# MK3 1997 Golf CL Makeover



## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

Here we have a family members MK3 Golf 1.4 CL in need of some care and attention..! A low mileage (only 80K on the clock) vehicle that is always parked near the sea and the owner lives in a flat so has no access to vehicle cleaning facilities other than the odd supermarket jet wash. As a result, its hardly ever cleaned ! Present are RDS marks, swirls, dents and dings galore (from the previous elderly owner). Dull lifeless paint and rusty wheels. Rust is also starting to come through on some of the panels, which I think will be the cars ultimate downfall. I only had the vehicle for one day so there are limits to what can be done. The request was simple. "Please clean and make the Golf shine as best you can in the time you have it - and if you can do something about the wheels that would be great " ! Car was dropped off at 8.15 and I started at 8.30am after a coffee. Twenty minutes for lunch and finished at 6.00pm !

So here was a challenge :buffer: ...














































Upon examining the interior I noticed that all of the carpets were sodden with rainwater. Not a good sign! Informed the owner and it looks like a leaking windscreen seal and top leading edge of the roof where rust is starting to bubble through are to blame. Advised that this will need addressing asap...























































Also found some sort of fungal growth as a direct result of water ingress. Nice ! For removal I did wear gloves !










As the car lives near the sea, and it gets mighty windy here, the engine bay was littered with sand...



















So let the fun begin -

1. Started off with the wash routine with a strong mix of snow foam and APC applied with the Gilmour, left to dwell, rinsed, and then the car washed using the 2BM. Various brushes used for the nooks and crannies. APC used in all of the door shuts and on the roof rails and seals. Car was then dried with an Uber towel. Car clayed and dried...























































And the rinse bucket after the first wash :doublesho ...










2. Interior: Quite a bit of accumulated detritus and general dust to deal with. Cleaned mainly with diluted 1 to 4 APC and a MF noodle mitt, and dried with many MF cloths. Dressed with AG Vinyl & Rubber Care. Managed to mop up as much water from the footwell's as was possible and left the car doors open to assist drying. Luckily the weather was kind with a sunny day and a warm breeze that helped enormously...



















3. Time to tackle the engine bay. Much rinsing and then use of mild APC to remove as much sandy salt as possible without removing components. While engine was still damp I dressed with Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care. Not perfect, but better than before...



















4. Next up were those wheels. The only logical approach given the use and age of the car was simply to remove as much flaking rust as possible using a Makita hand drill with wire brush attachments, then protect with silver Hammerite. Crude but effective. After much grinding away with the drill, the wheels were washed, dried and coated with paint...




























Looking a little fresher now !










Lunch break !

4. Polishing stage 1: Apologies  No time for 50 /50 shots during this stage - just the afters with LSP as time and deadline were looming. Car wheeled into the garage to assess the paint. To address the deeper marks I decided on Megs 105 on the rotary, using numerous pads from the CG Hexi-Logic range (Orange, White & Green). The paint was typically rock hard so I didn't chase out every mark as total correction could not be achieved in one afternoon. I just addressed the major time accumulated scrapes and scratches, aiming to round off the deeper ones as best I could.

5. Polishing stage 2: Car wiped down with IPA to asses progress and then every panel refined and jewelled with Megs 205, again on the rotary, this time using a Green Hexi Light Polishing Pad. Final light passes to close the set and avoid holograms. IPA wipe down to finish.

6. Glaze: Poorboys Black Hole applied with the Kestrel DA on a Hexi Black Finishing Pad to help disguise some of the deeper RDS marks that remained too deep to remove.

7. LSP: Decided on Zaino Clear Seal as the deadline was now in sight ! A quick wipe down with Zaino Z6 and then ZCS applied via a MF pad and left to cure.

8. All trim dressed with AutSmart Trim-Ultra. If there's a more cost effective, longer lasting trim dressing as opposed to the Nano-Coatings, then I'm yet to find one !

9. Tyres dressed with Gtechniq T1 for longevity.

10. Wheels painted with a second coat of silver Hammerite.

11. Car given a final wipe down with Z6.

Here are the pictures just before the owner arrived to collect. He was delighted with the transformation, exclaiming "Its like new - and how did you get that sort of gloss?" Nice to receive that sort of reaction - the effort made all the more worthwhile, especially as its only a humble older car, that many would consider not worthy of such attention.

And the final reveal...


















































































Thanks for reading through and hope you enjoyed the makeover of this old Golf wallflower ! :thumb:

A list of product used...

Valet Pro Snow Foam.
Meguiars All Purpose Cleaner.
Gilmour Foamaster II.
MF Wash Mitt.
Zaino Clay.
Duralgoss Shampoo.
Two Polished Bliss Buckets.
Envy Style Brushes.
Uber Drying Towel.
Chicago CP8210 Rotary & 3M Backing Plate.
Kestral DAS 6 DA
Hexi-Logic Orange, White, Green and Black Pads.
Meguiars 105 and 205 Combo.
Isopropyl Alcohol.
Poorboys Black Hole.
Zaino Z6.
Zaino Clear Seal.
Gtechniq T1.
Autosmart Trim-Ultra.
Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care.
Zaino Clear Glass Polish.
MF Cloths & Pads.
Hammerite Silver Paint.
Makita Drill and Wire Brush Attachments.
Henry Hoover.


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## Poul (Apr 22, 2012)

amazing what you hve done to and old car, it looks so nice now. Simply amazing work. Loved reading it and all the pictures.


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## AdnanKhan (Aug 16, 2012)

Superb mate. Absolutely amazing job. Nice to know the owner was mega pleased. 

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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## Natalie (Jan 19, 2011)

Huge improvement, well done :thumb:


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## athol (Oct 3, 2009)

Wow, certainly brought a new lease of life to an old timer, looks immense !


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## matt_83 (Apr 28, 2009)

Fantastic effort mate! :thumb:


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## jlw41 (Jun 5, 2011)

Great turn around bud :thumb:


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## FabrizioTDI (May 6, 2011)

Really GREAT JOB, fantastic result. What about a little wet sanding on left side? In order to do a perfect work?


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## cossienuts (Oct 14, 2008)

i love getting hold of old neglected cars like this and seeing the turnaround very rewarding imo

good work


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## kev a (May 23, 2011)

Great to see older cars, the difference is amazing


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Fantastic turnaround:thumb:


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## WEDEL.1 (Aug 11, 2009)

Brilliant. My favourite model Golf! Great stuff!!


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## Rizzo (Jan 22, 2009)

Very impressive mate, well done


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## veb (Mar 13, 2006)

Agree with all replies, great turnaround especially on that manky interior, and the wheels look sooo much better, quality work that:thumb:


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## Planet Admin (Jul 11, 2009)

Brilliant turnaround, fantastic work!:thumb:


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## dhiren_motilal (Apr 3, 2011)

almost like new, nice work mate


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## dandam (Apr 10, 2011)

Amazing turnaround, well done


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## Buxton (Apr 2, 2011)

I love threads like this, it looks amazing! Great job!


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## mattyslk (Jul 28, 2012)

Bloody hell!!! What an effort!! I need to get my hands on one of those bad boys! I bet it was a great feeling seeing the owners face! Great job.


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## BLADE (Oct 13, 2010)

It's nice to see an older car get a make over, Great effort.


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## NornIron (May 12, 2007)

Luvvly jubbly :thumb:


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## Barchettaman (Dec 16, 2007)

Awesome job, particularly in that limited time.
Love the wheels, ingenious.


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## deni2 (May 4, 2011)

Great improvement, looks miles better :thumb:.


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## keithyboy (May 21, 2011)

It doesn't take _that_ much to make a scruffy dowdy old car look an awful lot better. The wheels alone transform the old girl.


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## Rabidracoon28 (May 31, 2012)

Fantastic, easily doubled the value of the old dub, amazing turnaround on those wheels as well


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## paulmc08 (Feb 3, 2009)

Cracking job

what a transformation :thumb:


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## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to add a few comments - very much appreciated indeed. :thumb:

Agree - always satisfying to turn around a neglected older car. Very rewarding seeing the results, not to mention the owners reaction.

It was certainly an interesting day. And a lot of work due to the VERY hard paint - this increased the pressure of the tight deadline by some margin. Ideally a two day detail would have allowed more time to correct some areas that had been painted in the past where orange peel was present (perhaps wet sanding as FabrizioTDI suggested), but time was very limited. I would also have liked to take the wheels and tyres off and shot blasted the wheels to get a perfect finish.

I only wish I'd had the time to do the 50 / 50 polishing shots too. I did try and take a couple of snaps but the camera was struggling a little and I did not have the time (and space) to set up a tripod. I can assure you - the difference once machine polished was significant. Next time


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## Soul Hudson (Jul 5, 2011)

Cracking work in a day huge turn around.


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## bazz (May 15, 2007)

wow what a big improvemet great job feela and the wheels look much better


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## Mk3Brick (May 24, 2012)

cracking job mate i have one of these in blue and its been an absolute pig to get correct. mine is an even lower miler than this one, mine's hit 67,000 but it looked like it had done maybe three times that when i got my hands on her.

SMASHING JOB.


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## T.D.K (Mar 16, 2011)

Absolutely fantastic transformation. The wheels look terrific :thumb:


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## Manny_VAG (Nov 30, 2011)

Looks so much better, especially the wheels. Well done!


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## Mirko (Nov 23, 2009)

Nice turnaround!!
I hope you wont mind if I post my work from one of my lates threads,it is also MK3 Golf and exact same colour as yours!

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=201252
Cheers!


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## Neil A (Apr 18, 2006)

I love these threads, so much better starting with a complete nail than starting with a pampered supercar


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## Matty_L (Nov 19, 2006)

Its amazing what a difference a good clean and a lick of paint on the wheels can do!

Top job.


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## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

Mirko said:


> Nice turnaround!!
> I hope you wont mind if I post my work from one of my lates threads,it is also MK3 Golf and exact same colour as yours!
> 
> http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=201252
> Cheers!


Not at all - welcome :thumb:

I remember your thread and commenting on it as it was such a turn around


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## badman gee (Jun 22, 2011)

very good job , christ it looked bad at the start, vast improvement.


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## MLAM (Jan 21, 2009)

Substantial turn over there.

These threads are so much more interesting than a Lambo which already looks good and making it to detailing level.

I'm not surprised the owner was stunned, I bet he thought a respray was needed to get the gloss back.


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Wow, that's amazing! Brilliant job there, well done mate!

Wheels are fantastic and the T1 has left a superb finish. Added hundreds to the value in one day - thanks for sharing!


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## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

Top turnaround.


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