Vauxhall Corsa - Chris Reed
Entered for the July 2017 competition.
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Name: Chris Reed
Make: Vauxhall
Model: Corsa
Year: 2015
Viewed: 3818 times.
Votes/Comments: 7
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How Chris Used Our Products
This is my partner's car that is new to her, having previously sold her Micra K12.
It is a 15 plate, however, had only covered 6k miles by a previous lady owner. The spec is the 'Limited Edition', but not limited by numbers it seems - decent spec level though by all accounts.
We purchased from a local independent garage, the car was prepped as well as you can reasonably expect a used car to be.
The procedure was as follows:
Snow foam on dry vehicle, in the form of Valet Pro Advanced Snow Foam via PW lance
Vehicle washed with Bilt Hamber Auto Wash (10-15ml in 20L) using a microfiber madness wash pad and two buckets. Dried vehicle using Blaster blower in preparation to apply Bilt Hamber Korrosol to remove iron fallout, after a few minutes this was rinsed via PW.
Dried vehicle once again using Blaster blower so that I could see and remove tar spots using Autoglym’s Intensive Tar Remover. I tend to use small sections of a microfiber cloth and discard.
Vehicle was clayed to remove remaining contaminants and smooth the paint using Bilt Hamber Regular clay (1/4 of a bar), and a constant mist of water via a hose.
Vehicle washed again with Meguiars NXT car wash using a microfiber madness wash pad and two buckets (no reason why a different wash detergent was used than initially, just to hand). Rinsed with open hose and dried with Air Blaster before moving into the garage.
Paintwork was looked over as best as possible in light (lighting not ideal). There were quite a lot of swirls present, and a number of bush/branch marks along nearside. It did look like there were some previous polishing marks present too. Paint readings were taken, showing nothing untoward (circa 130). Roof readings were higher due to the car having a metallic black roof.
Started off on Rupes Duetto with Yellow fine pad and Keramik gloss polish (yellow). Whilst this combo removed a lot of lighter marring, a step up was required and so I used a green medium pad and continued to use a mix of either Keramik gloss (fine) and Quarz gloss (medium) dependent on the state of the swirls. The paint was definitely harder than the spirit blue on my ST.
As my LSP, I decided to go for Auto Finesse Tough Coat. I have only used this once before on my partner’s father’s car, and he doesn’t live locally so I am looking forward to seeing how well it holds up for myself. In readiness for the Tough Coat, I prepped the paint with Tough Prep on a sponge applicator. The Tough Coat was then applied via the AF Duo sponge, trying to use minimal amounts. Each coat was left to cure for about 15 mins before buffing off with the longer pile of a Duo microfiber. I did find that it could be easy to get an uneven coat due to swage lines preventing sealant from being smoothed out –not helped by the large applicator. In total, I applied 3 coats.
The alloys were in need of a thorough clean and seal. There appeared to be underseal on the inside of each alloy drum, which looked a state. The car was then suitably jacked up to avoiding damage and in turn the wheels were removed. The process for cleaning each wheel started with a spray of Bilt Hamber Auto Wheel, after a few minutes this was agitated with an Auto Finesse boar’s hair brush, rinsing frequently in a wash soap bucket. After blowing dry, the remaining wax and lashings of tar spots were treated with Autosmart Tardis. The tar spots and wax were wiped using cut up squares of microfiber cloth. On the car, the alloys had plenty of gloss, but in the right light they were quite scratched/swirled. I used the Rupes Bigfoot mini to polish up the face and spokes. For this task, I used a yellow Rupes fine pad and some Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound. I wanted a softer pad that would shape around the spokes easily but still required a decent level of cut for the small areas.
Whilst the alloys were off, the front calipers were cleaned and coated with red caliper paint to improve their appearance.
At this stage, I washed the wheel to prepare for sealant. The wheel was wiped down using Carpro Eraser on cotton make-up pads.
The sealant of choice was Carpro DLUX, I have seen this recommended on here by a number of users. The sealant was applied using cotton pads – which are confirmed as being okay to use. I was in the garage and so the temp wasn’t too high. I started buffing off with the suede microfibre around 10 minutes after starting to apply. The suede microfibre are a bit fiddly to use on an alloy, so after some residue had been removed I used a longer pile microfibre cloth to buff to a shine. At no point was the residue hard to remove.
The versatility of the DLUX allowed it to be used for all the black trim, including the vinyl, rubber trim, headlights, and rear lights. I also chose to apply the DLUX to the plastic chrome fog light surrounds and badges. In preparation for treatment to all these areas, Carpro Eraser was used with a cotton pad to wipe down and remove oils etc.
The glass was treated with Gtechniq G1. In readiness for this, the windscreen was polished with Gtechniq G4, all other glass was just wiped down with Auto Finesse Crystal glass cleaner on a microfibre cloth. The G1 was applied with the cotton pads, as per the directions I applied 3 coats to the windscreen with 1 coat to the remaining glass. Between each coat, I allowed approx. 10 mins to cure without removing the residue. After 15 minutes, all of the residues were removed. I tend to give the glass a rub down with the G2 on a cotton pad, although the AF crystal will easily remove the residue. I cleaned the wiper blades with some Eraser on a pad to prevent any juddering – although I have never suffered this issue.
Moving on to the interior, not a great deal of work was done here. I wiped down all of the trim using Autoglym Interior Shampoo on a microfibre.
The piano black trim was wiped delicately with a plusher microfibre and a spray of Auto Finesse Spritz. The instrument displays were cleaned with a longer pile microfibre and Crystal. Carpets and seats were then hovered before installing new mats. AF Spritz was also used on prominent areas of the dash and trim. The steering wheel was then treated with Autoglym Leather Conditioner on a microfibre cloth.
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