# Ford Focus RS - Fixing Dealer Prep



## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

This detail has been a little while in the pipeline for writeups, but with recent events we had to prioritise ensuring that issues were fully addressed before resuming normal service 

The owner of this new Focus RS was unhappy with the way the car was delivered from the dealers... and after our standard wash procedure it was very easy to see why! Starting with the bonnet, under the Sun Gun, you can see clearly the swirls in the paintwork:























































Things actually got worse under the daylight striplights, lights which are superb at capturing the deeper marks often masked by the bright glare of the Sun Gun - camera used in manual focus mode to capture fully the defects...




























Although correction of the swirls was quite easily achieved with a finishing polish (this Ford paint proved pretty soft as assessed by the removal rates), we had to step up to remove the above deeper marks... Menzerna PO85RD3.02 Intensive Polish was the chosen polish, on a Chemical Guys Hexlogic White pad applied roughly as follows:


Working a roughly 1' x 1' square area (large work areas adversely affect both the available correction and the quality of the overall finish)
Spread polish at slow speed, and build the speeds to the working speed of 1800rpm
Steady passes with moderate pressure, monitoring the panel temperatures to esnure they do not become too hot
Work until residue clear

No refinement stages were made here, as Intensive Polish was used simply for correction, with refinement left for a dedicated finishing polish stage. Level of correction achieved (pictures taken to focus on the surface of the paint to highlight the level of correction achieved, note how the light bulb reflection is out of focus for this!):




























This deeper mark...










Required a single hit with 3M Fast Cut Plus on a 3M Green Spot pad to remove...










Following the correction stage the full panel was then refined using Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish on a Chemical Guys Black Hexlogic finishing pad, applied as follows:


Work a roughly 1' x 1' square area
Spread the polish at slow speed and gradually build to the working speed of 1500rpm
Steady passes with light to moderate pressure until the residue goes clear
Step back down through the speeds, 1200 then 900rpm, with lightening pressure to refine and jewel the finish

End results of correction shown above, the quality of the machine finish (clarity and hologram free) is then best assessed using the Sun Gun:









































































Moving on to the sides, and we start with the passenger side front wing and door befores...




































































































After shots, following both correction and refinement:













































































































Rear 3/4 on the passenger side before...


















































































and after...









































































The driver's side was much the same - front wing before...














































and after...























































Onto the driver's door and driver's side rear 3/4 before...








































































































































The door sills were pretty bad, as you can see from the strip light shots, deep marks to be removed...



















Alas, following two hits of 3M Fast Cut Plus, we decided that the removal of paint from this was significant and that further correction was not safe or in the best interests of the long term life of the paint finish - so an improvement, but not 100% correction on these sections...



















Following correction and refinement on door and rear 3/4 (including the sills):

















































































































































In our humble opinion, this is how the paintwork should have looked when the owner first got it!

The paintwork was waxed for protection, wheels protected and tyres dressed, plastics and rubbers dressed and the glass cleaned... not outdoor afters owing the the late finish time unfortunately, but we did get some indoor shots of the car ...



























































































This is the first of three Focus RSs to writeup - the next two are white and will be up soon :thumb:


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## Dan! (Nov 28, 2009)

Some car dealers really need to sort out the condition of these new cars ! Good job and write up !


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

Awesome work as usual, and awesome car! I'm doing a white one soon - I'm quite excited!

I think I want to buy one too, but blue or white... that is the question!


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## Goodfella36 (Jul 21, 2009)

do you know what i love about your details and no not the amount of pictures the honesty about not being able to get every rds out alot wont show this and im sure every car alot do there must be some rds that wont come out thubs up another cracking finish :thumb:


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## andrewst500 (Nov 2, 2008)

RussZS said:


> Awesome work as usual, and awesome car! I'm doing a white one soon - I'm quite excited!
> 
> I think I want to buy one too, but blue or white... that is the question!


great work i did a ug one last year fantastic car,get a white one russ:thumb:


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## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

Superb work and write up as always


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## rsdan1984 (Jul 31, 2009)

RussZS said:


> Awesome work as usual, and awesome car! I'm doing a white one soon - I'm quite excited!
> 
> I think I want to buy one too, but blue or white... that is the question!


or green?!

great correction work, the paint looks stunning in the finished pics!


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

Really not keen on the green


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## Incredible Detail (Sep 26, 2007)

GoodFella33 said:


> do you know what i love about your details and no not the amount of pictures the honesty about not being able to get every rds out alot wont show this and im sure every car alot do there must be some rds that wont come out thubs up another cracking finish :thumb:


It's not always that other people "wont" show this. It's that there is not always a need to. Of course there will nearly always be some marks remaining.

One problem is that with people not showing them and always making it looking like they done a "full" correction it gives people that don't know about detailing false expectations and they expect a full correction in a day with every single mark removed - although this is generally only people from "the internet".

Dave's posts are more about education and teaching people hence why he shows them and explains.

Good work. That looks a bit more than just the usual dealer bad prep. I'd have rejected that car if it I picked it up and it was like that and I'd still not be 100% happy with the remaining marks on a new car but I'm guessing he'd still rather have the car.


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## rds1985 (Mar 7, 2009)

RussZS said:


> Awesome work as usual, and awesome car! I'm doing a white one soon - I'm quite excited!
> 
> I think I want to buy one too, but blue or white... that is the question!


I'm having exactly the same ponder at the moment....:thumb:


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## Hoppo32 (Nov 18, 2008)

Fantastic work on an awesome car.
I want one so badly


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## Yun_says (Apr 8, 2010)

Looks stunning Dave, I'm sure he's got a white 1 or 2 in the pipeline


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## ross-1888 (Feb 22, 2009)

you would know yun......  lol 

i love these cars they look fantastic.

this write up is great dave keep em coming


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Incredible Detail said:


> It's not always that other people "wont" show this. It's that there is not always a need to. Of course there will nearly always be some marks remaining.
> 
> One problem is that with people not showing them and always making it looking like they done a "full" correction it gives people that don't know about detailing false expectations and they expect a full correction in a day with every single mark removed - although this is generally only people from "the internet".
> 
> ...


While I agree to a point here, it is my opinion that in an honest write up, and an honest demonstration of your work and what is possible and what is not, it is always required to show deeper RDS and what can and cannot be removed... Even in one of the more "modern-style" Studio posts that we get a lot more of these days which are simply adverts rather than demonstrations / "tutorials".

As you say, many who read posts and see the words "full correction" are essentially being mislead as to what is possible and this to me is wrong - hence why I try to ensure that my writeups show in full what happens on a detail, be that good or not so good. It is very difficult with many cameras to actually capture these deeper RDS - they are subtle, to a camera at least, and you require a camera that can manually focus in order to capture these marks - auto focus tends to focus on the brightest object, and pulls the light source into focus which in turn put the paint surface and hence the marks there out of focus so you cannot see them. Indeed, a finish can look very glossy, even orange peel free using a camera that auto focusses simply because of the plane of focus that camera pulls in. This is one reason the SLR comes in so handy, and why you see the "peely" shots in my writeups - to show, thoroughly and honestly, what is in the paint surface and what remains _after_ correction as well as before it. I hope this does serve to show people, and give a true insight into machine polishing paint correction and what is and what is not achievable.


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## toosmiles (May 5, 2007)

shocking before pics but finsihed perfectly,would love this car


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## rds1985 (Mar 7, 2009)

Dave KG said:


> While I agree to a point here, it is my opinion that in an honest write up, and an honest demonstration of your work and what is possible and what is not, it is always required to show deeper RDS and what can and cannot be removed... Even in one of the more "modern-style" Studio posts that we get a lot more of these days which are simply adverts rather than demonstrations / "tutorials".
> 
> As you say, many who read posts and see the words "full correction" are essentially being mislead as to what is possible and this to me is wrong - hence why I try to ensure that my writeups show in full what happens on a detail, be that good or not so good.


Dave, this is sooo right. I like looking at all the pros writeups. BUT, imho a lot of the time and on cars that are say a few years old getting rid of all the RDS is a PITA. As you correctly hint at (I think) the reality is a lot of one day details can surely only be enhancement details-the level of machine work involved to get rid of most RDS is huge.

I think the one problem I have with some pro writeups is that they can give the impression a miracle has occurred in say a one day detail. Whilst good for marketing this then (once again imho) devalues the service and leads to confusion when a potential customer gets quoted say £600 for a full correction and they are thinking hang on a saw a writeup of car looking far worse than mine being turned round in a day which list at say £250 on the pros site. This is indeed what prompted me to get my own gear to start with as I couldn't afford the outlay of 500-600 quid when I had the impression before getting the car inspected it would have cost about half.

As you say with the right camera in the right light even without editing a cars finish can be made to look great even without total correction.


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## DE 1981 (Aug 17, 2007)

Cracking works chaps, i know all to well the poor standard of fords dealership prep, up here AC ford are well known for shocking levels of prep.

Great write up as ever.

Gav


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## JJ_ (Oct 26, 2005)

Surely the condition is grounds for refusal. Some of the wash marks were very deep and it maybe doesn't leave a lot of clear for future improvements depending how long he keeps the car. 

Plus its not a cheap car, quite a lot of money to pay for a clear coat which is quite abused. 

As always Dave, great turnaround.


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## dazzyb (Feb 9, 2010)

great car and write up, really like the black wheels against the blue paint.
makes me like the blue even more, used to be a fan of the white the most.


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## Rick74 (May 31, 2009)

Another good write up and great work as always,I wonder whos up next.


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## Grizzle (Jul 12, 2006)

Very nice to many pics though got bored, i have one on Thursday in Blue


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## JasonPD (Jan 8, 2010)

Great write up and a stunning machine :thumb: 

Interesting to read the comments about the difference of a full correction and and 1 day correction. I find myself more and more these days pointing out to the customer beforehand what they should expect from a 1 day correction. I'm sure all the recent detailing publicity will help customers understand just how much work goes into a detail and the work involved to achieve these results.


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## bilout48 (Apr 10, 2008)

bravo en tous, bonne continuation ;-)


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## Incredible Detail (Sep 26, 2007)

JasonPD said:


> Great write up and a stunning machine :thumb:
> 
> Interesting to read the comments about the difference of a full correction and and 1 day correction. I find myself more and more these days pointing out to the customer beforehand what they should expect from a 1 day correction. I'm sure all the recent detailing publicity will help customers understand just how much work goes into a detail and the work involved to achieve these results.


There hasn't been any recent detailing publicity tbh mate. I never heard the word "detailing" mentioned once in any of the articles. Very clever by not mentioning. Means people won't be searching the internet for detailing.

I mentioned it to a few of my customers and they'd not even heard / seen any of the articles. All my friend and family had though and they text / call / emailed me about it.

(Sorry for going off topic a bit there Dave)


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## malky christie (Nov 15, 2008)

A lovely job Dave, looked lovely in the flesh, a beautiful colour :thumb:


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## G105ALY (Dec 6, 2006)

Nice work Dave. Loving the new RS's.


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

cracking work, and top write up as always fella


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## Phil H (May 14, 2006)

stunning work Dave!


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

very nice work there Dave :thumb:

i really like these cars and that one now looks sooooooo glossy


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