2008 Mini Clublman

[Starvekos]

I approached the owner of this car earlier during the week and asked her if I could get a crack at improving on the dealer’s pre-delivery preparation on this pre-owned car. She was sceptical but agreed. The car was in great condition bar a couple of defects such as random scratches, hazing from poor wash technique which was more evident on susceptible areas like pillars and trim around the hatch doors.

As usual, I started off with wheels.


I called upon the Sonax Xtreme wheel cleaner (Effect version) as the detergent for the day. Sprayed it on all wheels and left it to emulsify brake dust. I proceeded with the two bucket method on wheels using Shampoo Plus as a wash solution. There were serious tar stains on the inside of all four wheels. I sprayed the Sonax Tar Remover (thanks Carn) however the product did nothing to ease the tar from the surface. Unfortunately, the owner will have to live with this marring until I can return with a jack and a bit of time to sort the problem out.

After rinsing wheels and body, I washed the car with Shampoo Plus using the two bucket method. Car was dried with a waffle weave drying towel and pulled indoors for the polishing stage. As mentioned above, defects were not serious. I used M80 Speed Glaze on a yellow polishing pad (W8006) on a Makita BO6040 dual action polisher to remove the minor defects. A couple of process pics below:

Before


After


Before


After


Before


After


Before


After


The machine polishing was supplemented with the Werkstat Prime carnauba (an all in on product) to clean areas that I couldn’t reach with a 6 inch pad. Followed up the cleaning stage with M07 Show Car Glaze, this product did add slight wetness to paint.

Dressing
Windows were cleaned with Glass Cleaner concentrate diluted 10:1 using a Addis glass microfiber towel (thanks for the heads up Woodie). Trim was dressed with Trim Detailer, a product that I haven’t used in ages till Woodie brought it up in a discussion last week. Results were fare especially for an over the counter product however I still prefer M40 Vinyl Cleaner and Conditioner for dressing exterior plastics. Tyres received the obligatory Endurance High Gloss Tire Gel treatment.
The Mini has a lot of chrome so I had to pull out the Hot Rims Chrome Polish to remove hazing and swirls on the door handles, tailpipe, grill and headlight surrounds.



Protection


After chatting to the owner about her proposed car care regime, I decided to go for a durable wax that would last for a couple of months yet produce a deep, glossy and wet finish. M16 Professional Paste wax is renowned for its durability. The packaging of this particular can falls a couple of yards short of some of the exotic waxes that we have seen on this forum in the last week. However, M16 punches well above its weight when it comes to the primary purpose for a last step product.

AFTERS from the garage




AFTERS with a bit of sunlight peering through the clouds












Thanks for viewing