Hi all,

I've been waiting for a decent window of time between shifts at work (and one thing and another) to get my car properly detailed. Well, checked the rota for this week and joy of joys, a good long spell between shifts. So I commandeered my parent's garage for the last few days...

The paintwork was in reasonable shape, not many swirls having received a hit of Menzerna 106FA on the Kestrel DAS-6 back in December, but a number of deeper marks remained that I was never entirely happy with. In addition, the car had received no LSP, just weekly washing, in that 6 months, so it was due some TLC. Note: I don't have many pics from during the detail, as I was far too busy!

Anyway, nice early start on Thursday morning for the power washer:

This was followed by a 2bm wash using Megs Gold Class and a lambswool wash mitt. Once this was done, the car was taken indoors and clayed with Sonus Green Clay. Although it had been over 6 months since this was last done, there wasn't much debris to remove from the paintwork.

Now came the long, tiring yet quite therapeutic part...machine correction. After testing a few pad and polish combos (least aggressive first), I settled for Menzerna PO85RD 3.02 on a Megs polishing pad. This removed most of the RDS marks. The finish was then refined with PO85RD on a Megs finishing pad. The entire polishing process probably took around 12-15 hours spread over 2 days.

I was very pleased with the finish at this point, so out came some Dodo Lime Prime Lite. I really rate this, very easy to use (quickly spread and work wth the Kestrel and wipe straight off) and leaves a slightly wetter look to the finish. Time for some LSP...

FK1000P has been getting rave reviews in terms of look and durability as a sealant, but I was curious of the effect of layering a good wax over this too. Anyway, 2 layers of FK1000P were applied to the paintwork, wheels and side/rear windows. I made the beginner's mistake with the first layer and applied it too thickly, so it was harder to buff, but the second layer came off like a dream. At this point, I went to bed....at least the FK will be well-cured by morning.

This morning saw the slightly-experimental stage begin. First I applied a layer of Dodo Blue Velvet. I probably didn't have to, but it smells too damn nice :p it didn't add much to the finish however. The rest of the afternoon was spent applying 2 layers of my new tub of Dodo Supernatural, and my word, what a lovely wax it is to use! Easy on, easy off, little goes a long way, and the finish was markedly improved, seemed wetter and deeper.

In between applying the various wax layers, I kept busy by applying Megs Endurance tyre gel (hint, the Meguiar's Tyre Dressing Applicator, the one with the wee storage box/sleeve, is well worth getting), Megs Trim Dressing (which isn't that good) to external plastic trim, RainX to the windscreen, Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care to the underbonnet plastics, as well as hoovering the interior and cleaning internal window surfaces. Since I cleaned/conditioned the leather steering wheel, gearlever gaiter and handbrake lever and applied 303 Aerospace Protectant to the dash and trim last week, I didn't bother with that today.

Anyway, here's the results. All comments, good or bad, are very welcome. Don't have any beading shots but it started raining not 5 minutes ago and...well the beading is very impressive!

It isn't perfect, but it is 4 years old and my daily driver :p

Couldn't help myself!

Couple of bits and pieces I've added in the last wee while:

And some of the products used:

Not shown is the small mountain of microfibres that need washing. My mother will thank me...

Thank you if you've reached this far...sorry it's so long!

looking good fella...

fancy doing mine??

looking good fella...

fancy doing mine??

Certainly, if you fancy bringing it up to the Western Isles

Certainly, if you fancy bringing it up to the Western Isles

Going up to Basingstoke tomorrow. Is that anywhere near you?:rofl::rofl:

A top job there - and the colour of the car really rewards all your hard work

I've been doing mine over the last few weeks - a few panels each weekend. Hoping it will be finished for the Gaydon meet next weekend. Its hard work but worth it.

Going up to Basingstoke tomorrow. Is that anywhere near you?:rofl::rofl:

Yeah, only about 500 miles away

A top job there - and the colour of the car really rewards all your hard work

I've been doing mine over the last few weeks - a few panels each weekend. Hoping it will be finished for the Gaydon meet next weekend. Its hard work but worth it.

Thank you It's the colour that first attracted me to the car (god I sound like a woman ) and I'm chuffed at how it's turned out.

That's a good way of doing it, because doing it all in one hit takes an awful lot of time and effort...I'm knackered!!

I hope i can keep mine looking that good at 4 years old

Nice job, great result

Nice reflections

Great results! Well worth all the effort I'd say!

Like the grill, really suits the car, especially with the matching mesh under the plate!

Only thing I'm not too keen on is the mudflaps, IMO all cars look better without them! :thumbdwn:

Nice car , I love the colour as well!!

Great results! Well worth all the effort I'd say!

Like the grill, really suits the car, especially with the matching mesh under the plate!

Only thing I'm not too keen on is the mudflaps, IMO all cars look better without them! :thumbdwn:

Thanks very much

The grille was a doddle to fit (and the old one went on to bigger and better things when I sold it to TaylorHawkins), but the mesh under the plate took a bit more brute force and ignorance :eek: Got there in the end though and I'm pleased with it, looks more individual, glad you like it too.

Yeah I know what you mean about the mudflaps, unfortunately as my daily driver I need to strike a balance between looks and practicality My mum's Peugeot 307, visible in a couple of the pics I think, doesn't have mudflaps. It does far less mileage than the Skoda (07 plate on 7000 miles :eek:) but picks up far more crap and stonechips far more quickly.

I like to keep that crap away from my nice shiny paint

Another observation from the beautiful sunshine today...FK1000P on wheels, wow!!

Very very clean

Liking that a lot. Always liked your car, very shiney.

Nice and shiny good work!

Nice work there and the colour of the Fabia is great, nice depth and gloss to the finish and well worth all the hard work..........

Thanks guys

It's getting a lot more attention here than on Detailing World...you all have better taste :P

OMG! Another putting mine to shame! :eek:

At 19 yrs old though shouldn't you be out glue sniffing or breaking windows? ...or at the very least womanising or something rather than making your car ultra shiny?

:rofl:

I'm not your typical 19 year old

And there's only so much womanising to do when you're stuck on an island, good job I'm moving to Glasgow soon

A very tidy job. Like the colour of your car:thumbup:

...there's only so much womanising to do when you're stuck on an island

I was on South Uist for 3 weeks as a student many moons ago and can confirm there isn't much action to be had up there! Beautiful landscapes and environment, but hardly the nightspot capital of the world!

Back on topic the car is looking cracking!

I was on South Uist for 3 weeks as a student many moons ago and can confirm there isn't much action to be had up there! Beautiful landscapes and environment, but hardly the nightspot capital of the world!

Back on topic the car is looking cracking!

Thanks

Funnily enough, some of the most fun I've had has been in South Uist (got mad cousins there), just got to know where to go

Top work.

The result was well worth the effort!

Thanks guys

It's getting a lot more attention here than on Detailing World...you all have better taste :P

Post up the link to DW on here and you may get some more attention..........

Post up the link to DW on here and you may get some more attention..........

Good thinking batman

Skoda Fabia 3-Day Detail - Detailing World