Full Detail: Alfa Romeo 147

The full monty was given to this car. Minor orange peel reduction and coating, headlight restoration, interior detailing, windscreen polishing and coating, engine bay detailing, rim polishing and coating.

The car was pretty dirty upon arrival

First job at hand is restoring the headlights.
Process:

Machine sand with 400 grit, 600 grit, 800 grit and 1000 grit.
Machine polish with;
Osren P50/Lake Country White Wool
Meguiar’s #105/Lake Country White Wool
Meguiar’s #105/Lake Country Orange Cutting Foam
Meguiar’s #205/Lake Country White Polishing Foam
Meguiar’s PlastX/Meguiar’s Black Finish Foam
GTechniq EXO

Glasswork polished with Meguiar’s #105 Ultra-Cut Compound/Lake Country Orange Cutting Foam/FLEX 3401 DA.
Corners hand polished with the same combo.

Before polishing, water is still being repelled by leftover coating and oils.

After polishing, water sticks to the glass, indicating a clean surface.

Before,

After,

Next was the engine bay. Scrubbed a small area at a time with Osren Degreaser FX. Blow dried and dressed with Meguiar’s Hyperdressing.

Process for the interior:
Leather cleaned with Meguiar’s All Purpose Cleaner (diluted 10:1). Conditioned with Mother’s Leather Conditioner.
Coil mats scrubbed and pressure rinsed.
Carpets steam cleaned.
Pedals scrubbed and steamed.
Glass cleaned with Meguiar’s Detailer Line Glass Cleaner Concentrate.

Dirty rinse bucket!

With the headlights, engine, glasswork and interior out of the way, let’s get on to the main event.

Wheel’s cleaned with Osren Degreaser FX, followed by Dodo Juice Ferrous Dueller. The 4 wheels took me about 2 hours to clean. Still couldn’t get all the stains out, especially the wheel barrel.

Body is washed with Osren Car Auto Shampoo, clayed with Perma Glass No.2 Clay. Residual tar removed with Osren Tar Spots Remover.

Upon inspection, there were areas that had irreparable damage.

A few panels had been resprayed and suffered from severe orange peel, which robbed it of its gloss and reflection. Some minor orange peel reduction were done with Scholl Concepts S3 Gold and Osren Velvet pad.

No wax or coating in the world can do this, only leveling can.

Certain deep scratches could still be removed.

After compounding and polishing, the paint is finished down with Scholl Concepts S17+/Lake Country White Polishing Foam and FLEX 3401 DA.

I then remove the masking and gave the car a wash with shampoo to remove any polishing oils. This will ensure that GTechniq EXO coating will bond properly to the paint.

Although the rims were much cleaner, the surface still looked a little hazy. This could be due to my strong chemical washing. So I glossed them back up with Scholl Concepts S17+/Mother’s Powercone/Bosch Cordless Drill. Finally coated with GTechniq EXO.

Two coats of GTechniq EXO is applied for better durability.

…and done! Older cars are definitely more fun to work with, the turnaround that is achieved is what makes a detailer addicted to detailing. The next write-up will be on a dark blue Porsche 996 Carrera as seen in the background below.

As always, all comments are most welcomed. Happy Lunar New Year and ‘Kung Hei Fatt Choy’!