imported_Dave KG
New member
Haven't been on the forum for a very long time owing in part to illness and then starting a PhD in Physics which has taken up a lot of my time... But I'm happily settled into my PhD now and feeling miles better (dropping in weight to just 6.5stone aint fun!) and have been back to detailing now so I thought I'd share 
Yesterday's detail, a cracking looking GTO caked in your typical motorway grime, so first off we washed the car down. Here it is on arrival:
Owing to the subzero temperatures, we decided against getting the pressure washer out (didn't want to risk freezing the car, or the greater than 1/10 road that Bryan lives at the top of! :lol: )... So, it was a careful two bucket wash using Meguiars Shampoo Plus, rinsed and dried with Last Touch as a lube. Bryan also washed the wheels and treated the arches to Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care.
We then rolled the car into the garage to have a closer look at the quality of the finish... In the morning sun, we could see light hologramming and light swirls, under the Brinkmann we could see the extent of the marring... nothing too severe, but definitely noticeable swirls and hologramming which we could improve upon to give the car a better finish.
First off, the bonnet before:
Onto a test area, I first of all tried Menzerna PO106FF Final Finish on a Meguiars W8006 Polishing Pad. Now, as this was a full respray, any notions of paint hardness and car type are out of the window and in this case I believe it is ever more imperative to work low aggressive first to get a feel for the paint. The FF was spread at 600rpm, worked for two passes at 900rpm, eight to ten passes at 1500rpm with medium pressure and finished at 900 rpm with a single pass. The result was removal of the hologramming and between 50 and 60% of the swirls. An improvement, but better could be achieved, so I stepped up to Menzerna PO85RD3.01 Intensive Polish on a Meguiars W8006 pad. Same application technique as for the FF. This remove the marring and swilrs nicely, and left an excellent LSP ready finish... But I wanted a little more crystal clarity to get the pearl effect flake to come through at its best, so I followed this with Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish (in my eyes, the ultimate finishing polish out there): 600rpm to spread then two passes at 900rpm, seven or eight passes at 1200rpm and then two passes at 900rpm. The results:
Both I, and more importantly Craig, were happy with this finish, so this method was used around the car on all metal panels.
Here's a before shot of the rear 3/4:
a 50/50 shot during the polishing process:
and the wing completed:
On harder access areas and plastic panels (bumpers and lower half of doors), Bryan cut in with the PC while I went around the open areas with the two Makitas. The boot area was a particularly bad panel for some reason and owing to the contours was tackled by PC... The boot before:
The boot required Power Gloss on a 4" pad by PC to clear, followed by IP PO85RD3.01 and Final Finish but came up nicely by PC:
I was really happy with the way the finish was coming up by rotary and PC using the RD twins... A completed (polishing stages only) shot of the bonnet:
Once the polishing stages were complete, we then opted to give the car a wet and glossy look while still allowing the flake to shine through... For wet look shine on black, I turn to no other product the Meguiars #7 Show Car Glaze, for me this product just has something special when used on dark colours and we all noticed the difference when it was applied... Applied by hand. Then to protect the finish, we opted for Chemical Guys 50/50 wax - this wax was stupidly easy to use, wip on and wipe straight off with complete ease and it toped the detail off a treat.
Owing to the fading light, and my desire to see the car outside in the sunlight to properly evaluate the finish, once the fornt of the car (bonnet and wings) was completed to a finish (polish, glaze, wax) we rolled the car out for a photoshoot while we still had some light, which is why my completed pics are focussed on the front end!:
Yesterday's detail, a cracking looking GTO caked in your typical motorway grime, so first off we washed the car down. Here it is on arrival:
Owing to the subzero temperatures, we decided against getting the pressure washer out (didn't want to risk freezing the car, or the greater than 1/10 road that Bryan lives at the top of! :lol: )... So, it was a careful two bucket wash using Meguiars Shampoo Plus, rinsed and dried with Last Touch as a lube. Bryan also washed the wheels and treated the arches to Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care.
We then rolled the car into the garage to have a closer look at the quality of the finish... In the morning sun, we could see light hologramming and light swirls, under the Brinkmann we could see the extent of the marring... nothing too severe, but definitely noticeable swirls and hologramming which we could improve upon to give the car a better finish.
First off, the bonnet before:
Onto a test area, I first of all tried Menzerna PO106FF Final Finish on a Meguiars W8006 Polishing Pad. Now, as this was a full respray, any notions of paint hardness and car type are out of the window and in this case I believe it is ever more imperative to work low aggressive first to get a feel for the paint. The FF was spread at 600rpm, worked for two passes at 900rpm, eight to ten passes at 1500rpm with medium pressure and finished at 900 rpm with a single pass. The result was removal of the hologramming and between 50 and 60% of the swirls. An improvement, but better could be achieved, so I stepped up to Menzerna PO85RD3.01 Intensive Polish on a Meguiars W8006 pad. Same application technique as for the FF. This remove the marring and swilrs nicely, and left an excellent LSP ready finish... But I wanted a little more crystal clarity to get the pearl effect flake to come through at its best, so I followed this with Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish (in my eyes, the ultimate finishing polish out there): 600rpm to spread then two passes at 900rpm, seven or eight passes at 1200rpm and then two passes at 900rpm. The results:
Both I, and more importantly Craig, were happy with this finish, so this method was used around the car on all metal panels.
Here's a before shot of the rear 3/4:
a 50/50 shot during the polishing process:
and the wing completed:
On harder access areas and plastic panels (bumpers and lower half of doors), Bryan cut in with the PC while I went around the open areas with the two Makitas. The boot area was a particularly bad panel for some reason and owing to the contours was tackled by PC... The boot before:
The boot required Power Gloss on a 4" pad by PC to clear, followed by IP PO85RD3.01 and Final Finish but came up nicely by PC:
I was really happy with the way the finish was coming up by rotary and PC using the RD twins... A completed (polishing stages only) shot of the bonnet:
Once the polishing stages were complete, we then opted to give the car a wet and glossy look while still allowing the flake to shine through... For wet look shine on black, I turn to no other product the Meguiars #7 Show Car Glaze, for me this product just has something special when used on dark colours and we all noticed the difference when it was applied... Applied by hand. Then to protect the finish, we opted for Chemical Guys 50/50 wax - this wax was stupidly easy to use, wip on and wipe straight off with complete ease and it toped the detail off a treat.
Owing to the fading light, and my desire to see the car outside in the sunlight to properly evaluate the finish, once the fornt of the car (bonnet and wings) was completed to a finish (polish, glaze, wax) we rolled the car out for a photoshoot while we still had some light, which is why my completed pics are focussed on the front end!:
Roll on 2007, I wonder what cars the Dundee Detailing team be detailing 2007! 
