Arty-farty Swissol pics...

[hugoc2s]

Seems to have been a lot of competitive discussion about detailing products of late. This has prompted me to post the efforts of my last weekend. I'm not the best with digital imaging but she is looking fairly nifty even if I say so myself (better in the flesh than my dodgy pics). Never tried Zymol so can't comment! A friend has used Meguiars 3 stage with near similar effect on his 993 but time will tell as to the longevity of all my efforts. To my mind most folks will be DIY, so whatever reaches the best compromise between ease of use and lasting effect will win the day overall. I have to say the cleaning/waxing stage of the Swissol product, while effective, was pretty much a workout. The process (total of 20 hours!):

1. Swissol Car Bath (x2)
2. Swissol Clay Bar Treatment (Swissol Quickfinish as lubricant)
3. Porsche Touch-up Paint stick for bigger stone chips
4. Swissol Paint Cleaner (and elbow grease +++)
5. Swissol 'Zuffenhausen' 43% Carnauba wax (£69.99 for 200ml!!!) applied with the palm of your hand (thought about candles, soft music and a bottle of wine for that bit!!!)
6. Much elbow grease
7. Cure in the sun for 3 hours
8. Final buff
9. Rain-X cleaning and silicone treatment for the glass
10. Swissol Leather Cleaner
11. Swissol matt leather treatment (amazing back to new leather 'mattness', but did remove a layer of skin to leave me with no fingerprints, an added bonus to maintain paint finish!)
12. Aircraft grade UV protectant for the dash/other plastics
13. Allow wheel cleaner and tyre gloss

[sambaman]

and the final product ...a picture of sheer excellence !!

[johnnywishbone]

[quote=sambaman]and the final .... what can i say !!

>> Edited by johnnywishbone on Friday 28th April 08:22

[spenny_b]

hugoc2s said:

12. Aircraft grade UV protectant for the dash/other plastics

Looks cracking hugo, nice job.

w.r.t. the UV protectant products, what product did you use? Easily available?

Have to confess, didnt know such specific gunk was available, but could do with getting some and using it on switchgear on my Westfield, the UV tends to leave a white, milky, foggy finish on black switches, p.i.t.a!

Also, how much was the leather "matting" product? I've got a few shiny patches starting to appear on the door trims of the 996 that could do with being dulled down.

Again, nice job!

Cheers
S

>> Edited by spenny_b on Friday 28th April 09:00

[hugoc2s]

Hi spenny B,

My use of the term 'aircraft grade' is slightly misleading. The stuff is '303 Aerospace Protectant' which claims 100% protection from UV caused fade. I dont know where to get it or how much it costs because I nicked it out of my mates garage! It brought the dash up nicely. Not shiny or tacky looking and feels normal to the touch. Years ago I made the mistake of putting Armorall on a dash (not this car) and effectively ruined it. It went bling-shiny and felt greasy for months. Can find out where he got it from for you though. This is the stuff:

www.303products.com/tech/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=428&CFID=2160535&CFTOKEN=60796572

The matt corrector was £29.99 (ouch!) from swissolshop.com and is rough on the hands (ouch!) especially if it gets under your nails/cuticles. I would recommend latex gloves. While using it I wondered if it contained sodium hydroxide (memory going back a decade or three to school chemistry classes). It was very good but the really shiny bits will probably need done again. The confusing thing about this stuff is it doesn't tell you anywhere about what to do once you have done the matt treatment because what you have done up to this point is clean it using the leather cleaner then degreased it using a spirit and then applied the matt stuff. All pretty harsh. I am not sure whether to go over the leather with the milk or leave it at that. There is no instruction in the Swissol book as far as I can see. Maybe sambaman can enlighten? Here is the interior. Dont have a close up though.

Hugh.



>> Edited by hugoc2s on Friday 28th April 10:24

[pikey]

Wow, that's really encouraging... for me!

You see I bought Swissol polishing kit and polish (same as you listed above with the same frightening amount of cash), have used it once on my car and wasn't *that* impressed with the results. I found if I polished it with £18.99 Autogylm it looked about as good.

I understand that they're having a stand at Pistonfest so I was going to speak to the chap and ask him what I'm doing wrong. I didn't get any instructions with the kit so kinda made up what to do based on what was written on the bottle.

Good to see it's possible to make it work if you do it correctly.

Ben
PS. Yes, I did invest the time & effort. 4 hours.

[jpf40]

hugoc2s said:

Hi spenny B, My use of the term 'aircraft grade' is slightly misleading. The stuff is '303 Aerospace Protectant' which claims 100% protection from UV caused fade. I dont know where to get it or how much it costs because I nicked it out of my mates garage! It brought the dash up nicely. Not shiny or tacky looking and feels normal to the touch. Years ago I made the mistake of putting Armorall on a dash (not this car) and effectively ruined it. It went bling-shiny and felt greasy for months. Can find out where he got it from for you though. This is the stuff: www.303products.com/tech/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=428&CFID=2160535&CFTOKEN=60796572 >> Edited by hugoc2s on Friday 28th April 10:24

Sorry to spoil the fun.

I use 303 products, they are indeed very good.

However they do not provide any UV screen protection.

I did a very simple test.

I used a UV meter underneath a piece a glass.

One patch was covered in an average skin sun screen, one patch was covered in 303 and the other was left bare.

The skin sun screen provided about 75% protection.

The 303 did no better than the bare patch.

Typical USA bulshit I'm afraid.

I think the real protection comes from 303's ability to stop plastics etc from oxidising. Their fabric protectant is very good, its just a pity they talk such a story about it blocking UV rays.

UV protection comes from proper screening, i.e titanium dioxide, zinc oxide.

[softinthehead]

ok, gonna eat humble pie here. gave a cursory look at the pics and thought it was a 997. posted a reply to the effect that a) what on earth are you doing spending 20 hrs swissoling a new car, have you got nowt better to do etc etc and b) its new, of course its gonna look good.

then saw the interior shot and realised its a 993

so there you go. swissol makes your car "look like new" (at least to the uninitiated)

got conjunctivitis, so vision blurred, thats my excuse and i'm sticking to it

[nervous]

softinthehead said:

ok, gonna eat humble pie here. gave a cursory look at the pics and thought it was a 997. posted a reply to the effect that a) what on earth are you doing spending 20 hrs swissoling a new car, have you got nowt better to do etc etc and b) its new, of course its gonna look good. then saw the interior shot and realised its a 993 so there you go. swissol makes your car "look like new" (at least to the uninitiated) got conjunctivitis, so vision blurred, thats my excuse and i'm sticking to it

me too. the 997 thing that is, not the gunky eyes.





that said, i am seeping

[softinthehead]

nervous said:

that said, i am seeping

i warned you about pursuing that "really hard ride" but would you listen

[nervous]

it hurt like buggery. you were right. thanks for the Tip.

[softinthehead]

nervous said:

it hurt like buggery. you were right. thanks for the Tip.

no probs, mate. and when you pick up the new ride, remember to go through the bend gently or you'll cock it up on your exit

[nervous]

a good point, well made. its my arse on the line, and i dont want a cock up.

[softinthehead]

nervous said:

a good point, well made. its my arse on the line, and i dont want a cock up.

quite right. though i am told by those who like a bit of extra weight in their rear end that planning and setting up your entry correctly is the most important bit.

starting to scrape the bottom of the homoerotic allusions barrell here

[supersport]

pikey said:

Wow, that's really encouraging... for me! You see I bought Swissol polishing kit and polish (same as you listed above with the same frightening amount of cash), have used it once on my car and wasn't *that* impressed with the results. I found if I polished it with £18.99 Autogylm it looked about as good. I understand that they're having a stand at Pistonfest so I was going to speak to the chap and ask him what I'm doing wrong. I didn't get any instructions with the kit so kinda made up what to do based on what was written on the bottle. Good to see it's possible to make it work if you do it correctly. Ben PS. Yes, I did invest the time & effort. 4 hours.

Check out the swissol uk site, www.swissol.co.uk/webpage/how_to_use.asp either down load the manual as a pdf or view the video.

[pikey]

supersport said:

Check out the swissol uk site, www.swissol.co.uk/webpage/how_to_use.asp either down load the manual as a pdf or view the video.

Thanks, not seen that. I take it that's a pdf of a booklet that should have been in the pack.

[hugoc2s]

It doesn't give you that much more info than what's on the tin, to be honest. That's why I'm a bit confused as to what to do after the matt leather treatment.

[spenny_b]

hugoc2s said:

The matt corrector was £29.99 (ouch!) from swissolshop.com and is rough on the hands (ouch!) especially if it gets under your nails/cuticles. I would recommend latex gloves. While using it I wondered if it contained sodium hydroxide (memory going back a decade or three to school chemistry classes). It was very good but the really shiny bits will probably need done again. The confusing thing about this stuff is it doesn't tell you anywhere about what to do once you have done the matt treatment because what you have done up to this point is clean it using the leather cleaner then degreased it using a spirit and then applied the matt stuff. All pretty harsh. I am not sure whether to go over the leather with the milk or leave it at that. There is no instruction in the Swissol book as far as I can see. Maybe sambaman can enlighten? Here is the interior. Dont have a close up though. Hugh.

Thanks Hugh.....agree, looking at the online PDF on the Swissol site, it isnt clear whether the treated leather then needs "sealing" or remains as-is after the required number of matt applications. I may give them a call next week and ask the question when I place an order for some. Cheers.

[matt555]

Fantastic pictures fella, feel free to sort my Boxster

[adamt]

Incredible finish, nice one