Leon Cupra 03 Paint Correction Detail – Lots of pictures!

[jonjay]

I remember Soundwave saying to me his paint was really tired and the previous owner did not look after the car that well. Since I done my last detail I was pretty confident that I could at least give some marked improvement on what Soundwave already had. So the deal was done and a date and time was agreed and the car turned up like this:

As you can see from the pictures above the paint looked tired and was in definite need of some TLC.


Products

Wash n Drying
Autoglym Shampoo and Conditioner (wheels and wheel arches)
Meguairs NXT Tech Shampoo (body work)
Meguairs All Purpose Cleaner
Sonus Drying Towel
Meguairs Microfiber Clothes

Body Work
Cleanyourcar fine polyclay
Meguairs NXT Tech quick detailer
Menzerna Intensive Polish 85RD3.02
Menzerna Final Finish (PO 106 FA)

Sealants and Waxes
Meguairs NXT Tech Wax
Collinite 476s

Plastics, Rubbers and Glass
Mer Plastic, Rubber and Vinyl restorer
Chemical Guys Wheel Guard
Turtlewax Glass Cleaner
Turtlewax GUNK Tyre Gel

Tools
Meguiars G220 mk2 machine polisher
Karcher Pressure washer
Snow foam Lance
Myriad of foam applicators
Menzerna Compound Pad (White)
Menzerna Polish Pad (Orange)
Meguiars Triple Duty Detail Brush
Meguiars Wheel Spoke Brush
Meguairs interior brush
Two-Way Mini Detail Brush
3M 3434 Masking Tape

 

[jonjay]

Wheels were cleaned first. I opted to use Megs APC at a weak dilution ration of around 8:1. Once the APC was worked in I then proceeded to wash wheel sheep wool mitt. The wheels were then clayed and Chemical Guys Wheel Guard applied.

Snow foam then applied.

When the snow foam wash off it reveal the car has no protection at all which was concerning.

 

[jonjay]

Rubber seals were cleaned with Megs APC

Car was then washed with Meguairs NXT Gen shampoo. Having used a dozen different shampoos this has to be up there with best of them and I actually now prefer this over Megs Cold Class. It produced much more foam and its cleaning capabilities were much better. Left a real slick feel to the paint.

Drying the car

The car was then claying with cleanyourcar poly clay.

Clean Clay

Right side of the car

Left side of the car

 

[jonjay]

As you can see there was an immediate improvement to the look of the car.

Upon close in section of the car removing all the dirt using the clay showed swirls and marring from the cars life.

With the car all cleaned, the car was taped up and a test area was created to see which pad/polish combo worked the best.

In the end it was between using Menzerna intensive polish with either the compound pad or the polishing pad. I opted for the polishing pad as it was the least aggressive method.

Bonnet now done! Massive different and around 85% swirl correction.

 

[jonjay]

Arch

Door – littered with swirls, RDS and deep a scratch.

A lot of the swirls have gone apart from that deep scratch.

Boot – Scratch heaven

 

[jonjay]

Very pleased with how the bonnet turned out. I had to use the compound pad to work out the deeper swirls and scratches.

Rear Arch - Defects

Right Rear Arch – More Defects

The whole car now was all Menzerna upped and read for some sealants/waxes.

 

[jonjay]

Once I applied a thin layers of Megs NXT Tech Wax and buffed off I then proceeded apply Collinite 476s.

Thank you to Soundwave for cleaning the inside of the car whilst I was working on the outside. The inside was treated with Mer Plastic and Vinyl restorer, glassed cleaned with Turtlewax Glass Cleaner and finally the leather parts were cleaned with Lord Sheraton Leather Balsam.

Here is the end result of a good 8 hours worth of work.

 

[UncleFester]

Great work Maz - still not doing it myself

 

[olaf]

Good work Maz

 

[Cupra Kev]

Absolutely amazing work ... bet he's very pleased with the result

Mine's in a similar starting condition at the moment

 

[jonjay]

Great work Maz - still not doing it myself

Good work Maz

Cheers guys.

Absolutely amazing work ... bet he's very pleased with the result

Mine's in a similar starting condition at the moment

Thank you.

Just added some interior pics at the end which i forgot to put in.

 

[Soundwave]

Absolutely amazing work ... bet he's very pleased with the result

Thats something of an understatement

I am totally over the moon with how it turned out.

Pretty much everything that could be tidyied up has been the difference is amazing.
Lots & lots & lots of hardwork on Maz's part have totally transformed how it looks.

I just stand & stare at it for about 5 minutes before I get in for a drive now
The fiancée has stopped using her mirror & checks her make up & hair in the paintwork now it's that good lol

I cant say thanks enough for all of Maz's hard work yesterday...especially since it was his birthday too...could think of a million things I'd rather be doing than cleaning somebody elses car but nope he spent 8hrs doing a fantastic job.

Thanks again Maz it really really is appreciated.

Neil

 

[PaulD]

Looks absolutely brilliant.. a huge improvement..

What's the crack with this snow foam stuff? How do you apply it and what's the purpose of it?..

 

[jonjay]

Thats something of an understatement

I am totally over the moon with how it turned out.

Pretty much everything that could be tidyied up has been the difference is amazing.
Lots & lots & lots of hardwork on Maz's part have totally transformed how it looks.

I just stand & stare at it for about 5 minutes before I get in for a drive now
The fiancée has stopped using her mirror & checks her make up & hair in the paintwork now it's that good lol

I cant say thanks enough for all of Maz's hard work yesterday...especially since it was his birthday too...could think of a million things I'd rather be doing than cleaning somebody elses car but nope he spent 8hrs doing a fantastic job.

Thanks again Maz it really really is appreciated.

Neil

Most welcome Neil

Looks absolutely brilliant.. a huge improvement..

What's the crack with this snow foam stuff? How do you apply it and what's the purpose of it?..

Snow foam basically breaks down the containments on the car and clings to it so when you rinse you get a cleaner car to wash. Reduced the chance of getting swirls on the paint when you wash.

 

[PaulD]

Snow foam basically breaks down the containments on the car and clings to it so when you rinse you get a cleaner car to wash. Reduced the chance of getting swirls on the paint when you wash.

Thank you.. Do you add it to your pressure washer or something? I've got a Karcher with a little tube for adding shampoo (I presume)..

 

[UncleFester]

I cant say thanks enough for all of Maz's hard work yesterday...especially since it was his birthday too...could think of a million things I'd rather be doing than cleaning somebody elses car but nope he spent 8hrs doing a fantastic job.

Neil

As i'm sure Maz has told you, it's not about the work, it's not really about the money or time .... it's all about the satisfaction and the end result.

I love polishing paint, done a few cars now and it's ALWAYS worth it - the best bit is seeing the owners face when they see the improvement.

However as you've no doubt seen, it IS hard work but it's definitely worth it.

 

[Soundwave]

As i'm sure Maz has told you, it's not about the work, it's not really about the money or time .... it's all about the satisfaction and the end result.

I love polishing paint, done a few cars now and it's ALWAYS worth it - the best bit is seeing the owners face when they see the improvement.

However as you've no doubt seen, it IS hard work but it's definitely worth it.

Oh no Maz did say yesterday how much enjoyment he got from it & was greeted by a very puzzled look from myself

However having seen it all done first hand & had a part to play in the finished article (Alhough admitidly it was a VERY small part ) I can see the attraction of detailing a car to the finish Maz achieved yesterday it is VERY satisfying.

Neil

 

[jonjay]

Glad you liked it.

Yes I do enjoy it for sure. I must admit half way through when my back got a strained a little having the girlfriend there was a great help!

 

[DOLBY]

nice one maz, looks fantastic....

 

[CupraR210.DJM]

Look amazing, don't fancy doing mine do you?
I'll pay, haha!!