RCZ1
Active Member
This was posted on Detailing World so apologies for all the abbreviations 
Saturday 3rd May saw the 3rd annual Yorkshire RCZ Owners Meet up on the beautiful North Yorkshire Moors.
Preparation of my RCZ started several weeks earlier and this documents some of detailing steps along the way. Please excuse the quality of some photos as they were taken on my iPhone. The finished shots were all taken with my DSLR.
As usual I was start with cleaning the alloys. These are power washed down and then agitated with a variety of brushes and shampoo and water. Then rinsed down. The alloys were coated with Gtechniq C5 just about a year ago and is still protecting the alloys very well. They were recently treated with Car Chem Revolt which brings the alloys up really well (no photos of this process)
The car was snowfoamed using Car Chem snow foam purchased from the Group Buy on DW which is topped with deionised water.
Dwelling:
Whilst the snowfoam is dwelling I work around the car cleaning with a detailing brush the door shuts, grill, window seals, petrol cap, boot, etc
This was thoroughly PWd down and Car Chem Tailor Made Shampoo smelling of luxurious coconut was the shampoo of choice. A quarter of a cap is all that is required to provide great lubricity and suds. It's also a pure shampoo so does not contain gloss enhancers or wax, which can interfere with coatings for example.
The car is then rinsed using the open hose method and DI water vessel.
The car was thoroughly decontaminated using Autosmart Tardis and Carpro Iron (not too heavily contaminated) before being clayed using a mixture of Megs clay bar (for the difficult areas) and CG Clay mitt using CG Synthetic QD diluted as lube.
The car was now feeling much smoother.
Next it was on to the polishing stage which was done over a series of days /weeks as and when time allowed. Instead of rushing to get the car done in one day I wanted to take my time and get the results I wanted. It's the first time I've thoroughly enjoyed machine polishing for a very long time.
I started with the front and rear of the car first of all.
I tried a variety of polishes including AF Revitalise polishes, Menzerna, Scholl but went back to my favourite of Meguiars 205 and used my CG and Megs MF pads for the first time, which I was really impressed with and work well on the DA.
I treated myself to a new swirl spotting 10w LED light which is great and does the job well. Bargain bid on eBay.
On a rainy night in the garage it came in very useful. Some of the defects that it showed up. Very light swirls. Not badly looked after just on its first birthday.
Before
After 1 set
Before
After 1 set
Before
After 1 set
Before
After 1 set
Again over the next few days the finish was refined with 205 and the black CG Hexlogic pads.
In the days between the polishing, the engine bay was treated to a clean up. The Sahara Desert had found a new home in my bay !
A light spray with the PW and a detailing brush and Megs APC followed engine dressing of 303 Aerospace Protectant, which actually ended up not being buffed up for about 15 hours as I forgot about it.
Which left this:
Wheels
As part of a deal for detailing a fellow RCZ Owners car, he volunteered to paint my paint Calipers for me. A thorough clean down was done and Hammerite smooth paint used to leave this, which I'm very pleased with. He did a great job - thanks Abz :thumbup:
Wheel nut caps
Now that the Calipers were painted I wanted to give the wheel nut covers a clean up. I thought they were starting to corrode, especially the front ones but my fears were unfounded. A clean up using the Britemax Twins and wire wool and then sealed with Gtechniq C1 brought them up great.
Cut applied waiting for it to haze
Finished (on the right)
Another addition to the car, which really matches with my interior was a new gear knob (taken from the RCZ R)
The tyres were dressed with Gtechniq T1 (my favourite tyre dressing and no sling).
The exterior trim was treated with Angelwax Elixir including my black roof arches. It brought them up nicely. I'm not sure on the durability of this but time will tell.
Now that the paintwork was polished and refined, I decided to apply Clearkote RMG to add some extra depth and wetness to the paintwork. This is a glaze, which adds more shine.It's very easy to use and removes easily without pressure and really brings out the flake in the paint.
The LSP of choice was Black Magic Detail (BMD) Miura Best Of Show wax. 2 coats were applied, one hour apart. This wax is slightly harder in texture than the other BMD waxes I've used but like all of their waxes, so very easy to remove. I applied wax to nearly all the car before going back and buffing off (which was about 10 minutes). Even with some heat on the panels, it still removed with ease. This wax adds a lovely finish and my husband commented how the paint had a soaking wet look to it.
The exhausts and kick plates were polished up with the Britemax Twins and the exhausts sealed with Gtechniq C1.
Rubber seals were treated with Swissvax Seal Feed.
The leather seats, door cards and dash were cleaned and protected with Furniture Clinic leather cleaner and Protector (used every 3 months).
Interior cleaned up using Werkstat Prime on chrome and shiny black surrounds.
The carpets and mats were a year ago treated with Gtechniq I1 and when I cleaned them up using Angelwax Absolution the product was beading up on the surface. So protection still going strong even after a year. Can't say better than that.
Onto the finished photos including some at our RCZ Owners Meet.
If you got this far, thanks for reading
Blog: http://rczandme.wordpress.com/
Saturday 3rd May saw the 3rd annual Yorkshire RCZ Owners Meet up on the beautiful North Yorkshire Moors.
Preparation of my RCZ started several weeks earlier and this documents some of detailing steps along the way. Please excuse the quality of some photos as they were taken on my iPhone. The finished shots were all taken with my DSLR.
As usual I was start with cleaning the alloys. These are power washed down and then agitated with a variety of brushes and shampoo and water. Then rinsed down. The alloys were coated with Gtechniq C5 just about a year ago and is still protecting the alloys very well. They were recently treated with Car Chem Revolt which brings the alloys up really well (no photos of this process)
The car was snowfoamed using Car Chem snow foam purchased from the Group Buy on DW which is topped with deionised water.
Dwelling:
Whilst the snowfoam is dwelling I work around the car cleaning with a detailing brush the door shuts, grill, window seals, petrol cap, boot, etc
This was thoroughly PWd down and Car Chem Tailor Made Shampoo smelling of luxurious coconut was the shampoo of choice. A quarter of a cap is all that is required to provide great lubricity and suds. It's also a pure shampoo so does not contain gloss enhancers or wax, which can interfere with coatings for example.
The car is then rinsed using the open hose method and DI water vessel.
The car was thoroughly decontaminated using Autosmart Tardis and Carpro Iron (not too heavily contaminated) before being clayed using a mixture of Megs clay bar (for the difficult areas) and CG Clay mitt using CG Synthetic QD diluted as lube.
The car was now feeling much smoother.
Next it was on to the polishing stage which was done over a series of days /weeks as and when time allowed. Instead of rushing to get the car done in one day I wanted to take my time and get the results I wanted. It's the first time I've thoroughly enjoyed machine polishing for a very long time.
I started with the front and rear of the car first of all.
I tried a variety of polishes including AF Revitalise polishes, Menzerna, Scholl but went back to my favourite of Meguiars 205 and used my CG and Megs MF pads for the first time, which I was really impressed with and work well on the DA.
I treated myself to a new swirl spotting 10w LED light which is great and does the job well. Bargain bid on eBay.
On a rainy night in the garage it came in very useful. Some of the defects that it showed up. Very light swirls. Not badly looked after just on its first birthday.
Before
After 1 set
Before
After 1 set
Before
After 1 set
Before
After 1 set
Again over the next few days the finish was refined with 205 and the black CG Hexlogic pads.
In the days between the polishing, the engine bay was treated to a clean up. The Sahara Desert had found a new home in my bay !
A light spray with the PW and a detailing brush and Megs APC followed engine dressing of 303 Aerospace Protectant, which actually ended up not being buffed up for about 15 hours as I forgot about it.
Which left this:
Wheels
As part of a deal for detailing a fellow RCZ Owners car, he volunteered to paint my paint Calipers for me. A thorough clean down was done and Hammerite smooth paint used to leave this, which I'm very pleased with. He did a great job - thanks Abz :thumbup:
Wheel nut caps
Now that the Calipers were painted I wanted to give the wheel nut covers a clean up. I thought they were starting to corrode, especially the front ones but my fears were unfounded. A clean up using the Britemax Twins and wire wool and then sealed with Gtechniq C1 brought them up great.
Cut applied waiting for it to haze
Finished (on the right)
Another addition to the car, which really matches with my interior was a new gear knob (taken from the RCZ R)
The tyres were dressed with Gtechniq T1 (my favourite tyre dressing and no sling).
The exterior trim was treated with Angelwax Elixir including my black roof arches. It brought them up nicely. I'm not sure on the durability of this but time will tell.
Now that the paintwork was polished and refined, I decided to apply Clearkote RMG to add some extra depth and wetness to the paintwork. This is a glaze, which adds more shine.It's very easy to use and removes easily without pressure and really brings out the flake in the paint.
The LSP of choice was Black Magic Detail (BMD) Miura Best Of Show wax. 2 coats were applied, one hour apart. This wax is slightly harder in texture than the other BMD waxes I've used but like all of their waxes, so very easy to remove. I applied wax to nearly all the car before going back and buffing off (which was about 10 minutes). Even with some heat on the panels, it still removed with ease. This wax adds a lovely finish and my husband commented how the paint had a soaking wet look to it.
The exhausts and kick plates were polished up with the Britemax Twins and the exhausts sealed with Gtechniq C1.
Rubber seals were treated with Swissvax Seal Feed.
The leather seats, door cards and dash were cleaned and protected with Furniture Clinic leather cleaner and Protector (used every 3 months).
Interior cleaned up using Werkstat Prime on chrome and shiny black surrounds.
The carpets and mats were a year ago treated with Gtechniq I1 and when I cleaned them up using Angelwax Absolution the product was beading up on the surface. So protection still going strong even after a year. Can't say better than that.
Onto the finished photos including some at our RCZ Owners Meet.
If you got this far, thanks for reading
Blog: http://rczandme.wordpress.com/
