# Aston V8 Vantage Detail



## mattjonescardiff

I thought I'd do a write-up just for the Wales section of Detailing World, so here's this weekends project - a 56 reg Aston Martin V8 Vantage. Generally not too dirty to start. The before shots…………….









































A angry looking deposit from a bird. Wiped off there and then with some glass cleaner and kitchen roll.








Plastics were covered with left-overs of previous polishing escapades:








A quick look at the swirls:








Then tucked at the back of the drive ready for starting work bright and early on Saturday:








Saturday morning. Way too early to wake the neighbours with the pressure washer so I thought I'd make a start on the wheels. Usual brushes lined up with Megs All Wheel Cleaner.








Wheel doused with the Megs:








I clean the wheels from the back of the rim forward. First with the long handle titan brush:








Megs brush:








Raceglaze brushes for the bolt recesses:








Bendy brush for behind the spokes:








Mitt for the faces and spokes:








Small raceglaze brush for the calipers:








Large head brush to scrub the arches with plenty of APC:








Groundnut oil was then used to lift old polish residue from the plastics:








Worked in with a Detail brush and left to dwell until the main wash:








Next up the engine bay got some attention. I didn't want to apply any intrusive pressure washing so chose instead to work round with some APC and a damp microfiber cloth.

Dirt on the under-bonnet:








And on the strut-brace:
















The results (not yet dressed):








Next up was the interior. A good vaccuming first:








Interestingly, there's two layers of carpet mat on top of the base carpets in the footwell. This is the second one:








The top carpets clip was off:








Popped back in:








The sun was shining so I took a better look at the swirls. Plenty of work to do on them today……….
















Glass cleaned with Megs:








Plastics cleaned and dressed with Aerospace 303 Protectant:








Leather conditioned with Gliptone:
























Interior finished, it's on to the main wash. Firstly, a thick blanket of snowfoam:
























Pressure wash rinsed. This removes the worst of the grime and grit before even touching the car with a wash-mitt, greatly reducing the amount of swirl marks inflicted during the wash:








This stage cleaned off the groundnut oil applied earlier, leaving some nice clean plastics. No 'back to black' needed here thanks!
Two buckets lined up with Megs Hyperwash and a lambswool mitt.








Whole car washed over and rinsed and I was ready for the clay stage, to remove any bonded contaminants not lifted by the previous wash stages:








Lube liberally applied to the panel:








Clay rubbed with finger pressure over the panel:








A small amount removed from the wing. 








A similar amount from the bonnet. It appears from this that the car is garaged and doesn't see much rain, tree sap etc.








More tar on the lower panels as you would expect:
















Car rinsed again, and then dried with a plush microfibre towel and Megs Last Touch:








It was then time to check the thickness of the paint. Guage was calibrated:








Some extremely variable readings were showing:
















Paint report:








The owner advised that the car had undergone paint work in the past, and there was evidence of extensive previous polishing. This combined with Aston's infamous soft paint meant I elected to use the UDM for this whole car rather than the rotary, plus any wet-sanding was out of the question. Car then taped up ready for polishing:








Test section taped up, and the thicker paint areas received Megs #83 via a fresh Megs polishing pad, followed by Menz 85RD on a finishing pad. Thinner areas received just the second stage.
















The results of the 50:50. 








































4" pad for tighter areas: 








































A lovely shine developing in the paintwork:








A shot of polish during working:








Once all polishing was done it was time for another coat of snowfoam to remove the polishing dust:
















My UDM was working hard so my neighbour (and understanding DW member) [email protected] kindly offered to let me use his so I could give mine a rest. He also let me spread across both of our driveways for the Details so a very big thanks to him. Here's the two UDMs lined up. I decided to add an extra stage to the Detail to really make the flake pop - a final touch of Megs #7 Show Car Glaze applied via Lake Country Finishing Pads:








Glaze buffed and the car was ready for the wax - Z**** Concours, applied by hand:








































A few final touches, including tyres dressed:








Exhaust tips polished:
















And here's some shots of the whole car at this stage:








































































































The car was tucked in at the rear of the drive again for the night. I ended the day by doing a two stage wheel polish and seal. Firstly Nanotech 68 to clean any tar etc from them:
















Then protected with a coat of Jetseal sealant:








Sunday morning. Car rinsed with a cold hosing of water to remove dust from overnight. Take a look at the beading from the Concours:








And dried as before:








Second coat of concours applied by a Z**** applicator pad:
















Buffed. Left for an hour and re-buffed with Z**** Field Glaze. Here's the final photos of the car:
















Thanks for reading. As usual any comments, criticism or praise welcomed!


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## Deano

really enjoyable write up mate and great results. just taking notes cos i have a british racing green one to do wednesday.:lol: any stange events/car controls i should know about?


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## Mr Face

Nice work Matt, (still remember the XK you did) I liked that but this I love.

Great work fella. Would have been a pleasure to watch you on the Aston all day :thumb:


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## Mr Face

panama said:


> really enjoyable write up mate and great results. just taking notes cos i have a british racing green one to do wednesday.:lol: any stange events/car controls i should know about?


Please take your camera and lots od spare batteries :thumb:


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## SimonW

Fantastic :thumb: 

I love detailing Astons


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## mattjonescardiff

panama said:


> really enjoyable write up mate and great results. just taking notes cos i have a british racing green one to do wednesday.:lol: any stange events/car controls i should know about?


Thanks for the compliments. Taking paint depth readings is a must on these Astons with the soft and variable paint, although this particular example had a history of bodywork and previous polishing so made this especially important.

Control wise Astons have the same handbrake as the Jag XKs - you need to apply the footbrake to put it on and off, and you need to depress the clutch for the engine start button to work.


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## Vyker

I enjoyed that! 

Thanks


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## SimonW

mattjonescardiff said:


> and you need to depress the clutch for the engine start button to work.


And don't forget theres a start button.....you live and learn :lol:


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## neilb62

Very very impressive, beautiful work on a beautiful car...:thumb:


Nearly as impressive as the 'sold' sign outside your house! :lol:


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## Ti22

Nice detail and write up mate. 

I've got an Integra type R in at the moment, and I have a hard enough time leaving that one at the end of the day - must be amazing to do astons etc!


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## ChrisD

awsome job matt. 
One question i must ask though, how come you used so much product? (final finish) did you spread it around an entire panel?, i use FF myself and find a little goes along way, even slighty to much and i cant break it down, it just dusts. 

Your next big detail, feel free to invite me up so i can pick up some tips! :thumb:


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## mattjonescardiff

ChrisD said:


> awsome job matt.
> One question i must ask though, how come you used so much product? (final finish) did you spread it around an entire panel?, i use FF myself and find a little goes along way, even slighty to much and i cant break it down, it just dusts.
> 
> Your next big detail, feel free to invite me up so i can pick up some tips! :thumb:


Hi Chris. Cheers for the kind words. I totally agree a little goes a long way with FF. Although you need more to initially prime the pad I put way too much on for that photo and spread some onto another pad before working it. Same with the shot of the #7 glaze, that amount of product was dabbed between both UDM pads. :thumb:


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## ChrisD

ah rite, thats cool. was thinking, i couldav done half the car with the amount shown.


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## PaulN

Nice job there...... :thumb:

I was going to suggest you pair go for a joint car port, but then i too saw the sold sign... :wave:

Cheers

PaulN


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## Allblackdup

Excellent stuff!  

What does the Megs last touch do?

Did you use a toilet brush for the arches? 

Cheers!


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## Eddy

Epic write up mate, and what a car!!

really good work and attention to detail


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## mattjonescardiff

Allblackdup said:


> Excellent stuff!


Cheers :thumb:



Allblackdup said:


> What does the Megs last touch do?
> Cheers!


It aids the drying and stops water spots on the car.



Allblackdup said:


> Did you use a toilet brush for the arches?
> 
> Cheers!


I did indeed. The shape of the brush head is perfect believe it or not!


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## Allblackdup

mattjonescardiff said:


> It aids the drying and stops water spots on the car.
> 
> I did indeed. The shape of the brush head is perfect believe it or not!


How and when do you apply it? - Do you spray it onto the wet car and then dry?

Ha ha! That's a great idea! Where did you buy the very long brush from? (Red and green i think)?

Also, do you favour the Megs over a lot of other polishes?

Thanks Matt!


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## ChrisD

Allblackdup said:


> How and when do you apply it? - Do you spray it onto the wet car and then dry?
> 
> Ha ha! That's a great idea! Where did you buy the very long brush from? (Red and green i think)?
> 
> Also, do you favour the Megs over a lot of other polishes?
> 
> Thanks Matt!


Apply the last touch to a just washed and rinsed car, spray liberly all over the car and then dry. leaves a nice glossy finish but also makes it easier to dry.

The long brush is a titan brush, you can buy them from most detailing shops online, http://i4detailing.co.uk/acatalog/Vikan_Extra_Long_Brush_1.html


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## mattjonescardiff

Allblackdup said:


> Also, do you favour the Megs over a lot of other polishes?
> 
> Thanks Matt!


Megs are my 'go-to' polishes and I'm very comfortable using them. The quality of Menz is superb, the new 203S has caught my eye and I may start using that for hard german paint. I keep meaning to try the 3M polishes, will maybe get round to trying them this summer, but it's hard to find the time as I won't use anything on a customers car that I haven't tested out a few times already.


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## Allblackdup

Thanks for all the info Matt.


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## ChrisD

I can highly recommened thr 3M range to you matt, very similar to the Menz but give you alot more pad/polish combo's. I used 50383 - Perfect it III Ultrafina SE on a brand new VXR the other day and was very impressed, much more refining acheieved compared to menz FF.


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## mattjonescardiff

I might have to give it a try then. Thanks Chris.


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## BENJY

excellent work and a great write up

Nice camper by the way!


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## [email protected]

BENJY said:


> excellent work and a great write up
> 
> Nice camper by the way!


Thanks its mine.:thumb:
When Matt gets a bit more experience i might let him have a go at polishing it!!!!!!!!!!:buffer::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:


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## mattjonescardiff

I knew you'd appreciate the van love Davey  Everyone comments on it.


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## shabba

lovely work on the coolest car on the planet  took notes


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## skierandy

awsome write up


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## Silver Scooby Sport

Great job that's what you call commitment :buffer:

I need to get a snow foam thingy next


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## mattjonescardiff

Silver Scooby Sport said:


> Great job that's what you call commitment :buffer:
> 
> I need to get a snow foam thingy next


Thanks :thumb:

You definitely wouldn't regret a foam lance, especially on your car. Once you've got one you can't wash without it.


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## Ti22

I'd agree with that..


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## Silver Scooby Sport

More money then :detailer:

I'll have to take some advice on this subject.


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## Ti22

Come and have a play with mine.. you'll definfitely want one then!


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## Silver Scooby Sport

:lol: James.... I'm busy for a week or so but I'll drop you a line and call in at some point soon. :thumb:


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## Jock R26

Fair play, love all the hard work mate!
Great post:thumb:


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## littlejack

Great job on realy cool car matt..... Would have had to taken it for a spin round the block after though lol


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## mattjonescardiff

littlejack said:


> Great job on realy cool car matt..... Would have had to taken it for a spin round the block after though lol


Cheers :thumb: It was a very cool car. The interior is pretty cosy on these, but the leather smells divine. Top quality.

Interestingly, on this car you couldn't have taken it for a spin. Even with the key, the tracker system could be set so that the engine cuts out after about 100 yards!


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