Mini Cabrio enhancement detail

[Ashley]

Right I don’t normally post threads such as this in forums but over the last couple of days I had the privilege of working on one of my favourite cars from back when I was big into my Minis. Yes I’ve worked on more expensive, more exotic metal but I genuinely prefer this car to anything I’ve worked on before! I didn’t have time for photographs of each stage, before and after shots, 50/50’s etc etc . . . so I will explain the processes / products that I used and then just give you some gratuitous beauty shots at the end. Here we go:

- Wheels cleaned with Bilberry, Envy brushes and VP long reach wheel brush for the awkward bits.

- Bodywork sprayed with citrus pre-wash, nooks and crannies worked with Envy brushes

- Bodywork rinsed (so I don’t have to keep repeating this all water used for rinsing and washing was 0 ppm, reverse osmosised water to eliminate water spotting and aid cleaning).

- Bodywork washed using 2bm with CG Glossworkz, grit guard buckets and Dodo Juice Yeti mitts. Door Shuts also cleaned at this point.

- Soft top cleaned with 303 convertible cleaner.

- Bodywork and soft top rinsed.

- Bodywork dried with an Aeolus touchless dryer,

- Lower bodywork and wheels sprayed with AS Tardis to remove tar spots so as not to pick them up during the claying stage . . . And rinse.

- Lower bodywork and wheels sprayed with Wolfs Decon Gel, allow to harden and rinse well.

- Vehicle (bodywork and wheels) was then clayed with Dodo Juice Gentle Grey clay, using Wolfs Pink Slip as a lubricant.

- Bodywork rinsed thoroughly.

- Bodywork washed again using the same 2bm method and products as above.

- Bodywork rinsed and dried with touchless Aeolus dryer.

- Wheels polished by hand using Sonus applicator pad and some Gtechniq P1.

- Soft top sealed using Nanolex convertible sealant.

- Glass Cleaned with VP Citrus Bling, polished with Autoglym glass polish and sealed with Rain-X.

- Plastic window in soft top polished with Renovo Soft Top Polish.

- Tyres dressed with neat Meguiars Hyper Dressing.

- Exterior was then given a two stage machine polish. Now the paint was around 200 microns thick on average which is perfectly healthy. However, this is a flip / pearleascent job and therefore involves 10 layers of paint, so I estimated the thickness of the clearcoat to be around 10% when sprayed. I was also informed that the car had been fizzed over with a rotary and some G3 by a valeter *cringes* so who knows how much he polished away. As a result of this I wanted to air on the side of caution (at least until I can get myself an all singing all dancing posi that can distinguish between paint layers). So once she was all taped up I used Gtechniq P1 with Elite Car Care’s Orange Coolfoam pads and spot pads on my 3M rotary, followed by Gtechniq P2 with Elite Car Care’s Red Coolfoam pads and spot pads, this combo removed swirl marks and light scratches but couldn’t tackle the R.D.S. Awkward areas and door shuts were hand polished with P1 and a Sonus applicator pad. This type of paint is unforgiving, you leave a blemish on the paintwork and it sticks out like a sore thumb. Also the clearcoat was very soft, paint removal was higher than desired during polishing, and it hologrammed like a *****. So all in all good fun!

- Bodywork treated with Blackfire Gloss Enhancing Polish. Applied with damp MF applicator pad, left to haze and then buffed off with a plush buffing towel.

- Bodywork then received 2 layers of Blackfire All Finish Paint Protection. Apply with MF applicator pad, buff off and repeat.

- Now she was waxed, 2 coats of Blackfire Midnight Sun Carnauba wax were just what the doctor ordered. This was worked in by hand to 3 panels at a time, left to cure / haze over for 5 minutes and then buffed off with a super plush towel..

- Window rubbers dressed with Meguiars Hyper Dressing, diluted 1:2.

- Exhaust polished with Zeppelin Metal Polish, along with the other little metal bits and bobs.

- Now to the inside. Lots of cows clearly died to make this interior so the majority of cleaning involved Raceglaze Leather Cleaner with a soft bristle brush followed up with Raceglaze Leather Balm.

- Interior fabric was cleaned via extraction machine.

- California Scents air freshener left, customer chose Avalon Apple Cider which I was glad to get rid of haha.

- “Cabriolet” metal plates in the door runners were polished with Zeppelin.

- Door Shuts treated to the same Blackfire process as the bodywork.

- As a final touch I gave the whole car one last wipe over with Blackfire Deep Gloss Spray.

All in all this car was very hard work, lots of difficult nooks and crannies, the paint wasn’t easy to finish flawlessly and it just generally took longer than I thought. Having said that though I thoroughly enjoyed working on a car that I really admired back in my Mini days, and the owner is a top guy!

Now for the pictures:

More photos and a very quick review can be found on the owners FB page, have a look as his photography skills are better than mine:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.227122437310034.55791.100000368376101

Thanks for reading, comments and / or criticism welcome.

Ashley

Edited June 29, 2011 by Ashley

[Mafyou]

That thing must be pretty nippy!

whats the rear lights all about, would look much better if it was more original imo

You done a good job on it though

How long does that take? must take all day!

[Ashley]

Thanks, it took me about 15 hours. I wish I had some before pics, it was so dull and there was absolutely no depth or range in the paintwork.

She is nippy, about 170bhp and she weighs about 600kg thanks to fibreglass. Yeah i'm not a big fan of the rear lights either to be honest, but all in all I love it!!!

Ashley

[benters]

great effort on the clean up, minis are so cool. . .what are you using camera wise, i only ask as your work needs better pictures to promote it, not being harsh but they look washed out which i am certain the car looked nothing short of amazing....ps. tried the FB link which was unavailable