Deep detail results

A2 D2

Member
Hi all,

My wife's 2002 A2 "Lyle", has never really been treated to the kind of love that I like to give my cars, since we purchased it a couple of years ago.

However. I researched and stocked up on a number of Bilt Hamber (BH) products recently, in addition to my kit of mainly Halfords sourced kit - Meguairs, Auto Finesse, Auto Glym etc.

To begin with, I used a snow foam with Simoniz wash (cheap in 5L format from Costco) and then sprayed a diluted degreaser from BH - Surfex HD. There was so much accumulated grime surrounding the side panel door sills, that is took some doing to shift it with a hogs hair brush.

I then used the astounding BH Auto Wheel on the alloys which reacts and reddens to dissolvable contaminants. It simply washes off with a power hose. though I did encourage it with a hogs hair brush, for thoroughness.

I then washed the car using a two (large) bucket method (grit guards and all, like a pro!) using the auto finesse shampoo, which has an excellent lather.

Following this, I applied BH Korrosol to the body. This is a decontaminant which removes dissolvable particles lodged in the flames/degreased/handwashed bodywork! To my amazement on the silver paint, it started to light up with purple all over. This was sprays off ready for the next stage, which was claying.

For this, I used the regular BH clay but as it is designed to operate well in higher temperatures than the low teens in which i was cleaning, it was really hard work. A jar with warm water was at hand in order to keep swapping between pieces as they hardened. Nevertheless, the decontaminant Korrosol has really worked and there wasn't a great deal on remaining debris, considering that this had probably never been done since 2002.

The next step was to apply BH cleanse polish. This not only glazes fine scratches, but also adheres to the bodywork as a preparation stage for a wax. The car was starting to look good at this stage.

Finally, I applied the BH double speed wax. This is a combination of carnuaba and synthetic wax which they promise is durable and effective. They advise using sparingly, which is good advise as a bit to much makes for a lot of elbow grease to shift... however, the light colour on a silver car makes it difficult to determine whether it has been applied sparingly, or scarcely!

The final step was to use detailing buds to apply undiluted Surfex HD to the books and crannies of the car such as the Audi decals and also, the four corners of the roof where it had never seen any cleaning since it left the factory, for sure. It worked like a charm. In hindsight, this stage would've followed the original Surfex application before the hand wash, so that it didn't compromised the performance of the double speed wax.

After the double speed was removed and also applied to the alloy exteriors (after ten and a half hours), I could admire my work. The reflection is deep and the bodywork clearly clean and benefitting from a complete clean. I am now hoping that this lasts until October, with the occasional maintenance wash.

I have to say that the Bilt Hamber products are excellent.
 

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Do you have images of all of the stages? For the uninitiated there are a lot of these steps that are described in other peoples' threads that are meaningless without visual cues showing the before and after effect of a given process, and it is interesting when someone clearly knows what they are talking about to have a bit more understanding of what it all means. Best, Robin.
 
Hi Robin,

Unfortunately, I had my concentration turned to the process. Additionally, since the camera is located on my phone, I didn't want to be disturbed all day, so left it inside.

I do, however, have images of my filthy Mercedes alloys, showing the effects of BH Auto Wheel. This process involved no physical contact, just spray and splash (after a five minute soak).

Additionally, I have an image of the car which was handwashed just the previous week, without a clay bar or polish... just a coating of auto glym extra gloss protection. The lack of lustre shows how much impact are made by the final three stages that I undertook -clay bar, cleanse polish and wax.

I can point members to a number of youtube videos covering the Bilt Hamber products, one of particular interest to me and surprisingly watchable for a long video was by Forensic Detailing


I used a combination of this and also the product information on the Bilt Hamber website to a quite marvellous effect.
 

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£200+ for a detail by a specialist seems very good value, considering the considerable investment in time and also products.
 
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