# MR2 Turbo, the swirl city edition**



## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

*Always had a thing for the MR2, this one isnt my style in particular but it's still a terrific car and quite the bandit around a race track. This MR2 in not a DD at the moment and usually spends it time in a garage, but it being over 15 years old it has its share or wear and tear.

One with the detail...

During the wheel cleaning process, a bit of a 50/50 picture if you will. The front wheel is cleaned and the rear isnt.










Now a more in depth look at the process on the wheels

Starting point, overall not bad. A bit of caked on brake dust but the wide openings between the spokes and tiny calipers made for easy access to clean the wheel inners all the way through (a very important thing to me)










After applying the Kleenol APC to both the wheels and tires, big plus about the Kleenol is its ability to be used on both tires and wheels safely. The cleaning power is pretty good but not excellent.










Using the swissvax brush to agitate the dirt on the wheel face, im still on my first swissvax brush since I bought it about 45 cars ago. Im really happy I found this brush, its gotten me though a lot of messy wheels:gidiup:










Then onto cleaning the inner wheel area using the spoke brush which is great for heavy scrubbing, an area where the EZ brush lacks big time.










Now scrubbing the tires










And finished off with the EZ brush which helped to agitate the brake dust behind the spokes, its flexible handle allows for easy cleaning in tighter areas like behind the spokes and brake calipers










Rear wheel before...










Rear wheel after...



















I then dried the inside of the wheels and removed any excess loose dirt with an old MF towel










Now moving onto to wash process. The MR2 was given a thoroughh rinse, after seeing that there was no prior LPS still on the car I did not need to focus on stripping it. I used the P21s TAW as a quick pre wash and also I used the Surf City road grime destroyer to loosen up some light tree sap and road tar from the ower panels and hood, specifially by the wheel arches... a popular spot for slung tar etc.










The grime destroyer is really a fantastic product!

I then used the 2 bucket method with grit guards to wash the MR2. My shampoo choice was Gloss It Gloss shampoo and 2 foam shmitts. The Gloss Shampoo suds up very well and is super slick.










After washing and drying the car I inspected the finish in direct sunlight to determine the type of correction work which would be needed. Under the time constraints a 100% full correction detail could not be provided but instead the owner aksed for my 2 step polish/correction job.

Here is the damage...:yikes:





































I wasnt too concerned with the finish, I assumed that is was the standard Toyota clear coat but the owner informed me that the car was repainted about 3 years ago and it does have clear on it. Judging by the flatness in the finish the re-spray was not very high quality.

I pulled the car in my garage and proceeded with claying, Meguiars mild blue was used in conjunction with the meguiars last touch QD at 1:1. The car was suprisingly un contaminated. I used about 1/4 of a claybar.










After the hood section was clayed...










Now it was time for the correction work, I inspected the finish under dual 500w halogens and the Infratech CM5300 hand held inspection light.

As I have been doing lately I grabbed the Cyclo orbital polisher to see if it was up for the job...after doing some spot sections I found the Cyclo was correcting very nicely so I stuck with it for 90% of the car.

The car was re-sprayed and the paint avergaed about 225microns

The correction process was as follows:

Gloss It extreme cut compound on orange cutting pads with the cyclo
Gloss It Evolution cut on yellow cutting pads with the cyclo
Gloss It One step machine polish on yellow polishing pads with the cyclo

Some before and after shots of correction




























The engine (not trunk) area needed compounding, the extreme cut on orange pads worked very well after 2 passes the finish was about 95% perfect. The beauty of the cyclo is that you can really lay on the pressure to polish out those deeper defects, I worked the hell out of the polishes with this thing:headbang:

after spreading with the cyclo










And after full correction




























Here is the engine section after polishing with no LSP, the clarity and depth was brought back at this stage










This is my favorite picture of this detail, I dont know why maybe its the lighting. Anyway here are the halogens inspecting the side panels. I keep them further away to see swirls on a larger scale.

The sides of the car did not need heavy correction work so I only used the gloss it machine polish and yellow pads, then followed up with green pads to finish it out



















After polishing, no LSP is on the car










The hood needed more attention than the rest of the car so I stepped it up to the Makita to ensure I could polish out the deeper defects. I used the Meguiars burgandy cutting pad with gloss it extreme cut and then finished it out with the gloss it machine polish using yellow pads on the cyclo again.

Here is the makita spinning at 1500rpm, I kept the finish slick with the gloss it QD so I could keep working the product, this method helped me to reduce any fine swirls or holograms left in the finish after compunding. I worked the gloss it extreme cut at 1500rpm before jeweling it down to about 900rpm. Then came finishing with the cyclo.










The hood after correction, before all the swirls were causing the halogens to reflect light in a dozen different directions, now its much clearer










The hood after polishing and an application of the Gloss It concourso polish, its bascially like a finishing polish that I apply via the cyclo. It has zero cut, its soul purpose it to add depth and shine to the finish. I think it works like a charm, even on white!










I then polished up the exhaust using 2 members of the Adams family 

Before..










During










After...



















This was an exterior only detail but the owner did ask if I could restore his faded dash. I used the Gloss It TRV cleanr and protectant via MF applicator. I only used this product once before on beige and it worked great but in black its outstanding... so far im very happy with just about every product I have used from that company. Soemtimes you find something new that just works..and ya stick with it!

Here is a 50/50...no prior cleaning is needed to apply this. And the finish really isnt shiney at all its just the other side was super dull.




























After...










After the dash I went back to apply the LSP to the car. I used Gloss It Gloss Finish sealant after applying the concourso polish. I used the Gloss Finish with a red pad and polishing pal. I used 2 coats and let it cure for about 10mins.










The tires were dressed with another gloss it product:sorry: Its called perfection tire gloss and it leaves a deep black finish on the rubber. I let it sit on the tires for about 5 minutes to soak in before running it in



















Worked on some finishing touches like the glass and trim










After buffing off the sealant I gave the car a quick wipedown uisng the gloss enhancer spray from gloss it also.

Here is the car all finished!














































Then I brought it out in the sun for some shots
































































The before...










The after...



















The back in the garage to wait for the owner to pick it up










O yea and notice the plate.. obviously the car is mid engined but being from NJ the play on letters was very creative










Last one before the owner drive off..










I have been trying to make these write ups a little more detailed and interesting for anyone who cares to read the process and not just look at pictures. All in all I was happy with the outcome and so was the owner which is all that matters.

As always thanks for looking and hope you enjoyed :thumb:

*


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## chron (Jun 1, 2007)

stunning turn around, very nice car, i've got one also in black, quite interesting as most of the bad areas of swirls on your car were in the same place as mine!

great job thanks for posting


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## scooby73 (Mar 20, 2007)

Excellent work! It really was badly swirled, but a great turnaround giving a stunning finish!:thumb:

Great write-up and photos too, thanks for posting.:thumb:


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Very nice indeed :thumb:


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## caledonia (Sep 13, 2008)

Well done that man..Finish is like wet glass. Fantastic finish what a difference.. Top class work :thumb:


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

nice work


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

scooby73 said:


> Excellent work! It really was badly swirled, but a great turnaround giving a stunning finish!:thumb:
> 
> Great write-up and photos too, thanks for posting.:thumb:


Im glad you enjoyed the write up. Thanks for all the kind words!!


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## TwiBlueG35 (Jan 12, 2008)

What a nice car and nice finish.


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## Guest (Oct 14, 2008)

great turnaround and write up, bet the owner was gobsmacked !


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## joe_0_1 (Apr 7, 2007)

Absolutely incredible!


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Great write and superb correction work there, mate :thumb: :thumb:

Just imagine how bad that paint would have looked if it'd been black or dark blue or red. White, along with silver is normally pretty good at hiding swirls so the fact that they looked so bad on that colour and that you've done such a fantastic job at removing them is all the more credit to you.

Great work :thumb:


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## saxoboy07 (Oct 20, 2007)

Stunning work:argie: the depth and the shine to the paint is unbelievable:thumb:


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

Eeeeexcellent!


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

caledonia said:


> Well done that man..Finish is like wet glass. Fantastic finish what a difference.. Top class work :thumb:


Thanks! I know white is tough to really bring out a deep finish on so I stacked up the LSP's and it really came to life even more after polishing. The gloss it stuff is incredible:thumb: Thanks for the kind words:wave:


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

meggerman said:


> great turnaround and write up, bet the owner was gobsmacked !


He swore to me after the detail he will never drive though an automatic carwash again :lol:


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## Rich @ PB (Oct 26, 2005)

Let's hope so! Super detail, great results and write up. I've been playing with Concorso on my own car, without topping it either. It imparts a pretty unique look, that is quite hard to describe - certainly different to the LSPs I have on the other major panels, and to my eyes, much more jaw dropping. Durability remains to be tested, but right now, it's beading and sheeting as well as the LSPs, two weeks and two washes in.


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

WX51 TXR said:


> Let's hope so! Super detail, great results and write up. I've been playing with Concorso on my own car, without topping it either. It imparts a pretty unique look, that is quite hard to describe - certainly different to the LSPs I have on the other major panels, and to my eyes, much more jaw dropping. Durability remains to be tested, but right now, it's beading and sheeting as well as the LSPs, two weeks and two washes in.


Yea the Concourso is a pretty remarkable product. I really never think of it as an LSP product, its designed for the LS part but not so much the P, dont get me wrong with just the concourso you can surely get several weeks of protection if not months but the gloss finish and signature gloss are known for their fantastic durability so thats why I use them. Either way the look it gives is incredible, I always top it with either the Gloss Finish or Signature gloss. Lately Rich in Vegas has been using Concourso over the LSP and says it looks really astonishing...

Heres a glimpse of what concourso applied over signature gloss looks like


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

saxoboy07 said:


> Stunning work:argie: the depth and the shine to the paint is unbelievable:thumb:


I didnt elaborate in the write up the clear coat situation. Th re-spray was done about 3 years ago, clearly it was not a professional job because there was some slight peeling on the lower panels and the hood was quite flat in terms of depth. The owner wasnt happy with the re-spray and figured nothing could be done to seriosuly improve the apperance but after the detail he said the car looked a lot deeper. Always great to exceed the customers expectations.


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