# Old cars need loving too! Full Detail: Perodua Kelisa/Daihatsu Cuore



## fishbonezken

Yes it is...it is a Perodua Kelisa, the same model that Clarkson ridiculed in this video:




:lol:

The car upon arrival.


















































































Some of the products to be used.










So let's start off by getting the wheel, tires and wheel wells cleaned. Wheels cleaned with ValetPRO Bilberry Wheel Cleaner (diluted 3:1), tires and wheel wells cleaned with Osren Degreaser FX (diluted 2:1). Brushes used are ValetPRO Chemical Resistant Soft Brush and ValetPro Long Reach Wheel Brush. Both brushes were a joy to use, especially the long reach brush, stiff enough to scrub and flexible enough to bend.




































































































Panel gaps, rubber and plastic trim brushed with Osren Degreaser FX (diluted 2:1).














































Then I noticed all the glass had watermark etchings, so I used Osren's Watermark Remover powder and a 3M Microfine sanding sponge. My technique still needs to be improved on this one as it didn't fully remove all the watermarks, but did significantly reduce it and cleaned the glass, preparing it for coating. Firstly, scrubbed with the sponge and powder, rewashed with shampoo and squeegeed dry.









































































Car is then washed with ValetPRO Wash and Protect shampoo, followed by Osren Tar Remover on lower panels and wheels, lastly paintwork smoothened with Osren Magic Clay Cloth.



















ValetPRO's Wash and Protect shampoo definitely added something on the surface as the glass which wasn't repelling water at all after the cleaning now had a slight water beading effect to it, with just one wash!





































With the paint squeaky clean, we now inspect it. Bonnet was in the worst condition, the other panels had the usual swirling, embedded dirt, and water marks. The single stage black painted panels were oxidized and looked grey.























































Macro shot of the swirls above.










So I decided to start on the bonnet first. The right side have been repainted and I don't know why it has faded so badly, especially around the area where it 'blends' with the original paint. Let's take a closer look.





































Ouch... now let's take an even closer look.










Yikes! That's the area that has been repainted, I assume it is cheap clearcoat and it has 'bubbled' over the years, thus giving it the faded look. The non repainted areas had RIDS, swirls, pitting, watermark etching and embedded dirt, the typical symptoms of neglected paint.




























After seeing the bubbling photo, I wanted to give the bonnet a proper cutting. So the process for it was:

(1) Sanding with Mirka Abralon 2000 grit / Speed 2 / Dodo Juice Buff Daddy (Das6 DA)

(2) Sanding with Mirka Abralon 4000 grit / Speed 2 / Dodo Juice Buff Daddy (Das6 DA)

(3) Compound with Osren Velvet Pad and Osren P40 Compound / 1500 rpm / Makita 9227C Rotary

(4) Compound with Meguiar's #105 Ultra Cut Compound and Lake Country 4-ply wool pad / 1500 rpm / Makita 9227C Rotary

(5) Polished with Meguiar's #105 Ultra Cut Compound and Lake Country White Polishing pad / 1500 rpm / Makita 9227C Rotary

(6) Polished with Meguiar's #205 Ultra Finishing Polish and Lake Country Black Finishing pad / 900 rpm / Makita 9227C rotary







































































































































































































The rest of the car received the same steps except for the sanding and velvet pad.





































Paint transfer on the driver's side door and rear fender were wet sanded with 2000 grit sandpaper and polished.




























So how do you know if it is paint transfer which is above the surface and not a scratch beneath the paint? If you look closely, you can see the 'scratch/scuff' is on the surface, and as you run your fingers across it, you will feel that it is 'sticking out' from the paint, then you know you have a chance to fix the problem.


















































































Water stains around the chrome area were removed with Osren StainX(acid).





































Side windows coated with Wolf's Chemicals Glass Guard while the front and rear glass which had wipers were coated with GTechniq G1 ClearVision Smart Glass. Wiper cowl trim dressed with Wolf's Chemicals Trim Coat and wheels with Wolf's Chemicals Rim Shield.























































I then moved to the interior, was rushing for time at this stage and didn't take much photos. Process was:

(1) ValetPRO Glass Cleaner on all glass.
(2) Meguiar's All Purpose Cleaner on vinyl seats and all plastic trim.
(3) Vinyl seats conditioned with ValetPRO Argus Leather and Vinyl Cream.



























































































Seats felt a little bit oily after the Argus cream, but after buffing off with a dry cloth and left for a while, it eventually felt non-greasy and smooth. Very nice to sit without too much slip.

With all the little bits and pieces done, final step is to dress the tires with ValetPRO Traditional Tire Dressing and paintwork waxed with ValetPRO Banana Wax, a carnauba liquid wax. Enjoy the after photos! Please excuse the slight haziness on the paintwork as the wax was applied at night right after the rain, the very humid air made it slow for the wax to dry and cure. The humidity was at about ~97% RH!




































































































Thanks for looking! Your feedback is appreciated.

May the good times and treasures of the present become the golden memories of tomorrow. Wish you lots of love, joy and happiness. Happy New Year!!!


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## zippo

Outstanding turn around. Ive never seen a detailed pictures of clear coat failure before. Amazing :thumb::thumb:


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## stangalang

Man that is one ugly mutha fcukin car, but you did an amazing job in making it it's best. Kudos to you that turned out great :thumb:


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## AaronGTi

Brilliant work there.
Well done sir, real credit to you.


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## fishbonezken

stangalang said:


> Man that is one ugly mutha fcukin car, but you did an amazing job in making it it's best. Kudos to you that turned out great :thumb:


LOL!!!:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:


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## The_Bouncer

Wow :doublesho

Fantastic work - great close up and correction of paint defects.

The car is brand new again :thumb:


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## The Cueball

car looks great now... well done...

were the clear coat pics taken by microscope?!?!?!?

:thumb:


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## stangalang

Fishbonezken, the osren pads you used. These are the ones that can level orange peel to an extent are they? Do you find they need following with wool or is that just a personal preference? And do they work best with Osrens own polish

Thanks, matt


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## fishbonezken

The Cueball said:


> car looks great now... well done...
> 
> were the clear coat pics taken by microscope?!?!?!?
> 
> :thumb:


Thanks!

Not a microscope, just used this:
http://www.foto-tip.pl/sklep/product_info.php?products_id=1684&language=en

A extension tube that fits between the lens and the camera body to achieve a much shorter focusing distance.


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## fishbonezken

stangalang said:


> Fishbonezken, the osren pads you used. These are the ones that can level orange peel to an extent are they? Do you find they need following with wool or is that just a personal preference? And do they work best with Osrens own polish
> 
> Thanks, matt


Hi Matt, yup, those are the pads that can level orange peel. I have not experimented using it with other compounds but have heard of another pro here in Malaysia that uses the pad with Meguiar's #85 to level orange peel.

I just follow up with wool as I did not want to guess if a cutting foam/polishing foam is sufficient to remove the velvet pad marks. On softer paints, you *could* go to foam directly, but I prefer at least purple foamed wool, just to be safe. Again, it is paint hardness dependent, so you'll have to do a test spot to be more accurate.


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## Derekh929

Brilliant turn around and great detail in your review , thanks for sharing your work


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## The Cueball

fishbonezken said:


> Thanks!
> 
> Not a microscope, just used this:
> http://www.foto-tip.pl/sklep/product_info.php?products_id=1684&language=en
> 
> A extension tube that fits between the lens and the camera body to achieve a much shorter focusing distance.


cheers... not to hijack your great work... but do you just stick it on the camera then take the pic?!? from what distance from the paintwork?!?

cheers

:thumb:


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## fishbonezken

The Cueball said:


> cheers... not to hijack your great work... but do you just stick it on the camera then take the pic?!? from what distance from the paintwork?!?
> 
> cheers
> 
> :thumb:


No worries at all :thumb:

Yup just take a picture as usual, but you need to take it with a strong light source reflecting towards it as it will be dark since you are very near to the paint. Distance is approximately 1-3cm away.


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## alan_mcc

Amazing work on such a "real" car, if you understand what I mean. It's not all Ferrari's!
I love the detailed pictures of everything. 

Fantastic. :thumb:


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## Keir

Amazing turn around. A lot of detail goes into your work.


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## -Kev-

amazing, nothing else to say really :thumb:
any reason for using G1 on the front and back screen rather than the wolfs glass guard? more resistant to wiper use i assume..


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## fishbonezken

-Kev- said:


> amazing, nothing else to say really :thumb:
> any reason for using G1 on the front and back screen rather than the wolfs glass guard? more resistant to wiper use i assume..


Thanks Kev! Yup that's exactly it, coatings on windows that don't see wipers last much longer, even Rain X will easily last a few years for me. Just trying to be cost-effective by using a cheaper product on the side windows.


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## Alan H

Great turnaround there, and some excellent pics....


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## Dan_S

An excellent result, really impressive photos of the process.

Can you tell us how long this took in total?


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## fishbonezken

Dan_S said:


> An excellent result, really impressive photos of the process.
> 
> Can you tell us how long this took in total?


Thanks!

This took me about 18 hours over the course of two days to complete.


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## slobodank

fantastic work


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## dhiren_motilal

WOW, awesome detail and write up


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## Sander

It's nice to see someone really put thought and effort into detailing. The results are astounding. Good job determining and showing the defects.


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## Damm Rasmussen

*Fantastic*

It almost make me want one, just to polish up and then drive around in something where the focus definitely will be on the shine, and not the design or big wheels


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## Posambique

Oh my! :doublesho

That's some good work right there! :thumb:


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## DMH-01

Cracking job there mate.


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## Mirror Finish Details

Great job there and interesting pictures.


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## fishbonezken

Thank you all for your kind words


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## cotter

Great work, close up pics are very interesting, being able to see the defects in such detail.


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## Matt_Nic

I absolutely LOVE the nerdiness of this! 

Top work and love the macro shots, even an idiot could understand from those shots the difference between polished and badly treated paint work.


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## Baker21

Well this is one of those all time classic detailing threads, as has been said it's a 'real' detail for me and I can only assume the owner was over the moon with the results.......:thumb:

A few things stand out in this detail for me:

1) Nice to see another Makita being used;
2) Nice to know I am not the only 'flip-flop' detailer;
3) Brilliant use of the additional camera item;

Really enjoyed reading that one and thanks for sharing........:thumb:


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## Sti_Brumby

Love your work!!! Well Detailed

Clint.


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## fishbonezken

Baker21 said:


> Well this is one of those all time classic detailing threads, as has been said it's a 'real' detail for me and I can only assume the owner was over the moon with the results.......:thumb:
> 
> A few things stand out in this detail for me:
> 
> 1) Nice to see another Makita being used;
> 2) Nice to know I am not the only 'flip-flop' detailer;
> 3) Brilliant use of the additional camera item;
> 
> Really enjoyed reading that one and thanks for sharing........:thumb:


1) I bought the Makita back in 2007 and it was the only real choice back then. The Flex brand wasn't even popular then and other choices were the Dewalt, which was too heavy for my Asian sized body. The Hitachi was smaller and even lighter than the 3 kg Makita, but the plastic head does not dissipate heat fast enough and can be quite hot during a detail. We also did not have DA machines with 230V ratings, now there's so many of 'em!

2) 'Flip-flop' detailer, haha, I like that! Since I'm detailing at home away from the customer's eyes, I just wore whatever that I'm comfortable with.

Thanks Baker21! I enjoy reading your write-ups too.


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## Baker21

fishbonezken said:


> 1) I bought the Makita back in 2007 and it was the only real choice back then. The Flex brand wasn't even popular then and other choices were the Dewalt, which was too heavy for my Asian sized body. The Hitachi was smaller and even lighter than the 3 kg Makita, but the plastic head does not dissipate heat fast enough and can be quite hot during a detail. We also did not have DA machines with 230V ratings, now there's so many of 'em!
> 
> 2) 'Flip-flop' detailer, haha, I like that! Since I'm detailing at home away from the customer's eyes, I just wore whatever that I'm comfortable with.
> 
> Thanks Baker21! I enjoy reading your write-ups too.


The Makita is a bit of a work horse, just does what it's supposed to do but now I have been using Flex's and Festool's I think I will upgrade this year just due to the lighter weight and keep the Makita for back up.........:buffer:

There were a few people that seemed to think it was silly detailing in Flip Flops but for me in the warmer climate it saves getting your trainers or boots soaked when during the wash process and if your lucky your feet get a tan..........:detailer:

Keep up the good work and write-ups..........:wave:


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## PugIain

What a great job.


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## samm

Brilliant write up mate.


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## gean1977

spectacular job!


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## Kotsos

Great turnaround you bring that car to life again.


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## scooby73

Excellent work and write-up with great photos too!:thumb:


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## prokopas

Great work and very nice turnaround


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## Eurogloss

*Top job there Fishbonezken :thumb:

Mario*


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## Saqib200

Amazing, some really good skills there.


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## R2P

glued to that one!! :thumb:


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## McClane

Fantastic write up. Only just come across this much to my shame. I am very interested in that camera item.

Our knowledge of any field is only advanced as the resolution with which you can see to understand what's going on. 

I would say those pictures bring a whole lot new to the table! :thumb:


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## AaronGTi

Still one of the best write up's I keep coming back to when bored :thumb:


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## JBirchy

Fantastic results, really thorough job, Well Done!


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## mlgt

Thanks for sharing that. Great documentary.


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## skorpios

Fantastic job there! :thumb:


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## Porta

I can just write what the others before me have done: top notch work, buddy!

Anyways, I have some questions regarding the same area as Stangalang asked about: the multiple polishing steps after Abralon 4000 sanding discs. IMHO, it seems like a couple unnecessary polishing steps. If the paint is soft to medium then #105 with a polishing or light cutting pad would be more then enough to cut trough the sanding marks and then follow up with #205 on a light polishing/finishing pad? Then you would have saved your self two compounding steps and therfore a lot of time. More money to you, if you are not working buy the hour. 

I have never tried the velvet pads but are they realy necessary when you have been using Mirka 2000 before? 

And great documentation, mate!


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## georgeandpeppa

Thats alot of hard work there, paid off in the end, great job:thumb:


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## Titanium Htail

Great work we can all learn from.

John Tht.


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## FabrizioTDI

That's a great work!!!! Astonishing!


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## Joech92

One of the best details on here.


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## Socal Brian

Always looking forward to Ken's write ups. Only wishing for more! Awesome work!


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## wee man

Great work gives me hope when I start on my real car; not as has been said a supercar. You show great skill and patience.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk


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## Blue

Wow, those close ups are incredible! Awesome work!


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## Guest

As enjoyable to read today as it was 6 years ago (and I can't believe I didn't add my "thanks" back then either ).


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