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

[springbok]

Outstanding. What amazes me is just how the paintwork got into that state on a virtually new car.

[Starvekos]

Excellent correction Carn and the final results look tops. Glad you are liking the Werkstat Acrylic kit, that's all I use on my wife's white car. There is another Waxon forum member that swears by it for his Golf.

I've noticed on your recent posts that Menzerna SIP is not playing ball and you have to resort to compounds.

[Woodie]

Excellent correction and a stunning wet finish on a very unrewarding colour.

I agree with Springbok that it is a sad state of affairs for a car to have been in the state it was at virtually the beginning of its life.

A question on products and process - I've noticed in several of your recent write ups that you make reference to adding a few drops of 106FA to the FCP for added lubrication. What is your process for this? Are you placing a line of the FCP and a couple of drops of the FA on the surface and then picking the product up as normal or are you mixing the products together before applying it to the surface? What would you estimate the ratio of FA to FCP to be?

[icewolf 007]

David
all i can say is wow. when you showed me the before pics that evening when i picked up the car, i never would have believed that it was so bad. these pictures truly speak a thousand words and i must say i am very impressed with what you have done for me. thanks a lot bud
Nik

[MK V GTI]

No surprise, excellent work there Carn ... as usual ..

[springbok]

(30-07-2009 07:17 AM)icewolf 007 Wrote:  David
all i can say is wow. when you showed me the before pics that evening when i picked up the car, i never would have believed that it was so bad. these pictures truly speak a thousand words and i must say i am very impressed with what you have done for me. thanks a lot bud
Nik

There's nothing better for business than a happy customer.

[calypso]

Great work. I wanna get a miracle dryer too.

[Carn]

(29-07-2009 11:37 PM)springbok Wrote:  Outstanding. What amazes me is just how the paintwork got into that state on a virtually new car.

Thanks Springbok and yes, shocking condition for a new car to be in!

(30-07-2009 06:33 AM)Starvekos Wrote:  Excellent correction Carn and the final results look tops. Glad you are liking the Werkstat Acrylic kit, that's all I use on my wife's white car. There is another Waxon forum member that swears by it for his Golf.

I've noticed on your recent posts that Menzerna SIP is not playing ball and you have to resort to compounds.

The Jeff's Acrylic has, as previously mentioned, become my goto LSP for lighter coloured cars. I have yet to find anything that tops the wetness it adds to the paint

I wouldn't go so far as to say SIP wasn't 'playing ball' but rather, was taking too much time. SIP could have gotten the job done had I cranked the speeds a bit higher (2000rpm +) but I generally avoid the higher speeds as far as possible, especially with the 3M pads that generate a significant amount of heat. Going with FCP simply allows me a shorter working time to achieve similar correction and in the process diminish the risk of burning the paint

On a related note I read one of Dave KG'd latest posts where he had to resort to 3 or 4 hits with wool at 2500+ rpm's to deliver decent correction on white BMW clear coat

(30-07-2009 06:59 AM)Woodie6250 Wrote:  Excellent correction and a stunning wet finish on a very unrewarding colour.

I agree with Springbok that it is a sad state of affairs for a car to have been in the state it was at virtually the beginning of its life.

A question on products and process - I've noticed in several of your recent write ups that you make reference to adding a few drops of 106FA to the FCP for added lubrication. What is your process for this? Are you placing a line of the FCP and a couple of drops of the FA on the surface and then picking the product up as normal or are you mixing the products together before applying it to the surface? What would you estimate the ratio of FA to FCP to be?

Thanks Sean, appreciate the comments

When using the menz, or any polishes for that matter, I usually put 4 or 5 small dots of product on the pad before spreading onto the paint and then working through the speeds. Essentially I follow the same procedure with the FCP, but tend to use smaller dots of polish more evenly spaced on the pad surface as it tends to clump and subsequently dust like mad if placed in bigger blobs. When using the FCP in this manner I usually add a single pea sized drop of FA, placed towards the outer third quarter of the pad. I put the FA in this area specifically as this is the area of the pad where most of your correction takes place (on a rotary anyways)

(30-07-2009 07:17 AM)icewolf 007 Wrote:  David
all i can say is wow. when you showed me the before pics that evening when i picked up the car, i never would have believed that it was so bad. these pictures truly speak a thousand words and i must say i am very impressed with what you have done for me. thanks a lot bud
Nik

Thanks for the compliments and thank you for your support Nik

I told you you'd be surprised when you saw some of the pics

Hopefully after future visits we will knock back all the deeper defects and get the paint as defect free as possible

(30-07-2009 11:04 AM)MK V GTI Wrote:  No surprise, excellent work there Carn ... as usual ..

Thank you

(30-07-2009 11:15 AM)springbok Wrote:  There's nothing better for business than a happy customer.

Indeed

(30-07-2009 07:07 PM)calypso Wrote:  Great work. I wanna get a miracle dryer too.

I'm sure Don and Naushad are listening

[Banshee]

Excellent results after all that hard work Dave - Question - What pad/product combo did you use on the tail lights, B-Pillars and Headlights(if done) respectively ?

[onyx]

Awesome stuff Carn!

That 'facelift' Golf really is growing on me!

[Carn]

Thanks Gavin and Onyx

Soz for only seeing this now again, missed your replies somehow...The tailights were corrected with a 3M polishing pad and Menz 106FA, the B-pillars were done in a similar manner to the previous black Mk V GTI that I did. SIP followed by FA on 3M & LC spot pads. The headlights were just sealed with the Jeff's, no correction was required on them

[freerider]

How the hell did I completely miss this post????

Great work as usual davey Another happy customer, and another beautiful car

[Rich]

Great results from a light colour!! Side B pillars look great. Thanks for all the pic's... I know that taking pic's during detail, down loading, editing, adding boarders, uploading, cross linking, and then writing takes a load of time.

[albow grease]

WOW
your works is truely outstanding
well done