My mk1 vRS SE

[Kevin_Mc]

copied from another forum -

This will be a fairly long process but i'd like to document it on here as i go. I bought the car from a friend back in July 2012 as i had gotten a job 100 miles from home and planned on visiting most weekends so needed something better than a knackered Fiat Brava. My friend had kept the car immaculate as he ran his own detailing business at the time so i knew i was getting a good car.

Sadly since i bought it the paintwork's been neglected as in the nearly 4 years that i've owned it i've moved house 5 times and welcomed the birth of my daughter so i haven't had much spare time to clean it.

The fact that it looked like a rally car that had just completed a gravel stage finally got to me and i gave it a much needed clean yesterday. It was only a quick clean to rid it of the crap that covered it so from a distance it looks good but up close it needs clayed and some slight defects sorting.

My 1st car was a modified Fiat Punto and it was cleaned 2-3 times a week, was always covered with sealant and received a machine polish before every summer so i'd like to get the Fabia to the same level.

The only photo i have of it is from last night, as i was too ashamed to take photos of it in the state it was in so we'll call this the starting point.

The car is number 304, it's standard apart from a Shark stage 1 remap, Octavia vRS brakes all round, black grille surround, TRS tow strap, Leon Cupra splitter, Heko wind deflectors and a stubby aerial. I have plans to change to 17" Octavia Spider wheels, lower it a little as it sits like a tractor, and maybe up the power a little.

Next week i plan on going over the car with Tardis, the wheels with Dragon's Breath, claying the paint and putting on a coat of Jetseal 109 unril i can start to sort the defects.

Thanks for reading, sorry about the long post. Hopefully there'll be a few updates soon.

[Kevin_Mc]

I finally got my Octavia Spider wheels painted. They were done by myself, with Audi L1H7 paint mixed for rattle cans, in my grandad's garage and i'm over the moon with the finish. I had them sandblasted earlier this year as, although they had never been kerbed or refurbished, they had been painted previously and it was starting to flake off. The amount of rubbing down required would have taken forever so they were blasted back to bare metal, sprayed with etch primer and then high build primer shortly afterwards. Once i had built up enough coats to hide the bare metal texture i left them 48 hours to fully dry. They were then wet sanded back with 1200 grit to smooth any high points out before being given 5 coats of Audi L1H7 silver (which is the same as the original Skoda colour) and left to dry - i think i left them for a week but that was due to my work. They were then rubbed back gently with 1500 grit before being treated to 5 coats of lacquer. Once that had dried they were then rubbed back with 2000 grit, followed by 2500 grit followed by a machine polish and two coats of Jetseal 109.

The day before my wedding i managed to get the tyres fitted - 205/40/17 Toyo Proxes T1-R and i thought it was looking damn good.

here it is with me and my best man David (who refused to wear a kilt)

I had a brilliant day, David made a cracking speech focused around my love of cars and the fact that i have 8 of them (!) and my mum drove my car to the Reception so i could get my daughter home the next day, ready for our honeymoon.

Unfortunately, a group of my friends managed to get hold of my keys, and the wife's car keys, which resulted in this:

Shaving foam, toilet roll, silly string, cling film and filled with balloons - all of which was quite funny and didn't bother me until i saw that they had crushed Weatabix all over the paint and rubbed it in, and then crushed loads more up and put it everywhere inside the car.

I have never been so angry in all my life. I'm not sure if there's a swear filter here but i was f*cking ragin'. I sent a series of expletive filled messages to the Whatsapp group we're all in and i haven't seen any of them since.

For me to get out and clean my car is a huge hassle - i get grief off the wife for it due to the fact that my daughter is disabled and she wants us to spend all of our time with her as a family, which is fair enough. So when i do manage to arrange time to do it it's a big deal for me and i try and get as much done as humanly possible. Coupled with the fact that we were going on honeymoon for ten days straight after the wedding - so i spent the next day, when i should have been chilling out, cleaning the car. My MOT was due to expire when we were away so i was under pressure to get it sorted for as soon as we came back so i could get the car in for the test.

My dad had removed the cling film before i even saw the car so my cousin, uncle and i picked off the remaining toilet roll and silly string and got all the balloons out the car so that i could drive it home. I only had time to blast the worst of the crap off before leaving it until we returned.

This is before the pressure washer:

[

Edited 10 August, 2016 by Kevin_Mc

[Kevin_Mc]

And this is afterwards:

As you can see the paint is marred and there's still some Weatabixx baked onto the surface. At this point i was close to tears and genuinely thought about cleaning the car up a bit, getting it MOT'd and selling it but i had 10 days to switch off and consider what to do.

We had a brilliant holiday, ate and drank too much, went out on boats, went jumping off rocks into the sea - the usual holiday nonsense.

Edited 10 August, 2016 by Kevin_Mc

[Kevin_Mc]

When we got back i decided to keep the car and set about vacuuming the inside.

I only have befores as i've only given it a vacuum and haven't taken the seats and centre console out to remove all the crap down them, under the handbrake lever, in the gear gaiter... the little plastic cover was off the centre console as i had been changing the cigarette lighter and plan on fitting my armrest soon - it a bugger to get off so it was left off - which is why the Weatabix is all down below the handbrake too. Unfortunately, it's also down behind the dash and into all the vents so at some point i'm going to take the dash out and clean it all out. Yipee.

This is where it pretty much is just now - i've vacuumed out the interior but every time i put the vents on more Weatabix comes out - especially in the rear footwells - so that's next on the list.

The car sailed through the MOT with no advisories, which i knew it would. I've given it a bit of clean using Tardis to get rid of the tar thanks to driving through roadworks everyday, had the wheels off to clean them with Dragon's Breath and reseal them with Jetseal 109 and bought a few wee bits for it here and there to cheer me up. I'll post some pics of the last clean soon, probably just before i start taking the inside apart.

I'm desperate for coilovers now, shocks and springs will only lower it to the point where it should have been from factory so I'm going to take the plunge when i get paid. I was used to coilovers on my Punto which was lowered to the maximum i could get it down so a stiffer ride won't be a problem, as long as it's not too crashy.

Thanks for reading - more updates soon.

Edited 10 August, 2016 by Kevin_Mc

[Lofty]

Reading that has made my teeth itch with rage! I'd be ripping someones face off for doing that to my car, regardless of what kind of car it was!

 

Really hope you get it all out and it's not caused too much damage to the paintwork etc

 

I think the most thorough way of deep cleaning it would be a full seats out job, but like you say, you're times already stretched.

 

Good luck with it

[pee81]

I'm sorry to say this but there not the kinda mates I'd like to have,I'd be doing a bit more than exchanging words with them.

You should take it to a professional detailer for the full works and then forward the bill onto your mates

[hutchysrs50]

Oh dear, looking at the pictures none of whats been done is permanent and can all be sorted fairly cheaply.

 

Interior will be a chew on but i've removed the full interior a few times when getting it cleaned by a wet vac company.

 

rear seats just pull out, fronts have 4 multisplines, one in each corner. remember the plug for the multichanger though.

center console is easy enough to get out also with just a few torx bits, at least that way you can clean everything until its spotless and better than before they did any damage!

[Titanium_Man]

That's another reason not to get married

I would have killed every single one of 'em!

[Kevin_Mc]

Cheers for the replies lads. I was seething when i saw it, and for a good few days afterwards. I was genuinely close to tears at one point.

At first i thought about sending it somewhere to get professionally sorted and sending them the bill but i decided against it for a few reasons.

I've distanced myself from the group for now although we're all going away together to Germany in December so we'll see what happens.

I've actually been wanting to take the seats out and give the inside a proper clean out, check for leaks etc so this gives me the perfect excuse. The dash i could have done without of course!

I've got plenty more photos to post but i'll leave them for another day when there's a better update than snow foam and a quick wash with a mitt.

[Hardcore]

That's a toe in the baws offence what they done to your car mate.

I'm guessing they aren't car enthusiasts themselves?

I've taken out my centre console as well for the cigarette lighter replacement. What a PITA that is.

[Kevin_Mc]

One of them is a big car enthusiast, that's the thing i don't understand.

PITA is putting it mildly! It'll be easier next time with the seats out right enough.

[chris-H]

Knees and capping, speechless... Hope it scrubs up well pal. Congrats on the wedding

[skodalad]

If someone did that to mine I dont think i would be able to forgive them for it. A joke is fine, but that is too far

[Chrisvrsse]

I feel for you I really do I can believe something like that would even cross someone's mind if be ****ed I hope you get it all sort and they way you want it