# Not a supercar, but a MASSIVE transformation...



## ianFRST (Sep 19, 2006)

well, at least i think so? i hope some of you agree? 

here we have a "lovely" vauxhall corsa sxi, on an o7 plate with 33k miles on the clock!! looks alright huh 





































well, i wonder why an 07 plate car would have seat covers. it did smell very "petty" so im guessing it was to protect the seats from such animals? oh how wrong i was :lol:

front seats were minging 









rear seats were well and truely fu... well, not the best :lol:



























at this point i was like....... er......... this could take a while!! and the sun hadnt made an apperance yet to see the state of the paint!!! but on Que, the sun came out and gave us another surprise!! Awesome, just what i wanted :thumb:














































and they were just the SWIRLS, i knew i could deal with them with the right tools and polish. what i COULDN'T deal with, was this LOT!!!

KEYED, from front door (really bad down to primer) all the way down to petrol cap, but not so bad on rear door / rear wing









scuff on rear driver door / moulding









all 4 door handles had MAJOR scratches above them




































engine bay, lovely 


















optional extra alloys wheel, hhmmm, all 4 nicely kerbed to buggery :thumb:










so at this point, the rear seats were removed. so that the car could be dropped off to the body shop. WHOLE driver side repainted, WHOLE passenger side flatted and "mopped" by body shop. ALL 4 alloys refurbished. so after 3 days, it was back with me so i could start on it.

Usual wash process, and then into my garage.

I decided to start on the painted side, thinking this would be worse than the other side!

quite a few "flatted" areas that hadnt been polished



























door polished









50:50 against rear door









50:50 on lower door









50:50 on front wing









bonnet before, under sun gun









bonnet masked up, and under natural light!!









masked area polished



























under sun









at this point, it was going REALLY well. i was doing this in the evenings after work, and i had managed to get the whole painted side done in 2 nights, about 6-7 hours!! so turned it round to do the passenger side....

this is where my problems started :lol::doublesho:wall:
polishing was alright, paint was a tad sticky, but managable. but once polished i jusy COULD NOT get the polish off the panel. Plush MF, nope. Costco MF, nope. menz top inspection, nope. IPA mixed 50:50, didnt touch it, NEAT IPA, nothing was getting it off!!!

this is an example. polished with yellow top, refined with blue top 3m. wiped with MF, with both soft and hard pressure, and the polish remained :wall:









below the bump strips it was WORSE, ARRGGGHH!!!









the only thing i could do was use (or had) was zymol HDC, which in itself, is a bit of a nightmare. but it was the only thing i had that removed the excess polish. i reckon lime prime / light would have been fantastic at this point!!

this took me a further 3 nights  was a real PITA!! so 9 hours to do the passenger side. a total of 15 so far, JUST on polishing!! and i hadnt touched the front / rear bumpers, or the roof :doublesho

then saturday came, so i decided to spend teh WHOLE day finishing the polishing stage off.

roof before









roof after.









a pillars before









after









b pillars 50:50









and RELAX, that was the whole polishing stage done!!! eeeekkk. up to around 21 hours at this point  and i hadnt touched the interior :doublesho

speaking of interior, the back seats went to an upholsterer when the car went for bodywork, and they said that the stitching had vanished due to car battery acid!! :doublesho it had arrived back, so i cracked on with it straight away. they had made a pretty good job of it 

this was after the 1st initial clean with bio brisk, as they were a bit smelly. after drying out, i wasnt too happy, so did them again with brisk low foam 




























whilst the interior was out, i hoovered the carpets, and then blasted the, with the tornador, and then re hoovered, and then, scrubbed with bio brisk, and hoovered again  all plastic was scrubbed with g101 and a brush!! :doublesho









even the spare tyre came out and was cleaned, and also the well.









seats were refitted, but in the dark of the car, they STILL looked dirty :doublesho so a stronger mix of brisk, was used, scrubbed and vacced AGAIN!! 


















at this point, i had pretty much spent the whole day on the interior  so add another 8 hours to the hours worked  :lol:

it was now time to get back onto the body work, the shuts were a tad dusty from the polishing, so outside for a quick wash, at this stage, i hadnt done the engine back, so g101, and 90degree hot water, got it looking brand new 


















oh yeah, forgot about the alloys  bit better









so after another 4 or 5 hours finishing it off, and waxing it, it was done. WooooBLOODYhoooooooo i really did lose count of how many hours i put into this. but easily over 30, more like 36-40 id imagine!!!! :doublesho


















































































oh actually, nearly done. i put an MOT on it too :lol: passed with no advisories :lol:


----------



## Ross (Apr 25, 2007)

Very good work Ian:thumb:


----------



## Alfa GTV (Apr 18, 2007)

Wow what on earth was going on with those seats :doublesho

Great turnaround :thumb:


----------



## dazzyb (Feb 9, 2010)

wot a transformation, cant believe the state of tht car considering it was 3 years old. well done bringing it back to life


----------



## Kriminal (Jan 11, 2007)

Crikey :doublesho

Flippin' good work there mate :thumb: - I really must get out and do my car....I haven't been able to touch it since my foot got cellulitis


----------



## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

What a state that was! A lot of work but a great turnaround, well done that man!:thumb:


----------



## Bensenn_GER (Mar 24, 2010)

What has happened to that car? :doublesho

You did very well, it doesnt' even look like the same car at the end. :thumb:


----------



## SubtleAggressiv (Jul 17, 2010)

Brilliant work, its looking fresh as a daisy  :thumb:


----------



## andyb (Jun 4, 2006)

Brilliant work. How can anyone get a 3 yr old car in that state??


----------



## Steve valentine (Aug 7, 2010)

andyb said:


> Brilliant work. How can anyone get a 3 yr old car in that state??


Washing it with a brillo pad? :lol:

That was minging for a three year old, I can't believe people treat such an expencive item like it's a throwaway.


----------



## ianFRST (Sep 19, 2006)

yup, it was a complete shocker when it was delivered :lol:

FYI, it was owned by a lady owner from brand new  (i wont say anymore :lol


----------



## amiller (Jan 1, 2009)

that's a detail. :thumb:


----------



## FlawlessDetailing (Mar 13, 2010)

Was just gonna ask was it a Rental car or something but you just answered my question jst there !!

Holy SH*T !!!!

Great transformation, 

Well worth the hours spent i hope.

Nice work


----------



## luke2402 (Jul 8, 2010)

nice job mate, those rear seats were terrible


----------



## SSB Ad (Jul 25, 2010)

that was in deserate need of correction absolutely fantastic job there fella looking really good


----------



## HC1001 (May 27, 2007)

Nice work Ian, that was a minger for an 07 reg.

Looks great now though...........:thumb:


----------



## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Flipping heck that was a right shed!!
Good turn around :thumb:


----------



## Ross (Apr 25, 2007)

ianFRST said:


> yup, it was a complete shocker when it was delivered :lol:
> 
> FYI, it was owned by a lady owner from brand new  (i wont say anymore :lol


Is she a looker?:lol:


----------



## Choc (Aug 20, 2008)

Great work & super patience. :thumb:

I just don't understand how people could get it into such a state? :doublesho


----------



## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

That's not the same car is it Ian, come on own up :lol:

Superb job mate, totally transformed the 'whole' car :thumb:, and did you find out why you had so many problems with the paint at the front ?


----------



## Beau Technique (Jun 21, 2010)

I have just run through anger, annoyance, frustration and excitement all in one thread.
How they can treat a car so badly is beyond me but this sort of thing sepreates the men from the boys for sure, great work.


----------



## tamandlee (Mar 14, 2010)

Ross said:


> Is she a looker?:lol:


judging by her car - NO :thumb:

One heck of a lot of work there Ian, hope it was all appreciated. A heck of a turnaround, well done mate :detailer:


----------



## PootleFlump (Jan 1, 2006)

Cracking work.



ianFRST said:


> FYI, it was owned by a lady owner from brand new  (i wont say anymore :lol


Yep says it all, anyone that thinks one lady owner is a good thing......


----------



## Incredible Detail (Sep 26, 2007)

Nice work and great turn around. Hopefully it stays like that for a while.

The E36 M3 I've got in just now is giving me exactly the same problem with the polish welding itself to the paint. Complete nightmare!


----------



## GIZTO29 (May 8, 2009)

Crackin work there!


----------



## VW Golf-Fan (Aug 3, 2010)

Wow, excellant turnaround. :thumb:


----------



## Edward101 (Jun 5, 2009)

Top work their mate! Shocking condition for the age, but the hours definately paid off though, outstanding :thumb:


----------



## banditbarron (Sep 1, 2007)

Nice job!

Did you buy this to do it up to sell or is it 'for a friend'?


----------



## toosmiles (May 5, 2007)

jesus christ m8,looks like it was a 97' plate car in that state
but fair doos too ya for sticking at it and finishing it so well


----------



## Mrwalker (Jul 22, 2010)

Very nice indeed! Gave me some tips on how to tackle my corsa thanks, its no way as bad as this was


----------



## ade33 (Jun 4, 2008)

Jeez - where did you find that, in a canal? Turn-round of the year bud. :thumb:

(note to self - don't leave leaking battery on upholstery..........duh?)


----------



## OzMoSiS (Jun 19, 2009)

i was thinking it was a stolen/reclaimed vehicle, or live in a right ol'ASBO area. anyways, great work you did there :thumb:


----------



## ianFRST (Sep 19, 2006)

cheers for the comments chaps, REALLY appreciated!! makes all the effort worth while


----------



## Owensy (Jul 27, 2010)

Thats a fantastic turn around!


----------



## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

very nice work there fella

:thumb:


----------



## FrazzleTC (Jul 4, 2009)

That was a horrendous mess before! Amazing transformation and excellent work!


----------



## Blazebro (May 18, 2007)

What a mess that was. Must of been an ex company car, something a business used instead of a van. 

You earned your money on that one.


----------



## horned yo (Feb 10, 2009)

Truely amazing work


----------



## herbie147 (May 30, 2010)

Cant believe the state of that motor after 3 year. You fairly turned it around though!


----------



## pete5570 (Jun 11, 2010)

Epic turnaround! You deserve a bloody medal for that one. Looks a million dollars now though.


----------



## Richors (Apr 29, 2007)

Amazing mate - love your attention to detail with things like doing the seats again.
Makes the difference in the end.


----------



## pedy (Jun 22, 2010)

that poor little car hasnt been loved at all in its short life... what a transformation!!!!! u should b well proud!!


----------



## ianFRST (Sep 19, 2006)

cheers guys, it actually really does mean alot to finally get some thanks and credit for all the work i put into it.

the owner really wasn't overly impressed / bothered / cared that i spent ALL that time on it!! but i did get a quick "what a transformation *WE* did on this"


----------



## ayrshireteggy (Dec 13, 2006)

ianFRST said:


> cheers guys, it actually really does mean alot to finally get some thanks and credit for all the work i put into it.
> 
> the owner really wasn't overly impressed / bothered / cared that i spent ALL that time on it!! but i did get a quick "what a transformation *WE* did on this"


Maybe the owner thought that the car was spotless due to the respray. It's pretty disappointing when you put all that effort in and they don't really appreciate it. At least we do!

Well done. :thumb:


----------



## Eddy (Apr 13, 2008)

Amazing, don't know what else to say really.


----------



## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

Fantastic turnaround!!! I couldn't beleive the state of that car on a 2007!!

Well done mate!!


----------



## Leemack (Mar 6, 2009)

:wave:


----------



## tamandlee (Mar 14, 2010)

ianFRST said:


> cheers guys, it actually really does mean alot to finally get some thanks and credit for all the work i put into it.
> 
> the owner really wasn't overly impressed / bothered / cared that i spent ALL that time on it!! but i did get a quick "what a transformation *WE* did on this"


as the great James May would say - "Permission to say C*ck"

Sometimes people just dont know when to say thank you, sadly all to common place - hopefully you wont have to do any more work for them in the future, if you do make sure you are rewarded appropriatly for your efforts :thumb: Maybe you could introduce them to this thread/site and let them see just what was involved - or is that me just getting b*tchy.

Keep up the great work, and we will keep up the appreciation. :detailer:


----------



## surgemaster (Jul 5, 2006)

Excellent work Ian :thumb:,
the woman worked in a scrap yard & the guard dogs slept in the car whilst guarding the batteries
.
.
.or did I just dream that?


----------



## Deano (Jul 7, 2006)

very good detail that. great 50/50s


----------



## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

What a sh1t life that car has had! 

Nice work


----------



## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

Miint 

Nice looking Corsa.


----------



## CupraRcleanR (Sep 2, 2007)

Terrific thread. Top job. Its not all Lambo's and Ferrari's. This is a really job. top stuff.


----------



## RaceGlazer (Jan 10, 2007)

The seats make this a stand out thread - I have never seen anything like it.

What I find most interesting is why did it come to you for a clean up - new owner (in which case who would buy such a thing?) or original owner thought it was time to clean up their act ?


----------

