Skoda Octavia vRS.

Today’s detail – Darren’s Skoda Octavia vRS.

Darren made a 2 hour drive to be with me for 9.00 this morning. The vRS suffering from swirls and random scratches that detracted from quality looks of his car.

The car arrived looking like this –

We pre soaked the vRS with a coat of Snow Foam from the Suds Blaster, then treated the wheels and arches with Meguiar’s All Purpose Cleaner also by Suds Blaster. After rinsing the Snow Foam, and most of the road grime from Darren’s long journey off the vRS, we hand washed with Meguiar’s Shampoo Plus. Using a two bucket method and Eurow wash mitts, starting from the top down, and with Darren rinsing, the vRS was soon clean enough to inspect. The wash mitt rinse bucket looked a bit grotty though –

Dried the vRS off with Meguiar’s Water Magnets, with a spritzing of Meguiar’s Last Touch QD spray as lubricant, the swirls becoming more visible.

We took some paint thickness readings, using an Elcometer 456 c/w ferrous/ non ferrous probe. The thickness of paint on the vRS ranging from 100 to 130+ microns across each panel. This identified that the vRS was a good example of a genuine car. We treated all trim with Meguiar’s #38 tyre and trim gel, applying it thickly and allowing it to sit for te duration of the detail. After doing the normal ‘least aggressive product first’ testing, we settled on Poorboys SSR2.5 by PC using a Sonus SFX pad. The whole car was polished, 1 section at a time using this combo. This left a nice swirl free finish, in 1 hit, but did leave behind most of the varying depth random scratches. Swapped over to the 4” SFX spot pads, and using Poorboys SSR 2.5 and yellow SFX spot pads, each of the scratches was dealt with. The paint thickness was measured for each scratch, before, during and after, to ensure all defects were removed within safe tolerances. Although now looking nice, there was some visible marring left over from the SSR and yellow SFX cutting pads combo, so out with the Poorboys SSR1 and SFX white polishing pad. The vRS now taking on a much deeper darker look, with the flake more visible.

Glazed using Meguiar’s #3 Machine Glaze, by PC with a Black Lake County finishing pad. Wiped down then a coat of Meguiar’s #21 Synthetic Sealant was applied, also by LC black pad (not the same one as used with the #3) Wiped then waxed with Poorboys Natty’s Blue. Wiped down then spit shined with Pinnacle Souveran, using Meguiar’s Last Touch as spritz. Tyres and arches dressed with Meguiar’s Hyper Dressing, cut 4:1 Glass cleaned with Meguiar’s Glass Cleaner Concentrate.

The afters-

The flake popping –

Rolled the vRS outside into a late afternoon snowstorm? These photo’s not doing the quality of detail or quality of Darren’s vRS justice.

This was one car that deserved a high ‘n bright midday sun. Next time perhaps?