# Refined Detail - Aston Martin V12 Vantage - Major Enhancement Detail



## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

:wave:

Thanks for taking the time to read another thread from Refined Detail!

I was contacted by the owner of this car who had recently had some paintwork carried out on the car, and it was returned with the usual bodyshop hologrammes. The paint's also fairly soft so had it's fair share of wash marring and swirls inflicted by the previous owner and the odd courtesy wash at the dealers.

After an initial inspection, a customised detail based on my Enhancement Detail was agreed upon - upgrading the machine polishing stage to a 2 stage procedure in order to improve further upon the paint defects.

No 'before' photos as the car was already in a very clean, presentable condition as the client looks after his cars incredibly well already...

Prior to any machine work, the car was put through the usual meticulous Refined Detail wash regime:

Door shuts, fuel flap cleaned with detailing brushes and all purpose cleaner:



















Tyres & arches also degreased, wheels cleaned with a very mild mix of all purpose cleaner (no wheel cleaners used here due to the carbon ceramic discs)










Pre-rinsed, then snowfoamed:



















Badges, vents and other fiddly bits cleaned with a detailing brush whilst the snowfoam dwelled:



















Re-rinsed, then on to the wash:

2 bucket method, grit guards, PH neutral shampoo and lambswool mitt to wash the paintwork



















Rinsed, and loosely dried, before tar & glue spots removed with a dedicated chemical:










Re-rinsed, and clayed with a mild clay (which pulled off very little in terms of contamination, again a testament to the condition in which the client keeps his cars)










Re-rinsed, misted with quick detailer and dried with ultra soft microfibre towels.

One area of particular concern were the wide side skirts which take a fair bit of beating when entering / exiting the vehicle, and were also heavily marred after it's last service courtesy wash.

Surrounding panel gaps taped up, and on to polishing. The initial correction stages were carried out with the new Meguiars Microfibre DA system. (Spot pads used on the skirts, pillars, boot lid etc, 5" on the remaining bodywork)

Before:










After:










The rear arch also had some strange markings on it which weren't removed by the clay or during the wash routine. Thankfully these polished up nicely though:

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After:










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After (prior refinement, hence the minor hologrammes):










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Once the car had been fully prepped, it was clear a heavy filler based polish had previously been used, as this wet sanding mark was also found:










and after:










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Typically the sun didn't want to play ball at all over the 2 day detail, so even hologrammes were difficult to spot. All paintwork was thoroughly refined using Meguiars 205 via the DA which added further depth and clarity to the paintwork. Checking under the Brinkmann, halogens and the odd glimmer of sunlight, the paintwork was looking much healthier, and had corrected up nicely for an enhancement detail.

LSP was courtesy of:










Whilst this was curing, finishing touches such as dressing tyres, arches and trims, polishing exhausts, cleaning & sealing glass, and polishing the grille were carried out,

Wolfs Body Wrap buffed off and car wheeled back outside to reveal the finished article after 14 hours hard graft (typically a distinct lack of sun again I'm afraid!)



























































































A big thank you to the client and his wife for their hospitality and great car chat over the 2 days, much appreciated!

Thanks for looking,

Rich @ Refined Detail


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## DetailMe (Jan 13, 2011)

Rich that's looks lovely and glossy now mate! Nice work. How do you find BW, I'm yet to use it but am intrigued. Im a zaino sealant man but I may give it a try! 
Chris


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## Stu_RD (May 1, 2011)

Perfect...


...That is all!


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## badman1972 (Jun 24, 2010)

Beautiful work mate, great corrections and a fantastic car now looks stunning in the afters :thumb:


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

DetailMe said:


> Rich that's looks lovely and glossy now mate! Nice work. How do you find BW, I'm yet to use it but am intrigued. Im a zaino sealant man but I may give it a try!
> Chris


Thanks Chris 

I'm a huge Zaino fan myself too, but I've been trialling Bodywrap for a few months now and it continues to impress. Got 3 coats on my own car and it beads / sheets very well a few months down the line and gives a great glossy finish. Very easy to apply / remove and a small amount goes a long way too :thumb:


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## Scrim-1- (Oct 8, 2008)

Stunning car


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## dazzyb (Feb 9, 2010)

great work on a stunning car, looks fantastic


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

Nice work Rich, did you find much in the way of factory DA marks/Micro marring? 
Just completed a Vantage last weekend and it was horrendous, surprised it got out of the factory, actually I'm not surprised.


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

Nice work rich lovely cars to work on these, have to agree with Rob da sanding marks are free on most Astons, wonder if it will be different on the one-77 

Baz


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## Saqib200 (May 13, 2008)

Really nice, looks great in the afters.


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Thanks guys, much appreciated!

Rob & Baz - there weren't many tbh and I was keeping an eye out for them - the car has had a reasonable amount of paintwork though so it would seem most of them have been painted over or removed during later refinishing work! Many of the other Vantages and DB9's etc I have worked on in the past have suffered pretty badly though.


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## minimatt1967 (Aug 29, 2011)

What a machine, what a finish, a credit to you sir! :thumb:


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## ianFRST (Sep 19, 2006)

awesome, nice work


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## MattJ VXR (Aug 11, 2008)

Looks gorgeous, very nicely finished off :thumb:


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## 20vKarlos (Aug 8, 2009)

nice one Rich!!!


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## Demetrios72 (Jun 27, 2011)

Very nice work guys :thumb:
Cracking motor


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## woodymbr (Mar 8, 2009)

Oh my word!


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Great job buddy.


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## Bowler (Jan 23, 2011)

Great looking car with the engine to match. Super job on the detailing. 
Should be compulsory for all new Aston owners to have car proffesionally detailed as soon as it leaves the factory


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## CliveP (Feb 1, 2009)

Very nice indeed, has come up lovely!

I have to allocate some of my pension pot to one of these cars! 

Regards,
Clive.


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## Beau Technique (Jun 21, 2010)

Looks very swish in the afters Rich.


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## 500tie (Oct 15, 2009)

Looks lovely mate good work


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Thanks for all your kind words guys, appreciated as ever.

Certainly a stunning car, I love working on Aston Martins!


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## Demetrios (May 8, 2011)

Cracking job there mate !!!


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## scoobymad (Jun 14, 2011)

Ace work,couldn't help but spot the scooby though hehe


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## Ali (Apr 5, 2006)

What an amazing looking car.


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

scoobymad said:


> Ace work,couldn't help but spot the scooby though hehe


Well spotted, there's 2 if you look carefully 

The hawkeye one will be up for sale very shortly I believe - another stunning car that one!


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## rgDetail (Jul 16, 2009)

Lovely finish matey


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## AMGreg (Oct 16, 2011)

I had the opportunity to see the results in the flesh and they were truly amazing. The car looked spectacular. Great job Rich!


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Thanks for your kind words Greg, much appreciated!


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## Posambique (Oct 20, 2010)

Thanks for sharing! Wonderful


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## 888-Dave (Jul 30, 2010)

Absolutely superb Rich, Who needs the sun when your turning out a finish like that. Stunning.

I see your using the MF system to good effect then, like it?

ps. like the new logo's bud, lets see if they get copied eh


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## prokopas (Apr 29, 2010)

Great work and fantastic finish. Well done


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Thanks guys, appreciated as ever.



888-Dave said:


> Absolutely superb Rich, Who needs the sun when your turning out a finish like that. Stunning.
> 
> I see your using the MF system to good effect then, like it?
> 
> ps. like the new logo's bud, lets see if they get copied eh


Cheers Dave! Was typical but the sun just didn't want to play ball over those 2 days 

A big fan of the DA MF system, have used it to good effect several times now - it will never totally replace a rotary for me, but definitely has a place in my 'artillery'!

Re. logo - cheers! Will put a proper post up about it all when I have time with the overall new look, but yes here's hoping it doesn't end up being copied again! :devil:


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## Scaff (May 17, 2011)

Great results as usual Rich! glad to see the da mf system being used in these details as I've just purchased myself the kit


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## jfletch121 (Apr 11, 2011)

absolutley mint work mate looking great


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Lovely.Nice work.Cracking reflection and gloss in the 2nd of the after pictures.


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## thedonji (Oct 7, 2011)

Wow rich really good work! 

Sent from my Nexus S4g using Tapatalk


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Thanks chaps, the depth that Aston paint has to it once all polished up is awesome!



Scaff said:


> Great results as usual Rich! glad to see the da mf system being used in these details as I've just purchased myself the kit


Cheers Ben  Good luck with the DA kit, if you get stuck at all, feel free to give me a shout for a few pointers :thumb:


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## Scaff (May 17, 2011)

Nice one mate


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