# Black Astra VXR - Correction



## piemp (Jul 14, 2010)

I spent about 15hours detailing my car these couple of days :buffer: It hadn't been machined in about a year and with the Summer eventually coming I thought best get cracking. :thumb:

Process:

Bilberry wheels
citrus power
Washed
ironx & AF obliTARate
rewashed
clayed and then rewashed
dried
machined with CG Hex orange & white with megs 105 & 205 (10hours:doublesho)
snowfoamed
washed
dried
AB cherry glaze
2 layers of Zymol Concours 
z8 wipe down
tires
glass
DONE!!!

Anyway onto the pictures and I warn you there are a lot :lol:

The car had been washed earlier that weekend (started the main detail Monday evening). Still looking pretty clean just a bit dusty.






Hit the wheels first




CQuartz after a month for the fronts


Planet Polish on the rears


Onto the wash and Sonax PNS & QD beeding lovely










Love the tree reflection in the biggest water droplet :argie:


Sprayed the car down with Citrus power, sorry no picture on the car



Washed with Hydro and carpro mitt





Wiped the lower half of the car with AF obliTARate, hosed down and then applied my remaining ironx and used AB purple rain. Again rinsed down and rewashed, dried.




Then bought some new clay that everyone bangs on about. Was weird using with just water but I just had to break out the lube for a guarantee, didn't notice too much degradation from using it. I had clayed the car about 2months ago so didn't expect much




Roof and upper panels were basically spotless pointless for a pic but from lower and near arches



Then I tried some of the cheap 3m Ben aka B17BLG gave us a link too :thumb: thanks for that.





Then it was tucked up for tomorrow's task :buffer:



I had LC pads but didn't along very well with them and wanted to try new pads and polish so I bought CG Hex Orange and white with Megs 105 & 205 combo.



Priming the new pad



First I tried using the cutting pad with 205 which worked okay but then I tried 205 first which worked a treat and refined with white pad with 205. My first 2 stage polishing. I started polishing the car from about 10am and finished about 8pm to say I wasn't knackered by the end was an understatement 





Bonnet complete 




Drivers side








Looking really nice




Moving up now




I had to do the concave bit by hand just to refine it a bit better




Sorry roof was very hard for pictures as it was tipping it down outside and I had to use my LED torch for guidance.



The rear was in a bit of a state, not sure if the 3M would effect the marring more compared to the BH clay?! 



Much better



Some RDS that I couldn't shift 



Boot lid






For the smaller areas I moved to a 3" backing plate with LC blue & red pads




So you get most the idea by now  passenger side was done. Only the front bumper was done by hand as I ran out of time and I was shattered! Car was then moved outside for a snowfoam to get rid of all that polish dust.

OMG!!:argie: Certainly put a smile on my face









Rewashed with Hydro and dried, getting pretty late now so put her back inside for glazing then bed, waxing had to wait till tomorrow 




I had Prima Amigo but I bought some AB stuff on their 12 days of Xmas so had to try it, smelt amazing. Left for 20mins and then buffed off.






Up early to apply this magically stuff, dream to work with and again smells lovely! I applied one layer left to gas off for an hour before coming back and applying another layer.



Put PNS on the arches just because thought be bit better as a sealant





Tires and windows dressed




Inner lip 



Final wipe down with Z8



So finally if you got this far thanks for reading this was a big old slog but well worth it all ready for a big meet this weekend, PVS and hopefully waxstock. :thumb:

Here we go...














My Favourites :argie:




:thumb:


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## will-i-a-m (Nov 4, 2010)

Cracking job there mate and a lovely car as well!


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## Keith_sir (Jun 27, 2011)

Lovely VXR & work!


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## Jonny_R (Oct 23, 2012)

Amazing work as always Andy!

Good to see you went 105/ 205 in the end  how did you get on with them?

you apply the glaze by hand too? as doesnt look like machine buffer trails


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## Luke_Coupe (May 17, 2013)

Amazing detail, looks flawless!

Are you attending pvs?


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## V3nom (Oct 31, 2012)

wow, that finish is amazing! looks dripping wet


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## Zetec-al (Feb 28, 2011)

Lovely looking VXR and nice work!


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## piemp (Jul 14, 2010)

will-i-a-m said:


> Cracking job there mate and a lovely car as well!





Keith_sir said:


> Lovely VXR & work!


thanks guys was a mammoth of a job but seriously worth the hours :thumb:



Jonny_R said:


> Amazing work as always Andy!
> 
> Good to see you went 105/ 205 in the end  how did you get on with them?
> 
> you apply the glaze by hand too? as doesnt look like machine buffer trails


Cheers Jonny, if I had the garage for one more day I would have certainly machined the glaze on as I have a LC black pad only 5" tho.

The megs polish is certainly less dusty compared to merenza polish. Even the 205 by hand worked a treat!!



Luke_Coupe said:


> Amazing detail, looks flawless!
> 
> Are you attending pvs?


Yeah basically grabbed two stand passes yesterday so I will be there. Yourself?



V3nom said:


> wow, that finish is amazing! looks dripping wet


Wish it could look like that all the time  cheers


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## austrom1 (Aug 25, 2011)

Awesome work fella, love those wheels!


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## Luke_Coupe (May 17, 2013)

Yeah I will be attending this year, but it depends if the coupe is ready. It's in the body shop still. So if it is finished, unfortunately the car won't be 100% detailed because I need to let the paint harden & I'll probably only have all day Saturday to clean it, weather depending lol.


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## Titanium Htail (Mar 24, 2012)

That is great, loving the technique, precision and consistency an enjoyable presentation at every stage a template of how detailing should be done.

What a fantastic shine. John Tht :thumb:


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## TW15T3D (Apr 14, 2013)

Outstanding attention to detail there. Good work, looking to get some Z8 myself


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## Wout_RS (Jun 13, 2012)

Nice VXR! Looked already spot on, but you lifted it to another level!

Here in the neighbourhood stands just one like this (just other wheels) but that one hasn't seen any love a long time, would be nice if I could ask him if he would me let it detail


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## rsdan1984 (Jul 31, 2009)

great job!


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## vo04lan (Sep 5, 2011)

excellent work great reflections love the car


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## rojer386 (Mar 15, 2008)

I have just had some M205 & M105 delivered to use on my BMW. I will be using the same pads as yourself. 

Did you find that the 205 was ok on it's own or did you need to use both?


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## BigAshD (Feb 23, 2012)

Really nice job on that one. Surprised you'd got that many swirls etc if you machined it a year ago though. I did a full correction on my wife's Civic about a year ago, and it's testament to my washing technique that it's still swirl-free now (other than one place where the jet-washer hose kicked up and hit the rear quarter. D'Oh).

Thanks for sharing


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Cracking job:thumb:


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## piemp (Jul 14, 2010)

austrom1 said:


> Awesome work fella, love those wheels!


Thanks, wheels got a full refurb and new colour nearly a month ago now. Loving the new look



Luke_Coupe said:


> Yeah I will be attending this year, but it depends if the coupe is ready. It's in the body shop still. So if it is finished, unfortunately the car won't be 100% detailed because I need to let the paint harden & I'll probably only have all day Saturday to clean it, weather depending lol.


by the sound of it bet you will just be happy to have it back looking fresh. lets hope for decent weather 



Titanium Htail said:


> That is great, loving the technique, precision and consistency an enjoyable presentation at every stage a template of how detailing should be done.
> 
> What a fantastic shine. John Tht :thumb:


Really kind words there as this write up and resizing of photos took another hour so thanks :thumb:

I would have been more precisie if I had more time



TW15T3D said:


> Outstanding attention to detail there. Good work, looking to get some Z8 myself


cheers Z8 only gets brought out on special occasions



Wout_RS said:


> Nice VXR! Looked already spot on, but you lifted it to another level!
> 
> Here in the neighbourhood stands just one like this (just other wheels) but that one hasn't seen any love a long time, would be nice if I could ask him if he would me let it detail


haha thanks I do try and look after it.

Yeah some like to just drive, some like to keep it clean and for me I like to do both  maybe more clean though :lol: black just looks amazing super clean



vo04lan said:


> excellent work great reflections love the car


:thumb:



rojer386 said:


> I have just had some M205 & M105 delivered to use on my BMW. I will be using the same pads as yourself.
> 
> Did you find that the 205 was ok on it's own or did you need to use both?


Depends really on how bad your swirls are. I'm no expert but I hear BMW is a lot harder paint compared to Vauxhalls very thin. So I would start with the white finishing pad with 205 then maybe move up to orange pad with 205 and see where you get. The beginning detail always feels the longest as your testing as you go.

At the end I found that hitting it with orange 105 till it 90% broke down and then went back over it with the white 205 with no compound in sight. Good luck :thumb:



BigAshD said:


> Really nice job on that one. Surprised you'd got that many swirls etc if you machined it a year ago though. I did a full correction on my wife's Civic about a year ago, and it's testament to my washing technique that it's still swirl-free now (other than one place where the jet-washer hose kicked up and hit the rear quarter. D'Oh).
> 
> Thanks for sharing


Yeah not sure what it is..I find it hard to pat dry with a black car and even in the slightest heat as it drys too fast. I use a woolie mammoth towel which I drag over and then use ubber yellow to lightly take up the rest of the water. Snowfoam only when really dirty or really dusty. So many aspects I suppose I'll just blame VX's thin paint 

Sounds like your misses looks after her car well or doesn't drive it :lol:



tonyy said:


> Cracking job:thumb:


thanks


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## BigAshD (Feb 23, 2012)

She does drive it, but I clean it. Maybe the softer paint on a Civic is more resistant, because I tend to drag my drying towel over the roof, bonnet, and the doors. Saying that, I do tend to snow foam 90% of the time, so maybe that's getting rid of all the grit?


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## Buckweed (Aug 27, 2012)

Wow ! That looks fantastic :thumb::thumb: loving the wheels.


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## luke w (Dec 11, 2012)

Stunning!


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## jamesgti (Aug 9, 2007)

Wow absolutely stunning.


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## piemp (Jul 14, 2010)

BigAshD said:


> She does drive it, but I clean it. Maybe the softer paint on a Civic is more resistant, because I tend to drag my drying towel over the roof, bonnet, and the doors. Saying that, I do tend to snow foam 90% of the time, so maybe that's getting rid of all the grit?


As said could be many things at least thats two more stunners rolling around when we get through with them :lol:



Buckweed said:


> Wow ! That looks fantastic :thumb::thumb: loving the wheels.





luke w said:


> Stunning!





jamesgti said:


> Wow absolutely stunning.


:thumb:


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## 123HJMS (Mar 13, 2013)

amazing detail mate and great look vxr .... wheels look really good, love all the aesthetic mods like boot strip etc :driver:


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## Nally (May 30, 2012)

Great shots
Great work 
Great bit of OEM +


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## Slinepete (Feb 16, 2013)

Looks awesome all the hard work payed off and nice car too looks just right with the mods you've done


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## piemp (Jul 14, 2010)

123HJMS said:


> amazing detail mate and great look vxr .... wheels look really good, love all the aesthetic mods like boot strip etc :driver:


how it should have come  thanks



Nally said:


> Great shots
> Great work
> Great bit of OEM +





Slinepete said:


> Looks awesome all the hard work payed off and nice car too looks just right with the mods you've done


:thumb:

*Right sorry about not being able to view the images, put them on a couple of other forums  dam bandwidth :wall:*


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## farley2708 (Apr 19, 2011)

now that is stunning,the work you put in showed in the pics afterwards,a beautiful car now with a beautiful gloss finish :thumb:


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## Chrissyronald (Jan 15, 2012)

Superb mate


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## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

Great job mate ! How long it took ! Great writeup.

What s your brush that you re using please .

My Zymol Concours s coming in a couple of weeks , look forward to it .


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## B17BLG (Jun 26, 2012)

Very Nice Andy! Top work Pal


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## Soul Hudson (Jul 5, 2011)

Much improved nice work.

Cracking write up too.


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## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

Very impressive thread and work :thumb: Really enjoyed reading and the results look excellent :thumb:


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## piemp (Jul 14, 2010)

farley2708 said:


> now that is stunning,the work you put in showed in the pics afterwards,a beautiful car now with a beautiful gloss finish :thumb:


even when dusty now you can still see the glassy shine :argie: but spotted a few bits I still need to do with the spot pads before PVS so might hit them again saturday



Chrissyronald said:


> Superb mate


cheers



sprocketser said:


> Great job mate ! How long it took ! Great writeup.
> 
> What s your brush that you re using please .
> 
> My Zymol Concours s coming in a couple of weeks , look forward to it .


its a valet pro brush - http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/wheels-and-tyres/valet-pro-inch-round-wheel-brush/prod_973.html much softer and safer than my AG brush



B17BLG said:


> Very Nice Andy! Top work Pal


Thanks again Ben 



Soul Hudson said:


> Much improved nice work.
> 
> Cracking write up too.





Trip tdi said:


> Very impressive thread and work :thumb: Really enjoyed reading and the results look excellent :thumb:


cheers guys I do love my pictures think there was about 100 :lol:


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## bazz (May 15, 2007)

great job looks very nice.
loving the wheels do you know what colour they are by any chance fella


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## piemp (Jul 14, 2010)

bazz said:


> great job looks very nice.
> loving the wheels do you know what colour they are by any chance fella


thanks, they are graphite grey. The painter told me they are the exact colour code of inside a diamond cut M3/CSL wheel :thumb:


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## 007Fluff (May 27, 2013)

Great job. 

007Fluff


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## piemp (Jul 14, 2010)

Cheers

bandwidth now sorted so pics are back up


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## Rabidracoon28 (May 31, 2012)

Fantastic job pal


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