First 'proper' clean :D

[Josh]

Gave the mirage it's first proper clean today, took hours!
Not quite on elliotts level but it came out really well for a 13 year old car



















Not the best photos but you get the idea!

Erm, I used:
Megs NXT wash
Megs water magnet to dry
Auto glym ultra deep shine polish
Auto glym clear gloss layer
Auto glym wheel cleaner + cheap tyre shine
Megs NXT window cleaner
...And a bunch of microfiber dusters from tesco

Anyone know what can I use to get rid of the really fine cobweb swirls?
Going to get the bonet and front bumper re-sprayed soon as I don't like stone chips

[Elliott]

Looks great Josh. The wheels look so good.

I would use autoglym super resion polish. It has fillers in it so its great for masking swirls, not removing them. Although by hand your never gonna remove swirls.

Go over the car about 3-5 times with that and it will be a big improvement.

Did you not clay? A claying makes a massive difference.

[Andy]

Nice work Josh, but you missed a bit

Joke. lol

Not fair that you had sun tbh, was cloudy and raining here for most of today

[Josh]

Haven't clayed it yet. I'm guessing it's never been clayed in its life, a bit nervous about trying it to be honest.
What would be a good kit I can buy?

I have some super resin polish but swtiched the the ultra deep shine one because it said it was for black paints, shall i switch back?

Oh and thanks you two

[Elliott]

Next time, clay it, a Meguiars kit will be fine, its good if your a bit scared as it comes with everything you need and instructions. It will be fine, alot of people are nervous of claying, aslong as you use plenty of the quick detailer supplied you'll be fine.

This will removed all your products you have used. So then go over with the super resin polish. Do you have extra gloss protection? This is good too because its a polish and a sealant. But you could easily just use what you have there after super resin.

[Josh]

I'll probably go and buy the clay kit then Can't believe I've spent my entire years bonus on car cleaning, i must be mad...
I have the extra gloss stuff, I used that last and let it bake for about 30 minutes.

Might sound silly, but how do I go about cleaning the car agian in about 5 days time?
Will it all wash straight off, or just a quick wash and re-seal?

Ever tried the megs nxt wax? Would that be okay underneath the ultra gloss or not worth it?
Haha this is turning into quite the shopping list...

[Tris]

Already replied on msn earlier

But still awesome work, mine needs a clean if you're offering

[Dave]

Looks really smart, hope that saturday is good so I can wash & polish the golf.

[Elliott]

Doubt you will see any difference with the wax on top.

Just wash it as normal, no need to re-seal it. Aslong as you use a decent shampoo it wont strip your protection. Just dont use washing up liquid lolz.

[Andy]

I use this: http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/washing-and-drying/chemical-guys-bodywash-and-wax/prod_144.html

It's awesome

[Josh]

Cheers elliott, I'll give it a quick shampoo and dry on Sunday when I'm doing the blue one
Scunny has a huge steelworks filling the town with dust etc, wana try and keep ontop of cleaning this one.
Maybe clay it when I've got the brakes fitted and front end resprayed.

Oh and dave, get some pictures up when you're done polishing too

[Josh]

Elliott I need your expertise again

If you look at the first pic, you can see 1 or 2 creases in the bonnet. There's 1 in the roof too so I'm guessing someones walked on it....
Anyway, for fixing the bonnet, bonnet respray, front bumper respray and blended arches for £300+vat sound fair?
Both bodyshops quoted me that.

[Tris]

Sounds about right to me, I'd go to the best body shop you can find. The place I used last year was recommended to me by someone who's uncle works there and said "he never lets a car go until he's happy with it"

Which sounded good to me but the day after I got my car back from them I took it back because the paint on one of the wings seemed cloudy from some angles. There was also lacquer overspray on the bumper and door, and on my wheels but luckily I'd put my old Momo's on for while it was in there.

And just yesterday after washing the car I noticed at the bottom of my sill the paint they applied is starting to peel slightly. Just as well it's already silver underneath 

Would never use that place again, or recommend it to anyone. My S2000 aerial also got nicked while it was there [although they did knock £20 off], plus the guy I dealt with said "the painter said your car went quite well!"  Was like "thanks.. "

I hope I never have to deal with a bodyshop again.

And Josh, put your old wheels on while it's in there! And put seat covers on your new seats incase they don't..

[Josh]

The first bodyshop was Stoneacre if you lot have them?
They're basically a fiat dealer but have a big repair centre behind them. The guy came out in a pricey looking suit and spent a good 20 minutes looking at the car and talking to me about the work it'd need. Then said £300 + vat.

2nd bodyshop was on an industrial estate with dismantled cars outside, where a man in oiley jeans came out and spent about 5 minutes with me whilst rolling a fag. He said it'd be better to get a 2nd hand bonnet and didn't want to blend in the arches.
Gave me the same quote as the 1st guy...

Obvious choice would be the first main garage one, but my mate used the 2nd one about 2 weeks ago and the results were spot on:




Thoughts?

[Andy]

Don't be fooled by the man in a suit, the garage could still be shite.

If your mate's had work done at the other one and it looks as good as that then it's worth a try IMO, much more likely to know what he's doing than a place attached to a car stealers. I could be wrong though, both places could be shite