfully removed from the seats without any harsh cleaning chemicals; the success of this process was highlighted in a separate post which can be found
here on Detailing World. The protecting fluid was then added to further inhibit the potential damage caused by reoccurrence of die transfer. This process was then repeated on all leather surfaces.
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Carpet
The car was then vacuumed out thoroughly, however time and the owner’s potential intention to immediately use the car ruled out a full wet vacuum on this occasion.
Finishing
Glass was wiped over inside and out using AG fast glass.
Tyres were dressed with Swissvax Pneu using a Swissvax Pneu brush and buffed to a natural shine.
The centre exit exhaust (the others are black) was polished to a great luster using Briliant stage 2 chrome and hot environment metal polish.
The whole detail can viewed in this 2 minute montage of the day
If you’ve read this far, it’s only fair you share in what we all stood back and were greeted with.
Enjoy
Many thanks are extended to the client for the call, help & involvement (yes we did have him working at every stage) and the whole day. Also special thanks to Jon/Epoch for asking me to work with him on this one.
We obviously really enjoyed this one
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