A 2.5 Hour Challenge...

[LowiePete]

...on an Electric Blue Mégane Coupé

For this particular morning's quick test the car was a blue Mégane belonging to
Karl's missus; he of R5GTT mechanic fame. It seems that there's various shades
of "Electric Blue" from the Renault palette because this finish didn't turn out
quite as expected. What was missing was the subtle change from blue to purple
in the metallic flake

So, with the car having been given a jet-wash before I arrived, I was able to give
it a close ONR bucketless wash; what that stuff removes continues to please! With
Karl busy giving the interior a good clean; not for me the odd sticky residues left
by young'uns, I got on with giving the car a clay cloth treatment. Oh boy, did it
need it? The sound like sawing wood even drew Karl's attention.

Once the cloth treatment had gone silent he was duly impressed at the huge
difference twixt treated and untreated surfaces. It became clear that some panels
on this car had been re-sprayed, with the bonnet giving the game away most of all.
So, I gave Karl a quick briefing on how to tackle the rest of the vertical panels with
the clay cloth while I got out a polishing pad and the Liquid Shine.

It was a bit of a vainglorious attempt; it would need a machine for a proper go, but
following that with the CarPro Essence did improve its looks quite a bit. With just
30 minutes left there was only one course of action remaining and that was a quick
coat of ArtDeShine ADK wax. With Karl able to follow me round with the buffing
cloth I think he got a few more surprises.

Obviously, the clay cloth gave the biggest change in both look and feel of the paint.
Next came the bonnet treatment, despite my only giving it a tickle. However, when
he saw that I used just 6 very tiny dabs at the wax to do the whole car in less than
15 minutes, that really topped-off the eye-opening. As ever, I think it's the ease and
simplicity of the methods used that really underlined that morning's work.

While Karl was busy doing a quick tidy up of the unit, I gave the horizontal surfaces
a quick spray of ADS Nano Bio Coat. The sheer slickness of feel that product gives is
like nothing else I've ever experienced. Apply it to the inside of door handles and
users will do a double-take with its initial silky feel.

The door glass and their lower rubbers, along with the windscreen inside, were given
an ADS Blue Lotion treatment. This makes dropping the glass quicker to operate and
less work for their motors. The windscreen was given a coat of ArtDeJohnson on the
outside. All the exterior glass had been clay clothed, with ADK wax applied to the rear.
Blue Lotion was also used to revive the plastic around the mirrors.

With time being short I took no before or during photos, but here's a few taken when
we moved the car outside...



















Quite a rich blue, but no purple...

Not long after I'd gone, a chap two doors down on the industrial estate came to
inspect and was blown away by the feel of the car's paint. So much so that I have a
tuition detail on a dark blue Rav4 to do this coming week. With that car I'll be using
CarPro's Essence and trying out Essence Plus. The MSDS for the latter is a bit scarier
than that for the former, so both do need some PPE attention. I'll report my findings.

Regards,
Steve

 

[andybond]

That paint looks smooth never mind under the fingers !

 

[Chris Smith]

Looks very good, given the fact that's done by hand and in a short time frame... Well done

 

[detailR]

Very nice Steve
Shows what's possible in a limited time.
I really fancy trying you Essence and Essence+. I'm just not sure what they'd replace.

 

[LowiePete]

That paint looks smooth never mind under the fingers !

Thanks Andy, I think its emergence from the unit caused a couple of people
to notice the difference. I regret not taking some "befores"

Very nice Steve
Shows what's possible in a limited time.
I really fancy trying you Essence and Essence+. I'm just not sure what they'd replace.

The Essence duo are kind of filler glazes. The plain essence also contains nanofine
glass - to begin with it cleans out the tiniest pores in the paint. By continuing to
work it, with a fairly coarse pad (white) the glass begins to bond to the surface
and to itself, filling minor swirls and masking the deeper ones.

The resulting surface is claimed to last 12 months when covered with a quality
wax, sealant etc. So Essence replaces a pre-wax cleaner and a glaze.

Essence Plus is badly named because its main purpose is to maintain a previously
coated vehicle. However, it can also kinda "fake" it, by bonding with Essence,
giving a very hydrophobic surface. So, in effect it's a posh glaze with about 6
months of durability. It's applied like a lotion with a soft pad (black).

With both products there are PPE issues that many will ignore, the most serious
of these is to not breathe in the dust when buffing-off and to dunk the cloths
immediately after use, so no dust transfers.

If you're on FB, look for Craig Hall, he's the UK distributor and he'll send you
stuff like MSDS sheets. Chat to him nicely and he could well send you samples

Regards,
Steve

 

[detailR]

Thanks for the info I've seen a few people claiming it's 'corrected' their paint and all sorts.

I remember Craig from the incredible Nissan wet sand days. We swapped a few products back in the day. Sadly I don't have a real Facebook so I can't message people. I may just grab a bottle and see what it's all about.

I hear you on the PPE front. I know a few people that don't mask up when applying coatings. I had to explain the risks to a friend, also in the industry, why the cloths should be soaked and binned. I feel it's partly down to manufactures not putting all of the information in with the product and just on the MSDS - but also the blissful ignorance of the end user for not making sure they fully understand what they're using.