It Begins...

[MarkE]

Armed with the teachings of Lords FinerDetails and k80, and with more products and gear than seems financially sensible, I set to on the car this morning.

Oops, forgot to take any before shots. Not to worry; imagine if your car hadn't been cleaned for a couple of months and in that time you'd done a few thousand miles, driven it through a fleet of midges near Kidderminster and a muddy field near Fort William. It was not clean.

Two bucket method, some Zymol shampoo I bought last year and sheepskin mit to wash it, Meguiar's Water Magnet to dry it, Meguiar's pro wheel cleaner, Auto Glym tyre dressing, DP clay / Wolfgang lube later :

(The wheels look really good as well. I was a sworn Wonder Wheels user until today. No more scrubbing and no more inhalation of scary fumes. Also, the reverse baseball hat is for sun protection. )

This is going to look so good once the polish, sealant and wax are on. Find myself wishing the sun would go in, though.

 

[MarkE]

Sun stopped play earlier but I've now finished claying.

Yes, I know, I forgot to do inside the arches.

 

[FinerDetails]

looking very well Mark, that open day time clearly paid off big time! WELL DONE MATE, the volvo is looking like a new car!

Iain

 

[MarkE]

Day 2

Slightly overcast, looks like a decent day for polishing to me.

Masked up the car. Volvo door seals are a pain, BTW. Stick with SEAT

Then it started raining and I packed everything away again, so my neighbours are wondering why I'm trying to recreate the film TRON in my driveway.

Now I see why awnings are a good idea

 

[FinerDetails]

lol. get to Aldi mate....

 

[MarkE]

lol. get to Aldi mate....

Definitely a good idea - it's still raining now. Removed the tape as it was starting to look a bit daft.

PC = Precipitation Controller?

 

[jetsetjimbo]

Looking good bud!

I know how much it sucks to be without cover when detailing!!

 

[fuey]

crickey, top job, i remember when u drove off, muck all up the sides, silky black now

 

[C11PRA DC]

What tape are you using to mask seals etc?

 

[FinerDetails]

low tack 3m blue tape, but any low tack will do TBH....

 

[MarkE]

low tack 3m blue tape, but any low tack will do TBH....

The 3M stuff is type 3434. Tried our supplier of tapes at work and they didn't stock it so they wanted to sell me a box of 36 rolls...

Wickes 48 hour masking tape seems to do the trick for a couple of quid a roll, though.

 

[MarkE]

The Second Attempt

A whole 2 days off work this week so decided I was going for it this time. Washed it again, went over it quickly with the clay but, as suspected, not much to remove this time. Washed inside the arches this time

Masked it up again c/w brief outing to Wickes for some more tape and waited for the rain.

It didn't rain

Set to with a 6" finishing pad on the PC and Megs #80 Speed Glaze. Ooh, that's some smooth paintwork :

And then the sun came out so the sealant and wax can wait until tonight.

"Witty" comments from passing neighbours so far : 12

 

[MarkE]

Finished...?

After the sun had gone down a bit, I applied a really thin layer of Klasse Sealant Glaze with a small microfibre pad :

(The contours of the car in that shot make it look a bit like it wasn't applied in a straight line but it definitely was )

After 45 minutes curing time, it was out with the towel to bring the finish back to a shine. The people who make Klasse SG hate you and want you to look like Popeye - possibly the most useful piece of advice at Iain's open day the other week was to apply this stuff really, really sparingly as it's a total arse to remove.

Once done, the results are scary good, IMHO :

Tired now. I promise not to post any more pictures of a Volvo on a SEAT forum.

 

[fuey]

nice work, this with the sonus pads/hardwear?

 

[MarkE]

nice work, this with the sonus pads/hardwear?

I got the backing plates and polishing pads from Motorgeek - they're a dark grey colour but very soft.