Hell - I'm not going to start on my own car now am I!? So, whilst Dad was away for the weekend I figured I would go practise on his car..... (I did tell him.....)

(All the below copied from detailing world....)

Boy was this a tough bugger to cut through. This is my Dad's 50k+ mk5 golf GTI. Always looks nice after a wash, that is until you get up close and personal and just see how absolutely fOOOOked the paintwork is. It's not had any real care at all in those 50,000 miles so I wasn't looking forward to sorting this out today. I had roughly 7 to 8 hours in total so knew it wasn't going to be perfect - as was the fact this was my first time out with the new Kestrel DAS6, armed with the SFX1 pad and the 1 litre bottle of Menzerna power finish.... As you'll see, I later realised I could have done with a harder pad and a harder cutting agent.

Here's a few pics. Excuse any newb errors and bear in mind I was focussing on paintwork and nothing else - nothing done to wheels and other bits apart from during the wash process.

This is what I started with. Kinda clean, but....

Up close it was anything but.

Ar5e end was pretty filthy

Started off just pressure washing it down as I have yet to invest in any snow foam type stuff yet. Just loosened off the worst and did the arches.

Even in just the damp uncleaned paint some reflections were coming through. Car is a 56 plate so not too old.

Following a dry down, it didn't take long to find some serious patches of nasty stuff!

I suspect Dad had dived into a hedge to avoid someone on the narrow Devon lanes down near him. This is the nearside front wing....

Started off with a full claying - On the lower front doors and the boot there was some serious contamination. The paintwork felt really rough before I began this.

After the claying, the roof was starting to show some potential, at least without getting too close...

Another rinse down with the pressure washer

And a swift dry down with the microfibre. Got this shot of a timber pile on the drive. Shows clearly some work to do on that door even from this distance.

So, it was on with the blue masking tape.... Never done this before so was having some good fun applying it to ensure no black rubber bits were exposed! An awful lot of black plastic bits on the car. Both sills and lower part of back bumper too.

Back taped up

Then it was on to machine polishing. I took this shot after some initial passes - and was a little shocked at what was still evident using the sunlight....

My first try at a 50/50. The angle of the camera I think over-does how well the right hand side came up. It was an improvement but not perfect at all.

After a while and some practise I was starting to see some good reflections coming up. This is one of the gear I was using whilst I was on one of my many "fruit barley" breaks. Was not easy work.

This is a bit of a rubbish shot with a rubbish camera, but the bit of the door to the right was as bad as the yet to be done part of the other door on the left.

The roof was starting to come up real nice.

One of my better bits of repair. This is the B pillar trim (painted) before I started polishing it.

And this was it when I was fairly happy to move on to something else.

Even the rather initially rough nearside wingmirror was starting to come up nicely.

The offside edge of the bonnet before I started attacking it

After the first go at it

And finally I was happy with it (sun being slightly hidden does emphasise a little too much the improvement....)

The bonnet overall once I'd finished working on it.

I thought now I would back away and get some shots. After I removed all the blue tape and went over it again with a microfibre to ensure clean and dust free. Finally it was on with a single coat of collinite 476s. I only did the one as I felt once I'd got some tougher pads and gunk, I would be back again to sort out the paintwork that didn't come up totally A1.

Once I was happy enough with it, I slapped on some tyre shine as a quick fix to the grey tyres, and nipped up to the local part of Dartmoor to get some moody shots.... I tried to get reflections of the nearby tors in the paintwork but it wasn't easy.

To conclude: A tough first lesson that has drilled in to my head some interesting things to remember for the future; Mainly the fact that newer VAG cars have some of the toughest paint around!!! :lol::buffer:

Yup.... Clearly the roof needs another going over later on some time!

For a first attempt that is very good. Not that I know anything about detailing but if my first attempt comes out this good I will be very pleased with myself.

Well done..extra pocket money from dad ?

Excellent results for a first detail. In fact excellent period

Nice work

Nice one you fairly set yourself a challenge for your first time!

Very nice work but you could apply some autosol to the exhaust

I didn't touch the exhaust and I have no autosol. What is that stuff?

nice work, what polisher did you use?

Kestrel DAS-6 recently bought from cleanyourcar.co.uk

how much?

£150 with a kit including 3 different pads and 3 different compounds. However, as I found out even the toughest pad & cutter was not good enough for the VAG paintwork. Hoping Mum's '05 Micra puts up less of a fight.

How much pressure did you use? That's what I can't get right. Someone somewhere said around 15lbs, which seems like an *immense* amount to me.

Any hints on how hard to press?

Well - After a while I realised I was probably pushing too hard. The backing plate on the machine is quite vivid so you can see when it stops spinning. I found it much more effective to speed it up on the button and not push down so hard so it was still spinning in contact with the paintwork, but not too hard. If you push too hard you can basically stop it spinning altogether which defeats the object of an orbital/rotary polisher.

Well - After a while I realised I was probably pushing too hard. The backing plate on the machine is quite vivid so you can see when it stops spinning. I found it much more effective to speed it up on the button and not push down so hard so it was still spinning in contact with the paintwork, but not too hard. If you push too hard you can basically stop it spinning altogether which defeats the object of an orbital/rotary polisher.

Andy's Top Tip of the Day.....

I drew a small mark with felt tip pen on the yellow bit of the backing plate on my DAS 6 - it makes it even easier to judge the rpm and get the pressure right.

I didn't touch the exhaust and I have no autosol. What is that stuff?

Product:Autosol All Purpose Metal PolishManufacturers Website:http://www.autosol.com/Manufacturers Description:This world famous and internationally awarded high quality product cleans, protects and polishes all bright metal surfaces. Its abrasive cleaning properties make it ideal for use on heavily weathered and corroded surfaces.

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Autosol has been around for a very very long time in Europe and is now being sold in North America and abroad markets. It is a very successful product back in Europe so let's see how it does here...

Think, rich dry abrasive formula. It dries easily so make sure you keep putting the cap back on after use, or you will have another use for it, as a paper weight!

We strongly suggest using a good clean cloth (or buffing sponge/wheel) to apply it with, the amount of oxidation it removes from aluminum will shock you!

You really don't need that much to make those metal parts shine. A little bit (about the amount you would use on your toothbrush) is our suggested amount per use. Rub in on, let is dry to a haze and then go at it. As you work the Autosol polish into the metal parts, you will start to see the oxidation start to come off and turn the Autosol dark grey and the cloth/wheel near black. This is Autosol working its magic. Keep working with it until the the cloth/wheel is black and shiny. Then switch to a new area of the cloth/wheel and keep going again (and again, and again) on the part. Every time you work the part, the better and like new it will look!

It is really amazing stuff! We tried it on 20+ year old, outside, neglected parts and while elbow grease and time was needed, the parts looked new at the end of it all! No kidding! You almost want to go to the junkyard just to brighten things up a bit!! haha.

Hand working the Autosol is needed in tight areas, you have to get it warmed up so be prepared for some work. Using the automatic method (buffing wheel) is easier and the results turn out faster and better, but it is best to take the parts off the bike first. The middle ground is using a high speed (3,000+ rpm) drill with a buffing wheel on the end, that way you don't have to take all the parts of your bike off and get a good result.

Autosol has been a staple in our garage for years and we have used this product on all types of metal.

Cost was excellent for what the product is and does. We found it to be mcuh cheaper in price compared to other competing products.

While you may have to seach different automotive and speciality stores for Autosol, it is well worth it!

Overall:Makes 20+ year old, outside neglected motorcycle metal parts look new... Requires elbow grease for good manual polishing, or a tool (buffing wheel or drill) for faster, easier polishing (but you may have to remove parts for best effect).

Outstanding metal cleaning product. Restores old rust pitted chrome to a very mirror bright finish without the rust.

Highly recommend.

Availability (out of 5):Our Rating (out of 5)

Nice work Jason and striaght in there with the tough VAG paintwork, a lot of time and effort spent on the paintwork with some good results, if you can make some more investment in products and make the time to complete the 'smaller' details your results will be well worth the effort..........

Look forward to seeing some more of your work...........

Nice Job!

Looks an excellent job. Will it be treated to some wax then? A fine looking car, especilly in the location.

It got a single coat of collinite 476s to try and preserve the polished paint for a while. But as mentioned in the write-up I'll be needing to buy a tougher pad & tougher polish to go over it once again, which fingers crossed will be a short job.

Good tip Andy, but thankfully the backing plate on the DAS6 is multicoloured in sections like a pie-chart so it is very easy to see when it is slowing down.

Good tip Andy, but thankfully the backing plate on the DAS6 is multicoloured in sections like a pie-chart so it is very easy to see when it is slowing down.

Ah - mine (pitured) is a DAS-6 too but I guess its an older model as it just has the yellow backing plate as shown.

Looking at the pics, I think yours has the "D" handle too which I understand is another feature of the newer models.

That handle makes it very easy to move around. When doing the roof or bonnet you can just hold that to allow it to move along whilst sat upright without really needing to apply pressure.

It looks good, Jason. Like most Black cars, it will not take long until it looks mucky again.

On a different note, I sure I read on here last year that your Mongrel went on a photoshoot for a magazine. Any news on it or have I missed it?