# KDS Detailing The world’s fastest accelerating car & the world’s fastest coating EXO



## Kelly @ KDS (Aug 4, 2008)

*KDS Detailing The world's fastest accelerating car & the world's fastest coating EXO*

The world's fastest accelerating car has the world's fastest applied specialised coating

So the next instalment is on an Ariel atom.

This car is the supercharged version with many upgrades and was due in for detail with very special coating to be applied to the entire car , a coating that I have been testing and helped out with the feedback and some other products in the line-up (more on that in this thread later)

New cost (with all options) was over 50k - it's got everything, the CF wings, CF blade suspension arms etc.

Ariel Atom 3 300
About 320bhp
About 500kg

0-60 under 2.7 seconds

This car was in just before the KDS open day

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=258819

|The car in question was a recent purchase that had been driven through the winter and collected a lot of salt from the roads and was looking worse for wear.

Here are the before photos


























































































































































































































































































































































































































































So this one was going to be fun and testing with all the different surfaces to contend with and not many being a flat nature.

Now to the wash stage

The wash stage products used where 
G techniq G wash 
Dodo Juice alloy wheel cleaner 
Megs APC 4:1 and 1:1 
Dodo juice wookie fist wash mitts 
Dodo Juice supernatural drying towels

Bilt Hamber Surfex HD at different strengths.

The jet was set to 40deg c and we also added a mix of snow foam and Apc to the additive tank to pre-soak vehicle before washing.

All the electrics where bagged up and sealed from water ingress too.

Onto the photos

Strip down of panel if you can call them that.























































The first rinse stage














































Wheels being cleaned




























First degrease of alloy parts and engine































































































































This was repeated twice until clean

Then Apc the frame of the car



















The alloy parts where then treated on their own





































Came up great too























































Now to the during detail stages

As I said was a tricky little thing .

Rubbing down rusty drive shaft



















Removing unwanted sticker



















Hand polishing of alloy components , some being not that easy to get to and needed a person of slimmer build and more flexible for the task.




























If that was me in there then I think we would of needed to call the fire crew to cut me out lol










The passenger foot rest being corrected










Normally sits here





































Some of the damage to be corrected














































Then the correction process

All of the tubes for the frame where corrected very slowly by hand using G techniq P1 which is perfect for this type of job as it can be removed very easy with just a water mist and wipe down.



























































































Oh the owner left this with us










So cleaned with g techniq C1.5 for extra protection




























Right that's the end to part One

Kelly

www.kdsdetailing.co.uk


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## Kelly @ KDS (Aug 4, 2008)

So part two

The special coating stage and the finished car.

The owner wanted something that would keep his car in the best possible condition for as long as possible , remembering this is no garage queen more of a track day car and gets used properly.

When choosing a last step protection, there are always many factors to consider.

Cost of materials
Timescale to apply 
Durability 
Looks 
Feel 
And beading

Notice I placed beading last.

The type of coating I would use for the ultimate durability and self-cleaning properties, are of the quartz style coatings such as G techniq C1 , But the costs of such coatings and the very short flash off times would mean. 
Massive amount needed and would be a nightmare to apply to such a vehicle.

Then it leaves you with liquid and solid waxes, this too would been extremely long process and the durability would be low down the scale so yet another compromise.

At KDS we don't like compromises, we like best results.

In the ideal world you need a long lasting self-cleaning coating that is as was to apply as a quick detail spray but then wipes off easily and leaves no residue.

Well there now is a solution to this.

Here










Firstly the car was wiped down a couple of times with IPA


















I could not think of another product that would work this well on this car























































You may not be aware of this fact, there is a Formula 1 team running this year that the cars have the very same coating on them for its self-cleaning properties.

Part of the process to get the best possible cure and bond is for the panel and coating to be 20 deg or above .

We have found that very low temp applications have not gave the best possible bond and still working on the exact temp for applications (ie how low the temp can be). 
Testing is still going on today.

So instead of a quick warm up with hair drier or heat gun, its not our style. 
The KDS way is to bake for car for a set amount of time at a set temp then to leave the curing before a second coat is applied for the ultimate protection.

This we carry out on the spray bake oven










Making sure the temp is high enough for long enough on all materials and surfaces





































Also I nice treat to work in such temps when its cold and horrid outside.

Here are some randon photos after the Exo coating has been wiped off and the car is cooling down in the oven







































































































































































































And finally the finished car after back in the middle of the workshop

Not often you will hear me actually say this , but I was extremely pleased with the outcome on such a tricky car to tackle.


















































































































































































































































































































































































And a quick walk around video. 
In the video you will be able to see the level of depth and gloss gained.






Hope you enjoyed this one, as usual fire away with questions and I will do my best to answer them

Many thanks for reading

Kelly

www.kdsdetailing.co.uk


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## adf27 (Mar 14, 2012)

Such a nice colour :argie: Great work as always


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## Miracle Detail (Jun 4, 2010)

Nice work Kelly!


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## Kelly @ KDS (Aug 4, 2008)

Miracle Detail said:


> Nice work Kelly!


Thanks Mate

your secret squirrel friend was talking to the owner when he collected the car at KDS :thumb:

kelly

www.kdsdetailing.co.uk


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## jubbly (May 29, 2006)

Stunning!


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## AaronGTi (Nov 2, 2010)

Brilliant stuff as always :thumb:


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## Adrian Convery (May 27, 2010)

Nice one, when is EXO planned to be released?


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## twoscoops (Mar 26, 2010)

cool Kelly nice to see a different motor with some interesting challenges!


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## JimG (Sep 16, 2011)

Lovely work Kelly.

Love these cars! :argie:


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## gtechrob (Sep 11, 2006)

nice job on a tricky mc tricky car to detail.

as Mr Kelly has mentioned above - Gtechniq and KDS have been working together on this and other coatings as as we know only too well from a combined 15 years in the aftermarket coatings business (first repping a European product into Asia and 8 years now with Gtechniq), what works in the lab can often fail spectacularly in the real world.

We have been doing real world evaluation and application trials for around 6 months with EXO. Some will have seen it demo'd at Kelly's shin dig on 1st April (I made sure the demo was after midday :lol.

KDS and Gtechniq will be making a vid introducing and demonstrating the product in the next couple of weeks. Product has had a soft launch already through our Accredited Detailer network and we hope to have a hard launch in about a month's time.

The can you see here is the first size to be launched and will only really be suitable for pros as it is for multiple cars (circa 5/can) but we are plannign to launch a single car can.

Price for this one is £125 inc vat and the single car can will be £59.99 inc vat

There will be plenty of info coming from us on the benefits and tech behind this product - one thing that is instantly very interesting - it works on pretty much any substrate including glass, fabric, paint, bare metal, stone etc.


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## Edstrung (Apr 6, 2009)

gtechrob said:


> There will be plenty of info coming from us on the benefits and tech behind this product - one thing that is instantly very interesting - it works on pretty much any substrate including glass, fabric, paint, bare metal, stone etc.


Interesting indeed :speechles


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## UCD (Oct 27, 2010)

unbelievable work Kelly!


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## gtechrob (Sep 11, 2006)

as you say - hard to believe that such small panels can give such a cracking overall finish. the owner is going to want my babies when he comes to clean it :lol:


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## DarrylB (Feb 17, 2006)

I NEED that car! amazing


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Stunning


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## DonnyMac (Apr 11, 2012)

gtechrob said:


> the owner is going to want my babies when he comes to clean it :lol:


That may be a long way off as I don't really clean my cars + I've seen pictures of you :lol:


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## Kelly @ KDS (Aug 4, 2008)

DonnyMac said:


> That may be a long way off as I don't really clean my cars + I've seen pictures of you :lol:


Don

the best thing i have ever read and brought tears to my eyes and hurt my sides :thumb::lol:

respect 

great video of you on facebook driving the beast :driver:

Kelly

www.kdsdetailing.co.uk


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## Matt. (Aug 26, 2007)

Brilliant!

Who is the F1 team BTW?


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## Defined Reflections (Jun 4, 2009)

Great work on a real drivers car!


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## gtechrob (Sep 11, 2006)

Matt. said:


> Brilliant!
> 
> Who is the F1 team BTW?


contractually we are not allowed to say until next season. Just look for the one with less rubber on its aero surfaces


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

fantastic detail. a real challenge compared to normal i bet with all those exposed links tubing. 

looking forward to getting some more info on this new EXO pretty soon. sounds very impressive already. 

Dave


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

Great work as always, I like the dust sheet on the oven floor


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## gtechrob (Sep 11, 2006)

DonnyMac said:


> That may be a long way off as I don't really clean my cars + I've seen pictures of you :lol:


heh - and definately that's not the right motor to go dogging in anyway :lol:

cracking motor you have sir - fastest piece of angle iron ever to come out of Somerset :lol: - once had a blast with an elise packing a supercharged honda with about 260bhp - that was mental - can imagine an atom requires some severe recalabration of what's possible in a road car


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## gb270 (Aug 22, 2008)

Great work there


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## jaustin (Apr 11, 2012)

amazingly shiny go kart


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## Little Man (Aug 5, 2007)

Looks fantastic, never seen one in that colour before.

Do you mind me asking what tyre products you use? - They look spot on.


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## Mk2Singh (Aug 18, 2009)

Lovely work


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## AcN (Nov 3, 2010)

Awesome, as usual !  Now we need to make them road legal in France...


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## Miguel Pestana (Feb 16, 2012)

fantastic job


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## Michael_McL (Aug 25, 2011)

I always enjoy a KDS write up, fantastic work as always!


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## Roy (Jan 17, 2007)

Nice :thumb:


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## Bristle Hound (May 31, 2009)

Bloody gorgeous :doublesho

One question - is it wise to treat crash helmets with car detailing products or is the Gtecniq stuff safe to use on them?


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## Bill58 (Jul 5, 2010)

Brilliant write up!


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## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

Excellent work there kelly, lots of dedication and time spent, the results really look the Part :thumb:


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## IanG (Nov 21, 2007)

Superb :argie:


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## maya (May 14, 2011)

good job


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## Ns1980 (Jun 29, 2011)

gtechrob said:


> contractually we are not allowed to say until next season. Just look for the one with less rubber on its aero surfaces


How does this product look on a 'silver' or 'red' car?  ?


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## Bailey12856 (May 10, 2011)

amazing work


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## kk1966 (Aug 8, 2007)

Great post and not the easiest car in the world to detail...and even more of an achievement to do it without taking bits off.....nice work indeed....!!


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## alfajim (May 4, 2011)

i bet you could drive that onto a mirrored floor and it'd be as clean underneath as it is on top.
epic :thumb:


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## 20vKarlos (Aug 8, 2009)

:lol: laying down on the job! I think there was a reason behind it though! :lol:

Brilliant detail Kelly, you've got some great guys working with you!


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## whitesnake (Jun 27, 2010)

Nice!!


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## kings.. (Aug 28, 2007)

awesome work as usual.. I think you set a benchmark in detailing the standard of finish is exceptional.


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## Kelly @ KDS (Aug 4, 2008)

adf27 said:


> Such a nice colour :argie: Great work as always





jubbly said:


> Stunning!





AaronGTi said:


> Brilliant stuff as always :thumb:





Adrian Convery said:


> Nice one, when is EXO planned to be released?


If you had not seen the thread here

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=260615



twoscoops said:


> cool Kelly nice to see a different motor with some interesting challenges!





JimG said:


> Lovely work Kelly.
> 
> Love these cars! :argie:


Thanks guys :thumb:

www.kdsdetailing.co.uk


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## Kelly @ KDS (Aug 4, 2008)

UCD said:


> unbelievable work Kelly!





DarrylB said:


> I NEED that car! amazing





tonyy said:


> Stunning





Matt. said:


> Brilliant!
> 
> Who is the F1 team BTW?





Defined Reflections said:


> Great work on a real drivers car!


Thanks guys , i too love the car

kelly

www.kdsdetailing.co.uk


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## Tom_Y2K4 (Mar 4, 2010)

Looking awesome


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## ercapoccia (Nov 14, 2008)

Great job on a great "small" beast!


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## Kelly @ KDS (Aug 4, 2008)

Michael_McL said:


> I always enjoy a KDS write up, fantastic work as always!





Roy said:


> Nice :thumb:





Bristle Hound said:


> Bloody gorgeous :doublesho
> 
> One question - is it wise to treat crash helmets with car detailing products or is the Gtecniq stuff safe to use on them?


C1.5 is absolutley fine on crash helmets :thumb:



Bill58 said:


> Brilliant write up!





Trip tdi said:


> Excellent work there kelly, lots of dedication and time spent, the results really look the Part :thumb:





IanG said:


> Superb :argie:





maya said:


> good job





Bailey12856 said:


> amazing work





kk1966 said:


> Great post and not the easiest car in the world to detail...and even more of an achievement to do it without taking bits off.....nice work indeed....!!


Thanks guy for the nice comments and for talking to read the thread .

been using G techniq Exo on many different vehicles and surfaces and it really is the business :thumb:

I actually think its a ground breaking product at present :thumb:

Kelly

www.kdsdetailing.co.uk


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## goodyuk82 (May 12, 2011)

Great finish there mate :thumb:


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## ckeir.02mh (Jan 5, 2012)

Very nicely done as usual, like you've said probably not another product out there that would of suited the Atom better, excellant Kelly! :argie:

Chris


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## Scrim-1- (Oct 8, 2008)

Stunning finish kelly, Great work as always.


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## Wout_RS (Jun 13, 2012)

damn such a little car, but what an amount of work it need to keep it clean :thumb: very very nice job you've done here! 
so the coat has to be baked at 30°C?


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