# My FRIEND'S 150,000 mile Skoda Fabia vRS in Black Magic



## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

So the aim of Saturday was to bring a bit of life back into this tired looking, 150,000 mile Skoda Fabia vRS, which my friend had recently purchased.

It was also being used as a test car for some new products in my collection.

A few befores:




























So, on to the wash process, which was as follows:

- Wheels, Tyres and Arches cleaned with AS Smart Wheels and G101
- Car soaked with Citrus based degreaser
- Car pressure washed to remove majority of the muck
- Car washed with Optimum Car Shampoo via CYC Sheepskin Pad
- Clay with Elite PolyClay and AS Reglaze as lube
- Rewahsed with Optimum Car Shampoo
- Dried with Uber Towels

At this point, it was already quite apparent that the paintwork was in a very bad way, covered in hazing, swirls and RDS's:





































After trying a fair few combinations, I finally settled on the new Optimum Hyper Polish Spray on a 3M cutting pad. These gave me surprisingly quick results on the relatively hard paint. I found it to finish down perfectly too. My work was checked with a wipe down of the new Auto Perfection 'IPA alternative'

Quick 50/50 without light:










Some deeper scratches remained, but a second pass removed these:










Some post polishing, no LSP pics:



















50/50 on boot:










Before:










After:



















Some quick 'afters'. I finished up with a coat of Opti Seal, followed by OID wipedown, then a layer of R222. Also:

- Wheels with Opti Seal
- Tyres with 3M Tyre Restorer
- Glass with 3M Foaming Glass Cleaner
- Exhaust with Optimum Metal Polish
- Trim with 303























































It's a shame about the lighting, it looked a lot brighter before the Sun went in!

It looks well for a 150k mile car though! Remap and Coilover on the way too 

Thanks for looking!

Russ.


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## Mr Face (Jan 22, 2009)

Nice work Russ !!


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## IanG (Nov 21, 2007)

Good turnaround and the Hyper Polish looks interesting


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## Has390 (May 21, 2010)

looks great mate!


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## Bigadz (Jan 18, 2007)

Like that Russ, black mirror .Interested by the spray polish.... how do you get on with a sheepskin pad as opposed to a mitt?


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

Bigadz said:


> Like that Russ, black mirror .Interested by the spray polish.... how do you get on with a sheepskin pad as opposed to a mitt?


I've never been too keen on mitts - I've always tended to hold them anyway, so I love the wash pad - works better for me.

I was surprised how well the Hyper Polish corrected, I was expecting something on a par with 106FA or Megs 205, but I'd say its between 203S and 3.02...


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## Warwickshire Detailer (Oct 11, 2009)

Looks really good Russ. Excellent turnaround :thumb:


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## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

Nice work


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## SamurI (Dec 29, 2006)

Cracking turnaround on such a high miler!

Looks like some good correction from the Hyper Polish too....another product to the list!


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## magpieV6 (Jul 29, 2008)

great work russ


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## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

Nice turnaround, looks great!:thumb:


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## Baker21 (Aug 7, 2007)

Like the title to this thread.................

Nice work on tough VAG paint, Hyper Polish seems like an interesting product then looking at the results, correction work looks spot on and the final shots look great.............:buffer:

Nice work..........:thumb:


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

Thanks everyone 

It's a shame the lighting was so poor. Also, excuse my hair - bad hair day! :lol:


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## ryanuk (Jun 22, 2007)

nice work russ!!!!


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## ryanuk (Jun 22, 2007)

RussZS said:


> Thanks everyone
> 
> It's a shame the lighting was so poor. Also, excuse my hair - bad hair day! :lol:


dont worry about the hair russ..... its your face thats a mess :lol::lol::lol::lol:

JOKE  i still love you xxx


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## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

Looks very good indeed Russ - superb finish :buffer:

How did you enjoy the new spray polish as opposed to the traditional thicker liquid polishes?


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

yetizone said:


> Looks very good indeed Russ - superb finish :buffer:
> 
> How did you enjoy the new spray polish as opposed to the traditional thicker liquid polishes?


I really like it! I added some thoughts on it here:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=177665&highlight=hyper

Ryan, as long as you love me, that's all that counts :argie:


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## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

RussZS said:


> I really like it! I added some thoughts on it here:
> 
> http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=177665&highlight=hyper
> 
> Ryan, as long as you love me, that's all that counts :argie:


Cheers Russ, will have a read through :thumb:


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## Needs a clean (May 24, 2008)

Looks amazing for a car with 150,000miles on the clock! Top job. :thumb:


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Great work Russ :thumb:, good to see you back posting again.

Lovely wet looking shine with loads of depth, I bet the owner was over the moon .


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## gally (May 25, 2008)

Fantastic work Russ!

Looking forward to more reviews on this product and the compound. 

Something I really want to try myself. Did you step[ up to a green 3m Russ?

How well did the yellow one do?


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

Cheers Gally 

Not quite enough cut from the Yellow 3M pad to remove all of the defects in a single pass, so yes, I stepped up to the Green pad. I spent about 30 mins finding the right combination. I didn't expect it to cut so well for a 'polish' or finish down so well on a 'compounding' pad - very surprising.

It will be interesting to see how well the Compound finishes down... this mixture of SMAT and DAT technology does seem to offer a lot of flexibility and the ability to finish down properly with a wide variety of pads.

The other point I noted was just how slick it left the paint feeling, and 'squeaky clean', unlike any other 'polish' I've used before.


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## Bensenn_GER (Mar 24, 2010)

Nice one! I love this colour. :thumb:


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## n_d_fox (Apr 18, 2007)

Very nicely done Russ... the black magic paint can look horrible when not looked after as you saw but when its sorted, its an awesome colour.

Liking the look of these new products your testing out too :thumb:


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## autoperfection (Nov 6, 2006)

Excellent results Russ - looks like a new car again!

:thumb:


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

autoperfection said:


> Excellent results Russ - looks like a new car again!
> 
> :thumb:


Thanks guys 

Loving the Perfection Final Inspection!

Im having a play with the other bits today


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## Maggi200 (Aug 21, 2009)

Is it a special "friends" car? Just wondering why it's "FRIEND". I was also looking for a picture of Jay from the inbetweeners but not easy on a phone. Anyway, looks great


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

Car friiieennnddd :lol:

I was asked to stop posting my 'details' in The Showroom, unless it was specifically a friend or family members' car. This is a friend's, so I was just clarifying


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

Brilliant job and great results considering what you had to start with.
Keep us updated on the progress if you can - I am still umming and aahing over a remap of my 114k mile car so interested to know how the remap affects this one at 150k+


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

Will do. It has Weitec coilovers to go on too and a few other bits.

The interior is in surprisingly good condition too - a testament to Skoda's build quality.


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## gally (May 25, 2008)

RussZS said:


> Cheers Gally
> 
> Not quite enough cut from the Yellow 3M pad to remove all of the defects in a single pass, so yes, I stepped up to the Green pad. I spent about 30 mins finding the right combination. I didn't expect it to cut so well for a 'polish' or finish down so well on a 'compounding' pad - very surprising.
> 
> ...


Very interesting Russ, great review and how to use the products, I only use 3m now, don't feel the need for anything else.

Nice to know the pads work with the hyper polish after choosing the correct pad to go for.


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## evotuning (Oct 16, 2009)

Great work mate ! How long did you waite before putting R222 on a coat of OOS ?


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

evotuning said:


> Great work mate ! How long did you waite before putting R222 on a coat of OOS ?


30 minutes or so to let Opti Seal do its thing. I'm not sure why I used this combination to be honest, but it looked well when I was done.

My main issue was timings and rain - I only had about 8 hours to spend on it, and after I'd finished polishing it began raining slightly, so I went for quick and easy to use products...

R222 is awesome, and with Opti Seal underneath should prove relatively durable.


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## autoperfection (Nov 6, 2006)

RussZS said:


> Thanks guys
> 
> Loving the Perfection Final Inspection!
> 
> Im having a play with the other bits today


Great news - glad you were pleased with it!

Let us know how you get on with everything else :thumb:

All the best

Taryn and Jim


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## evotuning (Oct 16, 2009)

> 30 minutes or so to let Opti Seal do its thing. I'm not sure why I used this combination to be honest, but it looked well when I was done.


Not so long as I thought actually. Im gonna try this next week, but I will be topping OOS with Swissvax.

Oh,and did You know paint code of this Skoda ? Is it LC9Z ?


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## toosmiles (May 5, 2007)

i must admit the vrs looks mint in the black,ive got a silver 1,as long as you keep on top of it like,but a excellent job m8


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## willskoda (Jun 7, 2010)

Looks good that Russ - I do like the Furby vRS and you've done a sterling job on that one :thumb:


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Looking good - nice correction work and just goes to show how good a high mileage car can look - sure it wont be long till my S60 reaches 150k, maybe I'll treat it to a detail then


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## -tom- (Jan 27, 2009)

looks fantastic


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## Dipesh (Oct 12, 2007)

Looks fantastic. R222 looks awesome.


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## 03OKH (May 2, 2009)

Looks good :thumb:


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## hotwaxxx (Jul 12, 2007)

That looks absolutely cracking mate - the reflections and glossiness looks brilliant.

Have you actually thought about doing this full-time (or even as a weekend warrior kind of position)? Your standards are extremely high from what I've seen and you seem to be getting quite a few customers.

Other than that, hope you're keeping well.:thumb:


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

hotwaxxx said:


> That looks absolutely cracking mate - the reflections and glossiness looks brilliant.
> 
> Have you actually thought about doing this full-time (or even as a weekend warrior kind of position)? Your standards are extremely high from what I've seen and you seem to be getting quite a few customers.
> 
> Other than that, hope you're keeping well.:thumb:


Thanks Dave, only just noticed this comment.

Not given it a massive amount of thought really, but I may at some point. I'd want a unit ideally though, which means it becomes too costly to be worthwhile.

I'm very well though, day job keeps me busy enough! How's things with you? Do you not detail at all now?

Russ.


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## Doug (Sep 11, 2007)

150k mile car?!

Amazing job!


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

Thanks Doug!


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## andrewst500 (Nov 2, 2008)

great work as always russ


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## old gooner (Apr 3, 2008)

very nice result Russ. It is inspiring me to get my Mazda done


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