Auto-Genie showroom

[Stuart]

Today I was lucky enough to get a crack at a rather lovely Subaru Legacy.

Fundamentally a very clean car, just wearing the scars of winter duties and a few parking scrapes and scratches. I was asked to work on the car following a recommendation, and that's always a lovely way to start

A rather lovely STi Genome exhaust system

A few light scratches were dotted around the doors but I was fairly confident I could get these out


Algae in the hinge of the boot (and ice on the roof!)

The clean up begins As it was so cold, I decided to pre-cleanse the lower sections of the car first including wheel arches, wheels and tyres, exhausts and then all of the recesses/door shuts etc followed by the interior whilst I waited for the sun to come up, and the temperature to raise above freezing.


Pre-cleanse done, rinse, shampoo and clean with two bucket method, and then a full rinse again............


With the basic cleaning processes complete, it was time start polishing the bodywork, glass and metalwork

[Stuart]

So all done, and I have to say I was pleased with the results (more importantly so was the owner )
This work represents a full valet for me, so;

• Interior hoover
• Shampoo carpet and mats
• Dash and interior plastic treatment
• Leather clean and condition treatment
• All rubbers including door shuts and foot pedals cleaned
• Exterior pre-cleanse
• Rinse
• Shampoo
• Rinse
• Dry
• Combined polish and wax
• Clean and polish wheels
• Clean and polish exhausts
• Clean and polish the lights
• Clean and polish glass inside and out
• Remove light scratches and scrapes where possible

Four more cars to do this coming week (so far) and I am loving every minute of this style of work

[Rob S]

Good work mate

[Rob S]

How would you review your new products mate?

[Stuart]

Autosmart Platinum (the latest version) Polish is really superb and probably the best product of its type that I have used.

Autosmart G101 was used in a number of mix-ratios from 1:5 to 1:20 depending on the job required and severity of muck. Another very good product and even allowing for the costs of additional bottle and chemical friendly trigger sprays it really is superb value for money. Very effective if you know how to use it, and safe too compared to many traditional products used for jobs like this.

I will not be using the hard wax that I used on Logan's again until it warms up. It's actually very good but it is so damned hard to remove when it's as cold as it is at the moment

Back to Meguair's for now!

[Daniel]

Cracking, proper cracking job that Stu.

[Stuart]

You simply cannot beat a turbocharged Estate car Dan It was a real, genuine pleasure to work on it and in the sunshine too!! Glad I delayed it by 24hrs as I originally planned it for yesterday!

[blacky]

Not a bad car car for a couple of old duffers

Nice job Stu!

[Stuart]

More work at APT HQ this week

Evo 6 before and after
(The car had a major engine failure in one of the MLR sprint rounds, and was consequently coated in oil from front to back)

I used a carefully mixed non-caustic cleaner to 'eat' the oil without damaging the clearcoat underneath


By spraying this on it meant that I could clean the surface without the risk of scratches

The engine had been rebuilt and fitted but it clearly needed an overhaul and the metal work needed a damned good polish

Thick oil and burnt on rubber? Deep joy!

Oh dear

Even one of the series sponsors stickers was pretty much knackered!

Part of the way there...rinsed, shampoo'd, rinsed, shampoo'd again, dryed and polished at this stage

The difference was tremendous I was nervous about removing the thick oil film without damaging the notorious thinly applied paint

Back to the engine bay to get some dirt off and protection on

I used a stronger mix of non-caustic cleaner on a cloth for the engine bay paintwork and a washer bottle to rinse this pretty much straight off. I used Meguair's metal polish on all of the brightwork and Autoglym on all of the rubber and plastic
The finished article

Couldn't resist a final before and after



More to follow

[Stuart]

Next on the list was the APT Astra van
I'll go straight into the before and afters (these don't represent the finished thing as we ran out of daylight and we all know I have a crap camera!)

Thick ingrained dirt on every panel, loads of brake dust on the wheels and general hard use from the guys @ APT











This shows the pre-wash, rinse, shampoo, rinse, attention to detail on wheels, engine bay, door shuts, boot, arches and then another rinse. Sods law I'd just finished this lot and then the van was needed for a delivery!! I switched my attention to the two race cars, Gary's and Logan's. The white EVO of Logan's just needed a few tweaks as it's been shuffled in and out of the workshop for a week or so, and it's inevitable that any car will pick up some dirt. I re-cleaned the paintwork, Lexan and glass and that was ready to roll. Gary's EVO took a bit more work (ahem ) Gary had used it on a test/track day and its stood on the MLR stand all weekend for Time Attack last month, so it needed work to the carbon panels, painted panels, Lexan and glass (Yes- that is pretty much all of it!) I used PlastX to polish the carbon and Lexan, Autoglym for the glass and Platinum for the painted panels and the finish was really quite pleasing; I can only hope that the three APT liveried cars show testament to this on Sunday
The Platinum was drying as the APT van returned from work so it was time to get outside hose off the freshly gained mud, towel down, and move it inside for a thorough overhaul of the carpets, seats, glass, boot and engine bay. Basic corrections to a few areas and detailed cleaning of the Vauxhall badges and then that was that sorted!

Another busy day, but a thoroughly enjoyable one all the same

Thanks go to Gary for the opportunity to work on the cars (and the chips)