First car since our holiday, and boy was it a case of back down to earth with a bump – this one took 14 hours in total! The owner had been out to see me for a pre-inspection a while back, and the car hadn’t looked too bad in sunlight, but under the halogens it looked a whole lot worse – plenty of swirls and a few scratches here and there. In the week running up to this detail, BenP had posted a thread on the unbelievable hardness of Lotus paint, so I knew I had my work cut out, and took the opportunity to try out the new SRC polishes from
Blackfire. Not being able to take paint thickness readings due to the bodywork being composite, I proceeded with caution, and strictly limited myself to two attempts with the Compound per panel. As it turned out, only the rear spoiler section needed this – all the rest of the panels were corrected with one go of the Compound, followed by one go with the Finishing Polish. I can’t put into words how pleasant these polishes are to use. No dust, no need for heavy pressure, no need for high speeds, just great cutting and finishing power – even by PC. The only bummer was the weather and working conditions – it rained and stayed dull all day long, the garage floor was really filthy and the driveway was grit covered. After finishing the detail with the interior, there was no way I was rolling it out onto wet grit and then jumping in and out to take pics… so I’m afraid the pics aren’t that great. C’est la vie.
Wash
Whole car rinsed at moderate pressure using the Karcher
Alloys treated with Blackfire Wheel and Tyre Gel (didn’t use
Wheel Brightener as alloys were all showing signs of corrosion) and rinsed with open ended hose
Whole car foamed with Poorboy’s Slick n Suds (4:1 mix in foam gun) and left to dwell for 5 mins
Whole car rinsed at moderate pressure using the Karcher
All trims and inside the arches treated with P21S Total Auto Wash
Whole car washed with
Blackfire Gloss Shampoo using lambswool (bodywork) and microfibre (wheels and inside arches) mitts, and the two bucket method
Whole car rinsed with an open-ended hose
Whole car dried with waffle weave towels
Clay
All paintwork and windows clayed using
Meguiars Detailing Clay and
Meguiars Quik Detailer
Excess lubricant mopped up with waffle weave towels
Polish
Whole car taped with 3434, then machine polished with PC, using Blackfire SRC Compound and
Lake Country orange light cut pads. One attempt comprising multiple passes (1st at speed 1 no pressure, rest at speed 4-5 using moderate pressure) was enough to get everything out, bar some of the scratches on the rear spoiler section, which I made another attempt on using the same method. I then followed up with Blackfire SRC Finishing Polish using Lake Country green finishing pads, as the finish left by the Compound was good but not perfect (some micromarring). The quality of the finish left by this finishing polish is better than I’ve seen before, with terrific brightness and flake pop. All residues were buffed with Poorboy’s Super Thick n Plush towels.
Protect
All bodywork protected with Blackfire
Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection, applied using foam pads and buffed using Poorboy's’ Deluxe Mega towels
Wheels protected with Poorboy's Wheel Sealant, applied with foam pads and buffed with work towels
All exterior trims treated with
303 Aerospace Protectant, applied using a microfibre pad and buffed after 15 mins with waffle weave towels
Exhaust tips polished with Autosol and protected with Meguiars
NXT All Metal Polysh, both applied using Poorboy’s work towels
Tyres dressed with Blackfire Long Lasting Tyre Gel
Interior
All hard surfaces wiped down with damp Poorboy’s work towels, and then dressed with Poorboy’s Natural Look Dressing
All glass cleaned with Meguiars
NXT Glass Cleaner and Poorboy’s work towels
All alcantara surfaces brushed down with Meguiars Interior Brush
Carpets removed, thoroughly hoovered and replaced
Here’s the pics…
General before shot…
Defects before any work…
WX51TXR + Blackfire SRC polishes by PC vs Elise No.1 
Linear Mode
