Quick update before I get cracking this morning

I'm making progress but it has been slower than I originally estimated as I have added another step.

The WGTSR I used as my first step was not aggressive enough even with a yellow pad and was not able to get out many of the blemishes. I thought I had some Megs 105 but it was only the 205 so I used Megs UC with different pads, finally settling on yellow. This worked well but left a cloudy finish. I definitely didn't miss the dusting that the TSR produced though!!

I then decided that I would do a two step polish to bring back the shine. I started with Sonax Perfect Finish with a white pad and then used the Wolfgang Finish Glaze as a fine polish with a black pad. This seemed to produce a very pleasing shine with good clarity but was a lot of extra work. I have about half the car to finish polishing today then it's on to applying the sealant.

The polishing also revealed many tiny chips in the paint that I have been painstakingly fixing with the Dr. Colorchip kit. This stuff works great!!

All in all I am really enjoying the process and it has been a real learning experience with some valuable lessons learned, see pics below

This is what happens when you use too much speed and pressure


A lot of dust created by the Swirl Remover


After polishing, a nice clear reflection with no sign of the slight orange peel that was there before.


More anon.

Allan

 

It's been a long day but I think I see the finish line in sight

Finally finished all the paint correction and i have to say I'm quite chuffed with the results. It's late at night but the paint seems to be gleaming and perhaps just a touch darker?

I'll be putting the sealant tomorrow and will take some more pics hopefully in the sunshine!! But here are a few shots after colour correction.

My nice gleaming bonnet


One side of the boot


Other side of boot


Wheel arch compared to the shot I posted earlier, what a difference!!


Cheers,

Allan

 

That is better then showroom appearance! Amazing depth and reflection. All of your planning and hard work has paid off. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

 

Well I managed to get her outside for a few pics but the light was failing so they may not be that good. Still have a couple things left to do, clean the glass, polish the front and rear lights and add a coat of wax but she is basically done!! (on the outside at least )

Here are a few pics, I think she's looking rather spiffy for 19 years old and I'm quite pleased at my first attempt at colour correction.

I'll post a full report this weekend. It's certainly been an interesting ride

 

The chrome pieces all look fantastic! What did you use to polish and did you apply any kind of wax or sealant to them?

 

Thanks!

I used Blue Magic Metal Polish Cream to clean and polish then topped with Wolfgang Metallwerk Concours Metal Sealant, I'm very happy with the way the chrome looks now

Will post my final pics and thoughts tomorrow

Cheers,

Allan

 

Allan - absolutely beautiful - great job thanks for sharing

 

Allan,

Looks fantastic!

Ya know, the trip to NC to MI isn't really all THAT long is it? How about you experiment with mine next? I mean, you ARE retired and all!

Lookin' great!

 

Allan,

Looks superb. You've just got yourself a brand new car again.

Graham

 

Wow. I'm speechless. And my lower back is killing me just from thinking about all the work you've done. I would never want that car to see rain again....

 

Looks great, I am just waiting for the heat to break here so I can hand wash and polish mine. I use Liquid Glass on my cars, but everyone has their preference

 

WOW!!!!

It looks superb.

I would have given up long before getting to this standard.

PS. the cross head screws on your wing mirrors are not perfectly aligned.

 

Job VERY well done, Allan. Beautiful car! Thanks for sharing this experience with us.

 

Allan - just curious as to when and where you will be participating in concours? If you are interested - there will be a concours in Columbia SC - Oct 11-13. I've posted details in the regional section as well as the event calendar.

 

So the big day came yesterday as I presented the old girl at the Smoky Mountain Jaguar Club Concours.

My aim with this project was to improve the score awarded by the Concours judges. Last month at the Carolina Jaguar Club Concours, my car scored 995.9 points out of 1000. One month and a lot of elbow work later, I am happy to report that my score jumped to 999.8 out of 1000 That may not seem like a huge jump but in Concours it is significant.

I don't have my final score sheets yet but the judges commented on how good the paint looked

Overall my project followed the plan very closely except that I decided to do the interior last, not a big deal either way IMO. Also I did not initially get the results I was hoping for with the Wolfgang TSR, so I switched to a Meguiars Ultimate compound for defect removal and followed that up with a two stage polish using Sonax Perfect Finish and Wolfgang Finishing Glaze. I added a coat of EZ creme glaze prior to applying the sealant and wax.

I completely underestimated the time needed to complete the task . For those interested my time was spent as follows:

Initial prep which included, washing, drying, Iron-X, Claying, LSP stripping, wheels off cleaning, taping and test spot completion, took 14 hours. The wheels were the big hold up, consuming 6 hours alone, also taping took almost 2 hours.

Compounding took longer than expected as I decided to change products to improve defect removal. Altogether 8 hours.

The two step polishing procedure and then glaze application took another 10 hours.

The sealant and wax applications were relatively quick, just three hours of actual work time plus one hour for sealant to dry and 12 hours for it to cure.

Polishing and sealing the chrome trim took 2 hours and exterior dressing with final clean up took another 2 hours.

So all told I spent about 49 hours working on the exterior.

The interior which included removing and re-dyeing front seats, polishing and sealing all wood and chrome trim as well as shampooing, vacuum, dusting, glass etc. took 12 hours in all.

So at the end of the project I spent 61 hours over the course of 10 days detailing the car. Now I know why it's called detailing, you really have to pay attention to details!!!

This was the first time I have done anything like this and although I was a little apprehensive at the beginning, it really is quite straightforward so long as you do the proper research, develop a detailed plan and work it methodically and slowly. The results can be very rewarding

My prize.


Cheers,

Allan

 

Hi Steve,

I was just posting my final thoughts from yesterday's concours

I will be going to the North Georgia Concours in early Oct and I think I will be able to make the SC event in Columbia too. Should know this week.

Cheers,

Allan

 

Allan - congratulations - excellent job/effort.

 

Allan,

Congratulations. I'm delighted to hear the result.

To achieve such a score with a 'driven' car is a phenomenal achievement.

Graham

 

Thanks Graham,

I just edited my post as I put down the wrong score. I actually scored 999.8 out of 1,000

Cheers,

Allan

 

Congratulations from me too, people are going to groan when you roll up!