# Polished Bliss: My Last Ever Detail...



## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

...on this particular car anyways 

As most of you will know by now, i have recently bought a new car and so my much loved Leon has to go!

Before it could officially be for sale i had to give it a quick spruce up seeings as it had sat around for the last few months and barely turned a wheel. Due to there being a few stone chips and the usual "peppering" on the front end, i had just spent the best part of £900 on getting the bonnet,wings and bumper painted to get it looking its best. Maybe a bit daft to some people to spend money on a car i'm about to sell but i want it to be in A1 condition for the next owner and the stone chips were the only thing letting it down in my eyes 

So, how the car looked before i began:










In all honesty, if the car hadnt had it's wee trip to the bodyshop it would only have needed a wax top up but it had picked up a bit of marring and the odd light scratch or two from when it was being worked on, nothing bad at all though.

My camera batteries were on charge while i washed the car but it was a straight forward approach:

- Foamed with HyperWash @ 60 degrees and rinsed off.
- Wheels cleaned with Menz 7.5 and Autosmart Tardis.
- Tyres/arches scrubbed with Megs SD & brush.
- Engine bay cleaned with Megs APC and power washed.
- Car washed with TBM and Raceglaze Shampoo
- Rinsed off and then clayed with Megs Mild Detailing Clay
- Dried off with waffle weave towel and leaf blower.

Now inside and all taped up, i gave the car a light machine polish. I used Menzerna 106FF and a 3M Finishing Pad @ 1500rpm's:










The picture above shows how much polish you should use on a finishing pad (or there abouts). I've seen some people using 4 or 5 times this with a few blobs on the outer edge of the pad and this will only lead to the pad clogging up and thats after it's slung half of it over you and the car/walls!

No before pics of the defects as they were so light they would never have shown up on camera anyways. Here's a couple of afters though:



















Lower half:










The front end was worse though as the bodyshop had sanded the paint back to remove any orange peel and then buffed out the sanding marks. They did an excellent job but left the odd buffer trail or two as expected but i'd told them not to worry too much about it as the car was getting detailed anyways :thumb:

Before:










After:










Once polishing was complete, i removed any polishing dust with the new duster:










A Top Inspection wipe down followed to ensure a prefectly clean surface to apply the LSP.

If i had been keeping the car then Vintage would have been the wax of choice but seeings as the next owner is highly unlikely to have access to Vintage i went for something more readily available that they can top up themselves, Raceglaze 55:



















This was applied to a few panels at a time and then buffed off.

The tailpipe was a good opportunity to try out Raceglaze's metal polish:




























The front splitter, mud flaps and door seals were treated to another Raceglaze product:










I dressed the Engine bay with Aerospace 303 Protectant:




























Last remaining job was to give the car a final wipe down with Last Touch to remove any light wax smears, then i took some pics of the final result...






















































































































So thats the car officially up for sale now and if it was possible i would keep it, but unfortunately my plan to win the lottery hasnt happened yet so it can't sit in the garage forever 

Full details and spec of the car can be found here:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=881878#post881878

Thanks for looking 

Clark


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## nsanity (May 7, 2007)

Fantastic work as always Clark, hope the car goes to a good home


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## Frothey (Apr 30, 2007)

hope you thoroughly vet the new owner! Top stuff..... again!


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## Epoch (Jul 30, 2006)

It's sort of sad, but we all know what you have now so hey ho on to the new car ehhh

Still looks a great car though somebody will get a cracking buy


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## Detail My Ride (Apr 19, 2006)

Nice work. Its a stunning car, one that i'm sure you'll miss :thumb:


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## Trist (Jun 23, 2006)

The paintwork on that is superb, lovely wetness, I hope the next owner looks after it like you did Clark :thumb:


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## 1996a6v6 (Feb 8, 2008)

Stunning work ! Im sure the car will be off to pastures new very soon looking like that :thumb:


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Epoch said:


> It's sort of sad, but we all know what you have now so hey ho on to the new car ehhh
> 
> Still looks a great car though somebody will get a cracking buy


I was looking at the leon yesterday when i was giving the WR1 another coat of Jeffs and i thought to myself "it's still a great looking car". I will actually be sad to see it go and i'm hoping it goes to a DW member if i'm honest as i dont want it to get destroyed like the last car i sold!


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## DE 1981 (Aug 17, 2007)

its always a bitter sweet thing the last time you detail your pride and joy, looks great someone will be getting a smashing car.


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## Neil_S (Oct 26, 2005)

Stunning, never been less than stunning either, somebody is going to get a cracking car


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## Monza Man (Aug 11, 2007)

Great Job, well done.

Regards
Eamonn


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## ribena (May 14, 2006)

looks great Clark

hope it goes to a good home

thats a heart-stopping thread title coming from you :doublesho


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## CupraRcleanR (Sep 2, 2007)

If you can't sell it, are you willing to split it?!!! I'll have the front bumper and bonnet!!:lol:


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

Looks great mate and hopefully goes to a good home unfortunately not mine.


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## visor (Sep 8, 2007)

cracking finish Clark :thumb: stunning car


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## swiftshine (Apr 17, 2008)

ribena said:


> looks great Clark
> 
> hope it goes to a good home
> 
> thats a heart-stopping thread title coming from you :doublesho


Too true!
Amazing finish and I hope the new owner cares for it as you have. Would be such a shame if they don't.


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## Robbieben (Feb 19, 2006)

Lovely work as always, I hope the new owner is willing to keep up the work, it would be a shame if they didn't


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## mattm (Jun 1, 2007)

Fantastic job Clark.

It's an amazing looking motor and I'm sure whoever buys it will be very happy with it. I'm sure it's one of the best kept Leons around.

May I suggest something? I think you should throw in a little "maintenance pack" with the car containing 2 buckets, a decent wash mitt and a pot of wax.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but at least that way the new owner won't be tempted to "splash out" on a couple of 32p sponges from the local Morrisons petrol station on the way home!


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

mattm said:


> Fantastic job Clark.
> 
> It's an amazing looking motor and I'm sure whoever buys it will be very happy with it. I'm sure it's one of the best kept Leons around.
> 
> ...


Dont worry, the new owner will have no excuses for keeping it in the condition its in now 

Thanks for the comments folks!


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## hotwaxxx (Jul 12, 2007)

Stunning - and the new owner is going to have one fantastic example of a LCR.:thumb:


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## mattm (Jun 1, 2007)

I was watching Blade 2 last night. There is a scene where Blade puts an explosive device on the back of one of the vampire's heads and warns him not to f**k about as he has the remote control for it!

You could do something similar and warn the new owner never to visit a £5 hand wash or swirlomatic! :thumb:


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

mattm said:


> I was watching Blade 2 last night. There is a scene where Blade puts an explosive device on the back of one of the vampire's heads and warns him not to f**k about as he has the remote control for it!
> 
> You could do something similar and warn the new owner never to visit a £5 hand wash or swirlomatic! :thumb:


lol now there's an idea.... 

If only someone had done that to Mr Snipes. "remember and pay your taxes..."


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## tdm (Feb 2, 2007)

what a cool car, good job you have a beast of a motor to replace it 
interesting about how much menz polish you put on the pad, what sort of area would you be looking to work with that ?


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

tdm said:


> what a cool car, good job you have a beast of a motor to replace it
> interesting about how much menz polish you put on the pad, what sort of area would you be looking to work with that ?


On a car like the leon, you could do half the bonnet with that amount easily (once the pad is primed of course)


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## mattm (Jun 1, 2007)

Clark said:


> lol now there's an idea....
> 
> If only someone had done that to Mr Snipes. "remember and pay your taxes..."


:lol:


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## tdm (Feb 2, 2007)

thanks clark, the rg55 dont half look good on the car too


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## ScoobyDan (Aug 26, 2006)

Lovely car, hope it goes to a good home.


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Looks good and cannot wait to try out my Raceglaze.


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## S-X-I (Sep 6, 2006)

Who ever buys this car is one very lucky person, it is simply stunning.

The after pictures shows how great a condition it is in.

I really hope that the car is sold to a member on here or a 'real' enthusiast.

I'll be sad to see it leave the forum.


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## Mike V (Apr 7, 2007)

Fantastic car. I like these. If I could afford the insurance I probly would have got one instead of the MINI.

Its sad to say in todays world but hopefully the person buying it doesnt think you cleaned it to hide something...!


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

stunning work Clark! sad to see her go but its time for someone else to harass the plod!!! Hat off spending that sort of money on a car ur going to sell would have just paid for a tank of petrol!!!! LOL good luck selling her u wont have any problems


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## Glider (Jan 10, 2006)

I think when Rich sees it he'll sell the camera and buy the car LOL.

Some nice raceglaze products, is the rubber stuff ok if it contacts paintwork.


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## Tiptronic (May 9, 2006)

You gave me a start with a thread title like that!!:doublesho

I can understand why you had the panels painted, after all you are a perfectionist, and wouldn't have rested easy letting the car go with the defects present.

Stunning work as always.:thumb: If only you were nearer to Somerset!

Hope the sale goes well

All the Best
Chris


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## Tyrrell (Jan 29, 2007)

I did the same and got my golf looking absolutly mint before i sold however the guy that bought it managed to completly ruin the car in about two months, i dont think he ever cleaned it, it just goes to show that other people dont see what we see when looking at a car and also dont really care. I used to get upset when i saw it looking so bad, i hope yours goes to someone who will care about it.


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## ash_xt (Apr 22, 2007)

just seen it on PistonHeads thought hhhmmmm that looks familier lol.. looks stunning mate


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## Ali (Apr 5, 2006)

Nice lookin bus!


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## N8KOW (Aug 24, 2007)

Someone will be very lucky clark, as you said lets hope its goes to the right owner!


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## Kadir (Jun 14, 2007)

The new owner will be an extremely lucky sod.. Looks fantastic..


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Thanks guys!

Got someone apparantly getting cash together in the next day or two as i've accepted a price for it so we shall wait and see....


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## Sandro (Mar 16, 2008)

i can sense tears around the corner


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Well it wont be from my dad cos he'll get one of the garage spaces back!


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## duffvxr (May 3, 2008)

im sure you were doing this detail on the day that i came in to collect some black fire! i was almost tempted to say that i thought you had sold it, cracking looking car!

was it kemnay auto body you used for the stone chips?


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

duffvxr said:


> im sure you were doing this detail on the day that i came in to collect some black fire! i was almost tempted to say that i thought you had sold it, cracking looking car!
> 
> was it kemnay auto body you used for the stone chips?


No, it was Stuart Cooper Motors in Fordoun. They're one of maybe 2 Body shops i would trust to do a spot on job


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

Another great job! The new owner will be well chuffed!!


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## Newms (Jun 14, 2007)

Let me pay monthly and then you will know it's going to a good home


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Newms said:


> Let me pay monthly and then you will know it's going to a good home


Ok deal. £1,000 P/M for 12 months


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## craig79 (Apr 17, 2008)

Clark, re. the polish quantity again would that amount work
ok with a G220 / finishing pad. Was under the impression you would
allow the same amount of 3.02 as you would 85 (roughly three pea sized blobs) ?? Have only recently received the 220 replacement so haven't had a proper chance to play about with quantities yet :wall:
Craig.


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## surgemaster (Jul 5, 2006)

great job clark I just hope whoever the new owner is appreciates the time & effort you put into the leon :thumb:


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Well that's the car now gone, the new owner took it away a couple of hours ago :thumb:


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## hus55 (Apr 23, 2008)

happy days clark:thumb:


what you getting next?


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

I already have my new toy 

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=68787


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## alan hanson (May 21, 2008)

Hi cars looks v.nice, qucik question if i may got a chance to detail my mates cupra r which is red and neglected just wondered if you could offer some tips on what the paint is like?

Ta


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

alan hanson said:


> Hi cars looks v.nice, qucik question if i may got a chance to detail my mates cupra r which is red and neglected just wondered if you could offer some tips on what the paint is like?
> 
> Ta


I'm trying to work my way through my PM's just now :thumb:


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## alan hanson (May 21, 2008)

Sorry didnt mean to sound impatient trying to reassure my mate its safe to do lol, thanks


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## scooby73 (Mar 20, 2007)

The car looks mint. Did it go to a member on here?


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## Mr Sparkle (May 28, 2008)

Clark said:


> when i was giving the WR1 another coat of Jeffs...


Hi Clark,

Which Jeff's product are you referring to? The reason I ask is I bought some Jeffs products from you one rainy day a few weeks ago (for a silver Accord) and this weekend will be the first opportunity to spend some time on it again, and I'm not sure it needs a complete process, perhaps just quick wipe down with Glos.

There are a couple of bird bombs but on the whole it's still clean. Just looking to get a bit of sparkle back. What would you suggest? I think the stuff I bought was Prime, Trigger and Glos.


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