# Lotus Evora Enhancement and SiRamik Surface Coat - British Stunner!



## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Hi Guys,

This weekend saw me tending to a really stunning British Sports car, quite a rare beast but a lovely car. This particular Evora is owned by an enthusiast who has owned an Elise before this, and having had it a couple of years he wanted it smartening up a bit, the swirls removed and a good layer of protection laying down.

I'd never seen one of these up close but I remember reading the reviews of them when new, it was EVO Magazines Car of the Year back in 2009, the excellent Chris Harris stating...

"The Evora is something quite unlike any other sports car on sale in the UK in that it refuses to acknowledge the sacrifices and compromises that have somehow become acceptable in recent years. At the centre of this lies the relationship between ride, steering and roadholding - traditional areas of excellence for Lotus."

Anyway, the car is a well used example showing more than 36k on it's clocks, and was looking in need of a good detail...















Under the lights in our warehouse you could see the condition of the paint. There were sanding marks, the odd deeper mark (not many at all) and plenty of surface swirls. The front offside wing was the worst area of the car...







So, early on Saturday morning I got cracking, starting with the wheels. They were pretty grim, needing 2 hits of AS Smart Wheels to get things moving. After agitating with various brushes, 2 hits of Dodo Ferrous Dueller was required to remove some ingrained brake dust, with a couple of hits of ValetPRO Citrus Tar & Glue to get them to an acceptable level...



Whilst I was at it, the tyres and arches got a good scrub with Megs Super Degreaser and appropriate brushes...



Next, the car was Snow Foamed with Dodo Apple iFoam with a touch of APC thrown in to aid stripping the dirt on the surface...



After the foam had dwelled for 5mins or so, it was rinsed and the car was washed using a Microfiber Madness Incredisponge, Britemax CleanMAX shampoo and the 2BM. I then soaked the car in Dodo Ferrous Dueller which was left to dwell for 10 mins or so whilst the hero (Chris @ Waxamomo) arrived with a hot coffee for me! After rinsing, the car was foamed again and a Carbon Collective Exfoli-Mitt was used to remove any remaining contaminants from the surface, leaving it nice and smooth.

Back in the warehouse, it was dried using a couple of clean towels and my warm air dryer, ready for the polishing stage.



I then spent a lot of time taping up all of the panel gaps/grills and vents to stop polishing dust getting into awkward places...



For a bit of a break, I decided to take care of a couple of small jobs before picking up the polishing machine, so I polished the exhausts with AF Mercury and a microfiber cloth, and dressed the tyres with the first of 2 coats of Gyeon Tire.



Under the lights it was clear that the car wasn't too badly swirled and what was there was pretty light. There was the odd deeper mark but nothing drastic. The roof panel was littered with DA sanding marks but again, they weren't too heavy. As the panels were aluminium I couldn't take any paint readings, so the most important thing was patience, care and removing as little paint as possible.



Thankfully, the paint was beautiful to work with. Medium/Soft, but robust enough so that no further marks were inflicted during wipedowns. Most of the car was taken care of with my favourite combo of Scholl S40, a small dab of S17+ to give a tiny bit of extra cut, using a Dodo black FIN pad.



After a single long set, it looked like this...







Before...



50:50...





This removed the hazy, dull looking finish to a crisp, glossy black which is exactly what we wanted!

After I'd done the whole rear end I pulled the car outside to check my work in the fading evening sun...





Back inside to carry on polishing..





One deeper mark remains but without the means of measuring the paint depth, I didn't want to take it any further.

After each set, the paint was wiped down with Gyeon Prep in order to prepare the panel for the SiRamik Surface Coat. I do have a sample of SiRamiks own Nano Paint Prep polish which I'll be using on my own Golf GTI for it's winter prep, but I didn't have time to test it over the weekend.

Once the whole car had been polished I gave the car another wipedown to ensure a perfectly clean base, using new cloths throughout...



The owner of the car wanted something that would provide ease of washing and maintenance for a good while, and having been incredibly impressed with SiRamik since applying it to my Wife's 1-Series, it was the only choice.



I loaded a few drops on to the applicator and spread into the paint. What I like about this is the viscosity of the liquid. It's a bit thicker than the usual sealants and therefore easier to see where its been applied.



Applied to half a panel at a time, and immediately buffed with one clean cloth, following up straight away with a second clean cloth to remove any final smears.



Once it had been applied and removed to the whole car it was 9.15pm so that was enough for one day.

Back the following day to take care of the other jobs...

The seats and leather on the sills had a light dusting of Chemical Guys Inner Clean and were then steam cleaned, before being gently wiped with a cloth...







I'm afraid I couldn't do much about the wear on the bolster. When you get in and out its easy to see why its there!

Dash was steam cleaned, then the following jobs were carried out...

- Interior Dressed with Wolf's Silk Milk
- Glass cleaned with AF Crystal inside and out
- All exterior glass sealed with Dodo Supernatural Glass Sealant
- Wheels and trim sealed with CarPro DLUX
- Door/Boot shuts cleansed with AF Tripple3



I also gave the top of the engine compartment a wipe over and cleaned the glass at the back of the bulkhead...



A few more random pictures and some before/afters...

Once I'd given the car a final wipedown, it was time to take it out for some after pictures. A bit of a shame that the sun had gone in and it was a bit dull, it really did look lovely!





















I couldn't resist getting the DB9 out for a picture of the 2 British classics together!









To finish off, here's a before/after of the car...



It was lovely to spend some time up close with something a bit different. A very nice car indeed. The owner was also very happy when he picked it up yesterday afternoon!

Thanks very much for reading...

Jon


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## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

Fantastic finish  (although you could have given the pedals a scrub )

and these are another car in my list of cars that really dont suit a front numberplate


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

MadOnVaux! said:


> Fantastic finish  (although you could have given the pedals a scrub )
> 
> and these are another car in my list of cars that really dont suit a front numberplate


Thanks very much. You're absolutely right about the front numberplate, even more so when you see the level of design they've gone to with the air being sucked in to the front bumper, fans in the front directing it up and over the channel in the roof and over the rear spoiler! The number plate reduces the surface area of the grill restricting the airflow!

I'm afraid the pedals needed a little more than a scrub. Although it looks like dirt, it's actually wear on the painted pedals so they could have done with a quick spray of silver!


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## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

Lovely car and stunning finish :thumb:


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## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

JBirchy said:


> I'm afraid the pedals needed a little more than a scrub. Although it looks like dirt, it's actually wear on the painted pedals so they could have done with a quick spray of silver!


Ahh ok i'll let you off then! ha ha


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

Great job mate.


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## Markg2013 (Jan 24, 2013)

Not even an S model Lol. 

Great work and loved mine for the short time I had it. I also had a black Elise before the Evora and the paint marked just by looking at it.


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Very nice job:thumb:


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## T.C (Sep 1, 2014)

Brilliant write up!

Stunning car in a fantastic colour!


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## Blueberry (Aug 10, 2007)

Great write up as always Jon on such a glorious looking car. Top work


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## AndyA4TDI (May 7, 2012)

You have skills mate, you always turn out a stunning looking motor.


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

AndyA4TDI said:


> You have skills mate, you always turn out a stunning looking motor.


Incredibly kind of you to say Andy, thanks!


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## V5Ade (Jul 2, 2006)

The before and after look like completely different cars! Awesome job.


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Top notch as always JB. You know i like me some extreme taping ha ha. Very thorough and great finish


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## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

Spot on JB.


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

stangalang said:


> Top notch as always JB. You know i like me some extreme taping ha ha. Very thorough and great finish


Thanks a lot Matt, it did take me a good half an hour to get it taped up but I'd like to think it saved much longer than that in removing the polish dust.

Hope to have a catch up soon!


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## MDC250 (Jan 4, 2014)

It looked really good taped up, blue on black is a nice combo.

Dash looks pretty modern considering, surprised me a little. 

Great job and nice to see a good combo of products used.


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## 3dom (Oct 30, 2012)

As always, great work


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## steve from wath (Dec 12, 2008)

Very nice Jon
The sealant will see it protected for ages no . Locking om all your hard work and gloss, 
Using the nano , it only needs a very small amount once the pad is primed. You'll he able to work it for age . So increasing the gloss even more thru jeweling,another bonus is no need to wipe down, glasscoat can he added straight on top, again lovely piece of workmanship


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

steve from wath said:


> Very nice Jon
> The sealant will see it protected for ages no . Locking om all your hard work and gloss,
> Using the nano , it only needs a very small amount once the pad is primed. You'll he able to work it for age . So increasing the gloss even more thru jeweling,another bonus is no need to wipe down, glasscoat can he added straight on top, again lovely piece of workmanship


Thanks a lot Steve, I'm so impressed with the SiRamik products, thanks again for introducing them to me.

I'll be giving my GTI a full winter detail with the Nano Polish with SiRamik on top so I'm very much looking forward to that.


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## President Swirl (Oct 23, 2011)

Great looking car, excellent work. For me, it would look even better in blue.


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## sm81 (May 14, 2011)

Top work! How siramik coating differs from CQ UK?


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## tricky tree (Apr 15, 2013)

Great work there...and a great car too.


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

sm81 said:


> Top work! How siramik coating differs from CQ UK?


Hi buddy,

To be quite honest I don't know too much about CQUK as I've never used it, however what I can tell you is that SiRamik has over 70% active ingredient content, it has a 110degree water contact angle and the water behaviour I've experienced is quite incredible. I'm conducting a test on my Wife's BMW where I applied it side by side against GTechniq C1 in early September. Even at these early stages, SiRamik is simply smashing C1 already.

Another thing to mention is that there is no harsh scents or solvent smells in SiRamik, so you can apply it and not get a headache which is commonly associated with this type of product.

I've tried a few of these sealants... Wolf's Bodyguard, GTechniq C1/EXO, Definit1ve HCC PRO, and I'm currently testing Gyeon RIM, Carbon Collective Wheels, CarPro DLUX and SiRamik is the best one I've used.

Here are a couple of pictures for you... The Gloss...



Beading... C1 on the right, SiRamik on the left. A clear difference...



SiRamik near, C1 far





In short, it's amazing and if it offers a 12 month durability I'll be very happy!


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## davo3587 (May 9, 2012)

Fantastic job Jon, lovely looking car. Nice to see it next to the DB9. Keep the write ups coming Jon.


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## Rascal_69 (Sep 20, 2009)

Are these gel coat as well? 

How did you find it? Abit different to polish? 

My exige is all fibreglass.


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Rascal_69 said:


> Are these gel coat as well?
> 
> How did you find it? Abit different to polish?
> 
> My exige is all fibreglass.


Yes I'd read it was gel coat, but I couldn't really tell by looking. To be quite honest I wouldn't know what to look out for.

All I noticed when polishing was that the paint was beautiful to work with. It was soft enough to allow correction with Scholl S40 and a finishing pad to the levels shown, but robust enough not to inflict marks when wiping down. Probably the nicest and most rewarding paint I've come across.

Would love an Exige, fantastic weapon! :driver:


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## gibbo555 (May 3, 2011)

Lovely work Jon, was just thinking looking at it that looks like nice paint to work with, lovely colour, pity the sun wasn't out for the finished pics. Another top notch write up.

Surprised in the different shade of the beads of the 2 sealants.


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## WP-UK (Apr 24, 2011)

Looks great, those seats came up a treat too!


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## Limpsfield (Oct 20, 2014)

This is my Evora and the first time I have had a car detailed.

Jon really transformed it - it looks showroom fresh now and the best it has looked in the two years I have owned it. A great job.


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Limpsfield said:


> This is my Evora and the first time I have had a car detailed.
> 
> Jon really transformed it - it looks showroom fresh now and the best it has looked in the two years I have owned it. A great job.


Many thanks David, that protection should keep it looking as good for a long time! :thumb:


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

Jon, were can you get it from??????


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

chongo said:


> Jon, were can you get it from??????


The SiRamik? Search Russel Briggs from Reflectology on Facebook. He's taking care of the distribution of it!


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

Lovely work mate


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## luke w (Dec 11, 2012)

Great work as usual mate!


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Thanks for the comments chaps!


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## clio197 (Sep 23, 2014)

magnificent


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