# Wax-It.be: Bentley Continental GTC - Full Paint Correction + Swissvax Concorso



## Wax-IT.be (Feb 3, 2011)

Hi There!

*As always you can read the report in it's original form on our website (in Dutch)

Or you can view all the pictures on the Flickr page.

Or as a slideshow.

Or Facebook-users can follow us online. 
*

_____________________________

Spring has been around for a while and it shows in our workshop, we had a lot of convertibles in receiving some much needed TLC. At the beginning of Spring - the sun showing it's face for a longer period - it's a jolly good time behind the wheel of convertible, roof down and hair blowing in the wind. As a detailer this means there's a bug squash graveyard on the nose, and leather needs even more protecting from UV staining. On the plus side, we can take some lovely pictures outdoors! 

This Bentley Convertible was brought to us because the owner is very strict in maintaining it. The paint was way too dull and the interior too dirty and stained. Aiming for perfection is our job so he found us quite fast.

Every treatment as totally tailored to the customers wishes and expectations, but when receiving carte blanche we get to indulge ourselves in every little detail. We had 4 days to make the bright blue paint tingle in the sun and to clean the huge leather interior. Four days to take it to the max. Four days to prove what we're worth.

This Bentley is only used on nice summer days so it doesn't see a lot of filthy roads. The entire car was covered in a soft film of dirt and you'll see a dead bug every here and there. The wheels we're covered in brake dust and had some minor tar spots. The ocher coloured interior is very delicate to dirt so needed some attention.

_As always we only use products we sell too._

  

The first step whatever you're doing on a car is washing it. Everything starts with a thorough clean and this makes this the most important step in maintaining your car. Following using clay is the next step to remove any leftover contamination.
Washing was done using Poorboy's Slicks & Suds Shampoo - a simple but very effective shampoo to get the car clean. We used a Swissvax Washpudel to do this. The Blackfire Clay combined with the Clay Lubricant removed the rest of the dirt.

During the washing stage we could see how the paint would be after doing the works. The wet paint shows us the depth and clarity that could be achieved, the real wet-look. This clearly shows in the second picture.

  

Cleaning the wheels is an easy task when using the right material and technique. Wheels and tires can be cleaned in the same step using a variety of brushes and products. Gloss-it Wheel Gel is the perfect solution for the big and complex wheels. The gel is quite sticky so it doesn't run of the rim as fast as others. This makes it very easy to agitate the wheel cleaner. The Gloss-it Wheel Gel can be diluted for use on less dirty wheels.

The tire itself and the fabric covering the wheel arches is cleaned using Eimann Hi-Intensity Cleaner. Cleaning the tire is necessary to have a better base for applying the tire dressing. This makes it protrude the tire more and thus lasts longer.
Even when you're not dressing the tire, cleaning it can be useful to prevent it looking grey or brown. We used the Eimann Wheel Woolies to reach every nook and cranny of the complex wheel design.

  

After cleaning the entire car we could get going on the interior. We calculated a few hours to get the vast leather interior clean and to apply the leather milk. Removing all the dust and dirt was done using our trusty George, the carpets receiving a wet-vac. The leather is the last step in the interior so we don't stain it when cleaning other parts. The leather milk needs some time to protrude the leather so it's important no to touch it.

To get the windows clean you need some simple ingredients: a microfibre, a glass cleaner, patience and an eye for details. The microfibre should have the shortest fibbers possible, this way it won't leave any fibres nor stripes or stains on the glass. The glass cleaner shouldn't be to powerful but should evaporate nice and easy, too much alcohol in the cleaner can stain other interior panels.. We chose to use Swissvax Crystal combined with a Dragon Fibre Glass Cleaning Cloth.

  

  

The real wooden inserts are finished with a shiny lacquer. Swissvax has it's specially made Wood Polish to maintain and protect these interior trims. Despite the name it's actually more of a cleaner/wax than a polish. It contains natural pure grade 1 Carnauba to maximise the gloss and protect the wood. When the trim is too heavily stained or damaged you can pretreat it with Swissvax Cleaner Fluid by hand or machine.

The matt alloy inserts look very good at a first glance. By experience we know these kind alloy pieces oxidise very quickly, even when people wash and maintain the car very good. Swissvax Metal Polish was applied using a very short haired microfibre and a lot of elbow grease. This cleaned and repaired the top layer leaving the alloy with a deep silvery shine. (This can be done by machine if necessary.)

  

Before we take on the interior we always attach a triple charger so the battery doesn't run dry when moving the electric seats and opening and closing doors.

The leather upholstery in a convertible can be seen by all bystanders and then it is even more important to have the leather looking perfect. The beige coloured leather is more sensitive for dehydration and discolouring due to UV-rays. A thorough clean removes all the dirt from the toplayer. The dirt will first discolour and stain the leather, it's starts shining after a while because people work the dirt even deeper in the leather and actually "polish" it. 
The leather received special leather milk twice so it'll keep the leather soft until the next maintenance detail.

In this case we used Swissvax Leather Cleaner and Leather Milk combined with their leather brush and some towels (Dragon Fibre Work Towel) and pads (Dragon Fibre Microfibre Applicator).

A lot of people ask us why you should clean the leather before applying a leather milk. When pictures or our explanation are not enough, we compare it with our own skin. You don't apply any aftershave without washing and shaving first?

_You can clearly see the difference in colour and shine between the 'diamonds'._

  

  

Now the entire interior is looking as new again we start on the exterior, after closing the roof of course! At first glance the paint looks quite nice but lacking some reflection and depth. But when we had a closer look after washing the car we saw the car was in a much worse condition than expected. The high quality Bentley paint masked a lot.

More work had to be done and the owner requested perfection. A wool pad in combination with Menzerna FG500 was used multiple times to remove deep scratches and marks. We refined using more Menzerna polishes and Gloss-it pads. After + 12 hours of heavy correction we could finally start on the finishing with a dual action mahcine and our hands.

_The 'after' photo was before further finishing._

  

We applied Cleaner Fluid Pro by dual action machine to achieve the best finish possible. After this we refined every possible piece of paint with Cleaner Fluid on a Blackfire Ultimate Applicator. This cleanses the paint and provides the perfect base before applying the wax. This also feeds and enhances the paint to have the deepest gloss possible. This leaves us with the following result:

  

Waxing is done when all else is finished. All windows are cleaned and checked a second time. The roof was coated with a Nanolex protection. We applied a second layer of Swissvax Pneu. Now the wax can be applied and the car can be left to cure.
This car only does 3000 to 4000 miles a year so our choice was Swissvax Concorso. This pure high grade carnauba wax aims for the best depth, reflection and gloss. The car is converted in a deep blue mirror after applying two layers of Concorso wax. This stunning GTC is ready for a beautiful summer!

  

  

  

  

Look forward for a report in detailing old-timers and on correcting sticky (Porsche paint)... 

Kind Regards,

The Wax-It crew!


----------



## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

Top work guys, one seriously impressive write up:thumb:


----------



## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Fantastic work..looks very nice..


----------



## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

Looks great Bert! Are you referring to "that" Porsche we were speaking about? :thumb:


----------



## yera (Apr 14, 2011)

Stunning and elegant work!!

I have to say, from i saw your place of work I love that combination of class and urban look


----------



## himpe (Apr 20, 2006)

Wolf's Chemicals said:


> Looks great Bert! Are you referring to "that" Porsche we were speaking about? :thumb:


Thanks.

The Porsche writeup with sticky paint has been done a few weeks now, but we are short of time to do decent writeups.

So we have a lot in store , we just need to find the time to write it all down


----------



## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Great work there mate.


----------



## matt_83 (Apr 28, 2009)

Fantastic work and finish!! :thumb:


----------



## Wax-IT.be (Feb 3, 2011)

Thanks!


----------



## mislavto (Jul 3, 2010)

looks amazing!


----------



## Bratwurst (Jan 23, 2009)

Wow!

Beautiful big car, made to look perfect. :argie:

And the write-up... outstanding! :thumb:

Looking forward to reading more of your work


----------



## Pedro.Malheiro (Mar 18, 2011)

very professional work. congratulations


----------



## Wax-IT.be (Feb 3, 2011)

Thanks a lot guys! We're doing our best to make our write-ups an interesting read.


----------



## Guest (May 6, 2011)

Looks amazing


----------



## Nanolex (Jun 8, 2008)

Very nice job, Bert! :thumb:


----------



## simonjj (Sep 25, 2010)

Fantastic finish.


----------



## Fox1 (May 5, 2011)

Great job on a very rewarding colour. Keep up the good work. :thumb:


----------



## little rich (Oct 2, 2009)

Great work and nice write up


----------



## Wax-IT.be (Feb 3, 2011)

Thanks all!

Work really pays off on these kind of cars...


----------



## hottrod (Apr 27, 2010)

Excellent work!


----------



## southwest10 (Oct 27, 2010)

belgium wonder team....nice people...No gloss-It these times???


----------

