# Refined Detail -v- A Muddy & Doggy Discovery 3



## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Getting a lot of pre sale tidy up bookings atm, which tbh I quite enjoy as they're a relatively quick turnaround which provide good results and sense of satisfaction.

This Discovery 3 was definitely the worst I've tackled in a long time, and possibly the worst I've ever done in regards to the interior - the amount of pet hair and inground dirt, sand, mud etc was just unbelievable. Of the 8 hours spent on the car, 4.5 - 5 hours was just the interior!

Knowing that the early setting sun would be a challenge, I set about completing the exterior first as it's easier to finish an interior in low light and damp conditions than it is the exterior.

First up, the engine bay:










Plenty of Autosmart G101 and several detail brushes, then rinsed off with the pressure washer. Engine started to aid drying, and misted whilst still wet with Autosmart Rubber & Plastic Dressing. Engine left to run and dry it all out whilst tackling wheels, arches etc. It left it looking like this:










Next up, door shuts, arches, tyres and wheels. Again Autosmart G101 and brushes for the shuts, G101 and Vikan brushes for the arches (once given an initial blast with the Kranzle to clear as much loose dirt as possible) and wheels hit with Meguiars Wheel Brightener and various brushes.





































Running boards were also soaked with Autosmart G101, scrubbed with Vikan brushes and rinsed off. The metal parts had some tougher stains on which were removed with Espuma Revolution.

The lower half of the car was then pre rinsed with Autosmart Hazsafe, then the entire car foamed with a mix of Bilt Hamber Autofoam and Autosmart G101:










Left to dwell for 5 minutes or so whilst filling buckets, then rinsed off at high pressure. Paintwork was then washed via TBM using Autosmart Autowash, Refined Detail washmitt and dried with Refined Detail waffle weave drying towels.

Large amounts of tar were present all over the car and wheels, but were dealt with easily using Autosmart Tardis:



















And some old numberplate fixing pad glue was removed:



















And then finally to ensure it was clear of as many contaminants as possible, Iron-X and clayed with Bilt Hamber soft clay.

Re-rinsed and given a final dry with Refined Detail waffle weave towels and all water traps cleared with the Chemical Guys car drier.

Because this was prep for sale, it was just to be given a hand polish, I chose Autosmart Platinum - a firm favourite in my armoury.

I then finalised the exterior before moving on to the inside. So, black trim was dressed with Autosmart Trim Wizard, Arches dressed with Autosmart Rubber & Plastic dressing, Tyres with Nielsens Brilliance, wheels and metal parts of running boards polished & sealed with Carlack NSC, glass with Espuma Blue Crystal.

Then it was on to the interior. The seats had all had covers on them which I'd removed upon arrival at the owners request, they'd unfortunately worn through the pigment on the seats in a couple of places.























































The pet hair doesn't look all that bad in the photos, but the dogs were black and white so only the white hairs show! After literally hours of scrubbing, brushing and hoovering I declared it as clean as I could realistically get it - the boot was a nightmare as they are 2 folding seats so these had to be opened at various stages to get to all the nooks and crannies.

Once all the hoovering was complete, everything was given a thorough clean with Meguiars APC and magic sponges and buffed off. Most of the plastics looked very tired though, so various components were dressed with Poorboys Natural Look dressing, and a few fiddly areas with Autosmart Dash Dandy Satin.

Please excuse the dirty glass, the photos were taken before to cleaning this:























































With light fading fast, the exterior was given a quick wipe down with Meguiars Last Touch and the glass cleaned with Espuma Blue Crystal:
































































Thanks for looking, hopefully that demonstrates it's not all glitz and glamour :lol:

Rich


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

Fantastic turnaround, what a mess it first was


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## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

Great transformation Rich:thumb:


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## Overdoser (Oct 25, 2010)

Fantastic turnaround. I bet the owner was over the moon with the car.


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## jpmcc (Mar 3, 2007)

I own one of these and the interior is a beast to clean at the best of times never mind in that state. A top job and looks fantastic when finished


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

Great work. That was totally bogging! The center armrest beggars belief.


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## SimonW (Jun 3, 2007)

Top work mate! Great turn around

Simon
*Exotic Detail*
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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Thanks all, I have a couple of these on maintenance so am getting used to the fiddly interior now, but this one was certainly a challenge - the carpets are like velcro and absorb every grain of dirt and sand!

The centre armrest just goes to show how much the seat covers protected the rest of the seats imo!


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## BlackCat (May 2, 2008)

Beggers belief how some people let their cars get like that.
It would do my head in, sitting amongst all that filth for a long journey!

Good job bringing it back.


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## maxtherotti (Mar 2, 2009)

that was hanging
looks superb now tho

Rob


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## Grizzle (Jul 12, 2006)

Refined Detail said:


> hopefully that demonstrates it's not all glitz and glamour :lol:
> 
> Rich


Exactly lots of people think detailing is easy money and avoid "Valeting"  Dunno if its just me but i;m more and more enjoying the quick turn arounds like yourself, you have done a fantastic job on the big beast pet hair isnt fun eh? Also that interior is disgusting i wouldnt let my van or car get like that even if i wasnt into cleaning cars.


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## borinous (Mar 25, 2010)

top job bud


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## CJR (Nov 4, 2010)

Can't get over the muck inside that!! If u obviously use your car as a workhorse, why have light coloured leather, and a black exterior! Looked amazing at the end though. WOW


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## Goodfella36 (Jul 21, 2009)

That is a great turn around in 8 hours


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## Mr Face (Jan 22, 2009)

*Not all glitz and glamour : you do jest*

Great turn around, you must have been flying to crack that out in a day, an absolutey stunning finish :thumb:

Not all glitz and glamour :lol::lol::lol: that Discovery is a Rolls Royce compared to what Im cutting my :buffer: teeth on. Not all glitz and glamour indeed :thumb:


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## Abs (Jan 8, 2008)

That looks excellent! What did you use on the armrest / seats?


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Grizzle said:


> Exactly lots of people think detailing is easy money and avoid "Valeting"  Dunno if its just me but i;m more and more enjoying the quick turn arounds like yourself, you have done a fantastic job on the big beast pet hair isnt fun eh? Also that interior is disgusting i wouldnt let my van or car get like that even if i wasnt into cleaning cars.


I enjoy a good detail, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't still be in business if I turned my nose up at valeting work. I'm a totally different kettle of fish to a hand car wash, and a good percentage of the valeters around my way so it's just a case of getting that point across to the clients. A good 75% if not more of my work is maintenance so I guess that speaks for itself!

Pet hair is the bane of my life :lol:



CJR said:


> Can't get over the muck inside that!! If u obviously use your car as a workhorse, why have light coloured leather, and a black exterior! Looked amazing at the end though. WOW


TBF to him he is the owner of an agricultural construction company, but yes the colour combination chosen is far from logical! Apparently his new ML is a dark colour too :doublesho



Mr Face said:


> Great turn around, you must have been flying to crack that out in a day, an absolutey stunning finish :thumb:
> 
> Not all glitz and glamour :lol::lol::lol: that Discovery is a Rolls Royce compared to what Im cutting my :buffer: teeth on. Not all glitz and glamour indeed :thumb:


Thanks! Once I turn up to a job it's just a case of head down tbh - this is the most photos I've taken in a long time!! The interior could have easily been taken further - at least a day on it's own, but seeing as it was being traded in there's a limit!!



Abs said:


> That looks excellent! What did you use on the armrest / seats?


Thanks, all surfaces were cleaned with Megs APC including the centre armrest and seats. Magic sponges were used for most of it, but where a bit of extra bite was required I used a Clean Your Car leather brush. The leather was later conditioned with Zaino (which I think I forgot to mention in the write up)

Got a very similar booking for Saturday on an Alfa 147


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## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

How would you rate Autosmart Rubber & Plastic Dressing against 303 Rich?


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

Good job Rich


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## nath69uk (Dec 29, 2008)

looks really well that considering it only had an hand polish, I see you like your AutoSmart stuff too? I spoke to the rep this week regarding getting a list off him, he said look on the site. I find the site very poor and hard to navigate?

Well done!


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## GlynRS2 (Jan 21, 2006)

The owner clearly was one to care too much for maintaining the appearance of their car :doublesho

However, they could now pass it off as "one careful owner". It is bound to add significant value to the vehicle and secure a sale. I doubt anyone would have bought it in the before state. A top job :thumb:


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## PK001 (May 8, 2008)

Thats one dirty Rover & now one well groomed Rover.

Excellent Job!:thumb:

What did you use to dress the tyres with?

PK


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## David (Apr 6, 2006)

i think its a disgrace that folk can let a £30,000 + car get in such a mess

my mum and dad arent into cleaning their cars, but it would never reach that stage before they think "should really give it a quick vacuum" etc

how do you rate the AS rubber cleaner?

good job


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## Beau Technique (Jun 21, 2010)

Some folk just dont have the time and the last thing on there minds is cleaning the car.

Great work.


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## tim (May 2, 2006)

Fantastic work, very impressive turnaround on that interior. I detest pet hair!

Giving my nightmares now that I promised my father I'd do his Disco3... which is a commercial and gets used like one lol..


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## FrazzleTC (Jul 4, 2009)

That's a great transformation and now looks like a lovely car again! Excellent!


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## 123quackers (Jan 29, 2009)

:doublesho feck heck how why more to the point do people do this to cars??

Great work hats of to you on that job... Hope all your jabs are up to date...:thumb:


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## Cole (Aug 22, 2010)

nice work rich as always


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

yuck yuck yuck amazing transformation the arm rest says it all great work well done!!


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## Rgk Detailing (Dec 6, 2006)

Wow that's an incredible amount of pet hair, nice work turning that around in a day!, that will sell easily now and I bet the owner was very pleased!.
:thumb:


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

slrestoration said:


> How would you rate Autosmart Rubber & Plastic Dressing against 303 Rich?


It's one of my favourite products this year tbh. I fly through the stuff! Its slightly glossier than 303 but has a far nicer smell (orange) it's slightly less versatile than the 303 in regards to what it can be used on and the lack of UV protection it offers, but it's replaced the bottle of 303 I had thats for sure.



nath69uk said:


> looks really well that considering it only had an hand polish, I see you like your AutoSmart stuff too? I spoke to the rep this week regarding getting a list off him, he said look on the site. I find the site very poor and hard to navigate?
> 
> Well done!


The large amounts of initial deep cleaning and de-contamination helped to bring some much needed life back into the paintwork tbh. Having said that, price tag aside on the Platinum, it's a very good hand polish.

In regards to the Autosmart range, I do use a fair amount of their products. I have tried other manufacturers offerings, but often find myself going back to Autosmart. Their site isn't that bad to navigate imo, this is the section you want to be looking in:http://www.autosmart.co.uk/Car Cleaning Index.html The reps don't really have lists or brochures though. If you're after a cleaner for a specific task, just tell them and they can guide you from there.



GlynRS2 said:


> The owner clearly was one to care too much for maintaining the appearance of their car :doublesho
> 
> However, they could now pass it off as "one careful owner". It is bound to add significant value to the vehicle and secure a sale. I doubt anyone would have bought it in the before state. A top job :thumb:


Thanks very much  As mentioned in a reply on the previous page, he runs an agricultural construction company so it does see a lot of farm tracks etc, but not I think it was lucky to see anything more than a car wash normally!



PK001 said:


> Thats one dirty Rover & now one well groomed Rover.
> 
> Excellent Job!:thumb:
> 
> ...


Thanks! I used Nielsens Brilliance for the tyres.



David said:


> i think its a disgrace that folk can let a £30,000 + car get in such a mess
> 
> my mum and dad arent into cleaning their cars, but it would never reach that stage before they think "should really give it a quick vacuum" etc
> 
> ...


Thanks! See my above reply re. my thoughts on AS Rubber & Plastic :thumb:


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## Victor (Oct 10, 2010)

nasty interior . but great transformation


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## slrestoration (Nov 11, 2009)

Thanks for the reply Rich, am assuming its still a spray? Looks ideal for engine bays:thumb:

Nick


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Yes Nick it's a water based dressing that can be applied via trigger bottle (or brushed on if using on tyres) - it doesn't mention anywhere in the instructions about applying to wet surfaces, but I've been doing it more and more recently and find it leaves a slightly more natural look that just needs the excess buffing off.


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## Eddy (Apr 13, 2008)

Thats a very nice days work sir, looks a million times better !!


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## Dodoalan (Nov 24, 2009)

Great turnaround. Top marks


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## bossr32 (Jul 10, 2010)

*amazing*

how could you drive aroung like that

what did you use on the tyres they look amazing


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated.

Tyre dressing has now been mentioned twice in 4 pages so I'm not answering that one again, you'll have to read it this time


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2010)

Nice.

I do a few of them a month at work (together with x3, x5, RR etc) and always confuses me why have beige leather and carpet when used as a dog carrier.


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## SeaJays (Nov 9, 2010)

Excellent turn around! That thing was filthy!


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