Detailed A GTI-6 - Phew!

Hello All

Thought I'd introduce myself by showing you what I spent half the weekend working on! (ok, only 8 hours!)

Not an Audi owner (not yet anyway), but do have a VR6 Corrado so at least its in the family!

Had a 306 GTI-6 come to me. 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!

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Here's a pre-clean pic of the engine bay.

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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!

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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.
This is a picture of one of the clay bars after doing about 1 sq foot of the roof!

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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. Blue goes well with Black don't you think!

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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.

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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!

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If anyone wants any tips about doing this to thier car then feel free to ask!

Sorry, didn't mean to introduce myself as a numpty who couldn't put up pictures!

I live in Keighley, thats West Yorkshire for those who don't know!

Some swirls did remain on the 306, didn't know how harsh a polish I could use as I don't have my Paint Depth Gauge back yet.By hand!!!!!!Must have taken him days? What did he use, scratch x?

Any questions regarding prices etc are better doing via pm!

Never really used Swissol, some people prefer to remove oxidised paint chemically as opposed to a more physical approach (ie PC'ing).

As long as it works and lasts thats the main thing.

It's a porter cable 7424

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/pc-7424.html

This is the best place to get it from, you can only get it from USA. Don't forget you'll need a power convertor too.

The usual culprit is a sponge.

Get a sponge and rub it over a blank CD a few times, it'll have fine scratches etc. Thats what your doing to your bodywork. Then thiers using 1 bucket instead of 2. Buffing with cheap Microfibres after waxing, there's quite a few things really.

A brand new delivered car that get's 'prepared' by a dealer usually comes with them. That's why any new car I get involved in (family etc) I tell the dealer in no circumstances do you go anywhere near that car to prepare it!

Yep, I know it but best PM'ing him for the code. Gives you 15% off!

A Corsa arrived this dull Sunday morn in need of some TLC, no I'll say it how it is, in need of A LOT of TLC.

Lorna had never done more than a Morrisons Jet wash (yes even with the brush!) and of late done even lessw than that! She bought it from new 3 1/2 years ago and was duped into getting Diamondbrite, "as you'll never need to wax it for years again!", as the salesman told her! Well here's proof it's a waste of money! (IMO of course )

Please note the pink roof and god knows what on the bonnet in the third pic. It's like somethings being put on it to clean it and not taken off?

She also told me that for the first 2 years it was at her Mum & Dad's parked under a very big full of sap tree!
"Oh dear", I thought!







To give you a clue as to how dirty the car really was, here a pic of the floor after ONE wheel arch cleaning!

I used Meguiars Super Degreaser for the alloy wheels and Meguiars APC for the arches (a strong mix for this one!). All wheels and arches had to be done twice they were that bad.



After the wheels and arches I moved onto the door & boot shuts, once again using Meguiars Super Degreaser. From that and with the Degreaser still in hand I went on to the engine bay, which I don't think she'd seen more than twice in 3 years! I used a radiator brush to agitate the built up dirt and grease before rinsing it down and finally giving it a dressing of Meguiars Interior NXT Spray, which I find is great for engine bays.

Here's a pic of the finished article!



I finally got the point where I could start actually cleaning the car! Usual method of 2 buckets, lambs wool wash mitts and spraying the car beforehand with Meguiars APC, to get rid of any existing wax. (Well, there might have being some!)

Following this good clean I deployed the Clay Bars, and boy did it need it! You could certainly tell it was under a tree for a while. One more wash and then I dried off the car using Sonus Der Wunder Towels, which are fantastic, and a spritz of Quick Detailer to help the water dry off without leaving any marks.

I'd already had a long enough day already but I hadn't actually started Machine Polishing it yet! Arrrgh! I had to tape it all up before beginning so that was done before I started the colour transformation.

Tried Meguiars #80 but didn't too enough so I stepped up to #83 using the white Sonus Cutting Pad. Apllied on speed 1, and the 2 passes on speed 3 followed by several on speed 5. This did the trick so I carried on doing the whole car. On some parts it did need a cople of passes though.

Here's a pic of the roof half way through, see the difference!



Once that had being completed I used Clearkote Moose Glaze Sealant on the whole car, which has become my standard sealant now, and followed that up with Meguiars #16 Professional Paste Wax applied with applicator pads and buffed off with Pakshak Microfibres, which I have to say are worth the extra.

The end was in sight and all that was left to do was to clean the glass with Autoglym Fast Glass and treat the trim using Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care. 8 hours of hard labour on this one, it was a bit of a ******!

Lorna was happy and drove off with a big smile!

It was dark by the time I got round to taking the after pics so apologies for the lack of photos.











Thanks for reading!

Yeah, its the 1.0l 12V!

When I lifted the bonnet I said to her "well I've found the starter motor but wheres the engine"?