Dmur197 's Detailing hobby

[Dmur197]

I have been detailing and doing some paint correction work at a weekend warrior level for over 7 years now, it has become a favourite hobby of mine and I enjoy the opportunity to work on friend's/family's cars, but I have very rarely documented the process to look back on. So the purpose of this thread is to keep some of my favourites in one place to look back on, and for anyone else to look at so they can ask questions about what I've done, or to make suggestions of things I can do differently. I know I can spend hours reading through and watching professional detailers work, so hopefully somebody might enjoy reading through this thread and start a discussion on products/techniques once it gets a bit longer.

I would like to point out this is not a 'how to' or an advertisement, this is not a business. Simply me recording any cars that I am lucky enough to enjoy my hobby on.

Also this thread will be pic heavy (hopefully)

 

[Dmur197]

To kick things off, I was given the keys to this Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 35 at the start of the week. The owner said he wanted it to have a paint decontamination, paint correction, interior clean and a leather treatment.

Here are a few pictures showing how I received the car, not the dirtiest car in the world but still plenty of work to do to it.

First off I gave it a thorough snow foam to remove as much dirt as possible, as that sat on the car I went round with a brush to all the intricate areas such as the badges and grills etc.

After it was washed and de-tared, I brought it inside to dry it off before getting it clayed and masked up before the inspection for me to see what it would need. The owner gave me free rein, telling me to give it whatever it needs and that I could have it for as long as required which was great.

With the paintwork now contaminate free, I began the cutting and refining.

After I had finished polishing, I waxed the car. Then I moved onto the interior where I vacuumed the seats and mats, wiped clean all the surfaces with a light dilution of APC before dressing all the interior plastics. I also cleaned and conditioned the leather to help protect it.

All that was left to do at this point was polish the exhaust tips and that was the car finished. Here are some pictures of it finished before it got collected. I would like to say thank you to the owner, who is also a member on here, thanks for the chance to work on your car.

 

[brocks]

Well written, good description and nicely photographed, perfect for this section!

Maybe worth mentioning which products or machines etc you’re using for the info of members?

Great post

 

[Woodcutter]

Superb, Daniel!

You're welcome to take the keys to mine anytime to do this!

 

[jonnyboy]

How long did it take you from start to finish? Car turned out amazing by the way

 

[Gus]

Great work lad

 

[Dmur197]

Well written, good description and nicely photographed, perfect for this section!

Maybe worth mentioning which products or machines etc you’re using for the info of members?

Great post

Thanks!

Yes I should’ve mentioned that in the post. I used the Menzerna range, 2500 and 3500 and chemical guys hex logic pads. I have heard mixed reviews on the Menzerna range as people complain that they dust up badly. I have experienced that in the past but I find as long as the pad isn’t overloaded or the product overworked it is generally very good.

Superb, Daniel!

You're welcome to take the keys to mine anytime to do this!

Thank you!

haha yes! I’m sure it won’t be long until im in getting topped up on some products

How long did it take you from start to finish? Car turned out amazing by the way

I had it for 3 days but I was working on this around my job and the owner has use of a second car so was able to take my time on it. I would say it was about 12 hours of actual work for the whole process.

Thanks!

 

[big_pete]

A little tip from a pro, invest in some better lighting, you will be amazed what those halogens aren’t showing you lol

Lovely work though, the paint on those isn’t fun lol!

 

[Dmur197]

A little tip from a pro, invest in some better lighting, you will be amazed what those halogens aren’t showing you lol

Lovely work though, the paint on those isn’t fun lol!

Aw yes thanks! I just started looking into that last week. I have sealey hand held inspection light on the way and and am trying to figure out what wall mounted lights would be best without breaking the bank

 

[big_pete]

A sealy colour match light would be a good investment, similar performance to a scangrip, way cheaper though lol

 

[Woodcutter]

A sealy colour match light would be a good investment, similar performance to a scangrip, way cheaper though lol

Glad to hear someone else who thinks this. I’ve told so many people this, but they just assume they are inferior because they’re Sealey and not Scangrip!

We’ve a few of these in stock that we have had for absolutely ages!

 

[jonnyboy]

Glad to hear someone else who thinks this. I’ve told so many people this, but they just assume they are inferior because they’re Sealey and not Scangrip!

We’ve a few of these in stock that we have had for absolutely ages!

What kinda £ do you have on them? Been looking for one myself

 

[Dmur197]

Last week I was given a Honda Integra Type R DC5. There was plenty to do to it, but it was a very rewarding car to work on.

I gave the car a good clean before detarring and fallout removal to get it ready for the polishing stage.

There were a few areas that I thought could benefit from some touch up paint so, I went around the car with that before polishing as I thought the polish would remove any excess paint so it would blend in better. Here are some before and afters of that.

With the paintwork clean I began the polishing. There were plenty of swirls, a few deeper scratches and some bird poo etching to deal with. I went with Menzerna 3800 and a white pad, this provided enough cut to remove the defects but it also finished very well too when I slowed the machine down on the last few passes.

Also, I got a new Sealey colour match hand torch as mentioned previously in the thread and it does a great job of showing swirls and defects. It is a real game changer.

This car came with a Gyeon trim coating applied, but had a couple of areas of smudging where the coating bonded to the paint/windows, fortunately these areas were able to be removed with the same pad/polish combo as the rest of the car.

With the polishing and wax done I moved onto the engine bay, it still isn't perfect but is definitely better than it was before.

I then cleaned and sealed all the glass on the car, vacuumed the interior and dressed all the plastics and pulled it outside for some obligatory pictures...

 

[Jbridges522]

Last week I was given a Honda Integra Type R DC5. There was plenty to do to it, but it was a very rewarding car to work on.

View attachment 315274

I gave the car a good clean before deterring and fallout removal to get it ready for the polishing stage.

View attachment 315278View attachment 315276View attachment 315277

There were a few areas that I thought could benefit from some touch up paint so, I went around the car with that before polishing as I thought the polish would remove any excess paint so it would blend in better. Here are some before and afters of that.

View attachment 315302View attachment 315303View attachment 315304View attachment 315305

With the paintwork clean I began the polishing. There were plenty of swirls, a few deeper scratches and some bird poo etching to deal with. I went with Menzerna 3800 and a white pad, this provided enough cut to remove the defects but it also finished very well too when I slowed the machine down on the last few passes.

Also, I got a new Sealey colour match hand torch as mentioned previously in the thread and it does a great job of showing swirls and defects. It is a real game changer.

View attachment 315286
View attachment 315292
View attachment 315299
View attachment 315298

This car came with a Gyeon trim coating applied, but had a couple of areas of smudging where the coating bonded to the paint/windows, fortunately these areas were able to be removed with the same pad/polish combo as the rest of the car.

View attachment 315295View attachment 315297View attachment 315300View attachment 315301

With the polishing and wax done I moved onto the engine bay, it still isn't perfect but is definitely better than it was before.

View attachment 315306View attachment 315307

I then cleaned and sealed all the glass on the car, vacuumed the interior and dressed all the plastics and pulled it outside for some obligatory pictures...

View attachment 315308View attachment 315316View attachment 315317

Great write up

 

[brocks]

Excellent work! Great detail, write up and pics

 

[JackMO]

To kick things off, I was given the keys to this Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 35 at the start of the week. The owner said he wanted it to have a paint decontamination, paint correction, interior clean and a leather treatment.

View attachment 313972

Here are a few pictures showing how I received the car, not the dirtiest car in the world but still plenty of work to do to it.

View attachment 313974View attachment 313975View attachment 313976

First off I gave it a thorough snow foam to remove as much dirt as possible, as that sat on the car I went round with a brush to all the intricate areas such as the badges and grills etc.

View attachment 313977View attachment 313978View attachment 313979View attachment 313980View attachment 313981

After it was washed and de-tared, I brought it inside to dry it off before getting it clayed and masked up before the inspection for me to see what it would need. The owner gave me free rein, telling me to give it whatever it needs and that I could have it for as long as required which was great.

View attachment 313992

With the paintwork now contaminate free, I began the cutting and refining.

View attachment 313983View attachment 313984View attachment 313985View attachment 313987View attachment 313988View attachment 313989


After I had finished polishing, I waxed the car. Then I moved onto the interior where I vacuumed the seats and mats, wiped clean all the surfaces with a light dilution of APC before dressing all the interior plastics. I also cleaned and conditioned the leather to help protect it.

View attachment 313990View attachment 313991

All that was left to do at this point was polish the exhaust tips and that was the car finished. Here are some pictures of it finished before it got collected. I would like to say thank you to the owner, who is also a member on here, thanks for the chance to work on your car.

View attachment 313993View attachment 313994View attachment 313995View attachment 313996View attachment 313997View attachment 313998

Thanks @Dmur197 - it's never looked as good!

 

[Walder]

I am enjoying reading these.

Great work, keep it coming

 

[Dmur197]

I am enjoying reading these.

Great work, keep it coming

Thank you I appreciate it

Excellent work! Great detail, write up and pics

Thank you!

Great write up

Thanks!

 

[da.murf]

Lovely to see some write ups and great work.

 

[Eager]

Ye, used to see more threads like this years ago so good to see it again. Good work. Others should do a few too even some of the trader types

 

[Gareth]

Great work and great write ups and stories to go with the cars. My experience with Honda paint is that they are a right pain in the hole to get that last step perfect, but look amazing when finished. Superb work

Bloody black hole of a hobby too, but thanks to people on here for help and advice (and I'd say I've been given my fair share of help from @big_pete and @Davey@Procar that I'm very grateful for) as well as local suppliers like @Big Pimp and again @Davey@Procar. My garage is slowly turning into a mini ProCar LOL

Ye, used to see more threads like this years ago so good to see it again. Good work. Others should do a few too even some of the trader types

I'm very similar to @Dmur197 and would be a keen hobbyist. If it were something that people would read or be interested in, I could maybe fire up a few too

 

[Dmur197]

Great work and great write ups and stories to go with the cars. My experience with Honda paint is that they are a right pain in the hole to get that last step perfect, but look amazing when finished. Superb work

Bloody black hole of a hobby too, but thanks to people on here for help and advice (and I'd say I've been given my fair share of help from @big_pete and @Davey@Procar that I'm very grateful for) as well as local suppliers like @Big Pimp and again @Davey@Procar. My garage is slowly turning into a mini ProCar LOL



I'm very similar to @Dmur197 and would be a keen hobbyist. If it were something that people would read or be interested in, I could maybe fire up a few too

Thanks! Yea they can be tricky at times, I’ve probably done more hondas now than any other brand of car so am well used to them now

I know I could spend hours reading through detailing stuff. I wanted to have a thread where I could document some of my favourite cars I’ve done and if people wanted to make suggestions of what to do differently or products to try. I’m glad people seem to be enjoying reading through my thread so far and I would also be interested in reading through other peoples threads

 

[Woodcutter]

Fantastic Daniel, great work and nice write up.

Saw your Type R earlier at Tim Hortons in Coleraine!

 

[Dmur197]

Fantastic Daniel, great work and nice write up.

Saw your Type R earlier at Tim Hortons in Coleraine!

Thanks! I’m enjoying documenting and sharing the process so far!

Ah yes, it spends more time in there than it does at home at the minute haha

 

[Eamo_vxr]

Enjoying these. Keep up the great work buddy