Hello all,

Not done a write up on here for a while. Nice to see other people having a go and getting the detailing bug. I expect a few more threads to pop up now the sun's come out


Process;

• Vehicle rinsed then snow foam applied to suspend dirt and left to dwell for 5 minutes.
• ‘Magic Wash’ with wheel arches and wheels soaked in a degreasing solution.
• Wheels cleaned with a non-acidic wheel gel and a selection of special wheel brushes.
• Panel gaps, door shuts, and badges cleaned.
• Paintwork decontamination process (3 stages to remove bonded contaminants).
• Vehicle re-washed then hand-dried using 'deep pile' microfibre drying towels and blow dryer.
• Glazed using soft touch machine.
• Swissvax Best of Show carnauba wax applied by hand.
• Door shuts waxed for added protection.
• Door seals and rubbers cleaned and protected.
• Interior fabric cleaned and vacuumed.
• Interior trim dressed.
• All glass cleaned.
• Exterior glass sealed using G|Techniq G1.
• Wheel faces sealed.
• Tyres and exterior trim cleaned, conditioned and dressed.
• Stainless steel/chrome cleaned and polished.
• Engine bay degreased, cleaned and protected.
• Final inspection to make sure the car meets Matt’s high standards.


So, in essence, this is the top spec "Protection Detail".

Bit of background, my client had picked the car up at 11am friday morning and dropped it with me at noon the same day. He literally drove it straight to me. So this was the condition he'd collected the car in, bit poor I'm sure you'll agree;


















So, I started with the engine bay... which I didn't picture, as it was quite clean as you can see above, it just had some dusting on it. Degreased it, and blow dried the worse of the water off. I didn't dress it at this stage, because the bonnet vents let the water in during the wash phases etc.


Then I started on the washing, with the wheels first. Used RIM7 to hammer the dirt off and reduce teh amount of brake dust. I find this to be the most potent of all cleaners, it's excellent stuff, but the iron decontaminate in it isn't quite as strong as Iron-X, and that was evident when I gave them a shot of Iron-X...




Then I foamed the car to remove any loose dirt and soften up the baked on stuff. Gave it a 'Magic Wash' and then set about decontaminating the paintwork, tar removal, iron etc. before claying.






The vehicle was then re-washed and dried following this procedure; my apprentice can be seen here with the blow dryer..




I was now heading down the home stretch after breaking the back of the job above - so I dressed the engine to finish that part off;




Then I could crack on with the glazing, not shown. This helps to fill in around 10% of the swirls present, to take the edge off some of the lightest damage. Ideal, as it's only a protection detail, so doesn't include any paint correction. Crucially, it also adds alot of shine and reflectivity to teh surface, as well as laying a base for protection.






My client had chosen to upgrade the protection to Swissvax Best of Show;






And whilst that was curing, I also took care of the wheels, using Swissvax Autobahn..




Tailpipes were spandangled up aswell




So this concluded the end of the first day, as I had a couple of other smaller jobs on in and around this one. I did actually finish it all in a day, but didn't take any final pictures as I was losing light.. favourite picture in the late afternoon sun;




And then onto the final pictures you've been waiting for The Best of Show reacts with sunlight and warmth, as it's enriched in essential oils, so it works best if left out in the sun... this was the morning of collection;































And this picture really shows off the metal flake, depth of colour, warmth and gloss all in one. One of my favourite pictures...



Hope you enjoyed reading.


All the best,
Matt.
www.magicdetail.co.uk