As Booforty and the guys will testify, my car wasn't exactly looking its best post 'Ring shenanigans..! Bug splat, dirt, brake dust galore etc etc did their best to render my sapphire black car a dirty shade of grey
Fortunately, Paul Townsend from Shine On Auto Detail (
www.shineondetail.com) happened to be in London this morning and came round to do a bit of car cleaning... Some Chemical Guys citrus wash, Swissvax spritz, and Swissvax Best of Show wax later, and my car looked like this
A bit of Gliptone too, and some plastic cleaning spray, and the interior looks, and smells, better than new...
Left the car in the garage overnight, so I can apply a second layer of wax in the morning
I had previously been to Paul for a full on paint correction detail, followed by copious amounts of Swissvax love... have to say that it is now a doddle to wash the car as the water sheets off and the dirt doesn't stick too badly.
The detail took about 14 hours in total, starting off with a basic wash using Chemical Guys products, then a towel down before a complete all-over clay. Then started the long and arduous process of machine polishing, starting off with a medium fine polish and working downwards towards the finest grade available. The front of the car took over four hours alone, as we discovered that bug splat juice had chemically etched into the clearcoat, and normal polishing wasn't removing the marks. So we decided to wet sand the front bumper by hand, with Paul doing one side and me doing the other to save some time. Well, that still took almost two hours, working exceptionally carefully. However, the results after polishing were spectacular. Final finishing wax was Swissvax Best of Show, which is relatively expensive (but nowhere near the cost of Zymol), but fabulous to use (and to smell too!)
I cannot recommend Paul enough - his level of skill and dedication to the job in hand is second to none, and I believe extremely good value for the results obtained
Pics from the detail last month (not the best pics unfortunately - was using a little compact camera)
The sorry state of my car at the very start
Start of the machine polish on the left / existing swirl marks on the right
Working the side of the car
After polishing the side, before waxing
The bonnet, fully polished, before waxing