After a few hours work...

[TimJM]

After repairing the rad and the car being off the road for a couple of weeks I though I would give her a quick wash before going for a drive...I got a bit carried away. Here is the side of my car (excuse the dirty range rover):


Here is the rear:


And here is a top/front view after a 20 mile blast to make sure all was still well with the rad replacement:


Amazing what a few hours work can produce, the car feels like glass from front to rear. Very pleased.

Tim.

Edited by TimJM on Saturday 10th September 19:37

[neutral 3]

Looks lovely !!! Guessing shes Starmist ? With Magnolia ?

Wish my paintwork was as good. Planning on a Re paint when funds available. Dark colours Really show off the shape, same with an E Type .

[Marty V8]

Thats very nice indeed. A shine so deep you could fall into it.

[The Red Baron]

How did you get that finish? Keen to do the same.

[TimJM]

neutral 3 said:

Looks lovely !!! Guessing shes Starmist ? With Magnolia ?

Wish my paintwork was as good. Planning on a Re paint when funds available. Dark colours Really show off the shape, same with an E Type .

She is Mendip Blue (a dark metallic blue) with magnolia interior. The interior is in superb condition too - I took my time to find this one!

I have a few little stone chips on the front but they all do. Eventually I will have a front end respray but not for a few years until really necessary.

Tim.

[TimJM]

The Red Baron said:

How did you get that finish? Keen to do the same.

Nothing special - mostly just hard work. I have a sore shoulder today for my efforts.

I just washed it with turtle wax zip wax,
rinsed it down with clean cold water,
Chamois'ed it dry to avoid streaking,
Looked over the car for any areas with light scratches or dull paint and applied Shells (the petrol stations) own brand "Restore Shine" cleaner (I think it is a softer version of t-cut).
Then applied turtle wax original from the front to rear of the car,
Left the car for 10 minutes for the wax to dry,
Then the hard part - buffed the wax off with very clean (new) lint free cloths.

I think the key is putting enough wax on - it makes buffing it all off very hard work as you have to really put the effort in to get all the wax off but you do get a much deeper finish.

The wheels and tyres were just using some cheap alloy cleaner (from a market) and turtle wax tyre wet look shine stuff.

Just in case you are wondering - I don't work for turtle wax, my local halfords have a three for two on all turtle wax products!

Tim.

[rigga]

Always grab the three for two deals on Turtle wax shampoo from halfords,gives great results and i think its very underated stuff,also use TW wax too,gives a great finish with a little effort.

[Johno]

TimJM said:

I think the key is putting enough wax on - it makes buffing it all off very hard work as you have to really put the effort in to get all the wax off but you do get a much deeper finish.

.

Problem is that wax works best if you get as thinner finish as you can, not a thick finish as wax does not give you the depth of shine, that is generated through polishing. Putting on lots of wax means you have to work harder as you have described to get it off, generally meaning your damaging the surface to do so. Better to use 2 or even 3 thin layers to ensure light removal and better coverage.

Also by starting with a wax wash, you're just piling wax on top making it even harder.

Wax does not give a car shine, it is a LSP, last stage process to protect the paint. Polishing gives the depth as it removes the micro scratches in the clear which allow the light to penetrate the surface cleanly and reflect back cleanly without being diffused by those scratches. Once you finish polishing, then you can use wax or sealant to protect the clear coat and the hours you spent polishing from the elements, but wax itself does not impart a better finish.

Obviously washing etc will improve the finish as you have shown, but a full regime for getting a proper finish and maintaining is unfortunately a much more involved process. 2 bucket method as a minimum etc . . .

Car does look though, do like that blue.

[Johno]

rigga said:

Always grab the three for two deals on Turtle wax shampoo from halfords,gives great results and i think its very underated stuff,also use TW wax too,gives a great finish with a little effort.

The main reason these waxes give good results is that they are not pure waxes, they are a blend including 'fillers', which help tp fill the micro scratches, which help to make the paint look better. Fillers have their place, there's nothing wrong with them and another good example is AG's SRP which is a polish with a reasonably high level of fillers in it's make up.

Much like the Shell paint restorer described above which will also have a reasonable level of fillers I would guess. Trying to get pure polish isn't that easy any more

Edited by Johno on Sunday 11th September 18:14

[TimJM]

Johno said:

Problem is that wax works best if you get as thinner finish as you can, not a thick finish as wax does not give you the depth of shine, that is generated through polishing...

I will try less wax next time as it took a good amount of time to get it all off. I guess this went some way towards the polishing. You could see a clear pre and post wax difference. The post wax being like a mirror finish.

Whatever is in the wax/polish/shampoo it does seem to work well and I an very pleased with the results. I should have taken a before photo as the car was much duller.

Either way - I haven't seen a shinier car for some time. Although with 3 hours plus effort required I think this will be a once a month process at best with a regular wash and rinse on the weekends in-between.

Tim.

[Johno]

It's worth it in the end . . . . Or you could spend 6 days on one car like I'll have by the end of next weekend doing interior and exteriror, but amazing the results yo can get even on a 10yr old unloved Parisienne Twingo

Modern cars are such a pain to detail compared to the TVR though, allnthe painted and untreated plastics and bits everywhere gggrrrrrrr. . . . . Wife's more than amazed though so her new tazzing bout town weapon looks like it's 5yrs old and not 25!