Saving the world, one recycled blog post at a time

Scrolling through our "blog post" folder on the desktop, I've noticed a blog which was written a while back, but for some reason, probably the move to our new unit, never made it onto Blogger™. An Aston Martin DBS. Had lots of fun with this car so it seems a shame not to post it just because it was a while ago...

One from a bit further away for us. We collected this Aston Martin DBS from our client north of London, revelling in the Bond theme CD all the way up the M4 back to our workshop. We'd had this car in a few months previously to recolour and reproof its soft top, with the owner being so happy with the result he soon booked in for a full correction and nano ceramic treatment to address the exterior paintwork.

Whilst silver cars do show up scratching less than darker coloured cars, it was immediately apparent, under our workshop lights, that the car would benefit from a correction polish. In addition, the car had be resprayed around a year previously, and the body shop had definitely left its mark on the car – over spray on rubber seals, orange peel unrefined in areas and sanding marks on chrome trim - which should have been removed prior to work commencing!

A paint lacquer chip on a wing meant the car had to first go to our friends up at Spraytech, north of Cirencester, where Alan did a superb job of spot repairing and re lacquering the arch for a near perfect finish, at a fraction of the cost of a full wing respray - which may not have matched up perfectly to the surrounding paintwork anyway.

Once back with us, we carefully removed all chrome trim strips and managed to rectify around 90% of the dual sanding marks marring the finish via the body-shop's slap-dash sanding, finishing on a cotton rouge wheel. We then removed as much of the silver paint over spray and polish residue from the panel gaps and trim as was accessible, before refitting.

A pillars were tested for individual layer paint thickness using our ultrasonic paint depth gauge, and wet sanded down to correct the rough orange peel finish. The bodywork was methodically machine polished to remove surface scratches and enhance the gloss from the clear coat. Once complete, the paintwork was sealed with a coat of Gtechniq Crystal Serum light, to protect from further marring and keep the finish locked in. In addition, the leather seats were gently cleaned to remove the built up surface dirt and sealed with another Gtechniq product – L1 leather sealant. The wheels were removed, deep cleaned, polished, and sealed, and the glass treated with a long lasting hydrophobic sealant to aid water dispersal in the rain...

 

Stunning car and a pleasure to see the reaction when our client collected the vehicle.

Ch Ch Cha Changes

Not our usual sort of post, but more of a news update!

We've now relocated to our awesome new unit, a couple of mile east in Ewen, just outside of Cirencester.

Branding has changed to UK Detailing, with the new logo:

New website is active at UKDetailing.com

Keep an eye on the blog over the coming weeks - we've created a lot of content, which will shortly be appearing in some national magazines, so once that's published we will post our own version of it here.

As always, we love to hear from readers, so do comment below with any questions and we#ll get back to you as soon as posssible!


Ian

Iron Fallout

Iron fallout, or ferrous fallout is something that, with modern high traffic volumes, has become a greater issue to detailing. Although often referred to as industrial fallout and very common around train lines, a majority of the iron contamination comes from road user's brake pads; each time the person in front of you brakes, microscopic pieces of iron fly into the air and pelt your cars paint work. Of these particles, a fraction can become embedded in the paint due to the sharp, jagged edges (we're on a tiny scale here), especially if unprotected, and can lead to body corrosion if not addressed. Especially prevalent in the case of alloy wheels, where the iron particles, plus road salt can lead to electrolysis, speeding up under-paint corrosion.

Semi-regular treatment with a fallout remover safely dissolves the sharp edges of these iron particles, loosening them from the paintwork surface without affecting the surrounding area and enabling them to be safely washed away. However using those too often CAN damage surfaces, and is unnecessary as most iron fallout will be removed with simple regular washing, hence why regular waxing as prevention is better than remedy.

 

The downside is, they smell rotten, largely due to the ammonic reaction with citric acid, thioglycolic acid, and the iron itself, the combination of which results in the purple/red colour change associated with the products.

If your car, or wheels seem clean, but upon closer inspection reveals tiny black dots, sometimes with an orange halo, this is a good indication of iron contamination and something we can help with removal of.

EK9 Paint Correction

The first Civic to receive the Type R badge, the EK9, was introduced in August 1997. This first generation of Honda's VTEC powered “Type R” hot hatches gave a blistering rev range and 183bhp, hugging drivers in red alcantara seats and carbon fibre effect dash panels, and was Japan’s answer to the Golf GTI and Saxo VTR's domination of the hot hatch scene in the late 90s.

We were handed the keys to this one with the aim of restoring some shine to the, almost matt, Olympic White paintwork.

First step was to thoroughly clean the car, this revealed a second issue, thousands upon thousands of tiny iron particles in the paintwork. Two rounds of iron removal with VP Dragons Breath iron contamination remover and a thorough clay barring reduced these down to negligible amounts, and gave us a safe surface to begin polishing.

The oxidisation removed from the test panel alone was phenomenal, we were washing pads between each pass to remove the chalky build up of old oxidised paint, but the difference was immediately apparent. Working around the car the bright slick gloss began to show through, and with only a single stage polish using Lime Prime as our cleaner, taking around 6 hours, we were able to restore the paint's shine and reflectivity. 

in this 50/50 down the centre, you can see the line where the light picks back up...

Finished with two coats of diamond bright by Dodo Juice the finish shone through and snow blindness crept in…

Convertible Roof Paint Spot Removal

We were contacted by Insurers NFU to come to the aid of this black convertible which had been doused with thousands of fine paint spots – a result of wall painting by roller at the owners company car park – which had dried onto the surface.

No problem for us. A clean, followed by a steam cleaner for more stubborn marks and complete water extraction and re-seal, and the roof was as good as new, giving the customer back a perfect car, and saving the insurers around £1,500 for a replacement roof.

Paint damage on your convertible roof, from paint to stubborn mould? just give us a call.

Dealership Hologram Removal – Ford Fiesta ST

Sometimes dealerships are guilty of trying too hard. In this case, we suspect a bird etching on the bonnet had led them to “buff out” the problem, but without a refining stage, this left its own mark on the new owners purchase. Every time the sun hit it, rather than exploding into flake popping loveliness, all you could see were holograms etched over the surface where the rotary polisher had been. In addition, poor wash technique has left light swirl marks over the rest of the car to remove.

A light machine polish with finishing compounds was all it took to restore the surface, after checking the panel with IPA wipe to ensure no fillers were masking further imperfections, the paint was topped with a coat of wax to protect it going forward and bring our the superb colour to the highest level. 

New purchase with similar issues? Give us a call for a no obligation quote to rectify the damage.

2000 Boxster S

This 16 year old Boxster S came to us as a “cheap buy” from the owner, determined to get it back to its former glory.

Amongst the jobs was fixing a cracked rear bumper, repainting the calipers, reviving the faded soft top, repairing a worn leather bolster, removal of several car park dings, and repairing some of the thousands of stone chips from the bonnet, to name but a few.

The roof was cleaned and recoloured with Renovo dyes and allowed to dry for 24 hours before sealing. We removed the bumper, which had several smart repair patches bringing down the finish, and sent it to our bodyshop to be completely stripped back and resprayed.

The calipers were removed, masked, and blasted clear of the old loose paint, with the seals – an expensive replacement item – in place and protected. They were then resprayed in Brembo EHT red with new white decals, and refitted to the car.

Whilst in the air with the wheels removed, paintless dent removal took care of the 8-9 car park dings, and we began coaxing some life out of the badly marred paintwork with a two stage machine polish, before filling 12-18 of the worst of the stone chips and scrapes with custom matched chipex paint, also touching in the door edges, before refining the finish to a high gloss. 

New red Porsche decals were fitted to the side skirts to add a touch of class to the finish and the car was then coated in 2 coats of high carnauba wax.

The leather bolster was stripped back and recoloured to match the surrounding panels for a flawless finish.

Total time: to be honest we lost count, but I think you'll agree it was worth it…