Octane guy,

Great makeover by the way... This has always been one of my favorite things to do. Take a great car that has been neglected a bit, but seeing the potential for the beauty give her a great detail. I however have never really figured out how to make a couple of bucks from it. I am always doing it to my cars or families or friends for free. Oh well thats great too.

I am wondering about the hyper dressing that you used under the bonnet? How does this product apply, rinse and perform. When it comes to putting the cherry on top and getting the engine bay sano, I always seem to experiment with a method that I am never quite happy with...

Any direction would be very appreciated. Shoot I only live in Santa Barbara, maybe sometime you could show me. Or I guess I could just buy your DVD. I knew I was forgetting something from the x-mas list

"Honey!... I need that list back just one more time!" She is going to kill me.

 

So, shall I just let the weather thrash Swifty, then make an appointment?

Now I'm paranoid: I've had a large dent for awhile, not much else wrecking my finish other than the large dog jumping on the driver door. I've heard of stories like this: guy picks up his ____ from the paint shop, stops to get something and parks way out at the edge, comes out to find a drunk plowed into it and moved it over a couple of spots. What's with that? Is there some magnetic force between just restored cars and drunks?

Anyway Clo, Wicked Wanda looks great. Looks like graphics are out of the question for garageless owners.

 

Wow! Amazing results! Great job Richard!

Want to come to Birmingham and fix up my poor MINI?

 

I have yet to try Menzerna though several people on Autopia have been telling me to try it for awhile, but I'm really not looking for anything better than what I've got. Maybe one day.

As for the rotary, after doing the test spot, it was evident that the finish needed more than just the PC, so I went at it with the rotary with W8006 polishing pad and M80 which is pretty mild polishing. There is a fine line between restoring a daily driver and restoring a show car. In this case, the objective was to leave as much clearcoat as possible while removing as many visible defects and swirls. It's not a flawless finish, but doing so would compromise the paint too much, I had to consider the fact that this car is driven a lot!

I always follow rotary work with a PC to ensure removal of any trace holograms from the rotary buffing process. M80 is a staple for me. It's not too aggressive or too mild, very flexible, doesn't gum up, can be used with the PC or rotary, and leaves a beautiful ready to wax shine. Btw, the PC was great for removing the wax buildup along the bonnet stripes. You can really bear down on the PC without fear of hurting the paint.

Thanks!! No need to extract them...I just wanted to keep the thread on track--as soon as your exchange with Scott went back and forth a few times about when you should have called the police, I figured that was best on a different thread specifically about your incident.

Well I did this for 2 years before going pro. It's not hard to make some weekend money. If you do good work, word gets around. For instance, yesterday I worked on a new 2007 Corvette Z06 for a shop that saw my Lotus writeup. And they have a Ferrari Modena 360 waiting for me to polish out the swirls next week. They approached me because they had gone through the typical "detailers" who come by, slap on some wax, and leave, leaving a less that desirable finish.

These are buffer swirls and holograms left behind by a "detailer" or possibly from the dealer. Most of the time a PC can remove this, but sometimes if they are really deep a rotary buffer needs to be used.


Meguiar's Professional Hyperdressing is waterbased. You just spray it on, and leave it for more gloss, or wipe it off for a matte finish. It deepens the plastics, and makes then new again. Engine bay detailing on the MINI uses the same tools and brushes for the wheels, you just have to control the water flow and know where you should or shouldn't put water.

Haha neglecting a MINI is like letting your teeth rot before going to the dentist! Severe neglect like leaving bird poo on the paint for days in the sun, can make an etching impossible to remove.

For the dent, call up a mobile PDR guy to come to your house and fix it. Maybe Kenchan will come! LOL

I don't think Graphics are necessarily out of the question for garageless owners. A car cover would be a great first step if you don't have a garage. second is ensuring the vinyl you use is high quality and has a decent outdoor rating.

Richard

 

You know, I'm garageless and I have the chrome pinstriped bonnet and boot stripes (where 90% of the stripe is black but the outside 1/8th inch is chrome). But there is just no NO way I'd go without them. They're like part of Clara's personality now.

Can you give me an idea of when would be the ideal time to replace them, and how exactly you got them off once they got stubborn (just for future reference)?

 

Just keep an eye on the stripe. If you start to see it looking spotty--no longer mirror like--but more dull silver, it's probably time to replace it. On the other hand, I would imagine that removing a single pin stripe would be a lot less painful than removing an entire bonnet stripe.

 

Well the whole thing is backed by the chrome. It's like the stripe WAS entirely chrome and the black was printed or placed down the center somehow.

 

Oh I get it. Still in that case, the majority of the chrome, even if layered by black isn't visible, so even if it deteriorated, it shouldn't be an issue--from a visible standpoint. Vinyl is either printed or layered vinyl--the latter being more durable.

 

If you get him to Bham I've got Mini #2 for him to detail

 

If parking outdoors- Would a car cover help to reduce UV damage to the chrome stripes over time? Perhaps a UV protectant on the stripes now and then?

 

Yep, like I said previously

"I don't think Graphics are necessarily out of the question for garageless owners. A car cover would be a great first step if you don't have a garage. second is ensuring the vinyl you use is high quality and has a decent outdoor rating."

Another consideration is that the vinyl is on black paint. You can't get your paint any hotter in the sun than with black paint. I don't know if that played a factor, but it might have.

 

Haha "OctaneGuy on Tour, Coming Spring 2007"

Sounds like a new movie eh?? If you guys are serious, I think the only way anything like this would be feasible is if you guys actually could round up several cars for me over a two or 3 day period--and had all the bulky items as per a list I would recommend to have on hand like two 5 gallon buckets, Meguiars or Prima car wash soap, etc..

I'd have to charge enough to cover my airfare, car rental, and motel plus a few hundred extra to make some money. Of course, this could be alleviated somewhat by purchasing the products through me--which is something that will happen down the road.

My partner and I have been discussing the possibility of doing road tours next year--I'd be focused on the MINI market of course, though I would be mostly manning our shop while Mike travelled doing the bulk of the shows since that's what he loves to do.

I'd bring the expensive tools[edit: seems I never even finished my thought...]

 

Holy **** batman, that's a hot ****in car now

nice job.

If you ever come to ny, I would pitch you a few hundred bills easy for a job like that and I have hardly any swirls!

 

You know that could be doable with enough planning. But could we be ANY farther apart When you get closer to doing road tours PM me or Yucca & we can start checking around to see if we can get a big enough group together

 

You can sign me up!!!!

 

Dangg... I thought clo would keep wanda it top shape! Im sure she will now though.

 

Maybe we could call it OctaneGuy Takes the States or OTTS

 

We know about pulley partys.

This one is a "polish party" featuring OctaneGuy.

 

Haha !!!! The last time I drove through Alabama was in 2003 when I picked up my first MINI. Before I had my son.

The difference between a Polish Party and a Pulley Party is 30 minutes for a pulley and 10 hours for a MINI,

 

Don't forget the polka band at the Polish party, either.

Richard, you've hinted that you're working on a MINI-specific detailing DVD, any chance some of this would be on it? It's a beautiful job, I checked the calendar thinking it was Easter (not Christmas) because this was a resurrection.

 

A little bit of the back story: Wanda had a rough few months there, for sure. I was traveling and had to leave her in the driveway for 6 weeks, then once I got back, hubby and I tried to get the bonnet stripes off, but it was too difficult. I decided then and there (after thinking about it since late summer) to have Richard detail her. I am so glad I did. Wanda still needs her sunroof graphic removed. Hopefully, that will happen this week or next.

 

Sorry, wasn't trying to make you feel bad, Clo, I apologize if I did. Those things happen, it's just amazing how much better it looks after a good detail. You have to be very pleased.

 

I was wondering when someone would make fun of the double "polish" meaning.

While I had originally planned to make a video on the restore, I couldn't find anyone able to spend the day videoing to my standards.

Anyways, I attempted to document it myself, but after 4 hours of bonnet stripe removal it was too dark and took too much time to try to video myself as I worked.

In the end, this wasn't the right car for a general purpose restoration video. The only tools that could have restored this were professional level, and that wouldn't have been useful to most NAMers.

Richard

 

Ok, that makes sense when you explain it. I'm looking for the best use of the PC, not burning through my paint with the rotary. But I definitely AM interested in a DVD illustrating how to handle all the MINI's nooks and crannies. Thanks for the reply Richard.

 

No problem, TooTall. You aren't the only one who has made such a post regarding the "before" condition. I am more than pleased about Richard's work. He did a superb job.