My time with the dirty white... Polo (now with after pics!)

[PaulVW]

I did most of this work towards the end of February, but I changed jobs and moved to Cape Town in the mean time and therefore only found time recently to put some words down.

As in the past, I welcome any advice, feedback or comments, as I am still very new to this.

My next detailing attempt was done on a white 2004 VW Polo 1.9 TDI 2-door Highline. This is a car of a friend and ex-colleague of mine and the car was in need of some serious TLC...

Firstly some random before pics

Exterior
Lots of road grime and some swirl marks were already visible...











The engine bay was also rather dirty.




Interior
The interior was a bit of a mess. The seats and carpets were very dirty and seemed like it wasn’t cleaned in years! (Luckily the owner will not be able to see this thread:rofl




Detailing:
1. 1st Wash Down

Following what I learned (mostly from David’s threads), I started by removing the wheels and giving the car a complete was down using a diluted APC solution and Meg Gold Class Shampoo. At this stage I still used the Karcher Foaming Lance but my next detail will be done on the “next level” as my “Carn Special” foaming lance is in the post...













Some contamination most probably from industrial fall out (Sasol Gas Liquor), bird droppings & household enamel paint was visible after drying...




2. Chassis & Wheels
I cleaned the suspension components and wheels with Sonax Extreme Rim Cleaner and APC. After drying, I sprayed a generous amount of Adams - Invisible Undercarriage Spray on all the suspension parts. I finished the rims off with the CG Wheel Guard and the tyres with Megs Hot Shine Tyre Gel. I also cleaned the engine bay with APC.
















3. Interior Clean
After the wash down I refitted the wheels and moved the car into my garage and called it a day.

The next day, I first vacuumed the complete car, where after I used a very mild APC solution to clean the trim panels and inner parts of the doors. I found some old stains on the carpets and seats which were easily cleaned with the Adams Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner. I also cleaned the loose carpets using the same process.

Some after pics of the interior:




4. Polishing & Waxing
After the interior was sorted, I inspected the paint work under some fluorescent lights. The damage on the bonnet was the worst...








After taping the car up with some blue tape, I followed a 4 step process to try and correct the paint work. I first clayed the complete car using an Adams clay bar and lube. Thereafter I applied two Menz products (SIP & Final Finish) using my newly acquired Megs G220 DA polisher and LC pads. Finally, I gave it a good layer of Collonite wax by hand.

The results were pretty amazing:










The garage was again in a mess!


Product of choice:


5. Final touches
I gave the car a final wash down using Megs Gold Class shampoo. After drying, I used Megs Gold Class Trim Detailer to make the black parts look nice again. (I can’t wait for my Aerospace 303 which is also in the post...) I also used Megs Plasti-X to sort out the faded number plates and lights. Finally, I used Mothers® Glass Cleaner to clean and polish the windows.

Some random final after pics















Summary:
This work took me about a week to complete (only working weekends and evenings after work). The owner was very impressed and immediately drove the car back to Pretoria into a rain storm, covering it with dirt again...

What is really amazing is that most of this dirt rinsed off with normal tap water – the Collonite really offers a very good protective layer which is easy to clean.

The owner was so impressed that he asked me to also detail his fairly new Land Rover Discovery V8 HSE. This will be my next thread but I must say, trying my hand on a R650k vehicle was a bit intimidating...

Thank you for looking!