# Range Rover G4 Challenge



## mattjonescardiff

For those who don't know the history behind the G4 competition it's a promotional event where LR ship their cars to the wildest locations to put them up against the elements.

This 4.4 V8 RR Sport was one of 35 built for the competition and competed in Thailand.

I was asked by the new owner to restore the paintwork with some corrective polishing in places then a thorough pre wax cleanser polishing all over before a carnauba wax. Due to time (and car size!) restrictions I didn't grab many photos but thought I'd share these with you lot as I think you'll enjoy them. I promise a full write up in the Studio soon!

Here's the rangey out in action:

















Here's the car before (the owner had washed the worst of the road grime off already):

















After some more washing the car was clayed thoroughly. The edge of decals were bad, and the level of bonded contaminants on the car was extremely high:








The clay after the top half of a door:








Decals were also caked in dealer SRP residue!

















Polishing was generally Menz PO 203 S on a polishing pad via the Makita where required, then Dodo Juice Lime Prime again on a polishing pad with the Makita.

Step ladder for the roof!:








The sun came out as I had just finished applying the glaze and the orange paint came alive quite nicely:
































A wheel Detail wasn't on the agenda but circular scratches from a previous owner spinning in dirt were bothering me:








Polished out:








A coat of Collinite 915 Marque D'Elegance carnauba wax was applied (plus usual details such as tyres dressed etc) and heres the results (light was fading now unfortunately):


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## tim

Very nice! I've been told that its metallic, but it never shows in any pictures I've seen!


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## Chris200100

Very nice, Nearly bought one of them my self a few years ago.

They are solid paint Tangers orange


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## mattsbmw

Cracking motor


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## Ti22

Nice work Matt, They never get any smaller do they?!

James


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## Strothow

Love the G4's!
Nice work!


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## MikeS

Hi chaps

I'm the owner of the car and can I just say thanks to Matt for the stunning job he's done, even after 500 miles of driving on wet salty roads this week it still looks amazing under the dirt, I can tell it's much better. Hopefully it'll be much easier to wash off now and even moreso once I've been offroad and it's muddy, which was one of my main goals for this exercise (as well as rejuvenating the paintwork).

This car was built in 2005 for the 2006 Challenge and went out to Thailand, travelling a few thousand miles offroad competing in various elements but generally just providing transport for the Australian & Brazilian team members. That 'transport' was a challenge in itself though, you can see from the 2nd photo down (it's the car in the middle) the terrain and I have photos of it crossing rivers with water up as far as the rubbing strips and fighting through waterlogged paddy fields & 'roads', they really did get put through their paces and of course apart from the protective equipment and winch gear, it's a totally standard road car. Very impressive demo of the capabilities.

Oh and in answer to the quesion, yes it's a solid colour called Tangiers Orange and it was only ever applied to the G4 vehicles from the events in 2003, 2006 & 2009. A lot of the 2003 cars were scrapped, all the 2006 cars that survived were sold off by LR 2 years ago and the 2009 event was cancelled after most of the cars had been built, so only a few actually saw use and most of them have just recently been sold off. The metallic orange is Vesuvius and was only put onto the first 100 Sport's off the line, known as the 'first edition' cars.

Anyway, I digress. Thanks again to Matt for a first class job and I'd highly recommend him for any full on renovation work. The paint on mine hadn't been touched since doing the event and was very dull & heavily scratched, despite how it looks in the photos before. Now, it's proper Tango :thumb:

Cheers

Mike


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## mouthyman

looks great, shame it doesnt still have the rear ladder and roof rack with spots


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## MikeS

mouthyman said:


> looks great, shame it doesnt still have the rear ladder and roof rack with spots


It does, they're sat in my garage. 

Rack came off at Christmas, the wind noise off it is horrendous, not to mention the impact on fuel economy, I gained 4mpg by removing it which considering I do 25k+ per year is worth doing. The ladder was removed as Matt was working on the car, I parked up in town one evening and some *** used it to walk over the roof, so purely because of that I took it off.

I'll take the car to a few Land Rover shows, the rack & ladder will be re-attached for those.

Cheers

Mike


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## mouthyman

MikeS said:


> It does, they're sat in my garage.
> 
> Rack came off at Christmas, the wind noise off it is horrendous, not to mention the impact on fuel economy, I gained 4mpg by removing it which considering I do 25k+ per year is worth doing. The ladder was removed as Matt was working on the car, I parked up in town one evening and some *** used it to walk over the roof, so purely because of that I took it off.
> 
> I'll take the car to a few Land Rover shows, the rack & ladder will be re-attached for those.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Mike


ah I can see why they have been taken off then,

would love to see some pics when they are back on for the shows:thumb:


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## MikeS

Will do :thumb:

As an aside, the first wash occured this weekend and I'm well pleased. Pointed the pressure washer at it and that was all I needed, all the muck / salt just washed off without having to resort to a sponge. Brilliant :thumb:

I don't expect that to last, but hey, it only taking 10 minutes to wash as opposed to an hour got me back in the wife's good books


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## mattjonescardiff

MikeS said:


> Will do :thumb:
> 
> As an aside, the first wash occured this weekend and I'm well pleased. Pointed the pressure washer at it and that was all I needed, all the muck / salt just washed off without having to resort to a sponge. Brilliant :thumb:
> 
> I don't expect that to last, but hey, it only taking 10 minutes to wash as opposed to an hour got me back in the wife's good books


I'm glad you were pleased with the post-Detail ease of washing Mike.

Collinite is pretty much the most durable wax in existence so it should stay that easy for quite some time. Just keep the shampoo solution on the weak side.

Regards
Matt


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## MikeS

Thanks Matt

Car's still looking good 2000 miles later and impressed a load of other G4 owners earlier this week with the finish, they were pretty amazed :thumb:

One question for you, if I was to say take it to a supermarket jetwash, such as Morrisons down the bay, would the soapy solution take the collinite off ? Given the mud I sometimes encounter, the supermarket jetwash's are best for, *ahem* cleaning it all off. If the soap they use is likely to strip the wax off then I'll not bother using them.

Cheers

Mike


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## mattjonescardiff

MikeS said:


> Thanks Matt
> 
> Car's still looking good 2000 miles later and impressed a load of other G4 owners earlier this week with the finish, they were pretty amazed :thumb:
> 
> One question for you, if I was to say take it to a supermarket jetwash, such as Morrisons down the bay, would the soapy solution take the collinite off ? Given the mud I sometimes encounter, the supermarket jetwash's are best for, *ahem* cleaning it all off. If the soap they use is likely to strip the wax off then I'll not bother using them.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Mike


Mike

It won't degrade the wax too much. Just don't leave it to dwell for very long. With the wax layer the dirt should jetwash off pretty easy so you shouldn't need too much cleaning 'action' from the soap.

For a quick supermarket blast off just soap it up, PW off and hit the road so the wind dries it (avoiding water spots).

I hope that helps. I'm touring New Zealand at the moment in a campervan (not quite a G4 adventure but enjoying it!). Although I've just found out some saddo has hacked my website!


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