Loosing my PC virginity....

[Darren S]

Well, today was the day. The past weekend, I clayed the car (leaving the usual god-damn awful paintwork) but didn't worry too much as the polisher was up for it's first outing today.

I was going to take my time and not rush it. Clearly the last point rang true - even though I'd done the claying last week - it was almost 6 hours today in total. A bit excessive, but I'm well chuffed with the results!

Essentially, I used the Megs clay last week and for today with the PC, I used the standard Sonus SFX-2. I then followed that up with a coating of AutoGlym Super Resin Polish and then finally with a single coat of AutoGlym Extra Gloss Protection. I then touched up any of the outstanding black plastic and rubber bits that I'd been too lazy to tape up with AutoGlym Bumper Care.

As for piccies, they didn't really turn out too good. :dapprove: With Jain having borrowed the camera with the induction kit fitted to the Vee today, I used my dad's camcorder to take some stills. Moving pictures maybe it's forte
- stills it's almost hopeless at!

Anyways, I think you get the idea....


Usual bad, bad finish after claying....

Fast forward a week to today and these were taken during various points of the PC polishing. The black gold is clearly beginning to stand out...

The end result after a busy afternoon...

Back outside home. Still looking shiny........ for now at least!

All in all, I'm really happy with the way things have turned out. I originally wanted to take the lazy-arse option and get someone else to PC my car - but I'm really glad I did it myself. I've learnt loads today and I'm sure that the next time I'll be avoiding the things I did wrong and repeating the bits that I did right.

Thanks again to Shaun (182_blue) for providing the PC and associated kit in the first place. And a big thanks to Rich for my 'Death by PM' questions that I've been sending him the last few weeks!

I've still got a loads to learn, but hopefully I'll get better at it with practice. Maybe when the keys to an Evo land in my mitts, I'll be a dab-hand at all this polishing malarky!

P.S. And Middo - another selling point to your door badges, m8. They are PC proof! I was ultra-careful near them at first, but soon realised that they came up great just like the rest of the door strip!

D.

 

[Ad]

good results darren...

keep meaning to get mine back of ben, but then polishing the work horse is not an attractive proposition..lol

 

[Darren S]

Cheers Ad! Perhaps spending several hours on the works commuter-mobile, isn't the most essential of things, eh?!

D.

 

[Graham Gooch]

I love it when you can see the gold in the paint!

 

[Darren S]

I love it when you can see the gold in the paint!

LOL - dad brought out a brew for me at one point and looked closely at the roof. He said he didn't even realise that there was a gold fleck in the paint. Lol!

D.

 

[Rich]

Great turnaround, glad all went well. Looks superb, need to dress those tyres now against that shiny paint!

 

[Darren S]

Great turnaround, glad all went well. Looks superb, need to dress those tyres now against that shiny paint!

Haha! I know - the wheels got feck all other than a standard wash!

D.

 

[Rich]

You can see Just kidding chap, so much to do in just the paintwork. I have done two cars this weekend and can feel it today!

 

[Leeshez]

Nice work. Just dress the tyres and hey presto.

 

[Leeshez]

If you want to practice you can try mine lol.

 

[Darren S]

If you want to practice you can try mine lol.

Ney chance Lee. I'm still aching now!

D.

 

[JBarber]

So on a scale of 1-10, how difficult is it? I'm consistently amazed by the results from PC but apprehensive that if I try it myself I'll ruin the paintwork.

 

[Darren S]

So on a scale of 1-10, how difficult is it? I'm consistently amazed by the results from PC but apprehensive that if I try it myself I'll ruin the paintwork.

I'd say about a six, in all honesty. The key thing is to take your time and approach things logically, like drying the car off properly and taping up the black plastic and rubber bits before you start.

Unless someone knows otherwise, I'd say it would be very difficult to damage your paintwork under normal use with a PC. Obviously if the PC landed face-down on the floor and you started to use it again, then you may as well use a Brillo pad!

Less is better. You can always add more polish or wax if the section you've done isn't good enough. Also, never start or stop the PC without it being in direct contact with your bodywork. I think the PC could damage itself if allowed to free-spin - not to mention that you'd get flecks of polish going everywhere too!

I understand your reservations though. I felt the same even after buying all the kit. Had I done the wrong thing? Do you know anyone local who's got one to try out/practice with?

D.

 

[Rich]

As long as your sensible with the polish and pad choice you will not go far wrong. As Darren says under normal use it is hard to damge paint unless you do something silly- that said, choose a cutting pad and to harsh a polish, dont work it long enough and you will easily install more marks than the ones your removing.

Less is better is also not true, too little polish can be worse than not enough. To much and it will mean it will take an age to do it's job but as long as you keep working it it will do it's job safely as long as it does not dry out to quickly, to little and again you can risk inducing marks into the paint with the pad being to dry.

A basic polish with the machine is very easy, succesfully removing marks 100% with one is where it becomes harder.

 

[JBarber]

It's just I'm one of those people for which everything I touch goes wrong (e.g. tried to re-tile the bathroom, had to get a plasterer in to repair the walls :S !)

Don't know anyone down here who does that. The bloke opposite me has a mint red Integrale but he does all cleaning by hand. Would just like to get rid of swirls (mostly dealer introduced - they machine polished it for me after letting bird droppings mark the bonnet when it was in for warranty work)

 

[Darren S]

It's just I'm one of those people for which everything I touch goes wrong (e.g. tried to re-tile the bathroom, had to get a plasterer in to repair the walls :S !)

Don't know anyone down here who does that. The bloke opposite me has a mint red Integrale but he does all cleaning by hand. Would just like to get rid of swirls (mostly dealer introduced - they machine polished it for me after letting bird droppings mark the bonnet when it was in for warranty work)

I think it's probably black gold in general, m8. If I wasn't so giddy to pick my car up from new, I would have probably rejected it as the paintwork was awful. Swirl-mark Central.

You're best off doing what Rich says above, instead of me. I've only done this once - Rich is the Master at this!

D.

 

[Middo]

awesome about the badges! only the best from middosport

 

[Darren S]

awesome about the badges! only the best from middosport

ROFL!

Please tell me that you've nabbed the domain name for that one? Quickly - go get www.middosport.co.uk registered!!!!

D.

 

[StevieGreenstuff]

So on a scale of 1-10, how difficult is it? I'm consistently amazed by the results from PC but apprehensive that if I try it myself I'll ruin the paintwork.

I'd say about a six, in all honesty. The key thing is to take your time and approach things logically, like drying the car off properly and taping up the black plastic and rubber bits before you start.

D.

Does that come down to a '5' if you get someone to do the taping for you...

 

[Middo]

lol dont tempt me!

 

[Darren S]

I'd say about a six, in all honesty. The key thing is to take your time and approach things logically, like drying the car off properly and taping up the black plastic and rubber bits before you start.

D.

Does that come down to a '5' if you get someone to do the taping for you...

Nope - 4.5..... :rasp:

D.