Winter Prep Detail

[595girlie]

I’ve been wanting to do a proper detail on my car for quite some time now.  After running with WetCoat on the car last winter due to its ease of application, my plan was to give CanCoat a try when the weather improved in March/April time.  However, I never got round to getting that done, and the combination of WetCoat, Bathe+ and Cure were still lasting well on the car so saw me through the summer no problems.  But I definitely wanted to give the car a good going over before winter hits in this year.  With time passing by thoughts change and reading up on other products, I also ended up changing my mind over what protection I wanted to use.  Aided by the CanCoat not working properly, I ended up purchasing some FK1000 Sealant and FK2685 Pink Wax.

So, full detail was done over a couple of days, but process was:

Citrus TFR
Snow foam
Rinse
Iron X
Rinse
Wash
Rinse
Clay
Wash
Rinse
Dry
DA Polish with very light cut (the car didn’t need much as its only 10 months old)
Panel Wipe
2 Coats of FK1000
Black trim coated with Dodo Juice Tyromania
2 Coats of FK2685

I know 2 coats of the Sealant would be plenty to get me through winter, and even using just this the paint looked lovely, but I wanted to add some wax on top to give it that bit of extra gloss.  And I was certainly right to do so.  Instantly after buffing off the wax the car looked amazing and the wax just made the paintwork feel even more slick to go with how shiny it looks.  Definitely glad I did those two coats, as it just finished the job off.  I’ve got the FK detailer too, but will try that out on my next wash.  I coated the wheels with GyeonRim the day I picked it up which still seems to be working well, but I may give them a coat of the FK1000 if I can in the next few weeks.

Campovolo Grey is not an easy colour to show off the paintwork, but here’s some pics of the finished car.






And some tasty reflections:

[rare]

That looks stunning, please come and do mine 

[olivabih77]

Looking very nice, clean and shiny 595girlie... i will give you £20.00 to do mine..

[Fish]

Great work there Clare, I might have skipped the odd wash stage though.

Fish

[Brian1612]

Looks excellent Clare, I myself know how hard the Camp Grey was to get a good gloss finish but the paintwork looks nice and wet! Can't fault any of the products you used, some of my own personal favorites also! You will have to let me know how the FK 425 Quick Detailer is! Heard it is excellent but yet to try, have 6-7 different spray detailers to get through before I can try it

[anewton10]

Looks really nice Clare, you and you other half do know how to keep a car in excellent condition. I've got mine to do but I need to take time off work to get everything done 😃 Just a quick question not really to do with this thread but where did you get your heat shield polished? I can remember your fella saying at waxstock he sent off the stainless steel on his Evo and I was wondering if you did the same??

Cheers Andy

[Salvos_white_abarth]

Looks excellent Clare, I myself know how hard the Camp Grey was to get a good gloss finish but the paintwork looks nice and wet! Can't fault any of the products you used, some of my own personal favorites also! You will have to let me know how the FK 425 Quick Detailer is! Heard it is excellent but yet to try, have 6-7 different spray detailers to get through before I can try it

i can vouch for fk425 brilliant quick detailer

[Salvos_white_abarth]

595 girlie iv pm you

[595girlie]

Thanks for all the comments guys.  I'm pretty pleased with how she came out.  Scared to drive her now though as it will get dirty.  Ha ha ha!!

Looks really nice Clare, you and you other half do know how to keep a car in excellent condition. I've got mine to do but I need to take time off work to get everything done 😃 Just a quick question not really to do with this thread but where did you get your heat shield polished? I can remember your fella saying at waxstock he sent off the stainless steel on his Evo and I was wondering if you did the same??

Cheers Andy

Hi Andy, It's definitely rewarding when you see the end results, so definitely find the time to do it.

I just gave the heat shield a going over with wire wool to start, then a microfiber to finish off, using the britemax twins metal polish.  It's not come out really shiny or anything, so I may take it off again at some point to try to improve even more.  It'll take a hell of a lot of work to get it anywhere even near close to the polished look.
All the parts on the Evo were already polished when he got them, but the heatshield went back to Spec-R, the manufacturer, when it was re-done.  Sadly the Evo has now gone and he is waiting for the arrival of his RS sometime at the beginning (he hopes!) of next year.

i can vouch for fk425 brilliant quick detailer

Great; looking forward to trying it out.  Will reply to your PM.   

[Bertie]

Looks stunning, nice work!