Envy Valeting

Well what a weekend! Many thanks to the organisers for such a great event, well organised, nice people and great fun. Thanks to Martin for letting me play with his car on and off, very pretty thing she is too I'm sorry we couldnt be more social in the evenings but the kids were knackered after the long days, but I personally could have helped to keep the bar open LOL I'd like to say many thanks to all those I spoke to, and those who visited the stand. We felt very welcome and it was my 1st attempt at running a trade stand, rather than just working on one but hopefully the nerves didnt show too much. Next time I need MORE WAX lol. Best wishes to you all, and a heartfelt thanks too!

Yay, home at last from my lastest road trip to the Lakes! Today I'll be loading up the van with everything for the weekend, and heading back up north. Really looking forward to this. Fingers crossed for the weather Anyone else staying at Daybrook tomorrow?

Poor wash technique is the main reason but there is no reason to take offense at that comment as many of us do not own our cars from brand new and as such inherit the swirls I'm of the opinion thats marks are inevitable despite how good you are, eventually something will happen. You will drop the car off for a service and forget to tell them not to wash the car...you lend it to you other half who runs it through a carwash as a "treat" for you etc etc. You can do your best to limit damage though by good wash technique, no car washes, no washes when serviced etc etc. Marks can come from many areas but to say swirls come from machine polishers.....buffer trails, holograms YES but swirls are accumulated over time.

Sorted now

Paint correction detail on this beauty, and my 1st Aston Martin of the year. Finished the BMW 335, then drove up country and straight on to this treasure the next day... Wheels cleaned 1st with Espuma Revolution and Envy Brushes, then given a good soaking with Bubbly Jubbly. Rinsed off, washed with DG shampoo, TBM and Z sponge. Dried to look like Clayed with Dodo Juice Gentle Grey which pulled quite a lot off the roof and bonnet, the rest of the car surprisingly was quite good. As you would expect with a correction detail I then checked the paint thickness and got some nice "hand finished" readings. Time to capture the defects. Pretty swirly, but not too many other problems. The odd patch where scrubbing of insects had occured and filled in stone chips. Correction wise I initially tried SWCF-pro via Megs buffing pad but this only removed 50% of the swirls. Stepped up to SWCF-pro on a polishing pad...60% removal. Ended up using Ultrafina with a couple of blobs of FCP with a Megs polishing pad and this worked a treat. Front offside wing Machined only, no wax! Nearside door Front nearside wing Day 1 saw good progress and I returned day 2 to finish the correction. After all the machine polishing was done it was time to de-dust so we went for a drive round... Got a good load off, but I did have to re-do a few fly splats;) Wax of choice was Swissvax Best of Show. Tyres were dressed with Espuma RD50, Glass cleaned with Espuma Glass green, tail pipes polished with wire wool and autosol. Side vents polished with Autosol and a very fine microfibre. Please enjoy the afters: And finally...before And after A truly enjoyable detail, made better by the owners being soo nice and also a car nut (who has had a few very interesting cars! Time taken 16hrs. 15 mins after the last pic the storms hit, talk about getting done just in time! Tim

Woody you are right as is Walbertonio. Stops damage but also makes the clean up easier after. Damn dust gets everywhere!

Yeah, he's a good mate..you'll not go wrong with him BMW's generally are hard buggers to do, that and VW/Audi VAG group cars but this was like no other. I do a lot of 3 and 5 series Beemers and I think generally I pretty much have them sussed i.e. I know what pad/polish will work rather than trying a whole heap of options, but this one.....F'k me! LOL

A paint correction detail, and boy was it a challenge to correct! Looks harmless enough on Saturday morning, but looks can be deceiving OK, on with the show. Wheels washed 1st with Envy Brushes and Espuma Revolution. Rinsed off then time for the Bubbly Jubbly SSF. Rinsed then washed with TBM, drit guards, zimmerframe sponge and DG shampoo. Rinsed and dried to look like this: Clay time, glad to have Dodo Gentle grey back on the van. Not a lot to remove though which is good. Measure the paint, nice even readings. Why are we doing a correction? What can it look like after a correction? How about half way through a correction? (unrefined) Now, I wont mess about...this car was a tough one. 3-4 hits per panel with the Metabo and a Scholl Concepts orange pad using FCP, FCP and UF mixed, and then UF to refine..sometimes needing more steps. The paint was/is rock hard. So much so I retired to the hotel on Saturday night, ran a bath, plugged in the brinkmann and got on the net to see if there was a miracle 335 polish combination. Alas not, every detail I could read said "hard paint", still I was not alone in the challenge. Day 2 I was greeted by a sexy chick Polish polish polish polish..... Not a whole load of pictures as most of the time was needed polishing. Once all the polishing was done the car was de-dusted, cleansed, and waxed with Dodo Juice Blue Velvet. Exhaust tips buffed, interior given a thorough detail etc etc. Enjoy the afters: Time taken 19hrs Tim

Nice review sir, I thankyou. Yeah smell was not a consideration tbh , but cleaning, dwell time and cling power was! OK so its thicker so you use less, its got rinse agent and water softners to help in hard water areas. How did it clean your little beauty? Did you like it? Best wishes Tim

and...what do you think?

Great glad to hear it Immy, they are good for the price and dont splatter too much (which is nice!)

OK the Dodo stock situation has been replenished including some new items such as Supernatural shampoo, Clay lube, some SN clay, and old faves like the Red Mist/ Red Mist tropical. The waxes I ordered in specifically have already sold LOL.

Depends on the wax mate! I leave in on whilst I do stuff like glass and tyres, and buff when it has cured. Check this with the wipe test, if your finger wipes cleanly through the wax with no smears its time to buff Best wishes Tim

Hi Danny, £100 will get you a lot of Megs OK this car I polished out the swirls so yes I "cut" the paint, well the clearcoat/laquer but only minute amounts need to be removed to get rid of swirls. If you had a DA polisher something like (blatant plug alert) http://www.envyvaleting.co.uk/products_info.asp?id=140 would be a safe bet for you and Nissan paint. If you wanted to "fill" as you have suggested then a coloured wax might help. A less labour intensive but totally safe option for by hand or machine application (blatant plug alert) would be http://www.envyvaleting.co.uk/products_info.asp?id=180 this product. Now I may sound biased but I saw this demo'd at Megs HQ earlier this year on an evo 8 and I can honestly say it knocked out 60% of the swirls on this car (and it was provided by an attendee of the course and not a megs staff car) and I was impressed for a product you can use by hand. The reason its safe is it uses nano particles so they dont need to be broken down like the polishes I use by machine for example on this BMW, they are small already so you cant do any damage. Just work the area, and then buff. If it needs more work repeat the process. Best wishes Tim

Started the week with this beauty. Booked in for a 2 day correction detail. Washed the wheels 1st using Espuma Revolution and Envy Brushes, rinsed off and pre soaked the door shuts and fuel filler flap with Espuma G202. Car soaked with Bubbly Jubbly snow foam Allowed to dwell Then rinsed and the car washed with DG shampoo, TBM and the usual grit guards. Dried off to look like this. Clayed with BH clay to reveal no real nasties, had apparently not been clayed before so I was impressed. Paint thickness reading were taken to ensure it was safe to machine polish the car. I used the following products on this correction Knuckled down for a long slog, but it went quite well. This carried on for the rest of day 1, and half of the 2nd day. Once it was machined it was time to clean up, with careful use of brushes, MF's and a lot of patience! Paint was cleansed with Dodo Juice Lime Prime lite ready for the wax. Dodo Juice Supernatural. This was left to cure for approx 1hr whilst I made busy with door shuts Cleaned glass with Espuma green glass, polished chrome trim with Dodo Lime Prime and before you know it the hr or so had passed:) The wax was then buffed off and it was time to get snap happy. Sorting out some wax holograms on the bonnet with some white coconut liquid:rolleyes: Please enjoy the afters. I must convey my thanks to Perry and his family for the great hospitality extended to me, and the stakes have been well and truly raised in the "being looked after" category...bacon roll, coffee, coke cans.... Thanks for looking Tim

Pas de problem mon amie

Stew you have an email For all other watchers Dodo stock was delivered today, and has been added to my shop

Good to chat via PM Stew, and just wanted to say thanks for "nothing" mate. I have placed an order with the Dodo now...not that you'd care..of course

Hey Stew...no Dodo...you are missing out! OK Lime prime was their original delve into the world of pre-wax cleansers and personally its the one I use the most. I have access to Dodo, Zymol and Swissvax. I describe it as follows when asked... its like Dodo have taken the HDCleanse and Cleaner fluid, looked at both then improved on them to make Lime Prime. The reason I use so much is 2 fold 1) Works so well 2) Economics. I use a LOT of pre wax cleanser. Dodo is £13 odd, Swissvax is £20+, and the HDC is astronimical! My advice would be to get both and I use them as such: If the paint has been corrected or looks pretty perfect then LPL If the paint has room for improvement/ or less than perfect use LP When working the LP or the LPL I normally use my Porter Cable and as such you cleanse the paint but you also get an element of correction as the LP is mildly abrasive, but then so are the pads you use. On softer Nissan paint I feel you could get quite a good result with the LP. It certainly does a good job on Mitsi Evo paint If you want me to order a pot of the SN wood, or the Light Fantastic then I will. The way the Dodo is going off the shelves tonight I'll be sold out tomorrow in all seriousness I do recommend however like all decent detailing product manufacturers state, that to get the best results out of a pot of wax you really do need to do the prep work and use a pre-wax cleanser...but you know that already. Best wishes Tim

Thanks Tim I really have to stop buying detailing stuff,I am running out of room in the garage. I appreciate the support, its just a shame the Post office is closed right now LOL.

Hi there, thats my mistake as I have run out of the 5 litre ones and Espuma who make it (only) for me are on annual shut down.If you dont mind 5 litres in a hand labelled bottle (ie no correct label that you see on the 800ml bottles) I can pour you 5 litres out of the 25 litres I have in my van? Its £16.95 for 5 litres but it does trigger the £6.99 shipping as its above 2 kg. Thats the bad news, but the good news is that shipping rate is good to 25kg so keep shopping and postage wont cost you anymore. If you do want the bubbly jubbley let me know your paypal address and I'll send you an invoice. Best wishes Tim

Order recieved, and will be ready to go any minute now Many thanks Tim

I have loads of LPL mate both in the 250 and 500ml sizes Stew.Wooden pots of SN....just sold a 2nd hand (barely used) one on behalf of a customer for £45 would you believe? If you want one I can get you one as I have to place an order before ZedFest. I have it and like you say it looks great. White cars...well the current formula of Light Fantastic (Dom told me this) is the old original V1 formula of SN, which is now V2 formula so you are getting what was the premium wax for less wonga

I have 1 of the 250 ml bottles left..just been and checked:)I'd not want to sound like a knob but possibly you are not using the RM quite right but you do have to be quick ie spray then wipe really fast, especially on hot days. Personally I prefer the tropical formula where you have time to spray, catch your breath then wipe but it also is for fast application.

Excellent work all. Excellent results no matter whats being used and nice to see entrants really getting into the spirit of it all. The Megs 3 stage seems to be well featured too. Love Shire's collection but also claying with a clay man looks good to me Brummy Bird