EDGE's Saleen

[Fieldy]

The most shocking part of this whole, slightly lengthy and very rarely up-dated thread, is the moaning of the fuel costs on page 3

[EDGE]

Quoting: F Body

I put a tank full in the Maro last week

£1.01 per litre

NB : Get with program it's called V Power now

that was 2007, optimax was £1.49 when i filled it up last week!

[EDGE]

Well, where do I begin?....  My Saleen was chosen by Andy to receive a 'paint enhancement' detail a coupe of weeks ago, up at his workshop near Toddington.

My car was in pretty good condition, but, it did suffer with swirl marks from the bad car washing habits of the previous owners.  I had tried to polish out these marks over the past 6 years but I could never get them 100% gone.  

This is how the paint looked, it's been this way since I bought the car 6 years ago:


It's quite hard to pick up the scratches on a camera but when the car is in the sun they were REALLY visible.

When I got to Andy at 8am, he explained the whole process thoroughly and told me exactly what each step did and why things would happen in the order they would.  I do have a FULL list of every single step Andy took but I won't write them all out here as there are almost 40 stages!  I've picked out what I think are the most important bits, I will of course post up the whole list if people are interested.

OK, so Andy started at the wheels, spraying on a non acidic wheel cleaner and brushing the wheels inside and out as well as in the wheel nut recesses and inside the tyre bead.  I could already tell from this attention to detail that it was going to be a top job!  He then jet washed the wheels and arches followed by rinsing off the whole car to remove any debris that may damage the paint.  This makes so much better sense than just attacking the car with a sponge if you think about it!

Here is what the car looked like after just a rinse so we've got a starting point for reference


Andy then used the first of many awesome detailing gadgets, a 'Snow Foam' lance.  It covered the whole car in a foam which was left to sit for 5 or 10 minutes to break up any dirt.  I thought the foam would just slide straight off but it's somehow so thick it defies gravity!

Awesome huh!  While the snow foam was dwelling Andy went over all the shut lines, rubbers, badges etc with a small brush to clean the grain of the rubber and remove and old wax residue that may have been there.

The car was then washed using a 2 bucket method with a grit guard in each bucket to trap and loose particles and then rinsed off.  To me the car looked pretty damn good already.  Andy showed me how to feel the paint for imperfections and then proceeded to clay bar the car using Zaino clay and a lubricant.  The car was then rinsed yet again and dried with microfiber drying towels.  I asked Andy why he didn't use one of those big rubber squeegees to get rid of most of the water, but, as with the grit guards and the multiple rinsing stages, everything is carefully done to avoid scratching the car.  

The car was then taken inside and all of the rubbers and badges were masked off, along with the wing mirrors, antenna base, number plate and door locks.  The decals were checked and they were stuck firm.  Apparently if they had been loose they would have been masked around too.

The paint thickness was then measured all over the car; the thickness varied from the boot lid to the doors, Andy needed to know exactly how much paint was there to work with.  The Saleen had between 120 and 130 microns all round, anything below 80 microns is not really suitable for machine polishing so I was good to go!

Here's the paint thickness measuring jobbie


Based on 25 odd years of experience Andy then selected a polishing compound and head to use as a starting point.  As I was about to find out there are 100's of combinations of head and compound which get different results on different paints.  With each one though the process was the same; the pad was primed by hand, working the compound in, the head was then smeared over the panel and the polisher started on a very slow speed to build up heat and break down the compound.  Once at the desired level, Andy then started working the panel.  He worked his way around the car using a combination of 3M, Scholl's Concept and Menzerna compounds and heads.  While he was working he constantly checked reflections, gloss level and most importantly, constantly checked that the head was still wet with compound.  If the head runs dry it can over heat the paint and cause damage.  For tricky areas a small head was needed which allowed the polisher to get right inside the ducts.

Here are a couple of pic's of the polisher in action

[EDGE]

Once the whole car was machine polished and free of scratches and swirls (after about 6-7 hours) Andy went around the whole car yet again with a very fine compound and pad to match the gloss levels perfectly panel to panel.  We then had a long discussion about car waxes and sealants.  I knew the difference between a wax and a polish but I hadn't even heard of a sealant before.  Anyway, we went through several different products on the shelf and Andy explained each one and the benefits for different paints and finishes.  He suggested that SwissVax "Best of Show" would be the best choice for my paintwork, and to be honest, who was I to argue!  Andy says that some customers that show the cars on a monthly basis request certain waxes.  I almost fell off the chair when he told me that some are £3,000 for a tiny pot!  Anyway, the SwissVax is a completely more digestible £250 per pot, a tiny pot at that!


Once we had decided on the SwissVax Andy cleaned the car again with an alcohol based cleaner.  This was to remove all the oils from the compounds which are added for lubrication.  After that it was cleaned again with SwissVax paint cleaner.  It was finally time for the wax.  It was applied with a little foam applicator and left.  While we were waiting the 30 minutes the wax Andy used PoorBoys wheel protectant on the faces, dishes and insets of the wheels and used the polisher to buff them.  He then applied a tyre dressing with a small brush for accuracy.  The paint work was then buffed to its final sheen with microfiber cloths.

That is pretty much, in a nutshell, how the day went.  The car went in looking ok and came out of the work shop looking utterly amazing!!!!  I still have trouble putting in to words how good the paint looks; it's like a different car.  Andy's experience and expertise is really second to none in my opinion.  He explained each step to me as he could see how nervous I looked :)  The results are absolutely phenomenal.






Just comparing the before and after pictures is insane!!


It really makes you appreciate how flat the paint was and how shiny it now is!!!

HAPPY DAYS!

Andy's services are not limited to machine polishing; he offers all manor of services ranging from valeting to a wet sanding service which entails exactly what's in the name.  The whole car is wet sanded for 2 or 3 days and then machine polished.  This removes all the orange peel from the factory lacquer and leaves an unbelievable finish.  Andy had some photos of previous jobs and the results are literally like a mirror!

I couldn't be happier with the service, the secure location, the explanations and the general reassurances that 25 years of Andy's experience bought to the finished result.  I would not hesitate to use Andy's services in the future and I have already recommended him to my family and closest friends.

A massive thank you goes to Andy for all of his hard work, and for putting up with me hanging about for the whole day.  We started at 8 and I think I left at 6ish.  A full day but what a result!


In conclusion, if you're looking for someone to machine polish your car give Andy a call, his results speak for themselves :) - 07836 345 854.  You can check out his website too: http://www.unique-detail.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.unique-detail.co.uk Tell him you saw his details here and I'm sure he'll look after you :)

One happy bunny!

[Jo]

That does look amazing very intresting process too.

[Fieldy]

That looks incredible now...

Glad he got the 'Storage Dust' off. Have you booked him again for 5 years time?

[Incursus]

Shiny

Quoting: EDGE

Andy then used the first of many awesome detailing gadgets, a 'Snow Foam' lance

Katies's brother has one of those

[EDGE]

well... that's the insurance sorted for another year..... rock'n'roll....