imported_d00t
New member
Alright guys, here's another one. This job was from the same owner as the E55 I did about a month ago. So as you can imagine, it was hammered.
I really enjoyed working on the car. When I was talking to the owner, I was explaining that I knew why people got Bentleys.. to be on "another" level from all the rest of the mercedes, bmw, jags, etc. But I never understood WHY Bentley? Why not aston? rolls? Don't get me wrong, their both great manufacturers with both having different qualities when you're getting ready to buy. But on the 18 mile journey back to my house I found out WHY Bentley of a AMG Merc, M BMW, or XKR Jag.. It's just the attention to detail.
In the interior.. there's NO plastic. It's either hand stitched leather, real wood, or brushed alluminum. And to top it off, the Bi-Turbo V12 gets better gas mileage than my 2008 Honda S2000 with 600hp, and the acceleration on par most moder sports cars, to boot!
So when I first got the car, it was.. well. Trashed to say the least. It had been driven through the rain, and the car showed it. It was just filthy on the outside. I'll let the pictures do the talking.
The stock chrome wheels had also lost all of their gloss from the dust/dirt from weeks of on/off rain:
The engine bay, while relatively clean, needed a good cleaning and protection on it. And as per every detail this is where I started. With the usual P21S TAW Soak, with a combination of a Swissvax Wheel Brush, and a Meguiars Slide Lock Brush:
After that I turned my attention to the wheels. With a combination of P21S Wheel Gel on the rims, and P21S TAW on the tires and fender wells I let it sit for a few minutes before agitating with various brushes:
Next I moved on to decontamination. As the before pictures stated, it was quite bad on the outside. So I did a four step process. First it was a thorough rinsing with 1800psi Karcher filtered with deionized water. Then I foamed it the first time with a heavy dilution of Optimum Power Clean:
After letting it set in a pull dirt off for 5 minutes, I rinsed it again at pressure. I still wasn't satisfied with the amount of cleaning it had done, and I'm a huge believer in the less contact you make with the paint prior and post polishing makes for a better finish in the end. So I foamed in once more with a heavy dillution of Optimum Power Clean:
While the foam was setting, I went around the car and agitated all the badges, trim, and clear bra areas with a Swissvax Wheel Brush:
And again, it was rinsed at pressure to get the whole car suds-free for the final hand wash. For this I used a paint cleansing dillution of 2oz of ChemicalGuys' Citrus Wash and Clear with a genuine sheepskin mit, and the two bucket method:
This is how it looked:
(that isn't dirt, it's the reflection from the driveway)
Wheels starting to look better:
As you can see.. it was gloomy out. But look! I'm done! Paits all shiny and--
Wrong!! So it was brought inside to be further inspected under the halogens
Look under the light.. you can see the lack of gloss when under light:
And the dealership left these surprises all along the factory clear bra, and factory chrome trim:
I really enjoyed working on the car. When I was talking to the owner, I was explaining that I knew why people got Bentleys.. to be on "another" level from all the rest of the mercedes, bmw, jags, etc. But I never understood WHY Bentley? Why not aston? rolls? Don't get me wrong, their both great manufacturers with both having different qualities when you're getting ready to buy. But on the 18 mile journey back to my house I found out WHY Bentley of a AMG Merc, M BMW, or XKR Jag.. It's just the attention to detail.
In the interior.. there's NO plastic. It's either hand stitched leather, real wood, or brushed alluminum. And to top it off, the Bi-Turbo V12 gets better gas mileage than my 2008 Honda S2000 with 600hp, and the acceleration on par most moder sports cars, to boot!
So when I first got the car, it was.. well. Trashed to say the least. It had been driven through the rain, and the car showed it. It was just filthy on the outside. I'll let the pictures do the talking.
The stock chrome wheels had also lost all of their gloss from the dust/dirt from weeks of on/off rain:
The engine bay, while relatively clean, needed a good cleaning and protection on it. And as per every detail this is where I started. With the usual P21S TAW Soak, with a combination of a Swissvax Wheel Brush, and a Meguiars Slide Lock Brush:
After that I turned my attention to the wheels. With a combination of P21S Wheel Gel on the rims, and P21S TAW on the tires and fender wells I let it sit for a few minutes before agitating with various brushes:
Next I moved on to decontamination. As the before pictures stated, it was quite bad on the outside. So I did a four step process. First it was a thorough rinsing with 1800psi Karcher filtered with deionized water. Then I foamed it the first time with a heavy dilution of Optimum Power Clean:
After letting it set in a pull dirt off for 5 minutes, I rinsed it again at pressure. I still wasn't satisfied with the amount of cleaning it had done, and I'm a huge believer in the less contact you make with the paint prior and post polishing makes for a better finish in the end. So I foamed in once more with a heavy dillution of Optimum Power Clean:
While the foam was setting, I went around the car and agitated all the badges, trim, and clear bra areas with a Swissvax Wheel Brush:
And again, it was rinsed at pressure to get the whole car suds-free for the final hand wash. For this I used a paint cleansing dillution of 2oz of ChemicalGuys' Citrus Wash and Clear with a genuine sheepskin mit, and the two bucket method:
This is how it looked:
(that isn't dirt, it's the reflection from the driveway)
Wheels starting to look better:
As you can see.. it was gloomy out. But look! I'm done! Paits all shiny and--
Wrong!! So it was brought inside to be further inspected under the halogens
Look under the light.. you can see the lack of gloss when under light:
And the dealership left these surprises all along the factory clear bra, and factory chrome trim:
.
