Some of you may know I'm at Polished Bliss now. I've copied below a write up Clark put on Detailing World a wee while back: thought it might be of interest..... (this means you Tut!
) The owner had the car detailed by us previously but when down at Lotus it picked up some defects.
(The owner also previously owned a 111R: he was quoted a trade-in price but, after having the car detailed by us, got a rather more agreeable offer, paying for the detail and also giving him a tidy profit into the deal.....)
Anyway, on we go, from here on, it's all Clark's words.
Some of you may remember when I posted this car over 2 years ago when it was in for a full detail after being transported up from Edinburgh...
Well it was back again! The car had done very little mileage since (it's only done just over 1,100 miles in total!) but had been down to Lotus for a bit of servicing and fine tuning, rather predictably it had picked up lots of marring and the odd scuff or two so it was booked back in to get it looking how it should be
The car was left with us for close to 2 months so I could work away on it in-between other jobs, it's not a big car so it could be tucked away in the corner of the studio when not being worked on.
So, enough talking - let’s get on with the detail!
Front mudguards removed before washing to make cleaning a bit easier and to help with wheel removal later on:
As you can see, not much dirt on the car, just a layer of dust more than anything:
The car was pre-rinsed with the open ended hose and then washed with the two bucket method and Meguiars Shampoo Plus:
A few minor tar spots were taken care of with Autosmart Tardis before the car was given a final rinse with the open ended hose again but this time using filtered water:
I then dried the car off with the Black Baron and set about cleaning the wheels:
These were cleaned with Gloss-It wheel gel, Tardis and then a bit of Iron Cut (pictured below doing its thing):
They were then thoroughly dried with the Black Baron, given a wipe down with IPA and then sealed with Nanolex:
The suspension components were all cleaned up and protected with Werkstat Prime Strong and the metal of the hubs were given a spruce up with Raceglaze Alutec:
Before:
After:
Wheel bolts before:
After (again with Alutec):
Before the wheel went back on I carried out a bit of correction on the paint:
Before:
During with Menzerna 85RE and a Gloss-It Polishing Pad:
After:
And wheel back on with the tyre dressed with Gloss-It Signature Tyre Gloss:
Including the inner wall...
Onto the engine bay now and the carbon intake before:
And after polishing with Menzerna 3.02:
Before:
After:
The rest of the engine was detailed by John by hand, using Meguiars APC to clean and Aerospace 303 Protectant to protect:
Tailpipes were polished with Brilliant Metal Polish:
A few more bits were removed to help with polishing later on:
Carbon on silencer before:
After 2 hits with 3.02:
Rear valance before:
During with 85RE:
After:
Nice bit of flake in this paint:
Onto the spoiler, I removed a bolt on each side and flipped it round so I could do the underside:
Only a bit of marring on this panel before so I only needed a finishing pad with 85RE:
The topside of the spoiler was worse though:
Menzerna 3.02 and a polishing pad was used to correct this, then refined with 85RE:
I removed the spoiler completely in order to gain access to the rear of the tub while polishing and cleaned up the supports with Raceglaze Alutec before re-fitting:
Before:
After:
Round the front now with the splitter, this had been re-painted to get rid of a few scrapes so was needing a bit of refining!
The tub was taped up first to prevent any nasty accidents happening while the edge of the pad comes in contact!
A Gloss-It light cut pad and Menzerna 3.02 was used to remove the defects:
Then a Gloss-It finishing pad with 85RE to refine further:
The rear lights overhang the mudguards slightly which can make polishing awkward:
So I removed them and taped them out the way:
A new Lake Country Hydrotech finishing pad was used for these:
Once the lights were re-fitted I got to John to apply Aquartz to all the black parts of the car throughout. This left a subtle but noticeable difference, the one on the left hand side has been done, right side untouched:
Paint protection film polished with 85RE and a finishing polish:
Not perfect but it took all the marring out at least
Once all the correction and interior etc were done the car was given a full IPA wipedown and protected with Nanolex Professional:
The Glass (what there is of it
) was done with the cleanser and sealant:
And now let’s move on to the afters
Thanks for looking
