Auto-Genie showroom

[Rob S]

That Lexus needed a plough, not a clean! Good work that man.

[Stuart]

Today's mission saw me hotfooting it to sunny Cambridgeshire for a winter protection valet of a rather nice Impreza WRX 300


Another daily driver that see's the worst of East Anglia's roads and track use too, so the owner was very keen to get some base levels of protection in place before the winter closes in!



The alloys were inherited by the current owner as kerbed, scuffed and a bit, er, "used" so it was clear that I would have to be very, very careful when it came to cleaning them.

The bodywork and its full WRT graphics would also require a bit of TLC, as the usual process of detarring and debugging uses mild solvents and they could destroy the vinyls pretty damned quickly if I wasn't careful.


Arches and mudflaps would need a thorough clean as the mud was absolutely caked on


Time to get stuck in

[Stuart]

So, time to try the weakest wheel cleaner I had with me used with a brush and with a water bottle on standby just incase!

Good time to clean what I could of the custom Scoobyclinic calipers too

As I mentioned before, I wasn't able to use the normal process and products for getting the tar and some of the bugs off of the car, so the safer approach was followed for all badges, lower arches, arch liners, undersides of bumpers, door shuts, fuel flap, bonnet shuts etc. This was applied using a soft detailing brush and then rinsed off. Then the whole car was rinsed again, shampoo'd and then rinsed again


Time to get the car indoors as the freezing weather wasn't helping me now, and the wet work was done.

The plan was to clean the engine bay and polish the stainless and alloy components, polish the glass inside and out, treat all interior and exterior plastics, polish the exhaust, treat the tyres, clean the mudflaps, polish the rear and front lights, clean the dash and door cards and clean the mats!
All of the above was in addition to polishing and sealing the paint to impart a high level of protection and gloss.
Edited highlights







The finished article



Big thanks to Tony for the opportunity to work on the car. It is a really nice example and makes all of the right noises, sounding exactly the way that an Impreza should do. The car got so many admiring glances and compliments in the works car park it was comical

[IWANT1]

Nice work, I like that any chance its for sale?????????

[Stuart]

Thanks Lee

The owner, TonyB, said that he has fallen in love with it! They 'bonded' at the Charity Race Experience a while back

You could always PM him and try your luck.

[TonyB]

Hi Lee, glad you like, sorry but no chance of me parting with it

Many thanks Stuart, great job done on the car, the only time it will look this good again is when you come to visit next!

[Danny@APT]

Apologies for these being massively overdue, but I've finally got some outdoor pics of the (now) shiny Ford -

















(Mr Staples- feel free to edit this post to include your 'before' comparisons if you wish)

[Ben]

Wow ... looking fantastic

[Stuart]

Thanks for those pictures Dan
They certainly seem to show the car in a better light and it's great to see that you're maintaining the finish

I was booked to take a wee drive to Cambridgeshire again this week, to tackle the perfect car for these weather conditions and our East of England roads; a TD HSE Discovery It was a bit dirty but the owner was kind enough to get most of the crud off the day before I got there, on the basis that if ice/frost was bad I would need a chisel as opposed to a wash mitt







I hadn't taken on board just how big this car was, even though I had been in them so many times before. The job was to rid the exterior of contamination, get a good layer of polish and wax on there, generally tidy up the alloys, tyres, arches and glasswork. In addition to that I decided that I'd tidy the interior as it appeared to have had a hard life

With the chassis degreased, arches cleaned, alloys and tyres sorted, the bodywork was shampooed and rinsed, and then towel dried and ready for taking indoors for the intensive polishing.
Cleaner


The owner and I had agreed some scratches that needed attention, and a set of priorities for the afternoons work. I dedided to use a two stage polish with one compound being slightly more aggressive than the other, and then a final sealant being applied afterwards.

In between coats of polish or sealant, it was time to polish and treat the glass with Rain-X, clean the dash, hoover and shampoo the carpets, clean the plastic trim and get the roof minty!! I also cleaned and nourished the leather seats in the front, and cleaned all door shuts, petrol flap and boot.
Clean


The usual shocking photos I'm afraid but at least the owner was chuffed and the car is properly protected for the winter's abuse I was also too busy working to stand around taking loads of photos, but I will make up for it

More to follow as I've been flat out all day on another project

[Stuart]

What a start to the new year!! A lovely standard S2000

Booked for an extreme valet (with a couple of extras)

Before's







The principle concern was getting a good base to build from in terms of paint protection. I helped him source this car last year and the paintwork was in pretty good order for a ten year old car, so the current owner wants to keep it that way

After's








The owner was very pleased (as was I) and has started the ball rolling for booking the car in with me for undersealing. I gave him some ideas for maintenance of this finish between now and the early spring, but he and I will be working on several other areas of the car to bring it up to the highest of standards

Hope you like!