This car belongs to my best mate, its his first decent car and he loves it to bits. Whilst not being a petrol head like myself, even he thought the standard 13" wheels looked a bit weedy so after a bit of searching I found him a set of 16" wheels from the 2.0 litre Sport Ibiza (big thanks to Icecavern!), knowing they would fit straight on without any problem. So I got them, and today he came down from Northampton for me to put them on.
This was going to be a full on detail with defect removal, but he didn't get to my house until nearly eleven, and by the time we had finished messing about with the wheels and eaten lunch, time was seriously getting on. I tackled the bonnet with great results, so when he comes to stay for a few days in Half Term week (he is a teacher!) we'll borrow a garage and make it all perfect. Have a look and see what you think!
The car at the start:
First of all, he got a rollocking. His opening statement to me? 'I took it to Sainsburys the other day and put it through the car wash. Was only £5.95'. Slap.
I explained why the whole car looked like this:
First of all, I changed the wheels - they look fabulous! Then, using a Megs dispenser with foaming head, I went around the car and gave it a light covering of APC diluted 10:1.
Washed the car with 2 bucket method, megs Gold Class shampoo and a couple of Megs washmits. Then clayed the car with DP grey clay, a fair bit came off but nothing outrageous. Washed again, dryed with Cobra Super Guzzler towel.
Broke out the Paint Depth Gauge and the readings confirmed my suspicions. The car isn't in bad shape, various scratches and chips around in car-park style, but the bonnet seemed noticeably stone-chip free so I suspected a respray. The whole car measured between 85mic (boot lid and bottom of the doors) to 132mic tops. The bonnet however was showing 225-280mic. Very good colour match and had been well done.
Got the PC out and after taping up with 3M 3434 making tape ,I tried Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish polish on a 6.5" Wolfgang polishing pad. It made an improvement, but not enough. So I stepped up to Menz PO85RD 3.02 Intensive Polish. Much better! Basically did the bonnet before a shower started to attack us, so we went for a bit lof lunch.
This was going to be a full on detail with defect removal, but he didn't get to my house until nearly eleven, and by the time we had finished messing about with the wheels and eaten lunch, time was seriously getting on. I tackled the bonnet with great results, so when he comes to stay for a few days in Half Term week (he is a teacher!) we'll borrow a garage and make it all perfect. Have a look and see what you think!
The car at the start:
First of all, he got a rollocking. His opening statement to me? 'I took it to Sainsburys the other day and put it through the car wash. Was only £5.95'. Slap.
I explained why the whole car looked like this:
First of all, I changed the wheels - they look fabulous! Then, using a Megs dispenser with foaming head, I went around the car and gave it a light covering of APC diluted 10:1.
Washed the car with 2 bucket method, megs Gold Class shampoo and a couple of Megs washmits. Then clayed the car with DP grey clay, a fair bit came off but nothing outrageous. Washed again, dryed with Cobra Super Guzzler towel.
Broke out the Paint Depth Gauge and the readings confirmed my suspicions. The car isn't in bad shape, various scratches and chips around in car-park style, but the bonnet seemed noticeably stone-chip free so I suspected a respray. The whole car measured between 85mic (boot lid and bottom of the doors) to 132mic tops. The bonnet however was showing 225-280mic. Very good colour match and had been well done.
Got the PC out and after taping up with 3M 3434 making tape ,I tried Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish polish on a 6.5" Wolfgang polishing pad. It made an improvement, but not enough. So I stepped up to Menz PO85RD 3.02 Intensive Polish. Much better! Basically did the bonnet before a shower started to attack us, so we went for a bit lof lunch.
