Well, before I post this I really must apologise for enticing you in here under false pretences
I really honestly don't believe that I did all this work and took NO pictures, absolutely none....I should be shot!

Anyhow, yesterday I took all the wheels off AGAIN and set about tidying up my hubs n calipers for the summer season. They were overdue and looked dull and generally lacklustre overall, near the inside of the rims where the hub meets them a few small bits had flaked off and looked dirty and rusty
Firstly cleaned the wheels again, just a quick going over as they looked great anyway. Then out with the drill and the wire brush attachment to remove any old flaky paint, rust etc. Carefully repainted first the hubs and then the calipers using Hammerite Silver smooth for that clean stock look and then repeated for the other 3 wheels. Overall this process took around 4 hours, approx 1 hour per wheel.
Checked them out today on the freshly washed car ( had to be washed to remove the volcanic ash from the car as I didn't want that lying there for too long!! ) and they looked stunning, well pleased with the end result

Today - broke out the claybar and lube and decided to give here the once over. Gave her a quick wash to remove any dust that may have accumulated and then started the claying process for the first time.
I decided to leave the car wet to aid in the lubrication and started slowly, panel by panel.
Broke off a piece of clay and started on the bonnet, roof and then the boot, lubricating all the time and sweeping back n forth in even movements....There was some removal but not too much really and I was patting myself on the back as to how clean my car was
Then I got onto the doors and lower panels just behind the front / back wheels and the clay just kept on sticking, more lube, more lube and worked away....the clay was heavily contaminated at this point and after folding in 2 or 3 times I decided to bin it and get a fresh piece for each side.
Eventually got the whole car done and its like glass.....first time I've ever did this and very impressed with the results. I washed the car again, this time thoroughly and took great delight in running my fingers over the glasslike paintwork....result.
Whole process took around 3 and a half hours which surprised me, but well worth it

I have a friend / neighbour who has a Porter machine with all the Meguires pads and Mazerna polish thats willing to help / lend me his kit so I'm toying with the idea of tackling the swirl removal myself
I'd really like to try but am concerned as I'm sure its not as easy as it looks, I'm sure Dave can confirm that it takes knowledge and skill to learn how to do this correctly.....we'll see.
I have a detailer lined up who'll do the swirl removal over a night....around 20 man hours I'm told between him and his partner to do the job at a cost of £250....seems reasonable!

Anyway...thanks for reading and so sorry about the lack of pics

 

Shot doesn't even come close. Hung, Drawn, and Quartered and then Cooked and fed to the cat might be too lenient.
And we don't even get a few 'After' pics!

Still no worries, you'll just have to go through it all again tomorrow with the Clio.

LOL.

 

No sorry ,no excuses don't feel upset
As Translator said Clio's pictures would gloss over lack of pics of this thread lol

 

Lol...can't argue with you translator!
I'll try and get some "after" pics up when I can.

 

I have found a DIY garage in Glasgow where you can rent space to do work. I will be doing the same caliper treatment this summer and will take pictures!!!

 

Ok, so here's a pic taken when tackling the inner wheels and the wheel well liners. Its not the best, but shows how the caliper n hub have faded and taken of dirt n grime over a long period of time. The lustre's gone and there's alos a few bits of paint flaking here n there....Not really pretty!




Here a couple of pics of the front wheel calipers and hubs freshly painted with the clean wheel in place looking a million times better






Here's a couple of the rears freshly done and looking good too





With them on the car its almost impossible to get a 100% perfect result, but I took my time and really tried to do the best I could. It is so worth the effort involved

Ideally, I'd like to either be able to park her up for a week on axle stands and take the calipers & hubs off the car, fully degrease them, sand blast them etc to get a real back to basics start. Then tape them up and paint using spray paint followed by 2 or 3 coats of lacquer to protect as long as possible for the perfect finish. Failing that buy another set of calipers and hubs ( the hubs will be an opton when I need to replace the discs / rotors as they form the wheel hub ) and do exactly what I've described above, take the old ones of and repeat the process whenever required.
Kinda costly though and all dead money so I guess you understand why I won't be taking that route?

Anyhow, thanks for looking

 

That's better. They look sharp.

I agree, you'd have to be nuts to keep a full spare set, just for appearances sake.

 

I don't think they look any better and eye catching , you did a colossal job .It's worth every minute for such a detailing stuff

 

Great job Jim.

 

Thanks Delta, lookin forward to your write up soon too.
Am I to assume that as you have garage space ( possibly ) that you're lookin at some down time for the Jag and will show us all how to do it properly with the components off the car?
Either way, lookin forward to the post

 

Geez Jim, I thought I was the only person on the planet **** enough to remove my wheels ALL THE TIME and clean them inside and out! Glad to know there is one other obsessive/compulsive individual out there. Now they can snicker as us instead of just me....I feel better now...a tiny bit more normal!

 

Lol, thanks Steve, I think
Yeah, **** about covers it I guess....I do get some pretty weird looks off the neighbours and the usual witty and original comments such as "you're going to wash that car away" and "there'll be no paint left on that car" and of course the obligatory " you can do mine after your finished"

But hey, they don't pay my mortgage so to hell with what they think!

Kinda moved on a step further the past few days as I bought my son a Renalut Clio 1.2 as he's just passed his test to start him off. Its 10 years old with 55k on the clock but REALLY REALLY doesn't look like it....especially as I've spent approx 10 hours the last few days washing, detailing and polishing her to within an inch of her life