Bloody Petrol Station Jet Washes!

[pete1986 2]

I bought a 309 GTi at the weekend, and yesterday i wanted to give it a clean. But feeling lazy at the time, i simply couldn't be arsed to do it by hand so i took it to a jet wash at a shell garage near me. Seeing as i had only just bought the car, i want to get it looking shiny so went for the silver option (ooh err!) which includes a wax. The only advantage of the gold option is that it has a pre-wash.

 

15 minutes later, she was looking good and gleaming beneath the forecourt lights. I was pretty chuffed! It wasnt until the next day at work that i noticed the paintwork had a funny texture to it, sort of like the surface of an orange but not so pronounced. I know it was not like this before using the jet wash. I can only presume that it was from the wax, as i have used the same jet wash before (without the wax) on my 205 before without anything like this.

 

I tried taking a photo to fully show my problem but my camera couldn't really pick up the subtle character of the paintwork.

 

So my question is, what can i do to get the paint flat again? T-cut it back and polish? (a proper polish!), or maybe it will wear off as i doubt the jet wash uses a good quality wax?

 

I guess this will teach me for being lazy!

[KRISKARRERA 2 1 Cars]

YOU NEED SUPER BAZ AND HIS MOP!

 

Sounds more like you used one of those ghastly foam head things that's got millions of particles of grit from the last 20000 cars that were washed there. Surely the shampoo or wax couldn't cause what you described. Then again maybe it could if they filled it with Fairy liquid!

 

Good place for advice is detailing world: http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/index.php

 

Do a search fot T-cut on there, you'll read how crap it is.

Edited October 9, 2008 by KRISKARRERA

[NeilGTi85 5]

I'm really good at detailing, if you ever want me to go over your car send me a pm. It'll take all day though to do the full monty!

 

Neil

[Tesstuff 222]

What is your charge for such a service mate ? I might tie it in with coming to your area for some parts if possible.

[NeilGTi85 5]

Pm'd

[DaveW 6]

Get Baz and his magic mop out

[platty 1]

Ive used those garage jetwashes for years and never had a problem. The wax is really mild, and barely gets a decent shine. Sounds more like orange peel from a resray that the dirt was hiding. If the car was dull before due to a lack of polish/dirt, cleaning it off, and making it shine will highlight any bodywork problems.

As above, mop and cutting compound. Or a body shop could wet flat the paint with really high wet and dry.

[pete1986 2]

The paintwork is pretty mint bar a couple of scratches, so i suppose it has been resprayed at some point, just not very well.

 

When u say mop, do you mean like a buffer?

 

Suppose i could give that a go. Never done it before but would be a good thing to learn. I'm going to be selling it on in a couple of months, when the 205 is back on the road, so i dont really want to be spending a great deal on it. But i would still like to get it looking good and everything working on it for when it's sold.

 

Anyone got any tips and pointers for doing this? And how would i go about doing fiddley areas such as the pillars and spoiler, or should i just concentrate on the larger, more noticable areas?

 

Cheers

Pete

[platty 1]

Yes I do mean a buffer, however If you haven't done it before be very careful. You need a buffer with progressive speed, as going too fast on start up will just fling off all of the compound and water. Also be extra careful on any raised edges as the compound will eat through the paint fairly quickly.

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

i live about 10 miles from polished bliss. they feature heavily on detailing world and can produce stunning results even on brand new cars that looked great to begin with.

 

you can pay up to £1000 for a full on detailing .

[platty 1]

Lots of new cars have paintwork done before they have their first sale due to un-noticed blemishes, or delivery damage, so I can well believe a bit of spit and polish can bring up new cars better. But a grand on detailing is

 

Oh, just notice the Aventura in your sig, I had a brand spanker last year, which funnily enough needed paintwork straight from the dealer!

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

Oh, just notice the Aventura in your sig, I had a brand spanker last year, which funnily enough needed paintwork straight from the dealer!

 

i bought mine 1 year old and needed the rear o/s 1/4 painting after it got serviced and valated . since then the 5 yo son has drawn me a lovely picture on the complete o/s using a sharp stone which resulted in the whole side being resprayed. after that i hut a traffic cone while following a car at night (he just brushed it , i had no time to react and was slightly closer to the verge)and it needed the n/s rear arch repainting. last month the wife thought she'd make it round the pillars on the drive entrance and made a nice job of the front bumper. I'm pretty sure there will be more.

[platty 1]

oh dear, youv'e been lucky then?

 

If it makes you feel better, I spoke to the painter Nissan was using to redo mine, he said the paint is incredibly thin as Nissan was trying to reduce weight to help the 2.5's performance. Not sure how true that was, but I did scratch the bonnet with a paper flyer!!

[eno 0]

I ran over the pipe that connects the machine to the lance at a local petrol station in one of my old 205's. The pipe got caught around my wheel, making the lance wip out and smack my rear quarter panel, leaving a sizeable dent.

 

attached pic..

 

Edited October 15, 2008 by eno

[Guest jij205]

could the panel u seen the "orange peel" on been resprayed in the past? caus s*it paint jobs end up looking like orange peel.