Hey folks.

Well, with it being Edition 38 tomorrow, I thought I'd at least wash my car in preparation... then it became apparent I was meeting up with Baker in Northamption, as of course we all know how tidy his car is... :eek:

Had my work cut out!

As you can see, she wasn't in too bad condition, although she's a 90-mile a day daily. She hadn't been washed for a week in these pics, and had only had a couple of Zymol Cleaner Wax applications since the last machine polish:

Still, lots to do!

Started off by removing the tar spots and those damn bug squash marks that don't move for love nor money:

AG Intensive Tar Remover took care of business here.

Next, wheels. My trusty gallon of trade AG's Wheel Cleaner is still going strong:

Helped along with way by a, er, Halfords wheel brush. Sorry!

Once these couple of bits had been done, obviously the next step was a wash down with Zymol Auto Wash:

...then it was time to deal with another old, worn and un-loved part. To do this, I enlisted the following:

All fed and tea-ed up, it was down to business. This was taken care of with AG's Fine Abrasive and AG Super Resin Polish:

...with what was left of my Halfords random orbital sander/polisher, with lambswool bonnets. The bearings on this were completely knackered, had to cross my fingers it lasted the distance!

In any case, I was pleased with the initial results:

...although I suspect VAG paintwork doesn't work too well with this combination. I did the sister in law's Corsa last weekend and that came up a peach - obviously this combination works really with the Vauxhall's soft Black Sapphire paint.

Anyway, went around the whole car with one pressed application of the abrasive, one of the SRP and one light application of SRP. Once this was done, I sealed the paintwork with AG Extra Gloss Protection:

...and left to cure.

Whilst that was going on, I did the plastics using a trick I learned from my Mk2 GTI days... shoe polish!

...works very well on the hard plastic trim on the doors and bumpers, less so on the rubber around the windows. Next time I'll use this on the plastic and revert to AG Bumper Care for the rest of it.

Anyway, all that was left now was to remove the EGP (phew) and dress the tyres:

...and finally, I was done. Started at about 11am and finished at 7pm... eek.

I'm fairly happy with the results, but there's things I could have done better. Notably, cleaned the glass inside and applied rain repellent to all windows, instead of just the windscreen.

I'd really appreciate your comments good or bad; this is my first proper attempt at detailing - and under Baker's wing (thanks for all the advice so far ) I'm buying something along the lines of a G220 to replace my now destroyed sander, along with the correct application pads and chemicals...

Another detailer on the site!

Good work

Photos are very small though, and I gave up trying to open them all indivudually - its impossible to follow the write up if you do that.

Have you tried using the [ img] [ /img] tags (without the spaces) so you get something like....

AG SRP and EGP have trade equivalents. Thought I ould mention it as I see you have one of their trade products. EGP I believe is the same as Liquid Hardwax (Autoglym Liquid Hardwax £10.99 a litre delivered here). I think SRP is something like 'radiant wax' but think that's only available in something like 5 litre packs so a bit overkill unless you do it for a living.

I have wondered about shoe polish in the past. Have tried peanut butter and a number of off-the-shelf bumper black things but they never seem to last all that long.

Good work

Photos are very small though, and I gave up trying to open them all indivudually - its impossible to follow the write up if you do that.

Have you tried using the [ img] [ /img] tags (without the spaces) so you get something like....

Yeah, I know...

I've just tended to stick to the shorthand so when people read the threads they don't have to wait for all the (large) images to load.

Guess it's not really required these days...

AG SRP and EGP have trade equivalents. Thought I ould mention it as I see you have one of their trade products. EGP I believe is the same as Liquid Hardwax (Autoglym Liquid Hardwax £10.99 a litre delivered here). I think SRP is something like 'radiant wax' but think that's only available in something like 5 litre packs so a bit overkill unless you do it for a living.

I have wondered about shoe polish in the past. Have tried peanut butter and a number of off-the-shelf bumper black things but they never seem to last all that long.

SRP's trade is Radiant Wax, you're correct. About £35/gall (imp).Didn't realise about the Liquid Hardwax though I shall look out for this, thanks. The Fine Abrasive I used above came from a show... only place I see an AG rep now.

That reminds me, need to find the number of my local one...

As for amounts - tbh I (as indeed to others around here, obvious example ahem mr Baker) use enough of the stuff to warrant the gallon (or larger) containers. £35 for 5l only makes it £7/l which in my book is cheaper than Halfords' £15/l for SRP, even with staff discount!

Incidentially I nearly purchased AG's Clean All 66 today but I, er, forgot...

Anyone tried this?

I think you can be really quite proud of that - great effort. Good depth of shine and it is a cracking shade of blue too

I'd agree with Andy though, link the photos directly into the thread. People expect to have the page take a little longer to load on 'detailing' threads. Par for the course, and anyway, what's broadband for if not this?

With Mr Baker's input, a G220 and some choice polishes and pads - that Superb is gonna look stunning

Steve

With Mr Baker's input, a G220 and some choice polishes and pads - that Superb is gonna look stunning

Steve

Good work Bluefox and apologies for this reply being a little belated....

TBH the car looked in good nick on Sunday and it was beading nicely with all the rain we had thrown at us while walking around Edition38.....

It's hard work doing a car in a day but the results in the flesh were impressive......

Like I said mate, pop around soon and we can give it the full works and you can try out the UDM and G220 to see what you think........

Thanks gents

Next time I'll put them in full 8.2 megapixel glory JUST TO PROVE A POINT

With Mr Baker's input, a G220 and some choice polishes and pads - that Superb is gonna look stunning

Thanks again...

He's already taken me under his wing, as it were. Although perhaps taking me over to the Elite Car Care stand yesterday was a mistake...

I walked away actually saying "I don't even know where to start!" :(

Next time I'll put them in full 8.2 megapixel glory JUST TO PROVE A POINT

I look forward to it

Thanks again...

He's already taken me under his wing, as it were. Although perhaps taking me over to the Elite Car Care stand yesterday was a mistake...

I walked away actually saying "I don't even know where to start!" :(

Ahh it's all good stuff mate, the beginning of a beautiful journey

It will be worth it - we all know it

Steve

Thanks again...

He's already taken me under his wing, as it were. Although perhaps taking me over to the Elite Car Care stand yesterday was a mistake...

I walked away actually saying "I don't even know where to start!" :(

TBH the car looked in good nick on Sunday and it was beading nicely with all the rain we had thrown at us while walking around Edition38.....

Like Baker said, the car looked really good on Sunday, the paint had a nice depth to it

Looking forward to seeing it after the UDM

Like Baker said, the car looked really good on Sunday, the paint had a nice depth to it

Looking forward to seeing it after the UDM

Thank you

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it as well... although I'll have to bring the mrs to keep Baker's "little helper" company...

She's clearly very understanding (as is mine) but I don't know if hours of talk on snow foam, UDM's, waffle weaves and APC's will really go down in many girl's list of interesting things to do on the weekend