# Invisible Touch Detailing - Mini Cooper S 'The Ultimate Mini'



## Invisible Touch (Mar 5, 2008)

Hi,
Here we have a Mini Cooper S, known by the owner as 'The Ultimate Mini' in for paint correction plus engine bay treatment.

This special Mini had various upgraded parts fitted including, Eibach lowering springs, H&R anti roll bars all round, AP Racing front brake conversion and upgraded rear disks, performance racing decats, quad exhaust system, leather OMP bucket seats and harnesses, carbon exterior pieces, alloys and a stage 2 conversion by Mini Speed which included a modified intake, different sized pulley on the super charger and finally a remap.

Lets first have a walk around the car.






































































































































































































































































The car had been used for various track day events in the past and was showing various signs of abuse due to this.

So, starting off, the engine bay was rinsed down and everything was sprayed with Meguiars APC and Engine & Machine Cleaner, then agitated with various brushes. This was then rinsed off.














































The car was then jet washed, snow foamed, left to dwell for 5 mins and then jet washed again.



















All door, boot shuts and fuel cap were then sprayed in Meguiars APC, agitated with brushes and rinsed off.























































The car was then washed using Meguiars Shampoo Plus using the 2 bucket method.
It was then brought inside. Whilst still wet the engine bay was sprayed with Aerospace 303 to treat all rubbers and plastics. This was then left to dry naturally, we'll come back to the engine bay later.










Now the car was clean it was easy to see there was a lot of contamination on the paint that required claying to remove.









































































After this the car was taken back outside to be washed again using the 2 bucket method and brought back inside to be dried.










Next was to remove the alloys to give them a good clean, along with the arches being degreased. The alloys were cleaned with Bilberry wheel cleaner and agitated with brushes, clayed and 2 coats of Poorboys Wheel Sealant applied.


















































































Once completed, the paintwork was inspected under halogen and LED lighting. The paint was very flat and oxidised in areas, lots of swirls and holograms. The car had apparently been previously machine polished at some point. The defect on the rear drivers wing looked as though it had been most likely caused by the rubber hose dragging on the paintwork during a previous tyre pressure check.



































































































































































Lots of paint thickness readings were taken per panel.



















I initially tried Menzerna 106FA on a Sonus Polishing pad using the Makita rotary. This made a huge difference to the finish but was not enough on close inspection.




























So I changed to Menzerna 3.02 with a Sonus cutting pad which although would need a refining polish to follow up with, gave much better correction results.




























Moving round the car, the lights were also corrected, as were the A pillars and carbon sections.
































































The front bumper corrected after a previous respray.



















After this the car was dusted down using Meguiars Last Touch and then refined using Meguiars 85RD with 3M finishing and spot finishing pads for the tighter areas.





































The whole car was then given an IPA wipedown to remove polishing oils.










With a nice deep solid red, I chose to apply Meguiars No.7 Show Car Glaze, leaving this.




































































































Next, moving back to the engine bay, all painted areas were polished by hand.














































Moving onto the interior, this was given a good hoover and all plastics / pedals were cleaned with Meguiars APC.
































































The seats being fairly new were wiped clean with a damp cloth and then treated with Gliptone Leather Conditioner.










All exterior plastics and door seals were treated with Autoglym Bumper Care.










The tyres were treated with 2 coats of Endurance Tyre Gel




























Track day harnesses placed back in the boot.










The quad exhausts were cleaned with fine grade wire wool and Autosol and then refined with Meguiars NXT.























































The rubber mats were cleaned with Meguiars APC, agitated with brushes, rinsed and dried off.




























Finally, 2 applications of Victoria Concourse Wax were applied to the paintwork.










These were the final images




































































































Thanks for looking,
Christian


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## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

Superb turn around Christian

The paintwork looked shot in the befores and clearly had seen a hard life


Adrian

PS Where did you source your garage tiles - hoping this'll be a 2011 project for me.


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## Invisible Touch (Mar 5, 2008)

Hi Adrian, thanks very much, the floor was supplied by Dyno Tile.


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## big ben (Aug 25, 2009)

cracking work


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Great tornaround...


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## horned yo (Feb 10, 2009)

stunning how that red turned up so wet looking. I must try this Vics wax on my civic when i bring her out in the spring


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## gally (May 25, 2008)

Immense work Christian, really was a great example of detailing due to how dirty the car was.

I'm sure the owner was over the moon.


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## RichardC (Apr 30, 2006)

Looks sweet.

Helps me a great deal with products, as my Chili Red arrives in a few weeks.


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

Fantastic, great work


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## B&B Autostyle (Apr 4, 2010)

Very nice. That was stinking from the off set! Great thorough write up,appreciate the time it takes to put that together.


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## davelincs (Jul 20, 2009)

Ecellent detail


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## B&B Autostyle (Apr 4, 2010)

Brilliant looking car. Almost like a cartoon caricature of a Mini!


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

No no no....thats not the ultimate mini thats the ultimate small BMW! :devil:


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## Invisible Touch (Mar 5, 2008)

B&B Autostyle said:


> Brilliant looking car. Almost like a cartoon caricature of a Mini!


Cheers  It does have a great stance about it


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## paranoid73 (Aug 5, 2009)

Great job but why didn't you de-tar before claying with that level of contamination?


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## chowie (Mar 1, 2008)

Great write up thanks!


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## Juicy Jen (May 4, 2010)

Nice write up and great end results


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

Nice work Christian!


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## Guest (Feb 25, 2011)

Fantastic job there on the MINI, I have a chili red Cooper S myself, hoping to get it looking as good as that!

The plastic trim is crying out for some C4, it worked a treat on mine :thumb:


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## Invisible Touch (Mar 5, 2008)

paranoid73 said:


> Great job but why didn't you de-tar before claying with that level of contamination?


Hi, yes i could have done, but with test claying first it was easily removed


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## Swell.gr (May 7, 2008)

nice work :thumb:


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## Axel_89 (Feb 21, 2011)

Wow! 

Hehehe. *Partner, that car is awesome*! 

*Is a stunning detailed*. Congratulations! 










My sister is in love with that car. :argie:
*I'll give one some day*... 

One hug buddy.


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## CTR De (Feb 10, 2011)

top job


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## GSD (Feb 6, 2011)

Excellent result good to see one of these is used for what it was intended.


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## Deeg (Mar 30, 2009)

excellent turnaround there. :thumb:


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## dazzyb (Feb 9, 2010)

looks so much better, great work
bet tht thing is rapid aswell


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## hotwaxxx (Jul 12, 2007)

Thats one of the best red finishes I've seen following a machine detail. Superb work.:thumb:


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## woodymbr (Mar 8, 2009)

Looks fantastic. Love the work on the wheels. Poorboys is a personal favourite of mine.


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## AndyHay1985 (Dec 15, 2010)

outstanding work.


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## Dazzy130/VXR (Dec 5, 2005)

Awesome mate :thumb:


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## MattJ VXR (Aug 11, 2008)

Looks fantastic. Ten times better than at the start.

It also seems to match up nicely with your unit!


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## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

impressive work indeed, like the car a lot :thumb:


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## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

Stunning job:thumb:
Certainly was a filthy beast, at least they had sense for the rubber mats.
They Certainly got value for money with that turn around.


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## UCD (Oct 27, 2010)

Outstanding work!


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## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

A truly stunning finish - on a special car :thumb:


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## d33mb33 (Jul 4, 2010)

Excellent detail and write up. Really enjoyed reading.


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## ant_s (Jan 29, 2009)

What a transformation, i'm not usually keen on Mini's, but this one really takes my liking. Bet the owner was happy with it finished.


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## fizzle86 (Apr 1, 2010)

fantastic write up and pictures and not to mention the detail!! great work was a nice sunday morning read thanks!!


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

cracking little motor that


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## CJR (Nov 4, 2010)

Great write up, and finish was excellent!! I'm so tempted by red next time!


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## Planet Admin (Jul 11, 2009)

Excellent work:thumb:


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## Drew (Apr 12, 2006)

loving this detail!


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## Kev_mk3 (Sep 10, 2007)

very nice in deed


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## AaronGTi (Nov 2, 2010)

Excellent work dude, thread revival here but showing a mate at work as she now wants one after seeing this!! :thumb:


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## detaillover (Apr 25, 2011)

Looks superb!


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## davec (Mar 5, 2012)

great write up, top job on that mini too.


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## Derekh929 (Aug 28, 2011)

Ultimate mini in deed looks stunning now guys, i have an R56 Cooper s and is the paint hard on newer mini aware paint thinner on new one's, i have Menzerna 3.02 and 106fa and 85 RE at my disposal pretty good condition would you try with 85RE or 106 FA on polishing pad, thanks derek


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## hayward440 (Apr 7, 2012)

Outstanding transformation!


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