# 1988 Aston Martin V8 Vantage, beautiful car + Swissvax Crystal Rock



## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

I haven't done any write-ups for some time now, but thought this one was worth sharing!

The car belongs to my Wife's boss and I'd been hoping to get a chance to do it for ages so when the opportunity came up I jumped at the chance! It is lovingly kept in an air bubble in one of his garages so it only sees dry weather but even so still needed a bit of attention so I did my best over the course of one Saturday in September.

To start with the car was like this:









































































First thing was to snow foam it










After this, the car was rinsed and washed using the 2BM with some Zymol Clear Autobathe shampoo, and a sheepskin mitt.

After washing it was again rinsed off, and clayed using some Zaino clay with some Zymol shampoo mixed with water as clay lube.

There wasn't really much in the way of Tar so Tardis for once wasn't used and claying alone had done a great job.

I also set about cleaning the Wheels using Absolutely Aluminium, and Hi-Def Diamond Edge Wheel Dressing made by Surf City Garage



















The wheels were in good condition but had some light staining and the finish was a bit dull really so I didn't have to use too much elbow grease.

Before pics





































I worked around the car one wheel at a time, so used the Absolutely Aluminium polish first on a MF applicator, working the whole wheel before buffing off then went back over it with Diamond Edge Dressing in the same manor on a different applicator, it was then buffed off and left (IMO) a beautiful shine and really nice finish.

The Tyres were dressed with the old faithful Meguiars Endurance Gel at the end of the Detail but here they are finished.























































The car was dried off, and moved into a covered barn so I was out of the threatening rain.

Under inspection there were quite a few swirls, only a very few light scratches but either way it was going to look far better with a decent polish.

Here was how it looked under lights




























The car was pretty much like that all over with the bonnet being a tad worse if anything but nothing too major...

I was very (and i do mean VERY) careful with this car as it's possibly worth more than my house to the right person but more importantly it really is a thing of beauty, and he really does love it so I wanted to cherish it as if it were my own.

The car was all taped up and polished with a 3M Yellow pad and some Menzerna 203S, this was giving great results and just enough correction without going too far, see below 50/50's

50/50




































It was polished and then refined with some final finish but to be honest it wasn't really needed as the power finish was refining nicely anyway but as it was a bit special I thought i'd do the best I could.

After refining there were some lovely reflections coming through:

Close up after polishing










A few shots taken during the refining stage (before all tape was removed)









































































As this really was a car I had fallen in love for I decided to break open my pot of Crystal Rock, I'd been saving it for something special and it's not likely to get much better then a V8 Vantage in my opinion.










I applied it all over including the aluminium bumpers, and left for around 30 mins before buffing off, and oh my goodness was it a pleasure to remove - Came off with one wipe and the panel looked wet! So nice to use that I gave it another coat anyway... I still only used a tiny amount so not too much £££ worth 

Anyway, there are lots of pics here of it finished, probably too many but I wanted to take the opportunity as hopefully there were some good ones out of this lot but I was really pleased with how it came out, but more importantly the owner was over the moon so I was really pleased to hear such good comments from him.

Here are the afters, thanks for reading if you've made it this far!


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## Claireeyy (Jul 20, 2009)

Stunning, bet he was chuft with that.


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## NorthernNick (Mar 23, 2011)

such a gorgeous, gorgeous car. nice job fella


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## Obi- Dan Karnubi (Jun 16, 2011)

looks spot on mate


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

Gorgeous! Nice job.


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## ted11 (Jul 8, 2011)

lovely


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## Bowler (Jan 23, 2011)

Thanks for sharing, love it!


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Looks amazing..


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## shaunwistow (May 13, 2011)

Top work & car


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## 123quackers (Jan 29, 2009)

stunning bit of English crafstmanship :thumb:

the front end low photo is quality :argie:

Deserves the Crystal Rock, sounds like its real easy to use too....

Great job, thanks for posting :thumb:


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## Janaindw (Sep 17, 2011)

Cool outcome.
It should have been satisfying because you like the car and work that u did on it? Afterall that's what detailing is all about,isnt it?


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## JJ_ (Oct 26, 2005)

That my son is a bit of tasty.


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## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

Superb, they still had the old school muscle car look t them back then....:thumb:

Great job....:thumb:


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## nick.s (Dec 21, 2009)

Absolutely stunning motor! Nice work there fella


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## Brooklands (Jun 12, 2010)

Now that is a lovely car - and great results too!


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## bigslippy (Sep 19, 2010)

Very nice work there , owner must've been chuffed :thumb:

As the car belonged to your wife's boss , was it a bit of excitement and nervousness doing this?:lol:


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## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

bigslippy said:


> Very nice work there , owner must've been chuffed :thumb:
> 
> As the car belonged to your wife's boss , was it a bit of excitement and nervousness doing this?:lol:


I was a tad nervous, but more due to the car not really who the owner was haha, he's a really sound down to earth guy so I was pleased he trusted me with it...

Best part is he has a rather tasty 2007 Vanquish S in the other garage too...... will do a write up for that one when i get the nod 

Thanks for all the comments though, absolutely love the look of this car - It's like the English version of a GT500 Mustang with a touch of class haha


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## North east Car Care (Jan 14, 2008)

Stunning finish Nick


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## Catho (Nov 18, 2011)

My favourite car of ALL time!!!!

Absolutely stunning piece of machinery, a true work of art to which you have done perfect justice.

My tuesday night is sorted now.....I'll be going over this post again...and again....and again..........

Thanks for sharing. :thumb::thumb::thumb:


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## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

Stunning Motor stunning....:thumb:

Part of plate shown in snow foam pic...


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## Joech92 (Nov 25, 2011)

Stunning


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## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

Stunning Nick, I saw this thread earlier and have been looking forward to reading it, I was not dissapointed! Well done buddy:thumb:


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## alfajim (May 4, 2011)

pure car porn


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## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

Thanks for all the comments, it's nice to know it's tucked up in an air bubble with all this crap weather.


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## President Swirl (Oct 23, 2011)

*vantage*

Awesome work on an awesome car:thumb: I have the menzerna stuff as well, and it's hard to fault. Was the paint old English soft or was it harder? I beleive the owner owes you a large drink mate:thumb:


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## crazysnakeman (Oct 12, 2011)

Beautiful car, and great job. 

Hope the wife get a nice xmas bonus after all your hard work!


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## Baker21 (Aug 7, 2007)

Nice work there Nick and it's nice to have the opportunity to spend some time on a classic like this.......:thumb:

Looks like a nice location for it as well and the end results speak for themselves........:buffer:

Thanks for sharing.......:wave:


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## Manu007 (Apr 28, 2011)

Nice job :thumb:


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## mk2jon (Mar 10, 2009)

What a motor,great pics,top job :thumb:


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## wigginke (Jan 20, 2011)

That truly demonstrates the value of vehicle detailing

Classic car, Classic Colour, with an eye catching finish


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## Vossman (Aug 5, 2010)

Claireeyy said:


> Stunning, bet he was chuft with that.


+1 :thumb:


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## Mark M (Nov 29, 2006)

Yes, love it! Nice work


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## Posambique (Oct 20, 2010)

B-E-A-utiful car, and you've made it look as it's supposed to


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Amazing job Nick, thanks for sharing! 

Such a stunning car and looks amazing in the afters. Those wheels looked like a nightmare! Would love to try Crystal Rock someday, but as you say it's for special cars!


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Great job fella.


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## DetailMyCar (Apr 19, 2010)

JBirchy said:


> Amazing job Nick, thanks for sharing!
> 
> Such a stunning car and looks amazing in the afters. Those wheels looked like a nightmare! Would love to try Crystal Rock someday, but as you say it's for special cars!


Thanks! Yeah the wheels were a bit tricky, but they weren't terrible condition wise anyway which helped 

I really enjoyed using Crystal Rock though, seemed to leave a fantastic finish but it was just so nice and easy to use, it spreads so far from a tiny amount but then buffs off easier then anything I've used and leaves zero dusting too!


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## Leopold (Jun 27, 2007)

Now thats a proper aston martin, all hand built pure quality...:thumb::thumb:


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## TheMattFinish (Jul 17, 2011)

looks amazing 

great result!!


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## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

Top work


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