# VW Polo 9N - First detail (pic heavy)



## Bugghy (Jan 5, 2013)

:wave: After a couple of decons, waxing and local polishing, I finally managed to do my first complete detail. This car belongs to one of my friends and was bought as a used car, one month ago. It's a Volkswagen Polo 9N, year 2002, 1.2 petrol and has ~80k km. 80k km usage seems great, but the car was owned by some older person that was always "wiping"(as in scratching) it. Add 11 years to that and you got yourself a swirly Polo. The car was in a very bad condition, full of swirls, deep scratches, oxidation and had no shine at all. For a red car, it's a shame... My friend went on vacation for a week and left me the car to revive it. For some unknown reason, he trusted me to do this. :lol:

Here we are, the initial state of the car:

























Great car for my first detail; hard paint, full of swirls and I only have a DA Machine... :wall:
I used VP PH Neutral Snow Foam and snow foam lance for pre-wash. Wheels were cleaned using VP Bilberry and Meg's APC for tires and wheel walls.





Wonder what's up with this hole in the center of the wheel? Former owner had a homemade anti-theft system for wheels caps, using nuts and bolts...



Rear tires were very old and had lots of cracks. New tires are planned for near future.





Years of grime and mud from tires:



Second hit with APC:











Car was rinsed after 5-10 mins and went to 2BM wash. I used Flux Lavasciuga shampoo (not friendly to LSPs), mixed with a tiny part of degreaser to make sure the grime is gone. Kent noodles wash mitt and microfibre wash mitts were used.





To decontaminate the car properly, Sonax Full Effect, AS Tardis and Bilt Hamber Medium clay were used.

























Another 2BM wash after decon and the car was dried using Gentle Giant/Fluffy drying towel. Pics at this stage:











This is a failed attempt to fix some rust issue on the rear wing. Probably just a quick clean and spray painted the thing (using different colour).  I avoided this area when working, as I was afraid of making more harm.







Every door side was looking like this. Former owner smashed them into everything. Unfortunately, I didn't have touch up paint to attempt fixing this.



Cheap repair was also found on the bonnet. The clear coat was exfoliating on 1/6 of the bonnet. As I later found out, that part was repainted with a bit different colour and soft paint. Hooray! 











Some door:





The bonnet was extremely faded and swirly:







Rear bumper:



Driver's door:



Top:









I made a test spot on the left rear wing. It looked like this:







Hit it with Menzerna FG400 and yellow cutting Lake Country pad:



After second hit:



This combo worked fine for that wing, but the rest of the car was polished with two hits of 3M Fast Cut XL on a yellow cutting Lake Country pad or Sonus SFX-1 pad and two hits of Menzerna PF2500 on white polishing Lake Country pad or Sonus SFX-2 pad. The glossy pillars on doors were polished using FG400 on a yellow LC spot pad and PF2500 on a white LC spot pad.

Left rear wing:





Glossy pillars (or should I say swirly?):













Front wing:



Driver's side finished:











To the other side (not the dark side  ):













50/50 on rear door:





As I ran out of 3M masking tape, I went out and bought some Tesa masking tape, that was surprisingly good. Water resistent, didn't come off when polishing and didn't leave any residues.













I was expecting Fast Cut XL to produce less dust, but wasn't my case. Enough dust for everyone!


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## Bugghy (Jan 5, 2013)

Rear lights:









Rear bumper and boot lid:











The trunk lid was very faded and full of swirls.























Bonnet:





This is the line between original paint and repainted zone:











50/50s:













Bird droppings do nasty things. I couldn't work this out, just faded it a bit.



Repainted area:



This area was polished with Menz PF2500 on white polishing LC pad and Menzerna FF4000 on a black finessing LC pad, as it was a soft-medium paint. The repainted zone had less metallic flakes, notice the differences:





The border between original and repainted areas was faded:











This is the best I could do to the clear coat exfoliating areas. I was afraid of wetsanding on that type of paint.



The top had lots of severe deep scratches that were impossible to remove.











Ran out of masking tape again (I know, I use ****loads of it). Remembered I had a 50mm 3M tape somewhere and got it for the final panel (front bumper). Tried splitting it in 2x 25mm tapes, but failed miserably. :tumbleweed:









Headlights should have been polished, but the owner said to leave them for now. They weren't too bad but didn't fit with the rest of the car.



This ladybug came out from nowhere and sat on the bonnet. I safely moved it to some green zone and the car got it's final 2BM wash.



2BM washed the car using the same degreaser combo as before. Finish Kare 1000p was the chosen LSP. I applied two coats with one hour curing time in between. First time using 1000p and I loved it! Exterior plastics were treated with Poorboys Natural Look dressing, Opti-Seal on windows, Sonax Xtreme ReifenGlanzGel on tires and Mafra Nouveau Noir on wheel walls.







More pictures :argie: :



































Interior was also cleaned. Except for dusty plastics and couple of spills on seats, it was surprisingly clean. Mafra Pulimax was used for plastic and upholstery cleaning (with wet/dry Zelmer 919.0ST vac), Einszett ****pit Premium for dashboard, regular window cleaner for glass, Poorboys Natural Look dressing where needed and some beer for me. 











































Work time: approx. 40hrs

Stuff used:
Wash: Valet Pro PH Neutral Snow Foam, Meg's APC, Mafra Flux Lavasciuga, Fairy, Kent noodles wash mitt, microfibre wash mitts, Gentle Giant/Fluffy drying towel;
Decon: Autosmart Tardis, Sonax Full Effect, Bilt Hamber Medium clay;
Wheels: Valet Pro Bilberry, Meg's APC, various brushes;
Paint correction: Kestrel DAS6 PRO, LED Lenser P7 flashlight, Menzerna FG400, 3M Fast Cut XL, Menzerna PF2500, Menzerna FF4000, pads/spot pads Lake Country-yellow, white and black, pads/spot pads Sonus SFX-1 and Sonus SFX-2, Menzerna polishing yellow pad, lots of IPA and various microfibres;
LSPs: Finish Kare 1000P, Opti-Seal, Mafra Nouveau Noir, Sonax Xtreme ReifenGlanzGel, Poorboys Natural Look Dressing;

Friend was shocked with the results, didn't expect such a shiny car. Mine and other friends cars will follow. :detailer:
As this was my first detail, I'm open to criticism and advices. Please excuse any grammatical mistakes, not a native speaker.
Thanks for your time, cheers!


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## AaronGTi (Nov 2, 2010)

Very nice work.


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Fantastic work done..now looks great:thumb:


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## minnnt (Mar 5, 2007)

An excellent thread.  Nice turn around mate, you did your friend proud. It's a nice colour too. 

Why didn't he ant the headlights doing after you'd done all that lot?


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## ovoxo (Aug 12, 2013)

Great turnaround mate. My mums 9n could do with this treatment haha.


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## James Bagguley (Jul 13, 2013)

Simply stunning! what a result, really impressive.
Even if there were any mistakes in your wording (i didnt spot any, you have better English than me !) your pictures speak louder than any words, great work!


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## diesel x (Jul 27, 2013)

Excellent work. Quite a turn around.


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## CzechRich (Jul 25, 2008)

Great job. I used to use those Mafra products from Italy when I worked in Czech republic, brings back memories...


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## Natalie (Jan 19, 2011)

Great work :thumb:


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## nick.s (Dec 21, 2009)

Some superb results there and some epic 50/50 shots fella  Nice one!


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## Titanium Htail (Mar 24, 2012)

What a great presentation some very nice work, clear pictures from that step by step process, plenty of information in how each section was improved the reality of a challenging surface on each panel. We need more of this, much more, well done.

Thanks, John THt.


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## Bugghy (Jan 5, 2013)

minnnt said:


> Why didn't he want the headlights doing after you'd done all that lot?


I don't know why. There are many people who are afraid of headlights restoration. Not my car, not my decision. 



ovoxo said:


> Great turnaround mate. My mums 9n could do with this treatment haha.


What are you waiting for? 



CzechRich said:


> Great job. I used to use those Mafra products from Italy when I worked in Czech republic, brings back memories...


Haha, didn't expect anyone to know those products, as I don't believe they're imported in the UK. Some of them are great products, like Pulimax for upholstery and shampoos (I use them to strip lsp).

Thanks for your kind words! :wave:


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## tangledmonkey (Apr 9, 2012)

Nice work, especially for your first full detail! Looks ten times better!


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## WEDEL.1 (Aug 11, 2009)

I see no pictures??


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## spye435 (Aug 2, 2012)

No photos at the moment.


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## Bugghy (Jan 5, 2013)

Problem solved now. Thanks!


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## WEDEL.1 (Aug 11, 2009)

Brilliant!! I'll bring me Polo 9N around in the morning. :buffer:

Maris


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