Big Wull from Seat Car Club first got in touch with me at the start of January, seeking advice on how to sort out the bodywork on his black LCR. When he first dropped round to see me, I couldn’t believe the state it was in. Years of gritty sponges and poor technique had left a myriad of swirl marks, hazing and very serious scratches, in addition to some accident damage (paint transfer and compression marks). We had a long chat about car care, and he bought a pile of products and set to work. First, he started washing it properly, using a lambswool mitt, a good quality shampoo, the two bucket method and a waffle weave drying towel. Then, over a week or so, he clayed the whole car in order to remove a substantial accumulation of tar spots and other bonded surface contaminants. By now, the bodywork was looking better, but still needed a lot more work to correct the more serious defects.
Next up, Big Wull bought himself a PC dual action polisher from Autopia, plus the full Menzerna range of polishes and last step products. Over the following weeks, he started to polish the paint, using a light polish (Final Polish II). This was a useful exercise, as it enabled him to build confidence safely. However, VAG clear coats are hard, and while the paint looked better, most of the defects remained. At this point we had a chat, and Big Wull asked me if I would help him return the car to showroom condition. I’d been itching for a challenge of this type for ages, so I agreed. At the start of February, we spent the whole day doing the following.
Process
When Big Wull turned up, his car was filthy, so we firstly washed it, this time using a foam gun and Poorboy’s Slick n Suds (1:4 mix). The steps were: (i) apply foam, leave to dwell for 5 mins (ii) powerwash (iii) apply more foam, wash with lambswool mitt, rinsing mitt after every panel (iv) rinse off with hose (v) dry with waffle weave towel.
Now we could clearly see the defects, helped by the bright morning sun. In the images below, we can see swirl marks, hazing, buffer trails, serious scratches and some paint transfer. Overall, horrendous!
Having already attempted to correct a few scratches on the car using a 4”ť white spot pad and Poorboy’s SSR2.5 with limited success, I knew we needed to go down the aggressive route. So, out came the 4”ť and 6.5”ť orange cutting pads and Menzerna’s Intensive Polish. All trims and rubbers were masked off, and Big Wull removed all the Cupra R badges using a hairdryer and a piece of cotton. The 6.5”ť pads were used to tackle whole panels at speeds of 4-5 on the PC, while the 4”ť pads were used to tackle the scratches at speed 6 on the PC. Moderate pressure was used throughout. The results blew me away ”“ I would say 95% of all defects were completely fixed, while the remaining 5% were significantly improved, almost to the point where you would be hard pushed to notice them. The most impressive thing was the complete lack of hazing ”“ the paint was perfect, and ready for the last step product. However, we decided to further burnish the paint using Menzerna’s Finishing Touch Glaze ”“ Big Wull did this himself, following me around the car. The middle image in the set below shows the results of adding the glaze ”“ unreal!
After a long lunch break, we then set to applying the last step product, in this case two coats of Menzerna’s FMJ sealant. Big Wull also attacked his alloys with Klasse All In One, which lifted some stubborn patches of brake dust and added a highly durable layer of acrylic protection. The tyres and arch liners were then dressed with Poorboy’s Bold N Bright and the whole car given a final wipe down with plush buffing towels. Unfortunately, as the afternoon had worn on, a thick layer of cloud had drifted over, so by the time all of the work was finished (~4.30 pm) lighting conditions were very dull, and the images below do little justice to the awesome finish that was achieved. We’ll try to get some more images after the next wash.
To sum up, Menzerna products are simply mind blowing ”“ the transformation of the paint condition surprised me a lot, as I struggled to believe at the start of the day that we would be able to return it to near perfect condition. I should mention at this point that we didn’t touch the side skirts or the bonnet, as these are due to be resprayed in due course to correct accident damage and stone chips respectively. Once this is done, the car will be perfect, and Big Wull now fully intends to keep it this way.
LCR Restoration - The Power of Menzerna
: Lol!
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