Enhancement Detail - Megane R26.R with Zaino!

[RussZS]

Today saw me travel to a sunny but chilly Shrewsbury to Lee@BespokeCarCare's unit, to meet my mate Dale and spend some time giving his recently acquired R26.R some love ahead of it being put to bed for Winter.

The aim of the day was to restore a bit of life into the paint and lay down some solid protection for it. Dale was also planning to make some small additions cosmetically.

The car itself is a firm personal favourite of mine and a great car to detail, as you have plastic windows, plastic wings, titanium exhaust, carbon fibre bonnet and red wheels - certainly very different to most cars.

We got cracking about 8:30 - some befores:


DSC01028 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01031 by RussZS, on Flickr

Wheels first:


DSC01033 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01035 by RussZS, on Flickr

Smart Wheels and EZ Brush on rear of wheels:


DSC01037 by RussZS, on Flickr

Swissvax Brush of face and calipers:


DSC01038 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01039 by RussZS, on Flickr

G101 on tyres:


DSC01040 by RussZS, on Flickr

and rinsed!


DSC01041 by RussZS, on Flickr

Foamed next with Megs Hyper Wash:


DSC01043 by RussZS, on Flickr

Shuts and sills worked with G101, washed with Auto Finesse Lather and rinsed:


DSC01044 by RussZS, on Flickr

Next I tackled the bonded contamination, of which there seemed to be very little. Dale has clayed the car very thoroughly recently, so IronX did very little, aside from the boot:


DSC01047 by RussZS, on Flickr

and the bottom of the petrol cap...


DSC01048 by RussZS, on Flickr

Tardis and claying was not needed at all...

Next, the .R was moved inside, ready to be assessed for paint thickness and defects:


DSC01050 by RussZS, on Flickr

Healthy, average readings of about 172 on most panels:


DSC01052 by RussZS, on Flickr

General idea of the swirling - it's so bad, that it appears to be a single line in the pic, but the swirling was very heavy:


DSC01057 by RussZS, on Flickr

After playing with various combinations on Rotary, I settled for the Megs MF system via DA, which was giving me 90% correction or so from a single set:


DSC01061 by RussZS, on Flickr

The correction shots are a little disappointing, but the difference is hopefully clear:


DSC01064 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01073 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01077 by RussZS, on Flickr

Quite severe defect on the bonnet...


DSC01066 by RussZS, on Flickr

A couple of hits of Megs 205 via Rotary and 3M Yellow Pad:


DSC01078 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01079 by RussZS, on Flickr

 

[RussZS]

Some random carbon fibre pics


DSC01081 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01083 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01084 by RussZS, on Flickr

Boot after:


DSC01090 by RussZS, on Flickr

Before the ZAIO cleanse to prepare the paint for Z2, Dale added the missing vinyl graphics to his car:


DSC01085 by RussZS, on Flickr

After:


DSC01097 by RussZS, on Flickr

Rear bumper before:


DSC01099 by RussZS, on Flickr

During:


DSC01117 by RussZS, on Flickr

After:


DSC01121 by RussZS, on Flickr

We also added the updated RenaultSport logo:


DSC01098 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01118 by RussZS, on Flickr

We finished up with Mint Rims on the wheels:


DSC01094 by RussZS, on Flickr

ZAIO base and Z2 on the paint:


DSC01095 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01096 by RussZS, on Flickr

AF Crystal was used on the glass and a final wipedown of Z8 on the paint:


DSC01138 by RussZS, on Flickr

I also had some spare time to do something with the rear lights, so before:


DSC01124 by RussZS, on Flickr

After (out of focus slightly)


DSC01127 by RussZS, on Flickr

and finally, some finished pics:


DSC01104 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01108 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01112 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01113 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01115 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01119 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01141 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01143 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01144 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01146 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01150 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01151 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01152 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01153 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01154 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01162 by RussZS, on Flickr

 

[RussZS]

DSC01172 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01174 by RussZS, on Flickr

and a few interior shots, which may interest some people:


DSC01128 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01129 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01130 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01134 by RussZS, on Flickr


DSC01165 by RussZS, on Flickr

Thanks once again to Lee, you're a legend Sir! Also thanks to Dale for allowing me to work on this superb machine and for his help and company!

Thanks for reading


DSC01176 by RussZS, on Flickr

Russ@MidlandsCarCare

 

[luke3]

Awesome russ, I think you should get one!!

 

[badbuzz2]

Russ what would you charge to do my clio some great work done there chap :thumbup:

 

[RussZS]

What colour is it badbuzz2? It really depends on what you want doing and if you want any wax upgrades, windows sealant etc etc.

Ballpark would be £120-£150 for a single day enhancement on a Clio sized car, but I'd need your car for a good 8-10 hours. Have a look at some of my other threads on here to see the more dramatic difference on darker colours such as black.

Also, I have a fully insured, secure unit 2 mins from Junction 9 of the M6, so very close to you presumably I've detailed 55 RenaultSport's over the past 3-4 years, which is probably more than any other detailer, so you're in good hands too

Luke - I want one, but my GF isn't having any of it lol! 250 she approves of though.

I won't bother changing the Edition 30 until Spring now anyway tbh.

Russ.

 

[badbuzz2]

price seem fair m8 my cars not in the best condition lots of swirls from bad car washes if we can arrange a local meet come and see like wise i can pop round on a weekend if this suits :thumbup:

 

[PB.200]

When you do a paint depth what are you looking for? How do you know that say 200 is better than 150 because isn't the figure the combined paint and clearcoat? Surely its possible to have thick paint and thin clearcoat especially on repared cars or in the case of many Renaultsports hand painted.

 

[RussZS]

When you do a paint depth what are you looking for? How do you know that say 200 is better than 150 because isn't the figure the combined paint and clearcoat? Surely its possible to have thick paint and thin clearcoat especially on repared cars or in the case of many Renaultsports hand painted.

You're correct that it gives the complete reading of primer/paint/clearcoat. However it's useful for the following:

- Spotting low/high areas where a panel has potentially been polished previously.
- Wildly different readings on some panels can suggest filler, repair work or a respray meaning the I'd have to retest my polishing combinations as the paint could well be softer meaning unnecessary removal of Clearcoat
- Assessing removal rates around particular areas where working on a deeper defect. So I'd never remove more than 6-8 microns when chasing defects.
- The inner part of a door is rarely clearcoated so if you subtract this reading from the overall you have a view of approximate clearcoat levels

On something like this I'm only removing 1-3 microns of about 80 on the car, but there was a particular low spot of say 110 then I'd use a lighter combination to remove the smallest amount possible.

It's not foolproof but allows you to build a picture of the general state of a cars paintwork before machine polishing.

Russ.

 

[Craig_B]

Looks mint dude!!

Carbon Fibre looks insanely good after you sorted the little scratches out!!

Keep the good work up!

 

[Foxspeed]

looks superb :thumbup:

 

[marshall]

Mmmm shiney carbon


Stunning!!

 

[Willis]

Good work, it looks fantastic.

And what a car, there's an R26.R shaped space on my driveway next to Nicole, but alas, there's not an R26.R shaped wedge in my bank at the moment.

 

[-Eddie-]

Adore these cars, and love your work. Amazing once again!

 

[Mclaren72]

Quality job, insanely shiny CF!!

 

[Giles]

look great mate!

is that your white kangoo van??

 

[PB.200]

You're correct that it gives the complete reading of primer/paint/clearcoat. However it's useful for the following:

- Spotting low/high areas where a panel has potentially been polished previously.
- Wildly different readings on some panels can suggest filler, repair work or a respray meaning the I'd have to retest my polishing combinations as the paint could well be softer meaning unnecessary removal of Clearcoat
- Assessing removal rates around particular areas where working on a deeper defect. So I'd never remove more than 6-8 microns when chasing defects.
- The inner part of a door is rarely clearcoated so if you subtract this reading from the overall you have a view of approximate clearcoat levels

On something like this I'm only removing 1-3 microns of about 80 on the car, but there was a particular low spot of say 110 then I'd use a lighter combination to remove the smallest amount possible.

It's not foolproof but allows you to build a picture of the general state of a cars paintwork before machine polishing.

Russ.

Makes sense.

Cheers

 

[RussZS]

No worries and it's a fair point you raise tbh - you see so many people take a single reading... it doesn't tell you a great deal at all.

The multi layer gauges are obviously better, but @ £2000, not cheap. I'll get one after April though...

 

[PB.200]

I'd be interested to see how much I'm removing using a rotary, swissvax cleaner fluid pro and a finishing pad.

I'm pretty confident it will be hardly anything but I do polish it once or twice a year so maybe I should check sometime.

 

[RussZS]

Where are you based? As you say, you won't be removing much at all with that combo.