# Black Clio 182 - Enhancement Detail



## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Hi Guys,

Got a few busy weekends coming up, starting with this enhancement detail on a mates 'new-to-him' Clio 182.

Only a single stage polish on this one, but at 143k miles, it was looking a bit worse for wear! Plenty of room for improvement that's for sure!

So a few before pics:























































As always, i started with the wheels. They were in dire need of a refurb so not too much time spent. Firstly, a pre-rinse with Espuma Revolution, follwed by another spray and an agitation with various brushes...





































Followed by Auto Finesse Iron Out...



















After this had dwelled for 5-7 mins, i snow foamed the car with ValetPRO Advanced Neutral Snow Foam



















Whilst it was dwelling, i went round the car with Surfex HD and agitated all the nooks and crannies with a ValetPRO brush. After rinsing, a 2 Bucket wash using a Dodo Tribble and my bespoke Apple Pie scented Mitchell & King Spa shampoo










Followed by another rinse:










The car was pretty covered in tar, so Autosmart Tardis was called into action...










Followed by a thorough claying! Used about half the Auto Finesse Clay bar on this beast!










After another quick wash, the car was taken inside to be dried ready for polishing.










So, i set the lights up and set about taking some paint readings before testing a few combo's on the bonnet

Look at the swirls!!!




























So i took some paint readings, all were pretty healthy really, averaging at around 135-140 microns.










Lowest was this on the spoiler:










Highest was this on the top of rear wing:










Test section taped up!










The winning combo was a 3M Yellow pad, 2 small blobs of Wolf's WP-3N and a very small amount of Scholl S17+ to offer a tiny bit more cut. This was removing a decent amount of swirls, but it was leaving the RDS behind. I did only have the car for 6 hours or so, no time for a second stage. The oily nature and long working time of the Wolf's polish allowed me to refine the paint so no holograms were left:










Smaller areas were polished using a Lake Country Yellow polishing pad and Scholl S17+










50:50 of the test section:




























Pretty happy with that for an enhancement!

Dobby managed to get a shot of me just spreading the polish on the front wing:










Drivers door before:










50:50










The main aim was to increase the gloss of the car, the swirls were really robbing the finish and i wanted to bring that lovely gold flake out!



















Drivers side rear wing before:










After:










So the whole car was polished in this way, and then i gave the car a thorough wipedown with IPA in preparation for the wax:










The pretty fantastic ********** Wax ****** Glaze was used for the whole car. (Full review in a separate thread)










Glass was cleaned with Dodo Clearly Menthol, then sealed with Dodo Supernatural Glass Sealant:










All black trim dressed with Auto Finesse Revive:










Exhaust polished with AF Mercury - before










After:










Tyres were dressed with Espuma RD50 and after a quick wipedown, we were done!









































































Sorry for the poor after pics, when the light drops my camera phone really struggles!

I was pretty pleased with the improvement given the time taken, the owner assures me he'll be keeping on top of it!

Thanks for looking,

JB


----------



## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

Caught a glimpse of this on Twitter earlier, very tidy turnaround in such a short time frame :thumb:


----------



## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

nice one JB nearly came out as the passat i done kidding really good job mate :thumb:


----------



## Soul Hudson (Jul 5, 2011)

Tidyed the paint work up lovely my man.

Cars looking very nice now for the miles its covered. Nice to do these cars as you can really make an improvement with just a 'little' bit of work. (You know what I mean)


----------



## minty-e46 (Jan 15, 2013)

came up very well considering 143k was on her


----------



## caledonia (Sep 13, 2008)

Lovely transformation John considering the time scale.
Certainly restored the gloss and lustre of the paint.


----------



## ADW111S (Aug 22, 2012)

Excellent turnaround!
I bet your mate was over the moon!

Looks brand new!


----------



## Junior Bear (Sep 2, 2008)

Tidy!


Interesting combo with the two polishes too!

Might have to try that, got a BG 182 to do myself in the bear future! Did half a wing for him to show the difference, only used 3m ultrafina on a Finishing pad and it was almost restored! Great paint to play on


----------



## Wout_RS (Jun 13, 2012)

Huge improvement! well done!


----------



## deni2 (May 4, 2011)

Nice work on Clio, :thumb:.


----------



## jamie crookston (Aug 30, 2010)

Nice work can't beat a black/gold 182


----------



## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

slrestoration said:


> Caught a glimpse of this on Twitter earlier, very tidy turnaround in such a short time frame :thumb:


Cheers Nick! Have to admit i did concentrate on the larger, more eye catching panels. Lower doors and sills just got a quick tickle!



suspal said:


> nice one JB nearly came out as the passat i done kidding really good job mate :thumb:


Thanks buddy! :thumb:



Soul Hudson said:


> Tidyed the paint work up lovely my man.
> 
> Cars looking very nice now for the miles its covered. Nice to do these cars as you can really make an improvement with just a 'little' bit of work. (You know what I mean)


Cheers Craig, Yeah it was a good improvement from when it arrived, at least we managed to restore a bit of gloss to the lovely colour!



minty-e46 said:


> came up very well considering 143k was on her


Cheers mate!



caledonia said:


> Lovely transformation John considering the time scale.
> Certainly restored the gloss and lustre of the paint.


Thanks Gordon, as said i was pushed for time and the whole front end needed a respray (spotted evidence of a Nurburgring sticker on the bootlid which meant that if the previous owner had been... lots of motorway miles to Germany and back!)



ADW111S said:


> Excellent turnaround!
> I bet your mate was over the moon!
> 
> Looks brand new!


Cheers mate!



Junior Bear said:


> Tidy!
> 
> Interesting combo with the two polishes too!
> 
> Might have to try that, got a BG 182 to do myself in the bear future! Did half a wing for him to show the difference, only used 3m ultrafina on a Finishing pad and it was almost restored! Great paint to play on


Cheers JB - The paint was pretty nice to work with! A Megane in the same colour that i did last week was much harder by comparison! :speechles



Wout_RS said:


> Huge improvement! well done!





deni2 said:


> Nice work on Clio, :thumb:.





jamie crookston said:


> Nice work can't beat a black/gold 182


Thanks lads! :thumb:


----------



## Black.MB (Aug 22, 2012)

Fantastic turnaround:thumb:


----------



## Bearswaxfactory (Sep 5, 2010)

Looks awesome. Black/Gold is such a cool metallic.


----------



## bbdp (Mar 21, 2012)

Looks awesome. Just shown my mate (has the same car in the same colour) and very jealous. Suspect there will be a bucket and wash mitt out this weekend as a result ;-)


----------



## jamesgti (Aug 9, 2007)

Great work buddy :thumb:


----------



## MEH4N (Mar 15, 2012)

Great work as usual. Pleasure to read Jon.


----------



## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Great work:thumb:


----------



## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Thanks guys, very kind words!

Jon


----------



## gibbo555 (May 3, 2011)

Nice work there, love the renaultsports, miss my megane!


----------



## plodwyn (Oct 17, 2007)

Lovely turnaround tyres should be 205/45/16 not 195:thumb:


----------



## bilout48 (Apr 10, 2008)

good job


----------



## TopSport+ (Jul 22, 2012)

looks nice


----------



## griff-91 (Nov 21, 2009)

I'd love one of these one days 

Lovely turnaround too - that paint has definitely been given some life now! I do like that plate as well :thumb:

Quite a long legged example at 143k though - take it that's motorway mileage but out of curiosity are you aware of any problems its' had at all?


----------



## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

griff-91 said:


> I'd love one of these one days
> 
> Lovely turnaround too - that paint has definitely been given some life now! I do like that plate as well :thumb:
> 
> Quite a long legged example at 143k though - take it that's motorway mileage but out of curiosity are you aware of any problems its' had at all?


Thanks very much buddy!

I don't know to be honest as a friend has just bought it. I do know that it runs, and goes very well and still feels tight as a drum even at this mileage! It's not in great condition bodywork/wheels-wize, but mechanically it feels spot on!

I do know he picked it up for £2000 though so at that money, it's a great car!


----------



## MR.Q (Apr 19, 2010)

JBirchy said:


> Followed by a thorough claying! Used about half the Auto Finesse Clay bar on this beast!


How much :doublesho

Mate top job on what you wanted to achieve. I still love your write ups thanks and I look forward to your other jobs you got lined up

Cheers :thumb:


----------



## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

Top work


----------



## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

MR.Q said:


> How much :doublesho
> 
> Mate top job on what you wanted to achieve. I still love your write ups thanks and I look forward to your other jobs you got lined up
> 
> Cheers :thumb:


Thanks very much mate, really appreciate that! :thumb:

Got a modded doublesho) Mk1 Focus RS to do on Saturday! About 350bhp!!


----------



## davo3587 (May 9, 2012)

Very good job jon, paintwork looks cool with the speckled paint showing, to look at now you wouldnt think its covered those miles.

Your mate must be a happy man. spot on mate.


----------



## MR.Q (Apr 19, 2010)

JBirchy said:


> Got a modded doublesho) Mk1 Focus RS to do on Saturday! About 350bhp!!


Got the kettle on for my cup of tea and fully charged battery on the lap top - ready for your write up on that beast! :thumb:

Hopefully you get to pick it up and drop it off :devil:


----------



## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

MR.Q said:


> Got the kettle on for my cup of tea and fully charged battery on the lap top - ready for your write up on that beast! :thumb:
> 
> Hopefully you get to pick it up and drop it off :devil:


Oooh yes! I've had a good go in it before. It's one of my best mates brothers who owns a very good mechanical repair place. I get all my work done there and i often get to take a 'courtesy car' home. We're swapping this weekend, i'm taking the Focus RS and detailing it, he's taking my Passat CC to fit a new EGR Valve - can't beat deals like that!


----------



## magpieV6 (Jul 29, 2008)

Mmmmm these still excite me! Soo miss ny BG!

Superb job!


----------



## B17BLG (Jun 26, 2012)

nice work matey! Looking forward to a corsa VXR detail this weekend!!


----------



## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Excellent mate! What colour?!


----------



## Swell.gr (May 7, 2008)

Very good job as usual Jon :thumb:


----------



## tangledmonkey (Apr 9, 2012)

Looks great, nice work!


----------



## changed (Jul 13, 2008)

Very nice job.. I'm picking one of these tomorrow to replace my company F31 that's going back after loosing my job so a bit different!!

Same color as well so I will be comparing after I get the change to polish..

What's renault paint like as a whole soft or hard? I guess softish


----------



## SarahAnn (Apr 6, 2011)

Looks fab Jon 

You say it's only an enhancement but i'd be over the moon with that :buffer::thumb:


----------



## Andyrat85 (Oct 7, 2013)

Really nice finish on that  bet the owner was well happy !!


----------



## Danthecabbiman (Oct 31, 2013)

Great results in such a short time


----------



## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

That's a huge massive improvement within the time given, the Gold Metallic flake is lifting off very well from the Enhancement, great work John :thumb:


----------



## jon_r (Nov 28, 2007)

Blimey what a blast from the past. I can't believe how clean it looks. The car has indeed done many trips to the Ring and a fair few laps! It was once stickered up as the A Team van! Lol.


----------



## tombenton (May 11, 2011)

That's my old car, if you need/want to know its history PM Me.

Bought it new, put 130k+ on it never really missed a beat.

Impressive transformation, I didn't clean it much.


----------



## Ethics (Oct 5, 2013)

Nice work buddy


----------



## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

changed said:


> Very nice job.. I'm picking one of these tomorrow to replace my company F31 that's going back after loosing my job so a bit different!!
> 
> Same color as well so I will be comparing after I get the change to polish..
> 
> What's renault paint like as a whole soft or hard? I guess softish


Thanks! On the whole, Renault paint is reasonably soft! However, I've done 2 cars in this colour now (a Megane 225 and this Clio) and they were both pretty hard!



Trip tdi said:


> That's a huge massive improvement within the time given, the Gold Metallic flake is lifting off very well from the Enhancement, great work John :thumb:


Thanks mate, yes the colour of the paint is lovely!



jon_r said:


> Blimey what a blast from the past. I can't believe how clean it looks. The car has indeed done many trips to the Ring and a fair few laps! It was once stickered up as the A Team van! Lol.





tombenton said:


> That's my old car, if you need/want to know its history PM Me.
> 
> Bought it new, put 130k+ on it never really missed a beat.
> 
> Impressive transformation, I didn't clean it much.


Very interesting indeed! I'll let the current owner know and I may well be back to you! I was actually out with him on Friday evening so I'll give him a call. I don't think he got much history with the car when he bought it so he may be interested in getting in touch!


----------



## seb182 (Nov 18, 2005)

I knew the car too. Tombenton treated it well. It got driven, as a hot hatch should, but it was never left wanting.


----------



## gally (May 25, 2008)

Like a CS love-in in here! 

Lovely work mate. Tough lacquer!


----------

