# My Daimler V8 gets a little attention on a Saturday night...



## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

*2000MY Daimler V8 detailing project*

OK so I was looking forward to getting that Megs G220 out this weekend, then that blasted weather man scheduled some rain in!! Never mind, I had lots of work to do so I spent all day saturday at work then I decided in the evening I would attack the interior or something.

I'm entering the car in the NN region JEC show next month and want the car looking spot on. I am determined to take the post 90s class trophy I won last year and there is going to be some real competition this time. One of my fellow JEC members has spent a fortune on resprays and new parts/trim this year!... His car looks like new.... The only way I stand a chance is to out-detail him!!

So what I though was... the woodwork on my car's centre consol was a bit swirly and scratched and just maybe a helping of Megs Ultimate compound might be able to reduce it? Worth a try?

Now I'm a complete amateure so please forgive me if there are much easier ways to do all this...

So here is the woodwork in question. it actually doesn't look that bad, but trust me there are some scratches and bits swirls like you wouldn't beleive. Just wish I'd taken the time to photograph them properly... This picture is after I'd removed the selector, started having a go then thought 'Hang on a mo... shouldn't I take some photos!'...










So I removed the gear selector surround and used a cloth to apply Ultimate compound... but with little success. The scratches were far too deep!










The problem is I just couln't get into the areas that were scratched properly without getting product all over the leather. So I decided the only thing for it was to move everything inside the house!

The first and most important thing I did was sort out some refreshment... there we go:










Then these were my weapons of choice, the Ultimate compound was not strong enough to remove the scratches but my old tube of Autosol was spot on!! Then I used this Harley Carnauba wax. I was going to de-swirl the wood to within an inch of it's life them wax it to protect it.










First polish in a bit of Autosol to remove scratches:










After Autosol you can see no heavy scratches just swirls:










Then apply a little Ultimate compound:










Couldn't resist a 50/50 shot after Autosol & UC treatment.










Then this is after being waxed:










Also did my rear centre wood shelf (not sure what is is or why it's there??). The left side is as it came out of the car, the right side has had Autosol followed by Ultimate compound.










So I'm pleased with the results. I have now removed the remainder of the wood from the dash this morning and am polishing. Next job will be to clean all the interior leathed then re-fit all of this!!

Thanks for looking!


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## Black_Kia (Oct 6, 2009)

I would never have thought of using Autosol for that, but it obviously worked a treat. Lovely job


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## ksm1985 (Dec 27, 2008)

Same as above, nice work


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

Thanks Guys,

I have been cleaning away all day (except for when I nipped out for a McDonalds...) and am fairly pleased with the rear of the interior now. Have removed some awful stains and marks (where do they come from, kno-one ever sits in the back!!?).

Will post some more pics later, but I was wondering is there any product I can use afterwards to try and prevent stains/marking on the carpets, plastic trim and leather in the future. I was thinking along the lines of the old 'Scotchguard' but thought there may be a higher quality motoring equivenlent??...

Anyone got any ideas?


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## JasonPD (Jan 8, 2010)

Great 50/50 shots on the wood! :thumb: 

Interior protection, 303 do a great fabric guard and Nanolex a leather and textile sealant. Used them both and they give great results repelling liquid and making it easier to clean.


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## NovalutionGSi (Apr 19, 2010)

Nice work Chris! Great 50/50s, if you need a hand with anything you know where i am!


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

JasonPD said:


> Great 50/50 shots on the wood! :thumb:
> 
> Interior protection, 303 do a great fabric guard and Nanolex a leather and textile sealant. Used them both and they give great results repelling liquid and making it easier to clean.


Thanks, I'll take a look online and see what I can order... no chance of my local halford having anything like that!!

And I've also got to order a colour wash for the leather now as now I've cleaned all the grime away I can see it needs a touch up!!!


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

NovalutionGSi said:


> Nice work Chris! Great 50/50s, if you need a hand with anything you know where i am!


Thanks Adam,

Is it that pint of beer that's tempting you??


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## NovalutionGSi (Apr 19, 2010)

lol! it is very tempting..... but only if its a Magners....


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

NovalutionGSi said:


> lol! it is very tempting..... but only if its a Magners....


Oh no sorry it was Carlsberg... My office smelt of a combination of wax and stale lager in the morning.... yuck...


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

OK so sunday update now....

The weather was awful again, sunny then cloudy then rainy then.... I was in and out of the house all of the time, packing the hoover up then getting it back out again!!

So I thought this time I would go for the rest of the interior, starting with the back. I hoovered thoroughly using a nice new little hoover I purchased from TJ Hughes the other day!

Then I went for the carpet stains... I used Megs Carpet cleaner which I have found to be excellent!










This is the first carpet stain I found... before:










After:










And another....



















Then I cleaned all the plastics and wiped down the leather, parcel shelf etc. etc. I could not believe how mucky it all was and it took me ages... Cream coloured plastics mark too easily!

Got in all the seams of the seats and they were filthy!!










Then after a couple hours of thorough wiping and cleaning (and this was just the back.... phew...) I treated the leather to a little megs TLC...










Then that was the rear done although it's still waiting for the mats to go back in but I can do that tomorrow.

There is this scuff on the rear centre table that is annoying me... think I'll have to purchase some leather colour wash to touch that up!!










(You may notice that the wood trim is back in!)

I removed all the wood trim I dare (door trims are very difficult to remove without wrecking the door handle trim plugs so they can wait - oh and I'm not touching the glove box trim as there's an air bag mechanism behind it!!

This is the final little set:










Still not all gone back in yet....

So now the front of the car....


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

So I hoovered... again... this time in the front... and was sad to see that the front seats were in a hell of a state when you looked closely!!

There was filth in all the cracks of the leather!










So I used the Megs carpet cleaner (it cleans much better than any leather cleaner I've tried) to clean out all the cracks and get all the filth off the leather surface. It's hard to photograph this but the two below are supposed to be 50/50 shots:

In this one the leather has been cleaned on the left side but not on the right... you can see a faint line where the filth starts...










This is the other strange one... it looks like the leather is cracked on the bottom half and not as badly on the top. Truth is the whole bolster looked the same when I started and most of those cracks are actually fine creases with mucky stains in them. The difference when the muck is gone is startling.










The entire seat took me over an hour to clean and then it was on with some conditioner. Again I'm going to need some colour wash as the bolster has some areas where the colour has been scuffed....










But this is the finished drivers side seat... not bad for a 10 year old car?? It's the nicest interior I've ever owned so far, all the other jags I've owner have had terribly worn drivers seats!!



















So that's as far as I've got, going to do some exterior tomorrow if the weather allows it! I also need to clean and replace the fluffy lambswool mats (I love those):










This is the rear now I've wiped down after conditioning:










Will hopefully do another update tomorrow!


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## NovalutionGSi (Apr 19, 2010)

Bloody hell Chris! you have been busy. could you not do the glove box in the car? Love the Matts! definately suit your Car!


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

Well I did do a bit more yesterday, never got to use the G220 as the weather just wouldn't allow it, so I just gave the exterior a quick wash and dry when the sun came out at one time.

As for the interior I just kept finding more and more marks and stains when I looked closely, spent and age scrubbing and polishing bit of plastic and leather trim.

It's all back in now (all the woodwork) and the interior looks quite nice. Never got to the passenger seat, thats a job for next weekend. I did take a few photos as I was going along but went out last night and didn't get eh chance to post them. I will so when I next get the chance to upload them off my camera.

I've ordered a few bits, some interior sealant for the carpets/leather, some colour wash to touch in the leather and a chip kit to try and remedy some of my stone chips.

So I have lots to do next weekend and the car should be at it's best for the Show in June!

Can anyone tell me should I de-swirl the car before or after sorting out the stone chips?? 

Also does anyone have any tips for repairing stone chips?? I've ordered a colour matched kit for my car which is supposed to include the brushes and laquer.


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## Jim_964 (Jan 25, 2009)

Personally I would pop down to your local model shop \ art supply centre and get a couple of nice quality thin brushes for applying your touch up paint. Much better than the brushes that tend to come as part of the kit.


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

Thanks Jim, I'll see what they turn up like and pop over the model shop if necessary. Just been looking in the archives and found some tips... looks like I need to get myself some wet+dry sand paper!


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## Jim_964 (Jan 25, 2009)

Take your time with it and it isn't a difficult process. The hardest thing for me to get over was leaving dirty great sanding marks in my paintwork but once I had polished out the first one it was all steam ahead for the rest.


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

looking very smart!


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

Jim_964 said:


> Take your time with it and it isn't a difficult process. The hardest thing for me to get over was leaving dirty great sanding marks in my paintwork but once I had polished out the first one it was all steam ahead for the rest.


Yes thats the bit that scares me the most... the very idea of attacking my paintwork with sandpaper....

:doublesho


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## Jim_964 (Jan 25, 2009)

It does take a bit of getting over but 2000 grit wet and dry paper and you'll be fine.


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## twoscoops (Mar 26, 2010)

Superb read mate, like the writing style and the attention to detail is great. Those seats look unbelievably comfy, better than my living room! I would never have thought of using autosol on the wood, I would have thought it would be too harsh.

Looking forward to the exterior!

Tim


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

twoscoops said:


> Superb read mate, like the writing style and the attention to detail is great. Those seats look unbelievably comfy, better than my living room! I would never have thought of using autosol on the wood, I would have thought it would be too harsh.
> 
> Looking forward to the exterior!
> 
> Tim


Thanks Tim,

Am looking forward to the exterior myself, especially getting rid of those awful stone chips. When I clean and polish the car up they really let the car down...

Also I've had the G220 for a month or so now and still not really had the chance to use it properly, will be amazing to see how the car looks de-swirled!!

Have now purchased some Meguiars Unigrit 2000 and 3000 so I'm all ready when the weather improves!


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

OK so I had another go yesterday, started Saturday morning on the stone chips and the re-colouring of the leather seat bolster.

First I thoroughly cleaned the bonnet where the chips were with Quick detailer, then I took some photos of the chips:























































From this I noticed some of them still had wax crayon in them from when I touched them up a year ago, so I followed with paint cleaner then lastly some mentholated spirits to leave it super clean.

Then I looked over them again. One thing I did notice was that many of them are very very small and I doubt that I would have been able to get a layer of paint and lacquer into them. Therefore what I decided to do was mix the lacquer and paint together, hoping that the mixture would do the trick...

I then applied with a tiny artists brush I had purchased for £1.99 from an art shop. I did try the toothpick method but I didn't get on with it as the toothpick a toothpick does not hold much paint.























































So even after just touching the chips up, things look a little improved.

After this I waited an hour, re-applied another layer where required then after another hour I applied the lacquer. I planned to do the wet-sanding Sunday but then the heavens opened with rain… so this is as far as I have got!

So then I moved to my car mats. They ended up in the bath for a scrub and shampoo (well actually due to the fact that I have no hair, I have no shampoo either, so shower gel had to do the trick!). I only managed two of them (Driver and passenger) as it takes absolutely ages due to them having such a deep pile. The grit and much just kept streaming out of them, no matter how many times I shampooed them!!

Then I rinsed over and over and over then left to dry in the gorgeous Saturday sunshine.





































So the other thing I did was to re-colour my seat bolster.

First of all a couple of before pictures…




























Then this is the initial kit I brought down. The scuffmaster leather touch up paint/dye, some liquid leather leather cleaner and a wet cloth for wiping down, as well as a few dry microfibres.










After cleaning the area thoroughly with the liquid leather cleaner, I applied the dye with a cotton bud, let dry for 1 minute then wiped down the excess with the wet cloth. For the more deeply scuffed areas I applied some of the paint/dye with a toothpick and let dry, to fill in the area.




























Here are some afters although I must say that 24 hours later the colour seems to look better as it has dried to a better match to my existing colour.

This is still an improvement though!




























Well thats it for now. Am hoping to get some wet-sanding done in the week to finish off those stone chips!!

Thanks for reading.


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## Paul JC (Apr 15, 2007)

cracking work mate!


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

Thanks Paul!


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## Jim_964 (Jan 25, 2009)

Leaving the touch up for a few days is no bad thing to let the paint cure that bit longer, I left mine 3 days before I went back and sanded them down. Best of luck with the next stage.


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

Thanks Jim, well the weather looks a bit better today so I may give it a go tonight...

Shall have to see?

Like you say it will only cure harder the longer I leave it I guess...


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## londonmark (Jun 5, 2010)

*Inspirational*

That mate is a fantastic job, i followed you here from the Jag forum.

Car is a credit to you.


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

londonmark said:


> That mate is a fantastic job, i followed you here from the Jag forum.
> 
> Car is a credit to you.


Cheers Mark!

I can't wait to do a bit on the stone chips but it keeps raining!!!


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

*My Daimler V8 receives a little more work....*

So on with this week's addition….obviously the first thing I wanted to do was get rid of all those stone chip repair patches on my bonnet.

So I made myself bucket of water, soaked the wet & dry sandpaper for a little while then for to work - oh dear my lovely paintwork….



















So this all left my paintwork in a terrible state….. oh no….



















Even after a rinse and some quick detailer….. oh no my poor car….




























So anyway I got my G220 out and then my new toy… my detailing gazebo!!!










It was at this point that I got out another new toy I bought over the week, a 500 Watt site lamp. I actually only paid £5 for it because there was a fault on the computer system in screwfix and the manager was feeling generous, its incredibly bright but unfortunately no good.

I bought it because I was going to use it to spot the swirls in my paintwork, but when I shine it in the paintwork it looks flawless - even the bits where I know there are swirls when the sun comes out…. Guess I'm going to have to get one of those sun-guns… Doh! :wall:

So anyway off I went using Megs Ultimate compound and my DA.
All went pretty well, the sanding marks came out fine thank goodness. But I did find there were some spots where I had forgotten to sand! Also I have missed some stone chips - looks like I will need another pass at this.

Still anyway these are the finished photos, some of the stone chips are gone so well that I can't find them anymore, some are still very visible but at least they shone now and are blue instead of white!!!

Overall I am pretty pleased with the results…

BEFORE









AFTER









BEFORE









AFTER









BEFORE









AFTER









So they are not too bad results really?

Comments welcome!


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

Very good, fancy coming round and doing mine? :lol:


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

johnnyguitar said:


> Very good, fancy coming round and doing mine? :lol:


Hmmm... Leicester a bit far to pop round I think...

Tell you what, if you're ever in Norfolk, turn up at mine with a packet of chocolate hobnobs and I'll give you a hand with yours.... :thumb:


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

Well I can now say all the work was definately worth it.

My car did me pround on Thursday when it picked up a trophy, winner of Post 1990 saloons catagory. Apparently the attention to detail and the shiny engine bay were what pipped me to the top, the only criticism the judge made was that my pinstripes were not original and were too wide....

I'm so pround.... here's a picture of it, obviously I know I'm risking you all muttering on about my DVD collection in the background now...










Trophies a bit weird though.... last years is next to it (the normal looking one).

this year's trophy is actually a Steel Bell with flowery patterns... you can take it off the base and ring it and everything.... hmmm...

Here's a close up of the engraving, just near the Bell-end.










Cheers for all your help and tips guys!


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

Congrats on the win...

Lots of care and attention has paid off....well done!

:thumb:


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## NovalutionGSi (Apr 19, 2010)

Ohhh the Office Puns that could be used for "Near the Bell-end"..... but has most of DW will not realise that we work together i best not.......

As i said at work mate, great work after taking it to another level of "clean" this year, now, for next year..... Hat Trick time i think.... followed by maybe some inter regional wins???


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

The Cueball said:


> Congrats on the win...
> 
> Lots of care and attention has paid off....well done!
> 
> :thumb:


Cheers!



NovalutionGSi said:


> Ohhh the Office Puns that could be used for "Near the Bell-end"..... but has most of DW will not realise that we work together i best not.......
> 
> As i said at work mate, great work after taking it to another level of "clean" this year, now, for next year..... Hat Trick time i think.... followed by maybe some inter regional wins???


Adam, you know I thought the Bell end comment might set someone off but I never thought it would be you!!

Cheers!


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

c16rkc said:


> Hmmm... Leicester a bit far to pop round I think...
> 
> Tell you what, if you're ever in Norfolk, turn up at mine with a packet of chocolate hobnobs and I'll give you a hand with yours.... :thumb:


Well done on your win, with that kind of accolade, that's worth loading the car up with a couple of cases of chocolate Hobnobs and hitting the A47!


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## Jim_964 (Jan 25, 2009)

Well done mate, glad your hard work has paid off.


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## NovalutionGSi (Apr 19, 2010)

johnnyguitar said:


> Well done on your win, with that kind of accolade, that's worth loading the car up with a couple of cases of chocolate Hobnobs and hitting the A47!


make the date and i'll head the from the other way for a mini Detail meet! :thumb::driver:


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## tamandlee (Mar 14, 2010)

well done there mate, that was alot of hard work and I really enjoyed reading about it and how you did it. Congrats on the winning - but you are right it is a strange trophy, but a trophy none the less!!


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## c16rkc (Apr 15, 2010)

johnnyguitar said:


> Well done on your win, with that kind of accolade, that's worth loading the car up with a couple of cases of chocolate Hobnobs and hitting the A47!


Thanks Johnny, I didn't know you could get choccy hobnobs by the case...!



NovalutionGSi said:


> make the date and i'll head the from the other way for a mini Detail meet! :thumb::driver:


Well there will be a whole case of Hobnobs so I guess there's plenty to go round!



Jim_964 said:


> Well done mate, glad your hard work has paid off.


Thanks Jim!



tamandlee said:


> well done there mate, that was alot of hard work and I really enjoyed reading about it and how you did it. Congrats on the winning - but you are right it is a strange trophy, but a trophy none the less!!


Cheers for that, yes I am still proud of it... it really has got me wondering what next years will be like....


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## FrazzleTC (Jul 4, 2009)

Very well done, certainly deserved given your attention to detail!


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## twoscoops (Mar 26, 2010)

Congrats on the win! It is nice to have all the hard work appreciated!

Tim


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