MINI2

AndyH_MCS · Feb 13th, 2008, 12:11 PM

Hi all,

This was last weekends work and is the reason i am looking forward to a free weekend this week coming LOL

The car was bought a few months ago from a Coopers main dealer. On colection of the car there where a few things that the owner wanted sorted! The wheels were so badly refurbished that the outside lip of the wheels was not straight! This results in 2Ks worth of wheels under warranty!
Next was the rear of the car was covered in cement dust. This is where BMW excelled themselves! All the repair consited of was a blow over and not actually removing the cement dust!!! More on this later in the thread!
Finally, on the drivers door there were a couple of chips that needed attention. Again BMW did there finest Stevie Wonder repair LOL

The car itself is a very well spec'd Works and when brand new cost in excess of £25000!

Anyway on to the detail...

Initial inspections revealed the car to be very clean and in good condition.

A very nice 5ft car however an initial rinse with water revealed this:

No protection and the flash shows nicely what condition the paintwork was in. Luckly i'd set aside a couple of days so that i could get everything as good as i could and feel happy when i left.

Wash

The car was foamed with Megs APC, left to dwell for a couple of minutes, then sprayed off with the hose.

The car was then re-foamed with Megs Hyper Wash and wash via 2BM with Megs Hyper Wash. The car was dryed using Sonus Der Wonder towels and Last Touch as a drying aid.

As the wheels were brand new they needed very little attention. Megs APC cut 10:1 and a Swissvax Wheel brush dealt with the nicely (no pics)

The door shuts and sills were treated to APC and a wipe during the wash stage:

As were the side vents, grills and badges:

The car was then clayed using CleanYourCar Poly Clay with Last Touch as lube. This is where i hit a snag! Remember where i said about the cement dust on the boot? Well where BMW blew over the cement the clay did its job and nipped off the tops of the paint revealing the cement dust again

MAGICAL!!! This topped with the wetsanding marks left by BMW i knew i'd have to spend a while on the boot.

Clay after the drivers side:

Polishing

The Mini paint was of a medium grade which is very suprising! I've done a fair few Mini's now (including my own) and the paint is rock hard. This meant that 106FA worked on the Black 3M polishing pad @ 600 -> 900 -> 1800 -> 900rpm gave a 99% correction rate. On the deeper marks i used 3.02 and the Megs cut pad to either soften or completely remove the marks.
The paint readings were fairly good averaging between 130 and 140 microns. The edges of the bonnet were fairly thin in comparison!!!

So with alot of care and 106FA on a 3M Black Polishing pad i achieved this:

Lucky for me the defects were very light and only needed 2-3 microns removing.

With the rest of the car having fairly healthy paint i knew i would be safe (albeit taking regular paint readings) in getting the correction level i desired.

Good examples of this are:

Rear Quarter Panel (3.02 on Megs Cutting Pad followed by 85RD on 3M Blue Finishing Pad)

Bonnet

Boot

Now the only before i can find is after a bit of wetsanding (Megs 3000 grit paper) and i just can't find the ones i took of the cement dust.

Where BMW had done the repair there were alot of wetsanding marks in the clearcoat along with the remaining particles of cement dust. The process i used to remove both was:

Clay with CYC PolyClay
Wetsand with 2500 grit
Follow up with 3000 grit
Polish using Megs Cut Pad and Menzerna 3.02
Refined using 85RD on a 3M Blue finsihing pad

With this method i was able to remove 99% of the defects and still leave a healthy 140 microns worth of paint (only able to read the metal). Worth pointing out as well that the plastic bumper only held wetsanding marks and these were removed with a great deal of care.

Pictures:

(I'll be going back in a couple of weeks time and i'll make sure i get some photos of the boot)

As time went on the pictures got a little thin on the ground.

The exhausts received a bit of special treatment. The insides were incredibly "coked" and nothing would shift it. I tried Megs APC, Megs Wheel Brightener (neat!!!) and AG Tar remover. After a bit of though and a suggestion from the owner i tried Oven Pride!!! We removed the exhaust tips and applied Oven Pride to the inner of the tips. After 4hrs and a once over with Megs NXT Metal Polysh we went from

This:

To this:

Very impressed with the cleaning power of Oven Pride but i would not use it on anything else other than exhaust inners.

With time running out and moisture in the air increasing i applied Megs #7 followed by Dodo Juice Purple Haze.

Afters (taken by Dawn the following day):

A very rewarding detail overall and i feel i've improved my machining skills from it.

Thanks for reading. Any comments are welcome, also any tips or hints would be greatly received.

Thanks

Andy

Fin · Feb 13th, 2008, 12:26 PM

How much do you charge?

KillerByte · Feb 13th, 2008, 12:36 PM

On a black car too! Fantastic work!

I love MINI, Laura · Feb 13th, 2008, 12:37 PM

WOOWOWWOWOW! Well done there! Never knew it was just so technical! Welldone. Excellent work. Dawn good supervising!

vickietots · Feb 13th, 2008, 12:37 PM

Wow!! As Fin said "How much do you charge?"!!

Lolance · Feb 13th, 2008, 12:38 PM

Quality job mate!

KPKalle · Feb 13th, 2008, 12:41 PM

How long did it take and what do you charge?

Lovely work Andy and Dawn must be chuffed

Fin · Feb 13th, 2008, 12:48 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Fin (original)

How much do you charge?

Quote: Originally Posted by vickietots (original)

Wow!! As Fin said "How much do you charge?"!!

Quote: Originally Posted by KPKalle (original)

How long did it take and what do you charge?

Lovely work Andy and Dawn must be chuffed

Will you give us a discount for a group booking?

AndyH_MCS · Feb 13th, 2008, 01:41 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Fin (original)

How much do you charge?

Quote: Originally Posted by vickietots (original)

Wow!! As Fin said "How much do you charge?"!!

Quote: Originally Posted by KPKalle (original)

How long did it take and what do you charge?

Lovely work Andy and Dawn must be chuffed

It took just over 2 days but i wanted to take my time and ensure everything was done properly...even then i ran out of time

Dawns was a favour and in return i get a few free haircuts

I'm not sure about rules on here so if people wanted to know a price then i'll pm you

Keano · Feb 13th, 2008, 01:52 PM

Andy yet another awsome job! If only there was an opportunity for you to do my car....

Like what you did with the exhaust...

Keano

Roofas · Feb 13th, 2008, 03:22 PM

Very nice - what machine did you use, PC or rotary?

astilla · Feb 13th, 2008, 04:03 PM

What a fantastic job you did on that Mini. The more I read about proper detailing the more impressed I am with it. I'd definitely pay to have one done sometime in the future as I just don't have the skills to do it myself and I'd be scared to death of getting it horribly wrong.

AndyH_MCS · Feb 13th, 2008, 04:23 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Roofas (original)

Very nice - what machine did you use, PC or rotary?

Done with the Makita rotary...the PC would have taken months not days

Mini paint is fairly tough and the rotary makes mince meat out of it! I found that i was getting the desired correction in one hit

Dawn · Feb 13th, 2008, 05:05 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Keano (original)

Andy yet another awsome job! If only there was an opportunity for you to do my car....

Like what you did with the exhaust...

Keano

The oven Pride wa supposed to be aclosely guarded secret, you should see hoe its cleans my oven shelves

The cleaning abuse was by the previous owner ( ima 2 bucket wash mit girl) and the results speak for themselves

Chuffed is an understatement, she looks awesome! (even tho the end pics are a bit dodgy and taken by me

)
Free haircuts and endless Sunday Roasts wont ever tell you how pleased i am Andy, thankyou sooo much

RyanK · Feb 13th, 2008, 05:15 PM

Wow, thats an amazing turn around. I hope you have posted this over on DetailingWorld.

Im planning on getting this done to mine before the summer. I can't stand swirl marks.

supa-dupa-cooper · Feb 13th, 2008, 05:20 PM

Looks fantastic! Job well done!

ScottyBoy · Feb 13th, 2008, 05:22 PM

Cool work there Andy!

PM me on your price for my car mate.....

....Although i do have a PC and everything to go with it just nit the time TBH.

Scott

nylo · Feb 13th, 2008, 05:41 PM

Absolutely outstanding Andy, what an amazing job, and your attention to detail is awesome!

Can't wait to see it in the metal at TG

Enjoy, Dawn!

Greenie1 · Feb 13th, 2008, 07:23 PM

Great job!

Drewuk · Feb 13th, 2008, 07:40 PM

That finish is amazing

wish my roof was that glossy - was really good to see what is actually involved in getting those results.

Feb 13th, 2008, 12:11 PM	#1
AndyH_MCS MINI2 Regular My Classifieds Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Essex Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 227 Offline	Dawns Cooper S Works Detailed...by me Hi all, This was last weekends work and is the reason i am looking forward to a free weekend this week coming LOL The car was bought a few months ago from a Coopers main dealer. On colection of the car there where a few things that the owner wanted sorted! The wheels were so badly refurbished that the outside lip of the wheels was not straight! This results in 2Ks worth of wheels under warranty! Next was the rear of the car was covered in cement dust. This is where BMW excelled themselves! All the repair consited of was a blow over and not actually removing the cement dust!!! More on this later in the thread! Finally, on the drivers door there were a couple of chips that needed attention. Again BMW did there finest Stevie Wonder repair LOL The car itself is a very well spec'd Works and when brand new cost in excess of £25000! Anyway on to the detail... Initial inspections revealed the car to be very clean and in good condition. A very nice 5ft car however an initial rinse with water revealed this: No protection and the flash shows nicely what condition the paintwork was in. Luckly i'd set aside a couple of days so that i could get everything as good as i could and feel happy when i left. Wash The car was foamed with Megs APC, left to dwell for a couple of minutes, then sprayed off with the hose. The car was then re-foamed with Megs Hyper Wash and wash via 2BM with Megs Hyper Wash. The car was dryed using Sonus Der Wonder towels and Last Touch as a drying aid. As the wheels were brand new they needed very little attention. Megs APC cut 10:1 and a Swissvax Wheel brush dealt with the nicely (no pics) The door shuts and sills were treated to APC and a wipe during the wash stage: As were the side vents, grills and badges: The car was then clayed using CleanYourCar Poly Clay with Last Touch as lube. This is where i hit a snag! Remember where i said about the cement dust on the boot? Well where BMW blew over the cement the clay did its job and nipped off the tops of the paint revealing the cement dust again MAGICAL!!! This topped with the wetsanding marks left by BMW i knew i'd have to spend a while on the boot. Clay after the drivers side: Polishing The Mini paint was of a medium grade which is very suprising! I've done a fair few Mini's now (including my own) and the paint is rock hard. This meant that 106FA worked on the Black 3M polishing pad @ 600 -> 900 -> 1800 -> 900rpm gave a 99% correction rate. On the deeper marks i used 3.02 and the Megs cut pad to either soften or completely remove the marks. The paint readings were fairly good averaging between 130 and 140 microns. The edges of the bonnet were fairly thin in comparison!!! So with alot of care and 106FA on a 3M Black Polishing pad i achieved this: Lucky for me the defects were very light and only needed 2-3 microns removing. With the rest of the car having fairly healthy paint i knew i would be safe (albeit taking regular paint readings) in getting the correction level i desired. Good examples of this are: Rear Quarter Panel (3.02 on Megs Cutting Pad followed by 85RD on 3M Blue Finishing Pad) Bonnet Boot Now the only before i can find is after a bit of wetsanding (Megs 3000 grit paper) and i just can't find the ones i took of the cement dust. Where BMW had done the repair there were alot of wetsanding marks in the clearcoat along with the remaining particles of cement dust. The process i used to remove both was: Clay with CYC PolyClay Wetsand with 2500 grit Follow up with 3000 grit Polish using Megs Cut Pad and Menzerna 3.02 Refined using 85RD on a 3M Blue finsihing pad With this method i was able to remove 99% of the defects and still leave a healthy 140 microns worth of paint (only able to read the metal). Worth pointing out as well that the plastic bumper only held wetsanding marks and these were removed with a great deal of care. Pictures: (I'll be going back in a couple of weeks time and i'll make sure i get some photos of the boot) As time went on the pictures got a little thin on the ground. The exhausts received a bit of special treatment. The insides were incredibly "coked" and nothing would shift it. I tried Megs APC, Megs Wheel Brightener (neat!!!) and AG Tar remover. After a bit of though and a suggestion from the owner i tried Oven Pride!!! We removed the exhaust tips and applied Oven Pride to the inner of the tips. After 4hrs and a once over with Megs NXT Metal Polysh we went from This: To this: Very impressed with the cleaning power of Oven Pride but i would not use it on anything else other than exhaust inners. With time running out and moisture in the air increasing i applied Megs #7 followed by Dodo Juice Purple Haze. Afters (taken by Dawn the following day): A very rewarding detail overall and i feel i've improved my machining skills from it. Thanks for reading. Any comments are welcome, also any tips or hints would be greatly received. Thanks Andy

Feb 13th, 2008, 12:41 PM	#7 (permalink)
KPKalle Knight of the Round Table Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Midhurst, Sussex Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 21,174 Offline	How long did it take and what do you charge? Lovely work Andy and Dawn must be chuffed Global Moderator

Feb 13th, 2008, 03:22 PM	#11 (permalink)
Roofas iz dis a yoot house?!! My Classifieds Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Luton (pron: Loo'un) Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 716 Online	Very nice - what machine did you use, PC or rotary? Lies need defending all the time. The truth defends itself.

Feb 13th, 2008, 04:03 PM	#12 (permalink)
astilla Hmmmmm Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Worcestershire Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 152 Online	What a fantastic job you did on that Mini. The more I read about proper detailing the more impressed I am with it. I'd definitely pay to have one done sometime in the future as I just don't have the skills to do it myself and I'd be scared to death of getting it horribly wrong. 1988 Mini 'Designer' & 2008 MINI Cooper 'S' Works

Feb 13th, 2008, 05:05 PM	#14 (permalink)
Dawn Work'd Up ! My Classifieds Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Essex Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 3,043 Offline	Quote: Originally Posted by Keano (original) Andy yet another awsome job! If only there was an opportunity for you to do my car.... Like what you did with the exhaust... Keano The oven Pride wa supposed to be aclosely guarded secret, you should see hoe its cleans my oven shelves The cleaning abuse was by the previous owner ( ima 2 bucket wash mit girl) and the results speak for themselves Chuffed is an understatement, she looks awesome! (even tho the end pics are a bit dodgy and taken by me ) Free haircuts and endless Sunday Roasts wont ever tell you how pleased i am Andy, thankyou sooo much EssexMINI2 click me

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Feb 13th, 2008, 12:26 PM	#2 (permalink)
Fin Giggity-goo! Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Cloudbase Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 2,520 Offline	How much do you charge?

Feb 13th, 2008, 12:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
KillerByte Skadoosh! Join Date: May 2006 Location: Nottingham Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 9,578 Offline	On a black car too! Fantastic work!

Feb 13th, 2008, 12:37 PM	#4 (permalink)
I love MINI, Laura MINI2 Master Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Portsmouth,Hampshire Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 3,198 Offline	WOOWOWWOWOW! Well done there! Never knew it was just so technical! Welldone. Excellent work. Dawn good supervising!

Feb 13th, 2008, 12:37 PM	#5 (permalink)
vickietots Countdown Queen! Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Post Run Blues! Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 3,918 Offline	Wow!! As Fin said "How much do you charge?"!!

Feb 13th, 2008, 12:38 PM	#6 (permalink)
Lolance Dooper Scooper Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sleazeford Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 454 Offline	Quality job mate!

Feb 13th, 2008, 12:48 PM	#8 (permalink)
Fin Giggity-goo! Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Cloudbase Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 2,520 Offline	Quote: Originally Posted by Fin (original) How much do you charge? Quote: Originally Posted by vickietots (original) Wow!! As Fin said "How much do you charge?"!! Quote: Originally Posted by KPKalle (original) How long did it take and what do you charge? Lovely work Andy and Dawn must be chuffed Will you give us a discount for a group booking?

Feb 13th, 2008, 01:41 PM	#9 (permalink)
AndyH_MCS MINI2 Regular My Classifieds Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Essex Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 227 Offline	Quote: Originally Posted by Fin (original) How much do you charge? Quote: Originally Posted by vickietots (original) Wow!! As Fin said "How much do you charge?"!! Quote: Originally Posted by KPKalle (original) How long did it take and what do you charge? Lovely work Andy and Dawn must be chuffed It took just over 2 days but i wanted to take my time and ensure everything was done properly...even then i ran out of time Dawns was a favour and in return i get a few free haircuts I'm not sure about rules on here so if people wanted to know a price then i'll pm you

Feb 13th, 2008, 01:52 PM	#10 (permalink)
Keano MINI2 Regular Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Ipswich Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 146 Offline	Andy yet another awsome job! If only there was an opportunity for you to do my car.... Like what you did with the exhaust... Keano

Feb 13th, 2008, 04:23 PM	#13 (permalink)
AndyH_MCS MINI2 Regular My Classifieds Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Essex Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 227 Offline	Quote: Originally Posted by Roofas (original) Very nice - what machine did you use, PC or rotary? Done with the Makita rotary...the PC would have taken months not days Mini paint is fairly tough and the rotary makes mince meat out of it! I found that i was getting the desired correction in one hit

Feb 13th, 2008, 05:15 PM	#15 (permalink)
RyanK Pure Silver Batman Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Aberdeen, Scotland Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 469 Offline	Wow, thats an amazing turn around. I hope you have posted this over on DetailingWorld. Im planning on getting this done to mine before the summer. I can't stand swirl marks.

Feb 13th, 2008, 05:20 PM	#16 (permalink)
supa-dupa-cooper In S Club Heaven!! Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Cloud MINI Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 19,026 Offline	Looks fantastic! Job well done! * The Italian Job 2008......Team 50 - Sponsor Us Here!* UNION JACK OWNERS CLUB GB002

Feb 13th, 2008, 05:22 PM	#17 (permalink)
ScottyBoy Obsessive Car Cleaner OCC My Classifieds Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Thornaby NE Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 2,873 Offline	Cool work there Andy! PM me on your price for my car mate..... ....Although i do have a PC and everything to go with it just nit the time TBH. Scott

Feb 13th, 2008, 05:41 PM	#18 (permalink)
nylo Horse 'er on, Cynthia! My Classifieds Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Bangor, Norn Iron Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 17,145 Offline	Absolutely outstanding Andy, what an amazing job, and your attention to detail is awesome! Can't wait to see it in the metal at TG Enjoy, Dawn!

Feb 13th, 2008, 07:23 PM	#19 (permalink)
Greenie1 vroom, vroom! Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Suffolk/Essex Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 385 Offline	Great job!

Feb 13th, 2008, 07:40 PM	#20 (permalink)
Drewuk Easy on the knee with CVT Join Date: May 2007 Location: Surrey Local Time: 02:54 PM Posts: 118 Offline	That finish is amazing wish my roof was that glossy - was really good to see what is actually involved in getting those results.