Can't seem to keep away from them.....

Now driving a 2001 Fabia Elegance 1.4 16v, until my own car is back on the road again. In a nice blue metallic colour, but the paintwork is in a bad way hence me having it for a bit to do up the paintwork

This is the only photo I have at the moment, of the nearside front wing. Not good.....

Needs a wee bit of TLC by the look of it :yes:

Hehe, should keep you busy J

Well, this morning, whilst relatively fresh..... decided to wash, clay, wash & dry the fabia to see what I am faced with. Not looking forward to correcting this lot, but most of it should be fine....

Later on I plan to stick the car on 4 axle stands and remove the alloys to give them a proper clean-up. They sure need it!

Here she is: Liking the colour in general. A nice blue with deep metallic shine

Following a fairly thorough wash only, then it was on to clay!

Some shots of wear & tear after claying. Rear offside quarter looking a bit swirly!

Classic ring on finger damage to door handle!

Hoping to polish out graze on rear nearside wheelarch - Cannot feel it with a nail so hoping just in the lacquer surface

Not holding out on making this good-as-new, but most of the scuffing should machine out.... Quite nasty chip damage though

The car in the sun, showing the amount of work needed......

love that color blue, reminds me of the sierra sapphire I used to have .... galaxy blue I think it was called

my paint work is looking worse for wear too atm

what kinda of clay do you use and how do you go about applying it? any guides or how too`s? ... goes n looks

I don't have any preference of clay - To me "clay is better than no clay" - I used quick detailer for a while but when that ran out I simply used tap water & a little washing soap. You only need something to provide a lubricant for the clay to glide over removing the contaminants. Even basic tap water will work, but the washing soap just adds a little more slipperiness and also doesn't allow the water to run off the car as fast.

found a few guides on the subject on the forum...... but the pics dont seem to be displaying properly....

am looking at THIS on the bay.. gonna give it a try

Edited 4 April, 201016 yr by mudyf0x

Well, here is my first before & after. The bonnet. Wanted something easy to start with. Not 100% happy on the finish after polishing, but seeing the improvement makes me

Next one - The roof! I dread to think how this car had been "cleaned" by the previous owner/s. Shoddy does not describe it!

BEFORE (yuck!)

After (better, but think I will go for another pass over the whole area....)

Good work, much improved

Trying to get some more shots. For some reason the nearside rear quarter was quite bad

But soon bit off most of that crap out the lacquer!

Then, got a shot in the sun of the nearside 2 doors - The sun really showed how bad it was....

Then the sun went in after my polishing efforts so change difficult to see.,.... :S

good work

love looking at b4 and after pics

Edited 4 April, 201016 yr by mudyf0x

I'd dread to think what the bodywork would have looked like under a UV lamp before you started :S

Don't stop 'till it's perfect

Have stopped now, and although not perfect. it is at a point I am happy with. Now going to wait a bit, towel is down to remove the bits, then think about applying a coat of collinite 476s.

what brand polish did you use to get that finish before the waxing?

and did you use the buffer to achieve it?

I so really need to tidy mine up but im **** scared of making a mess of it

Excellent Jason.

What polish did you use?

Looking good Jason

I used my trusty DAS6 orbital polisher, the toughest Sonus pad (yellow) and Menzerna final finish polish (which although "final" is still a good cutting agent)

well i have a buffer that i can use

found the collinite on ebay Here

and also the Menzerna here

are these good prices or am i better gettin them from the local auto factors?

Edited 4 April, 201016 yr by mudyf0x

The collinite seems OK. I got a full litre bottle of MZ I think for roughly £20 which is more economical. Worth checking out cleanyourcar.co.uk as thats where I get a lot of my stuff.

Thats good value

Its more here: http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/wax/collinite-no-476s-super-doublecoat-auto-wax/prod_207.html

cheers guys...... im off to spend a few quid....

Its looking good jase

Looks good Jason , what do you think of the Beige interior , and is it not showing its age too?? When they were new I always wondered how on earth anyone would keep Beige cloth clean.

Worth checking out cleanyourcar.co.uk as thats where I get a lot of my stuff.

Good site that, might order some 'butter wet wax', am I right in thinking the harder wax compounds

are better used with a polishing machine??