What T-Cut to use?

[Diesel Do Nicely Brian]

Thanks bobmc - it's gradually getting there.  

The garage is the next project being done just now.

[Boddney]

Sorry, don't know what happened there.

 

I got a quote for a proper cut back and polish from a detailing company and they wanted £229+vat to do it on top of £360+vat to blast and powder coat the wheels. I think I'll be doing it myself.

[Diesel Do Nicely Brian]

A decent detailing company will take around 2 to 3 days, and be around £250-£300 so that is bang on the money.  The quality products they will use will be at least £50 of that price and will involve at least 20 hours labour so very good value for money.  

Powder coating the wheels for £360 + VAT is pretty typical.  You may be able to shop around and get them done for around £300 all in.  Unusual for a detailing company to do that kind of work - they usually just focus on paint correction and machine work/protection.  They'll probably sub-contract it.

[GSLV6]

I ended up buying a professional polisher and the appropriate polishing compounds/mops and did my own.  It took me 2 days to do a thorough job, starting at 2300 grit and finishing at 4500 grit, then finished the car with a coat of McGuirs Carnauba Hi-Tech Yellow wax.  The kit and polishes cost me £250-odd but the results made it worth-while, plus I have the kit and enough polish left over for another two years at least.   I just made sure that the car was thoroughly cleaned first (several washes) and clayed the car prior to polishing.  The finish is mirror smooth.  It's a lot of hard work but will save you money and is satisfying when done.  Wheels I had professionally powder coated (£340 all in)

[JoshW]

Slightly off topic but the way to get paintwork to a mirror finish is inevitably to rotary polish it, however it is quite involving, with quite a bit of equipment needed but something I have found very rewarding. You will probably see in sunlight and under bright halogen light that swirl marks/defects are heavily present in the clearcoat, and these are going to be the main culprit as to why paintwork is so flat and dull. Attempting by hand will help somewhat but will never get close to the level you can achieve with a rotary polisher. 

A good guide to read is this: http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=66024.

Gives a very good insight to paintwork and the various steps of detailing. My go-to polishes are: Menzerna 400, 2200, 3800

[Diesel Do Nicely Brian]

On 22 August 2016 at 8:46 AM, Boddney said:

Thanks. That was most helpful PWOOD.

BRIAN, how much would that cost if you don't mind me asking. That looks great.

Bod

Hi Bod,

It was in with the detailer and it was a 2 stage correction, plus all the usual proper prep, cleaning, de-tar & fallout remover, clay-bar, then 2 passes of machine polishing.  Was with them for 3 days so a lot of work.

It was £250 for the initial stage 1 machine polish, and they charged an extra £50 for the extra day of machine work.  £300 all in.