White Countryman Detail day
Spent today detailing Lenore's white Countryman. The car is less than a month old so to be honest, the bodywork was in pretty good nick anyway. But it had the usual dealer prep crap on it so that had to go.
First up, snow foam pre-wash to strip as much crap off the bodywork. 20% Valet Pro Advanced Neutral Snow Foam, 20% neat G101, 60% warm water. It doesn't look particularly "foamy" and I'm not sure if this is the Valet Pro stuff or because I have the G101 in there. Only the second time I've used the Valet Pro and the first time wasn't very foamy either so the jury's out on that stuff for now.
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...ountryman1.jpg
The car then got a good (hot) wash with Chemical Guys Extreme Bodywash shampoo.
The carpet inside the wheel arches was caked in straw and all manner of crud from the roads. That proved tricky to remove without removing the wheels and I didn't have time for that today so just had to do the best I could. So it was soaked in neat G101 then scrubbed with a wash mit as best I could, then blasted off with the jet hose.
Before:
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...ountryman2.jpg
After: Still not happy with this but best I could do.
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...ountryman3.jpg
Once dried off the car was taped up ready for polish stage.
Due to the age of the car and the fact the bodywork was actually not in a bad way, I opted for a hand polish, rather than a machine polish. I used Autoglym SRP. SRP is really easy to use, but it's utterly unforgiving if it gets onto any black trim or rubber. So I spent 30 minutes taping the car up, which to be fair I've only done once before and this showed as I missed a couple of things and had to be ultra careful when polishing the bonnet etc.
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...ountryman4.jpg
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...ountryman5.jpg
After the polish, I gave the car a good coat of Blackfire Midnight Sun Ivory Carnauba Paste Wax. Really easy to apply and very durable.
Music. Had this running on the boom box thingy all day. Great station and good company. At least my dancing, singing and whistling kept the neighbors away. :lol:
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...ountryman6.jpg
Wheels soaked in Wolfs Deironiser Decon Gel then given a good wash with another hot bucket of Chemical Guys Extreme Bodywash shampoo.
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...ountryman7.jpg
Dried thoroughly and treated to a coat of Gtechniq C5 Wheel Armour. At £43 for a 30ml bottle this stuff is bloody expensive, but it does leave a very nice wet look coating.
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...untryman15.jpg
Tyre walls treated to a coat of Chemical guys Trim Gel.
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...ountryman8.jpg
And the final look. All done. Really happy with the end result.:thumbs up::thumbs up:
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...ountryman9.jpg
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...untryman10.jpg
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...untryman11.jpg
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...untryman12.jpg
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...untryman13.jpg
http://tili.co.uk/MINI/whitecountrym...untryman14.jpg
