# Refined Detail - Lotus 2-Eleven



## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

:wave:

Here's one that has been a bit of an ongoing project whilst it's been off the road over Winter. Actually started this on New Years Eve and have worked on it amongst other jobs over the last couple of months, finally finishing it last week!

This Lotus 2-eleven has been used hard and has seen more than it's fair share of track action. It's also been sat outside a fair bit so was starting to look quite sorry for itself :doublesho

Photos are a little spasmodic in places due to work being completed at different times and the varying weather conditions (upon arrival it was persistant heavy drizzle all the time I was there, and I ended up getting drenched!)

So a few befores:



























































































Obviously snow foaming was out of the question, so an initial pre soak of Autosmart Hazsafe was applied and left to dwell, then rinsed off.

Wheels with Autosmart Smart Wheels, and later CarPro Iron X. Tyres with Bilt Hamber Surfex and 'arches'










Engine bay also tidied with Surfex:










(later dressed with Autosmart Finish)

Thoroughly washed with Auto Finesse Lather via 2 bucket method and lambswool mitt, then rinsed and loosely dried (baring in mind it was still raining!)

Tardis applied (2 litres used to shift tar and rubber strikes)










Track day label remnants removed:



















Rinsed, and 2 hits of CarPro Iron X also applied (obviously with heavy track use there was a fair bit of contamination from heavy braking etc)




























Exhaust polished with autosol & wire wool (after removing tar with Tardis)



















Rinsed and clayed with Bilt Hamber medium grade clay which also helped to shift further rubber strikes and other bonded contaminants.

Re-rinsed, wheeled inside and dried.

A few weeks later I returned to make a start on the machine polishing - the aim wasn't necessarily for correction, but more to shift remaining rubber strikes, bug etchings, staining etc. That said, a decent level of correction was also achieved from the combination of Scholl S17+ on a green hexlogic pad, followed by 3M ultrafina on matching pad.

Before / after shots aren't great due to varying light and the fact I was mobile so space was a little limited!























































The inner arch had to be hand polished as it was too tight to get a machine in there:




































































































Bit of a 50/50 of rubber strike removal on the front end PPF:























































Rear spoiler removed to gain better access to the rear end:




























With the machine polishing complete, the paintwork was given a thorough wipe down with CarPro Eraser and then 2 coats of G-Techniq C1.5 Silo Seal was applied, leaving a great, sharp, glossy finish:










The machine polishing really bought out a great clarity to the pearlescent white (I didn't even realise it was a pearl finish till I started the polishing!)

Roll on a couple more weeks (and a change of storage location!) and I was back to finish the interior. A thorough vacuum, followed by extraction & shampoo of the seats & seatbelts and deep clean of all other surfaces. Typically it was a pretty sunny day so the after photos really don't do the car or the finish any justice! 

Et voila! One transformed, rare road legal track weapon ready for sale:






















































































































As ever, don't forget you can keep up to date with my day to day work on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

Thanks for looking,
Rich @ Refined Detail


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## -Jamie- (Nov 6, 2012)

Awesome! One of these is on my list to own in the next few years!


Pearl white is awesome when its proper clean, Its meant to be dirty though LOL!


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## Summit Detailing (Oct 9, 2006)

Good effort Rich:thumb:

Drove one of these around Castle Combe a few years ago...outstanding! 

Definately makes my £euromillions£ garage!:thumb:


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## asbo (Oct 11, 2012)

That is one absolutely beautiful car!!!


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## Trist (Jun 23, 2006)

Stunning job!!


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## deni2 (May 4, 2011)

That looks just awesome, :thumb:.


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## CarPro.UK (Nov 22, 2011)

Tremendous work as ever! :thumb:

Andy


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## losi_8_boy (Aug 29, 2009)

Wow.... Great turnaround mate, stunning car


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## Wax-IT.be (Feb 3, 2011)

Great car and work!

Did you tackle the perplex window?


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## Moggytom (Dec 28, 2011)

That looks awesome mate ! What size engine is it ?


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## 20vKarlos (Aug 8, 2009)

Looks good Rich, been following this, but didn't realise you had it for quite that long 

I'd have just enjoyed sitting in it for hours on end! Or maybe that's why you had of for so long :lol:


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## craigblues (Jul 24, 2011)

Looking good is that! Nice...


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## Wazhalo31 (Feb 16, 2013)

What a great looking car. Awesome job done on it

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2


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## unique detail (Jan 26, 2012)

Nice work Richard:thumb:


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## V3nom (Oct 31, 2012)

Fantastic looking car and what an awesome job! I love seeing silly stickers and black marks vanish!


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## StamGreek (Oct 11, 2012)

he he ...toys for boys..lovely


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## Soul Hudson (Jul 5, 2011)

Fantastic work. Hell of a shine on the white.


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## CleanDetail (Mar 7, 2009)

Nice motor to work on!

Looks the part.

ATB
Nick


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## Dift (May 22, 2011)

I love rubber strikes, I'd have polished round them


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Thank you all, appreciate all your kind words :thumb:



Wax-IT.be said:


> Great car and work!
> 
> Did you tackle the perplex window?


TBH, no I didn't. The car was detailed on a set budget and was initially meant to be a single stage machine polish so certain little bits were left. With the screen being more just a deflector, a few swirls weren't too much of an issue in some ways as it wasn't affecting visibility! The key aim of the detail was to get it looking a little more presentable that it was when I started 



Moggytom said:


> That looks awesome mate ! What size engine is it ?


Thank you! I believe (courtesy of Wikipedia!) it's a 1.8, but supercharged (is the Toyota engine found in later Elise / Exige etc too) 252bhp, 0-60 in 3.8 seconds!



20vKarlos said:


> Looks good Rich, been following this, but didn't realise you had it for quite that long
> 
> I'd have just enjoyed sitting in it for hours on end! Or maybe that's why you had of for so long :lol:


Cheers Karl - I never 'had it' though - this was a fully mobile job at a client's house and was fitted in amongst other jobs hence why it's taken so long to complete!


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## 20vKarlos (Aug 8, 2009)

Refined Detail said:


> Cheers Karl - I never 'had it' though - this was a fully mobile job at a client's house and was fitted in amongst other jobs hence why it's taken so long to complete!


:thumb: i assumed you had the car at "yours" at some point as for the car being inside in one of your instagram photos.
on looking back at the photo's its clearly not your unit 

My fault entirely!


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## Beau Technique (Jun 21, 2010)

Nice work Rich on yet another rarity. Some nice shots of the defects before and the gloss after looks fab.


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## Pedro92 (May 5, 2011)

Fantastic ! great job....:thumb:


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Thanks guys, certainly another rarity, always a pleasure working on something a little bit different!


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Very nice:thumb:


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