
- > Show & Shine
- > August '11 Winner
August '11 Winner
Congratulations to Alistair Martin for winning our August show and shine. After years of only doing the basics, Alistair decided to bite the bullet and tackle his newly acquired Jaguar with some new products and techniques, including claying and a foray into machine polishing. The car in question, a four year old XK-R, responded really well to the various treatments and now looks as good as new again. This just goes to show that buying a used car makes a lot of sense when you consider what proper detailing can do!
"My Jaguar was nearly four years old when I got it but, as it had only done 15,000 miles, it was in pretty good order. The dealer had applied GardX to the paint but it hadn't been properly prepared and so it didn't get rid of the fine scratches or swirls, and there were a couple of areas needing slightly more correction (one in particular close to the near side bonnet vent).
I started by pre-wash foaming with Meguiar's Hyper Wash and a PA Foam Lance attached to my pressure washer. After 10 minutes this was rinsed off before hand washing the car with more Hyper Wash and a Meguiar's Lambswool Wash Mitt. The suds were then washed off with the pressure washer and the car was dried with a Poorboy's Waffle Weave Towel.
Next I removed all of the tar spots with Autoglym Intense Tar Remover, and then applied Wolf's Chemicals Decon Gel to the whole car, wiping it on with a small terry facecloth. After twenty minutes this was washed off with the pressure washer. The car was left for a few minutes to drip dry a bit before being clayed to remove any last traces of surface contamination using a Meguiar's Smooth Surface Clay Bar and Meguiar's Quik Detailer for lubrication. I worked on one panel at a time from the top down, and buffed each panel with a Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfibre.
As the paint was in generally good condition, I used a Lake Country Hydro-Tech Finishing Pad (Crimson) and Menzerna Super Finish (85RE) in conjunction with my Kestrel DAS 6 Power Plus Dual Action Machine Polisher to remove all the fine scratches. This did the job well apart from two small areas with slightly deeper scratches. However, changing to a Lake Country Hydro-Tech Polishing Pad (Tangerine) and Menzerna Power Finish (203S) got rid of these with ease. I cleaned off all the polish residue with a Poorboy's Deluxe Mega Towel.
The next stage for the paintwork was to apply Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection with a Blackfire Ultimate Applicator Pad. This was allowed to cure for ten minutes before buffing with another Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfibre. The final stage was the application of Blackfire Midnight Sun Paste Wax. I used another Blackfire Ultimate Applicator Pad to apply this one panel at a time so that I could buff it off with a Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfibre before it had fully dried. The finish before applying the wax was very good, but it now seemed to have more depth and more metallic effect in the paint.
The alloy wheels were in good condition but the insides of the rims looked a bit neglected. I removed the wheels to get better access and started with a liberal coating of Wolf's Chemicals Decon Gel and left it for twenty minutes. This was removed with the pressure washer and did a great job, but was maybe taken off too quickly as there were still marks of engrained dirt on the insides. A quick clean with Meguiar's Wheel Brightener and an Autoglym Hi-Tech Wheel Brush, and another pressure wash, soon removed these stains.
There were still quite a few tar spots on both inside and outside surfaces of the rims, so these were removed with the Autoglym Intense Tar Remover. The last stage was to apply Wolf's Chemicals Nano Rim Sealant with a Meguiar's Microfibre Applicator Pad. This was left to cure for fifteen minutes before buffing off with a Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfibre and repeating with a second coat. The car was then left garaged overnight to give the sealant at least 12 hours to cure whilst being protected from any water contact.
The next day, the tyres were dressed with Autoglym Instant Tyre Dressing. Rather than spray this on to the tyre as per instructions, which could be quite messy, I sprayed it on to an old yellow sponge which I had cut to the depth of the tyre, and then wiped it on. The final job on the outside was to tackle the exhaust tips, which had been neglected and had quite a bit of carbon build up. Autosol Metal Polish took care of that. The inside of the car was then given a quick vacuum and dust with a Meguiar's Supreme Shine Microfibre.
This was the first time I had ever used a clay bar, machine polisher, decontamination gel and wheel sealant, and I'm very pleased with the results. I must also add that the advice on the Polished Bliss website was a huge help in guiding this novice detailer!"
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |





















