Triumph TR4A IRS - Detailing Guide Promotion

Another detailing guide promotional post, and another nice looking car. This time a Triumph TR4A IRS.

It was in pretty good condition to be honest, as the last person to clean it was me. But that was a year ago, so there was room for improvement.

So the procedure selected by the customer for this detailing was as follows; (full product list at the bottom)

Hose Rinse (not jet wash, due to the questionable water-tightness)
Wash
Hose Rinse
Dry
Polish
Wax
Metal Polish
Glass Polish
Vacuum
Interior Dash/Plastics
Leather Seat Treatment
Tyre Gel.


Sadly there are no comparison pics this time, the weather was looking a bit unpredictable which left me umming and ahhing as to whether I should actually start work, so I totally forgot.

Nevertheless here are the finished pics, looking rather good if I do say so myself.









The products used for this detail were as follows;

Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo and Conditioner
Microfibre Noodle Mitt x2 (one for wheels one for body)
Meguiars Step 2 Polish
Meguiars Step 3 Carnauba Wax

Meguiars Natural Shine Vinyl and Rubber Protectant
Meguiars Endurance High Gloss Tyre Gel
Autoglym Car Glass Polish
Brasso
Henry Vacuum

Don't forget, if you are impressed with these results then head over to the detailing guide page of this blog.

Alfa Romeo 156 - Detailing Guide Promotion

My girlfriends mum just bought an Alfa Romeo 156, and as a good will gesture I said I'd detail it for her.

Whilst I was doing it I thought it would be an ideal example car to show the results of the methods outlined in the detailing guide of this site.

For anyone who hasn't seen the detailing guide yet, it is a comprehensive guide to detailing your car, going through all of the following steps;

Snow Foaming
Washing
Claying
Polishing
Glass Polishing
Waxing
Cleaning Alloy Wheels
Black Plastic Trim
Exhaust Tips and Chrome
Dressing the Tyres
Valeting the Interior


Anyway, back to the Alfa. Overall the cars paintwork was in great condition for the age, and fairly clean too.

There were a few areas of interest to concentrate on, few key scuffs, light scratches, residue, tar etc. Should be able to fetch most of that off.

The procedure used on the car for this particular detail was what I would call a standard overhaul detail. This included; (For the full product list, scroll right down)

Jet wash
Wash (using two bucket method, microfibre mitt, Meguiars shampoo)
Jet wash rinse
Dry (using an extra large microfibre drying towel)
Polish
Wax
Black plastic treatment
Tyre Shine
Interior Valet

During the detail it became apparent that the car could do with a Clay Barring (slightly rough to the touch, indicating microscopic dirt particles in the paint), but there wasn't enough time and I didn't have my kit with me, so I decided this could be done on another occasion.

On to the photos. Instead of putting the photos of before first, then the after last, I've put it as a comparison due to the paintwork being fairly good. To be honest most people would probably think it's pretty darn clean. Well...we shall soon see about that.

Before (left) and After (right)









That's it for the comparison shots, now just some beauty shots of after the detailing.







The full product list used for this detail is as follows;

Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo and Conditioner
Microfibre Noodle Wash Mitt
Autoglym Super Resin Polish (using up old stock, not encouraged to use this product, see detailing guide)
Meguiars Step 3 Carnauba Wax
Autoglym Car Glass Polish
Meguiars Natural Shine Vinyl and Rubber Protectant
Meguiars Endurance High Gloss Tyre Gel









So if you're impressed with the results achieved here, go ahead and click on this link to go to the detailing guide page.


9 SMD LED Sidelights

About a week ago my old single LED sidelights blew, so it was time to get some more.

Was recommended some SMD LED sidelights, SMD standing for Surface Mount Diodes. So I went on eBay and got some 9 SMD LED sidelights from a seller in Hong Kong for a nats under £4 posted. They arrived within a week too, which was pretty impressive.

Got them fitted, they are far, far brighter than my old LED bulbs. Pretty much identical hue of light produced though, intense white in the middle with a slight blue tinge.

It's quite difficult to get a photo of light showing it exactly how it is, but these photos are fairly close. Overall really impressed.

Comparison with old bulbs



Appearance in daylight



Light pattern from just the sidelights



Slightly underexposed, brighter in real life