# DetailMyCar - Renault Megane F1 225, Correction, De-Badge/De-Sticker & Caliper paint!



## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

*DetailMyCar - Renault Megane F1 225, Correction, De-Badge/De-Sticker & Caliper paint!*

I actually detailed this car 2 years ago, but the owner had only just bought it so a simple one day quick enhancement was carried out.

Fast forward to now and it now has 285bhp, and was looking a tad sorry for itself as the owner admitted he'd not found any time to give it proper TLC and ended up using his local hand wash who kindly made a proper mess of the paintwork.

The job was as follows:


Enhancement to remove swirls, correct as much of the damage as possible over 2 days.
Re-paint calipers from Silver to Black with new decals
Remove all F1 (Factory applied) Decals 
Remove ALL badges from the paintwork (other then the 2 Renault logos)

So on to the car!

Starting Friday night I got all the wheels off to be thoroughly cleaned with AS Smart wheels, IronX and Tardis. They were all then sealed with FK1000p to add a bit of protection for winter.

Before cleaning




































After this the calipers were all cleaned up with a combination of Meg's APC, De-Greaser, IPA and a few wire brushes to get them back to a state they could be repainted.

As they started




































They were painted with a few different brushes and some Hammerite black smooth paint, each corner then had a bit of heat from the Halogens for a few hours with nice thin coats applied at a time, a total of around 4 coats was applied to each getting them as dry as possible in between. Hub/Disc Bell's also painted at the same time in matching gloss black.










Halogens helping the drying process


















Done!



























While this was going on all the Decals and badges were removed, but even with a bit of heat they were leaving a lot of residue behind - Considering they've all been on the car since it was brand new (6 years ago) it wasn't really a surprise as they were well and truely ON there!














































After all calipers were cured, the wheels were put back on and torqued up as per manufacturer specs to 135nm (Range is 120 to 140).

That was Friday night complete!

7:45am on Saturday and it was back to work, getting the car outside and start work on the external stuff. Firstly it was snow foamed with Chemical Guys No Touch foam, while this was dwelling I went around the gaps / crevices and vents with some APC and a Valet pro brush.

As it started




































After rinsing i then went around the whole car with Tardis, IronX and then shampoo'd using Gliptone Wash N Glo with 2 buckets, grit guards and a nice sheepskin mitt.














































The car was then clayed to remove any final contamination (Zaino clay and shampoo with water mix as lube).

Finally Tardis was used where needed to break down any glue and remaining residue from all the graphics and badges that had been removed.

The car was all rinsed down once more and taken back inside for drying.

Nice beading from FK1000p



























Some areas also required a bit of touching up - mainly the lower sill under the drivers door



























First coat which would be flatted and polished later




































It was all then taped up ready for polishing, I remember just how hard this paint was last time so after taking some readings it was polished using what would usually be a fairly harsh combo of Scholl S3 Gold with a Hex Logic Orange pad. This was giving decent correction, not 100% but certainly a huge improvement. After this it was all refined using Megs 205 on a yellow 3M polishing pad, and finally to really add a bit of gloss I used 3M ultrafina on a blue pad. Meg's 101 and a Hex Logic yellow was also used in some stages where a few scratches were particularly bad - It was also refined as above with 205 and Ultrafina. Eraser was used at each stage to remove any fillers.



















First 50/50 on the bonnet


















Bonnet done


















Wing before polishing



























After


















Drivers door before









50/50 on the door













































Done









Side done




































Rear done









Following the full polishing, all tape was removed and the car was dusted down using a Tornador gun, some Eraser and a nice MF cloth.

Before any waxing took place I then gave the Engine bay a once over with G101 via Tornador and a slide lock brush, this was then all wiped down with a MF cloth and all finished with 303 to leave a nice layer of protection and a natrual shine.

Engine before




































Engine done































































Car was waxed with Autosmart Wax









Glass all cleaned with Meg's glass concentrate, tyres with Pinnacle, all external plastics with 303.

Plastic strips with 303



























Car all finished!




















































































































































































































































Thanks again for reading this write-up, I know it takes a while so appreciate anyone taking the time to scan through it 

Next up VW Golf R32!

Thanks again, Nick!


----------



## MLAM (Jan 21, 2009)

Brilliant work as always Nick!

Was this Megane as a epic job as it was for my 325i? Certainly seems similar enough anyway!

I did a detail on my brother's Astra yesterday which I did drop you a quick mail about actually, makes me realise the work you put in is a lot of your own time and weekends taken up.

That Autosmart wax looks interesting, looks a bit like Peanut butter in its jar!


----------



## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

MLAM said:


> Brilliant work as always Nick!
> 
> Was this Megane as a epic job as it was for my 325i? Certainly seems similar enough anyway!
> 
> ...


Thanks Michael, I will reply to you tomorrow but yeah thanks for that  It wasn't far off, the residue left by some of the vinyl stuff had me swearing and sweating at times but got there in the end!!! Certain bits were SO stubborn though, hard to imagine really 

Thanks though, speak soon! Look forward to seeing how the Astra came out!


----------



## AaronGTi (Nov 2, 2010)

Looking good Nick :thumb:


----------



## Rgk Detailing (Dec 6, 2006)

Top work Nick :thumb:


----------



## MLAM (Jan 21, 2009)

DetailMyCar said:


> Thanks Michael, I will reply to you tomorrow but yeah thanks for that  It wasn't far off, the residue left by some of the vinyl stuff had me swearing and sweating at times but got there in the end!!! Certain bits were SO stubborn though, hard to imagine really
> 
> Thanks though, speak soon! Look forward to seeing how the Astra came out!


 Yeah I can imagine the bits about vinyl, in my days at MINI, one came in part exchange and the bonnet strips were knackered, I can still remember the valeting guy going mental with the residue left underneath!

Hopefully the owner will look after it a bit more now.

I'll get a thread up in the Showroom in the next day or two so stay tuned


----------



## Adam_LE (Jul 29, 2012)

It certainly is a long read but 100% worth it. 

Going to buy some G101 tomorrow and looking at your detail there makes me really think it something I'm going to need to add into my detail.

Top work bud... Look forward to the R32


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

Great work Nick!


----------



## dohc-vtec (Mar 19, 2010)

Great work on the correction, but just to let you know as soon as water hits that 303 aerospace, it is gone in a couple mins


----------



## andrewst500 (Nov 2, 2008)

lovely work:thumb:


----------



## slobodank (Nov 17, 2010)

:thumb:


----------



## deni2 (May 4, 2011)

Looking nice, :thumb:.


----------



## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Great work Nick, a long but very enjoyable read!

Excellent turnaround, look forward to the golf!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


----------



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

Cracking write up Nick, lovely finish matey


----------



## toosmiles (May 5, 2007)

Stunning car,excellent job there m8


----------



## kyle.bailey1 (May 16, 2012)

where'd you pick up the touch up paint? looking for some but dont want any knock off or cheap stuff


----------



## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

kyle.bailey1 said:


> where'd you pick up the touch up paint? looking for some but dont want any knock off or cheap stuff


Haha it was a genuine Renault item, dealerships are a good bet or eBay


----------



## bigmc (Mar 22, 2010)

Nice work, it's one of those colours (like black) that looks fantastic when all finished and polished but looks bad quickly of it's not kept well.


----------



## D.Taylor R26 (Feb 5, 2012)

Fantastic work and a great turn a round. 

Will have to try S3 Gold for correcting some areas on my own megane sport with results like that! 

Bet the owner was over the moon with it. 

Dave


----------



## xJay1337 (Jul 20, 2012)

Nice work.
Wanna see the R32.


----------



## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Great job:thumb:


----------



## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

bigmc said:


> Nice work, it's one of those colours (like black) that looks fantastic when all finished and polished but looks bad quickly of it's not kept well.


Thanks mate, I know what you mean though - Look at how bad it had got over 2 years letting the local hand wash place do it



D.Taylor R26 said:


> Fantastic work and a great turn a round.
> 
> Will have to try S3 Gold for correcting some areas on my own megane sport with results like that!
> 
> ...


Thanks Dave, yeah he was very pleased! Definitely have a go - I don't know if all Ultra Blue's are the same (Russ @ MCC is probably best to ask) but this was very hard, usual combinations I'd start with didn't even touch it!



xJay1337 said:


> Nice work.
> Wanna see the R32.


Thanks mate, I'll let you know once it's done - catch up soon!



tonyy said:


> Great job:thumb:


Thanks as always Tony, much appreciated.


----------



## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

Yep all of the special Renault paints are the same!


----------



## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

MidlandsCarCare said:


> Yep all of the special Renault paints are the same!


Thanks mate, hoped you'd spot it as I knew you would have had plenty of experience of just about all Renault colours


----------



## gb270 (Aug 22, 2008)

Nice work there


----------



## alesoft73 (Aug 27, 2012)

Nice JOB!


----------



## Natalie (Jan 19, 2011)

Great write up, great work!


----------



## Soul Hudson (Jul 5, 2011)

Great work very glossy paint work. Hard work was worth it.


----------



## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Great work nick, very thorough indeed mate :thumb:


----------



## Titanium Htail (Mar 24, 2012)

That is a great job and a good shine, thanks for all that information.

John Tht.


----------



## xJay1337 (Jul 20, 2012)

When I pop over will have to get you to look at my calipers see what you can do.
I hammerited mine but did not come out anywhere near as good as this (just having a look on my better monitor at home rather than at work)


----------



## Scotty SD (Sep 4, 2012)

Great turnaround, looks much better without the stickers.


----------



## bilout48 (Apr 10, 2008)

nice job


----------



## Spotless Detailing (Oct 17, 2011)

nice detail


----------



## Paddy_R (Jan 10, 2007)

Shame the stickers weren't replaced in my books, kinda devalues the car a bit and makes it look like every other Megane RS. Also the Brembo stickers on the brakes just look wrong, way too big. Car otherwise looks excellent, top work on tricky paint. And a great finish using Hammerite on the brakes. I'm looking forward to doing my new Ultra red Clio RS but going on what your saying (and on what I've read else where) the paint could be rock hard.


----------



## An-dy (Mar 19, 2011)

Great turn around. Just needs the stickers now...


----------



## Th3Doctor (Feb 2, 2010)

Really hideous car but fantastic work all the same


----------



## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Great work :thumb:


----------



## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

An-dy said:


> Great turn around. Just needs the stickers now...


Completely agree but this is how he wanted it at the end of the day - I didn't want to argue it too much haha



Paddy_R said:


> Shame the stickers weren't replaced in my books, kinda devalues the car a bit and makes it look like every other Megane RS. Also the Brembo stickers on the brakes just look wrong, way too big. Car otherwise looks excellent, top work on tricky paint. And a great finish using Hammerite on the brakes. I'm looking forward to doing my new Ultra red Clio RS but going on what your saying (and on what I've read else where) the paint could be rock hard.


As said above, the customer is always right  I agree though, would love to see it with new decals on now - even if the badges weren't put back on I liked the original F1 graphics as it's what makes it a bit special



Th3Doctor said:


> Really hideous car but fantastic work all the same


A lot of people say that, I was never massively keen but had a 54' Reg 225 Sport and it was actually great fun, a lot quicker then I'd expected and handled superbly despite no LSD.


----------



## David Proctor (Mar 6, 2011)

Superb work and great attention to detail... (great photography too)


----------



## Neil_G (Nov 22, 2010)

Top drawer as always mate!


----------



## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

xJay1337 said:


> When I pop over will have to get you to look at my calipers see what you can do.
> I hammerited mine but did not come out anywhere near as good as this (just having a look on my better monitor at home rather than at work)


Sorry Jamie, missed this!!

Hammerite is good and if you have plenty of time it works great but it's just quite thick so I think it probably needs to be used with their own Thinners - This new VHT stuff i'm using is fantastic, it's a spray so the way I'm using it is a bit wasteful in that I spray it into the lid and then paint but it does go on very nice and seems to give really good coverage!


----------

