Cleaning the Clio

[PaulVW]

A colleague of mine recently bought this nice Clio Sport and was tailgated soon after the car was transferred to his name! (I swear I see more bumper bashings here in Cape Town than in JHB - It must be the relaxed atmosphere here or something. I also drove into a Fiesta the other day – my first non racing accident since I got my license in 1992!

Anyway, I inspected the damage at work one day and told him that the damage does not warrant a visit to a panel beater in my opinion and that we should first see what we could do at my house

So with the long weekend coming up we monitored the weather during the week and decided to do the work on Friday. He was keen to learn something about detailing and offered to help where he could. We made an early start and tried our best to finish by 15:00 when he had to be back in Stellenbosch, but in the end he only managed to leave my place after 18:00. Never the less, still the fastest detail for me to date and my first experience on a black car.

Some random before pics:














Again, using my usual arsenal of products we started off with a hand foaming job - no Karcher followed by a good wash down.





Even in a dirty state the paintwork looked good, apart from the normal swirls and a few signs of parking lot abuse. Nothing too serious….










The reason why one should insist that your wife finishes off her nails with something finer than 400 grid



The roof also had a few nasties…


Work in Progress:
Claying the car did not reveal high levels of contamination, except for the tailgate. I guess that huge diffuser is doing its job!



Some random after pics:













Final reflection shots:






This was my first experience on a black car and I was amazed at the transformation. Due to the time constraints, I only used Menz P203S polish, followed by PB Black Hole and topped with Collinite 845 on most of the car. I would have liked to do a pass with Menz FF before the Black Hole, because on the damaged areas, this looked even better. Anyway, we were still very impressed with the outcome!

Thanks for looking

[Jughead]

Nice work PaulVW

[Wayno]

Great work once again Paul... Black certainly is rewarding!!!!

[Delta]

Nice Detail Paul.

[PaulVW]

Thanks for the compliments Jughead, Wayno & Delta

One thing I forgot to mention in my 1st post is that I was amazed to see how many of the body panels on this car is plastic! Apparently because it was a low volume production and Renault decided not to invest in dedicated metal pressing tooling for it...

Anyway, the plastic panels seems to detail a bit easier.

[Carn]

Nice work Paul

Black is both the most satisfying, as well as often infuriating colours to work on!

(27-09-2010 12:53 PM)PaulVW Wrote:  One thing I forgot to mention in my 1st post is that I was amazed to see how many of the body panels on this car is plastic! Apparently because it was a low volume production and Renault decided not to invest in dedicated metal pressing tooling for it...

I heard the extended use of plastic on the front end is due to pedestrian impact zones (ie to cause less harm to pedestrians)

[calypso]

Nice work, that came out pretty well. Before pics look manky.

[Snrmed]

Excellent stuff PaulVW

[PaulVW]

(27-09-2010 06:01 PM)Carn Wrote:  Nice work Paul

Black is both the most satisfying, as well as often infuriating colours to work on.

Thanks Dave! I fully agree. Black is a great colour to work on but I am glad I don't own a black car! I will end up beating old ladies in parking lots

(27-09-2010 06:01 PM)Carn Wrote:  I heard the extended use of plastic on the front end is due to pedestrian impact zones (ie to cause less harm to pedestrians)

Yes you are right, we are also planning to use plastic front components on the Joule electric car for improved pedestrian safety. However, this car even had plastic / composite rear fenders as well

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(27-09-2010 07:44 PM)calypso Wrote:  Nice work, that came out pretty well. Before pics look manky.

Thanks calypso! Yes, the car did look worse for wear after the first wash down. Luckily it came out looking good as new again!

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(27-09-2010 08:36 PM)Snrmed Wrote:  Excellent stuff PaulVW

Thanks Snrmed!

[jagged]

Excellent work...

[Vincent]

Nice work PaulVW, BlackHole is amazing stuff... On black it really does wonders.
A must have in every Detailers Stash
Great Turnaround
What Machine and Pads do you use with your Menz?
That P203s is pretty aggressive isnt it?

[PaulVW]

(28-09-2010 10:51 AM)Vincent Wrote:  Nice work PaulVW, BlackHole is amazing stuff... On black it really does wonders.
A must have in every Detailers Stash
Great Turnaround
What Machine and Pads do you use with your Menz?
That P203s is pretty aggressive isnt it?

Thanks Vincent! Yes the BlackHole really works well. I first saw it in use on one of your posts and then David confirmed that its a good inbetween product to use on scratched black cars.

I don't have a rotary {yet } so I am using the Menz on my G220 DA with Lake Country (Orange & White) Pads.

David says the P203s {Cut 3/5 & Gloss 3.5/5} is basically a one step product doing the work of both the SIP and FF and this seems very true when used on a DA. I guess it works a bit different on a rotary?

I always use the CG Cut 1500 for bad scratches, followed by the P203s, but I have now ordered the PO S100 Power Gloss {Cut 5/5 & Gloss 2/5}, which I want to follow up with the PO 85 RE5 Final Finish {Cut 2/5 & Gloss 5/5} as a combo.

Once I receive this stock and I try it I will do a review. I have a boat coming up which needs a lot of work...

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(28-09-2010 07:45 AM)jagged Wrote:  Excellent work...

Thanks jagged!

[Carn]

(28-09-2010 10:51 AM)Vincent Wrote:  That P203s is pretty aggressive isnt it?

It's actually a fairly mild polish. Menzerna rates it with identical cut to SIP but in my experience, as well as numerous others online, it actually has slightly less cut on harder paints.

DA and rotary correction levels should be fairly similar assuming matching work times, pads and pressures

[onyx]

Fantastic turnaround!

What'd you use on the trim and engine bay?

[PaulVW]

(28-09-2010 06:24 PM)Carn Wrote:  DA and rotary correction levels should be fairly similar assuming matching work times, pads and pressures

Thanks for the confirmation David! Can't wait for the Shinex to try it out...

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(28-09-2010 08:03 PM)onyx Wrote:  Fantastic turnaround!

What'd you use on the trim and engine bay?

Thanks for the compliment onyx!

I used 303 Aerospace on the trim and engine bay. The durability of the 303 is not that great - specially here in the Cape weather - but I have tried a combo of 303 and Adams VRT on my own car which seems to last a bit longer

[Carn]

(29-09-2010 08:37 AM)PaulVW Wrote:  I used 303 Aerospace on the trim and engine bay. The durability of the 303 is not that great - specially here in the Cape weather - but I have tried a combo of 303 and Adams VRT on my own car which seems to last a bit longer

303 is lovely on interior surfaces, as well as on engine bays/components which don't typically get wet. On exterior trim exposed to the elements it doesn't last (visually anyways), especially after getting wet.