New Furio owner, new user... cleaning, scratch and stone chip advice/

[srcnix]

Hi all,

Firstly, this is my first car and first post on this forum so I thought I would introduce my self first.

I'm Steve but often called Clarkie and somewhat to d*ck, c*nt, w*nker, t*sser and as*hole. Feel free to call me any of these, Clarkie is much preferred ;-).

Passed my driving test 4 weeks ago and picked up a Saxo Furio a week after. Since then I have been looking into modding the car and more importantly keeping her in brilliant condition. She currently has Lexus lights but I am looking at replacing them, they feel a little chavy and if one more person calls me one I'm going to prison.

Last weekend I spent quite a bit of time on the interior and the same goes for the exterior. While washing her I came across quite a lot of tar spots and had a lot of trouble trying to move them until I got hold of some AutoGlym tar remover. This worked pretty well despite my hands peeling like hell. The advice about wearing gloves is now apparent.

I spent the whole of Sunday removing as much tar around the skirts and front and back bumper along with most of the body as I could ”“ there is still some dotted around the body and being that my car is a light colour (Metallic silver with a hint of very light blue) the tar shows up pretty well so I am looking at getting rud of it all.

I have some questions and would appreciate some answers if you're able to. Pretty relevant to my life history I noted above:

1. I want to go over the body once more in order to get rid of the tar, I went through a bottle of tar remover before the car started looking like it should and still have more to get rid off. Have you any recommendations on some materials to help me do so or is it best to stick with AutoGlym products? I'm thinking stick the solution in a spray bottle and spray the car and follow myself round with a lint free cloth?

2. I've noticed minor scratches but some pretty crappy stone chips in the bonnet and drivers door. I would like to repair these. I found a solution called LANKGA which seems to remove non-car manufacturer paint very easily. Would any of you recommend this after doing touch ups to make sure the touch ups are even?

3. Carrying on from the second question, once I have done the touch ups should I simply wash and polish the car again?

4. This weekend is supposed to be pretty warm. I'll end up spending the morning on detailing the inner parts of the doors and half the afternoon on removing the tar and the other half on washing and polishing ”“ towards the end of the evening it gets colder, is this the best time to wash and polish (Around 5PM)? It's going to take me a good 5 hours to wash ”“ I'm a bit of a perfectionist which I am sure comes in handy.

Thanks in advance.


Clarkie

[Robb]

General answers...

By the sounds of it your car colour is 'Icelandic Grey'...Just thought you might like to know.

Secondly, other good makers of car products are Meguiars. And they do a really good product called 'Stratch X' which apparantly is awesome at removing shallow scratching etc...

Oh and I also wouldn't recommend washing your car in direct sunlight, as its just hassle...

Hope that helps...

[srcnix]

Ah, thanks for the colour G_Ride.

I attempted to wash my car in direct sunlight last weekend and yeah, that didn't turn out quite like I wanted it too.

[djjoney]

it might be worth clay barring the car aswell

read through all of polished bliss's guides they go into real detail how to get the best finish

[PolishedBliss]

Hi Clarkie, congrats on passing the big test and getting your first motor - nice work lad. I suggest having a read throught the guides on my site, as they cover most of the basics. Stone chip repairs are best done by wet sanding, but you really need a machine polisher to get the resulting haze out. If you want me to put up some info on wet sanding just shout and I'll do it tomorrow morning (will take me a while to write out). Here's a thread you might want to take a look at for info on good product choices for silver. :)

http://www.saxperience.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40563

[KayPee]

Petrol shifts tar real good but do it carefully sparingly and remove it after straight away, car bodies dont react adversely to petrol... wonder why? Do it on a cooler day than of late. Polish a panel at a time, apply polish, buff it up, resist applying polish to the whole car.

KayPee

[PolishedBliss]

Repeated use of petrol can etch the clearcoat. Better off sticking with Tar and Bug Removing potions, or better still, use a clay bar. Here's a link to a guide on claying to remove bonded surface contaminants...

www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/guides_clean.html

:)

[srcnix]

Thanks for the all replies guys.

PolishedBliss, those articles you have provided look brilliant. I am looking forward to heavily working on my car this weekend to get it up to top notch conditions inside and out.

I would much appreciate a scratch and stone chip touch up article and if you will be able to write one, more the better as I am looking at getting rid of those scratch and stone chips before I start modifying the look of my car which will take place over the next 18 months.

Thanks again guys and PolishedBliss, awesome articles!


Clarkie

[barrett]

I would definately recommende using the clay bar with a lubricant. It takes all the contaminants off the surface of the car and makes the paint feel as smooth as glass.

Also it is best doing the washing and polishing in the morning or evening out of direct sunlight, or the products dry before you are able to properly work them in.

Mike

[srcnix]

Thanks Barrett, clay does seem like a good solution.

[PolishedBliss]

I'll post a write up on a P1 I did recently - it took 20 hours and involved stone chip repair and wetsanding. :fcuk:

[YM03]

I'll post a write up on a P1 I did recently - it took 20 hours and involved stone chip repair and wetsanding. :fcuk:
look foward to that one :Y: