# Jag XKR - 120 Pics, fully Prestige Reflections Detailed and finished with BoS wax



## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

This Jaguar XKRs owner got in touch, enquiring about giving his pride and joy the full works. After much email chat and planning the supercharged jag was dropped off with me last Friday evening.

Here she is as I found her. Generally in very good condition, reflecting the care the owner obviously takes of it.
















One scuff immediately caught my eye on the front bumper:








There was plenty of work to do so I wanted to get a head start by doing a few jobs on the Friday night. First up was the engine. Generally grease free and in not too bad a state, I chose not to do any aggressive pressure washing. Instead I worked my round with some Megs APC and brushes. Wiping the residue with a damp microfiber cloth.
























Keen to see what lie ahead for tomorrows polishing I inspected the defects under the halogens. Hard to capture on camera but some RDS could be seen in the silver paint:








Next was the interior. Vacuumed throughout:








Glass cleaned:








Quite a lot of dust in the recess between the maple insert and leather on the dash.








Megs brush used to clear it out:








AG used to dress the dash, applied with a microfiber:








Leather cleansed with Z**** leather cleaner:








Worked in with a soft bristle brush:








Removed with a slightly damp microfiber:








Leather then fed with my favourite conditioner. Really does soften the hide and restore the original smell. Applied with a MF pad and then I called it a night.
















Saturday morning and back on with it. Brushes and cleaners lined up ready for the wheels:








Dirt and brake dust in the bolt recesses:








Megs Wheel Brightener applied liberally:








Working back to front on the wheel, starting with the long Titan brush:
















Megs Wheel brush for the main dish:








Raceglaze brush for the bolt recesses:








Mitt for the wheel faces:








Common or garden bog brush and Megs APC used to clean the arches:
















Halfords bendy brush for behind the spokes:
















I noticed there was quite a lot of tarnish on the centres of the brake discs:








Cleaned off with some APC and a few brushes:








I wasn't happy with those bolt recesses so back to the shed for some inspiration. Found this little fella:








Just the job!...








The lip of the arch seemed to be collecting dirt (and some sizeable stones!). Cleared with a brush and some APC:








Repeated x 4. Then on to the bodywork. A blanket of foam applied to kick things off:
































Left to dwell for 5 minutes, running off the car and hopefully taking the worst of the dirt with it:








Then pressure wash rinsed off:








Now the main wash. Two bucket method with lambswool mitt. I covered over another layer of snowfoam over the car to lubricate the mitt.








Whole car washed and then rinsed. Details cleaned with a small brush and APC:








Next task was claying. This removes bonded contaminants not touched by a normal wash. Two pieces of clay warmed up in warm water:








Panel sprayed with a weak megs hyperwash solution as lubricant:








Clay rubbed over the panel with finger pressure:
















Not much contamination on the bonnet:








More on the lower panels as you'd expect:
































Re-rinsed off and then dried with a large MF towel and Megs Last Touch as a drying aid:








Before polishing I needed to check paint levels. Paint thickness gauge calibrated:








Healthy levels of between 150um-200um (thousands of a mm) all over:
































Inside door measurement taken as 57um - verifying there was plenty of clearcoat to play with.








Plastics taped up. Luckily very few on this car so didn't take too long.








So now we can get on with the polishing. A clean Megs polishing pad was lined up on the Makita polisher and loaded with Megs 83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish:








And I settled down to the polishing. I suddenly realised how big the panels were on the jag! This wasn't going to be easy. Luckily I had an assistant with me to take care of some of the smaller tasks allowing me to purely concentrate on the polishing.








I cursed the rear opening bonnet the night before, but now it came in rather handy to reach the back centre of the bonnet:








































The depth of shine and clarity in the paint was coming up nicely:








Switched to a 4" pad for the tighter spots:








Quite a few hours later the initial polishing stage was finished. There was quite a bit of dust on the car so another wash was called for to clear it all out:
























And here's how we're looking at this stage:








Time to refine that finish a bit more. Dodo Lime Prime Pre-Wax Cleanser as per usual was my weapon of choice. The mild abrasives burnish the paint to a glossy finish, and the glazing oils wetten and deepen it. Applied via a Megs Finishing pad on the UDM random orbital polisher:








The rear window doesn't have a wiper blade so also gets a cleansing:








Whilst I was doing this my assistant attended to the wheels. Cleaned/glazed with CG EZ Crème Glaze, and the protected a with a coat of Jetseal109:
























Once the glazing stage was complete and totally buffed off the car was ready for wax. Swissol Best of Show was a perfect choice for the Jaguar:
















A pea sized amount taken in the palm of my hand:








Hands rubbed quite vigorously to warm the wax:








Applied via the palms and fingers in a criss cross movement one panel at a time.
























Left to cure for 10minutes and then buffed with a fresh plush microfiber cloth. Worked around the whole car with the same technique.
















Windows (not front screen) also waxed:








Producing even more gloss, flowing the light over the curves of the body:








More Jetseal going on:
















Almost all of the nasty scuff on the front bumper was gone. The last remnant was a chip.








Paint applied:








And that was about time to call it a night after a long day. Here's how the Jag was looking. 








Sunday. Body wiped down with Megs Last Touch to remove any dust from overnight:
























Second coat of BoS, applied with a pad this time to hopefully not interfere with the previous layer.








Shuts also waxed:
























Smaller details finished off. I.e. tyres dressed:








Exhaust polished with autosol/wirewool, then refined with a foam pad and Megs:
























And that's job done. Here's the final photos:
























































































Went back to the car to give it a final buff down with Z**** Field Glaze once the wax had had an hour to cure:








One last application of leather conditioner to finish off, and a wipe of the pedals once the car was in position for the owner to collect.








Grabbed one last photo, and perhaps my favourite as it managed to capture the light flowing across the bonnet. 








Thanks for reading. As always - any comments welcomed. Hopefully Terry the owner may add some more photos of the car taken soon after the Detail at a more scenic backdrop so check back. Cheers, Matt.


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## Nanolex (Jun 8, 2008)

Very impressive work! How many hours total did you work on it?


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

Nanolex said:


> Very impressive work! How many hours total did you work on it?


Thanks for the compliment. In terms of hours, a few friday night, then about 11 saturday, then around 2 and a half sunday morning. so totaling aprox 16 hours, not including this write-up (nice to put my feet up for that part!).


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## DEEJAY (Sep 6, 2008)

wow that was some read. but worth it, awsome write up and excellent work:thumb:


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## Vyker (Sep 17, 2008)

Very good!


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## Nissan SE-R's (Jan 1, 2009)

Impressive. congrats.


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## Jim W (Feb 3, 2007)

Isn't Megs WB a bit harsh for these wheels?!

A great read.. real in-depth report. Thanks for sharing!


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Top job :thumb:


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## Petrol-head (May 26, 2008)

Excellent write up and great work :thumb:

Your megs wheel brush looks like it has been through a lot


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

nice work, it looks great


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## Nick_S (Dec 20, 2008)

Do you this from your home? I ask because I've been thinking about doing some detailing on the side for some extra money. 

Top notch work, car looks absolutely fantastic! Thanks for sharing :thumb:


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## WyattEarp (Mar 9, 2008)

Excellent turnaround.:thumb: Very nice way of doing the write up and all products used. Step-by step.:thumb:


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## The Bear (Aug 5, 2008)

Great job! Silverstone Edition as I can see ?


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

Jim W said:


> Isn't Megs WB a bit harsh for these wheels?!
> 
> A great read.. real in-depth report. Thanks for sharing!


Thanks for the comment Jim. I thought about the wheel cleaner, and attempted Megs APC 4:1 first but it didn't touch the stubborn brake dust in the bolt recesses so I needed something a bit stronger. My WB is always quite diluted though and I ensured I rinsed each section of the wheel at a time to ensure contact time of the chemical wasn't too long. Plus I knew the 20" wheels had a good glazing coming next to 'feed' them :thumb:


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

The Bear said:


> Great job! Silverstone Edition as I can see ?


Not sure I'm afraid.

EDIT: Quick google search and it looks like it is. Here's the spec:

http://www.xkec.co.uk/home/History/xkr_silverstone.php

0-60 in 5.2. Yikes!


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## hallett (May 22, 2008)

nice work, and a very good write up

i also found that exact brush you used for the bolt recesses at the weekend, how wierd, i use it for the interior though


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## M1cha3l84 (Aug 17, 2008)

Excellent work, and really good detailed write up, enjoyed it!

Keep up the fantastic work, the Jag looks brill.


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## North east Car Care (Jan 14, 2008)

Cracking work Matt, another great write up:thumb:


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## sniry (Nov 1, 2008)

great job! thanks for the pics.

about that car- seems like time it selfe is standing still to look at that car. an absolute classic.


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

hallett said:


> nice work, and a very good write up
> 
> i also found that exact brush you used for the bolt recesses at the weekend, how wierd, i use it for the interior though


That's funny. I think it's from an electric shaver. At the time I got the razor I knew it would come in handy so put it straight in the shed.


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## rapidseven (Apr 26, 2007)

AS G101 is 1000 times better than the megs APC.

About 18 months ago I bought some APC to see what all the fuss is about, I used it twice and gave it away.

Nice work, although wouldnt that car look so much better in any other colour than silver


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## Baker21 (Aug 7, 2007)

Great work there and cracking write up, I have read a few of your threads and each one is well documented and laid out...........:thumb:

I notice that you have a few choice items sourced from the US by the looks of it? Viking Microfibre Cloths, Wheel Microfibre Mitt, etc..........

Are you also on the move?


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

superb work as usual Matt, great write up too


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

Baker21 said:


> Great work there and cracking write up, I have read a few of your threads and each one is well documented and laid out...........:thumb:
> 
> I notice that you have a few choice items sourced from the US by the looks of it? Viking Microfibre Cloths, Wheel Microfibre Mitt, etc..........
> 
> Are you also on the move?


i have the same wheel mitt! great tool:thumb:


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

Baker21 said:


> Great work there and cracking write up, I have read a few of your threads and each one is well documented and laid out...........:thumb:
> 
> I notice that you have a few choice items sourced from the US by the looks of it? Viking Microfibre Cloths, Wheel Microfibre Mitt, etc..........
> 
> Are you also on the move?


Thanks very much for the kind words.

I do indeed like to bulk buy stuff on trips to the US. I'm like a kid in a sweet shop over there  and family and friends get shopping lists when they go!

We are indeed on the move. Hopefully to somewhere with some more work space for me, and ideally a garage.


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## Mr Face (Jan 22, 2009)

*Xkr*

Just a line to 'thank you' for uploading this thread in as much detail as you have done. As a newbie it really is a pleasure to read & see the length the pro's go to and the different techniques and applications everyone uses. Without doubt a great documentation of a great detail. Just what we were looking for :thumb:

Mr Face & Jr :wave: (even more enlightened now)


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

Mr Face said:


> Just a line to 'thank you' for uploading this thread in as much detail as you have done. As a newbie it really is a pleasure to read & see the length the pro's go to and the different techniques and applications everyone uses. Without doubt a great documentation of a great detail. Just what we were looking for :thumb:
> 
> Mr Face & Jr :wave: (even more enlightened now)


I'm glad you enjoyed the write-up, makes it worthwhile going to the effort of doing it. Thank you for your kind comments.


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## welsh172 (Jan 21, 2007)

Fantastic job Matt!...you will be pleased to know that i just put another few hundred miles of A470 on my clio...but its due for a wash and wax so will be looking good again...


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

welsh172 said:


> Fantastic job Matt!...you will be pleased to know that i just put another few hundred miles of A470 on my clio...but its due for a wash and wax so will be looking good again...


Thanks C. 
Good time to get another coat of the Concours on now :thumb:


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