Thought it'd be a good way to introduce myself onto the forum!
Had a 306 GTI-6 come to me today. Harry wanted it de-swirling and made nice and shiny! No interior work but the engine bay was to be cleaned as well.
Here's some pre-clean pics. You can see the swirls and scratches. Some scratches were quite deep but as I was without a paint depth gauge I didn't want to go far. The wheels could also do with a clean Harry!
We started off by giving the wheels and arches a good blast with the Karcher and then cleaned the wheels with AutoGlym Engine & Machine Cleaner. Meguiars All Purpose Cleaner was sprayed throughout the arches and scrubbed clean.
Following that we moved onto the engine bay. Once again using AG Eng & Mach Cleaner. Squirted that all over and agitated with a brush before gently hosing down. Here's a pic of the nice clean engine bay!
After that we could finally start cleaning the bodywork. First we hosed the car down and then using Lambs Wool Wash Mitts and 2 buckets (one with soapy water and one with clean water to rinse the mitt with) we give the car a good clean. To make sure any previous wax was removed before the machine polish the car was sprayed with Megs APC before washing.
The car was now clean! Or so Harry thought! The car was given a good going over with a clay bar. Meguiars to be precise.
After the whole car was clayed it was washed once more with AG Car Shampoo and the Lambs Wool mitts.
To dry the car we give it a quick spritz with Meguiars Last Touch whilst wet and used a synthetic chamois to dry it off. The cars bodywork was very smooth now, even though there was no wax on it yet!
Just one more step was needed before I broke out the Porter Cable and that was to mask up all the plastic trim to stop any accidental marking.
Now it was time to start de-swirling the car. Initially started using Meguiars Swirl Remover but didn't seem to do much so moved onto something a little more abrasive, Megs #83. It certainly reduced the swirls and scratches considerably, even holograms were removed. If I'd have had the Paint Depth Gauge I'd have probably broke out the harsher Menzerna. I used Sonus SFX pad's with the PC and was happy with them.
Here's me in action! Harry also did a good part of the car with the PC.
We went over the whole car, some parts needing several passes and were happy with the result! I thought I'd give Clearkote Moose Glaze a try and I was definately happy with the result! Applied with the PC it give the black a deeper shine.
Following that, we applied Meguiars #16 Professional Paste Wax with applicator pads and took it off with some more Microfibres. AG Fast Glass was used on the the windows and AG Vinyl & Rubber care on the plastic trim, after we removed the 3M Blue tape of course!
Bubblegum smelling Rim Wax was used on the alloys and gave them a new lease of life!
The result was a deep reflective shine that I'm very pleased with and I believe Harry was too!