Mobile-Image : MK VI Magic

[Carn]

Another weekend meant yet another detail, this time in the form of a brand spanking new Mk 6 GTI. Having already been 'detailed', albeit unsatisfactorily, I was tasked with getting the paintwork back into the condition it was the day it left the factory

Having seen the Mk 6 GTI in various showrooms my initial impressions were mixed and I even went so far as to say the Mk 5 was the prettier machine. Having inspected this particular car the weekend before whilst I was busy with a Mk 5 GTI, changed my mind completely. When viewed together the newcomer is far more aggressive and alot more athletic...Nothing groundbreaking but a step in the right direction IMHO.


Righty then, saturday morning arrived bright, early and chilly with the car arriving just after 8. Having seen the car the week before and having noted only minor swirling, I was confident this would be a 'simple' detail and I would be done sometime early evening...Boy was I in for a surprise!


The car as she arrived


A quick walk around revealed some minor tar spotting along with some accumulated muck and road grime. Nothing too serious or out of the ordinary was noted at this point.







Filthy tailpipes




Some dusty wheels and calipers





First up the wheels and once again the customary Sonax Extreme Rim cleaner was applied liberally and left to do it's thing.


While the Sonax was working away at the wheels I put my old Motoquip wheel brush and some 5:1 APC to good use cleaning out the tailpipes.


The wheels & arches were then scrubbed with a variety of brushes and 5:1 APC solution. My new Daytona wheel brush is proving to be a worthwhile purchase, with it's extra length being able to reach all the way to the back of the barrels.



With the wheels out of the way I gave the entire car a thorough rinse to remove as much surface dirt as possible. While the car was soaking I set about cleaning up all the nooks and crannies with my trusty detail brushes.







With all the intricate bits out of the way the car was rinsed with the pressure washer set to a fine spray before being washed using the 2BM (2 bucket method) and a 10:1 APC solution with a drop of Sonax High Gloss shampoo for some added lubricity.

With the wash stage complete and the car re-rinsed I set about claying the surface. Meguiars fine clay was the clay of choice as I didn't want to inflict any surface marring, and being new and relatively smooth I didn't feel anything stronger was necessary.

As suspected the clay turned up virtually clean apart from a few random bonded contaminants.



After a final rinse it was time to dry her off and see what condition the paintwork was in. This gave me the opportunity to test a new drying towel I had ordered some time ago. Now waffle weave towels are hyped to be the greatest thing in drying technology but recently however, many of the worlds top detailers have ditched their waffle weaves in favour of plush microfiber drying towels. One of the biggest advantages a plush drying towel has over a waffle weave is the deep pile which helps lift dirt away from the surface where it can scratch and marr your paint. Sure a freshly washed car 'should' be free from dust, but in our dry and dusty conditions it is almost impossible to have the car completely dry before some dust manages to find it's way onto your paint.

Anyways onto the actual towel, a Chemical Guys Miracle Drier. The towel is super soft with a short nap side for streak free glass drying and a long, deep nap on the other for soaking up water. Straight out of the packet I did notice a bit of linting, but after rinsing the towel in a bucket of clean water it was lint free. Despite rinsing, I still managed to dry the entire car and windows, streak free without the need to wring it out. Impressive stuff IMO and needless to say my waffle weaves have been relegated to drying mag wheels and door shuts

Presenting the Chemical Guys Miracle Drier


Mini-blower doing duty getting all the water out of the trim


Tailpipes looking like they should



With the wash and dry completed I could begin to see some of the defects more clearly




With the car all nicely dry it was pulled into the sun to inspect the paint now that it was properly clean. Overall the car was covered in swirling and marring with virtually no panel free from defects. What exactly the initial 'detailers' did to the car wasn't exactly clear but what was clearly evident was the aftermath of some terrible washing techniques.

Bonnet










Roof area



Doors and side panels











With the outdoor inspection completed I moved the car inside to be taped up in preparation for the paint correction and further inspection under artificial light.

All taped up




Defects revealed by the various lights, this time the halogens




I adjusted the white balance to try get more accurate colour in the photo's










LED swirl spotter


Tail lights nicely swirled


The roof was particularly bad


And the B-Pillars were totally hammered...







With the inspection complete I realized this baby would be needing some serious TLC to get her looking like a new car should. Whilst the marring seemed relatively minor, the swirling was pretty bad and in many places alot deeper than I had initially thought.

First up I gave some Menzerna 106FA a whirl on a 3M polishing pad which, as was the case on the previous black GTI, did nothing aside from restoring some much needed gloss to the paintwork. Next up was a 50/50 mix of FA and SIP, not much improvement, followed by plain SIP which again provided nothing worthwhile in terms of defect removal. The VAG paint was once again proving to be incredibly tough to correct to decent levels.

Finally I once again wound up having to go with 3M's FCP (Fast Cut Plus) mixed with a few drops of 106FA for added lubrication to significantly cut back the swirling. Following the FCP I follow up with SIP/FA to further refine the finish and amp up the gloss. Ideally I should have pulled out the purple foamed wool pads and cut back all of the swirling before following with SIP and then FA, but considering this was originally intended to be a single stage correction, I decided to go with 2 steps on foam pads to try and remove as many of the defects as possible.

Thats better






Once again corrected white balance to try get better pics














The bonnet required 3 hits to correct to an adequate level, and whilst it appears almost perfect in the pics, there were a few areas that still showed evidence of the swirling. With the front end and some of the passenger side completed and it now being dark outside, I decided to call it a day and head on inside for a pizza and some refreshment.

Some quick reflection shots from day 1













Day 2 started off early again with alot of work still ahead of me. Not many pics from the correction stage as I needed to get stuck in if I was to finish in time.

Taillights corrected






A quick foray into the sun








Happy with the progress I moved back inside and proceeded to continue with the correction work. No further pics from this stage as I was pressed for time.

With the correction work completed the car was given a final rinse down to remove all the polishing dust followed by a final wash and dry before attending to all the final details. LSP of choice was none other than Jeff's Werkstat Acrylic Prime followed by 2 layers of Acrylic Jett. Tires received Meguiars Endurance Gel and trim got 303 Aerospace Protectant. With everything completed the paintwork was given a once over with Jeff's Glos QD.

Some final finished pics. Unfortunately the sun was already setting so I couldn't get any full sun pics this time around.













Wheels and tires good as new

















Some final shots I quite liked...










At the end of the day, and whilst there were still areas where some of the deeper swirling was visible, I was happy with the results. Given more time the paintwork can still be improved, but overall there was a huge improvement in comparison to the condition it arrived in.


Once again thanks for looking