VW Corrado Detail - These Are Retro Now, Right?

[scratcher]

I had the pleasure of detailing this Corrado today. I've always been a big fan of these cars.

It came in with some patches on the roof and bonnet that stood out as being dull.



The car on arrival. It was in pretty good shape, nothing too serious going on.



















The usual build up in the tight spots.









Onto cleaning.

The car was pre-soaked using Avalanche. While that was dwelling I attended to all the tight gaps with Envy brushes and Verso.

Then onto the Wheels using Imperial and Wolf's Decon Gel.







The car was washed using the 2 bucket method with Chemical Guy's Citrus Wash & Gloss and a CarPro mitt.



Tar spots were treated with Tardis.







Gone!







The car was then clayed using a Art De Shine clay cloth, re washed and then dried using compressed air and an AF towel.



Inside the damage was assessed and paint depth measurements taken.























The car had been resprayed in the past and there were a few different paint types so each panel was polished starting from scratch.

The marks on the roof and bonnet would not polish out so a gentle wet sand took the edge off so that I could reveal a decent, even finish across the panels.



Polishing was done using...

Rotary, large throw DA, Meg's 105, Scholl S17+, Sonax 4/6, Meg's 205, Menzerna Power Finish. Meg's Microfiber pads, Hexlogic Orange, green and white, SP Orange and green. So lots of different combos on this



The results were coming through.

Those bird bomb marks on the roof...







A poor 50/50 on the passenger side door.








The paint was coming out nice and clear.



Before







After







Some of the wet sanding on the bonnet. It took a few sets on each part to fully remove all of the marks, but here's the result from one set.



Sanded,







Polishing







Done. 2 more sets were completed to fully remove the marks.







The car was refined all over using Sonax 4/6 and Meg's 205 before 2 layers of AF Tough Coat.







I then applied 2 layers of Wolfgang Fuzion.







The windows were polished with G|techniq C4

Exhaust polished with #0000 wire wool and Meg's NXT

Tyres dressed with Meg's Endurance

Trims with AF Revive

Door shuts were wiped down with Meg's D114



The finished shots.

































Thanks for reading. Any comments or questions, fire away

[retroade]

Nice work, that's a fair few hours right there.

Quick question, what grit grade did you use on the wet sand? Is it just a very light sand to key the surface for the polish?

And yes, Corrados are most definitely retro in my book.

[scratcher]

Thanks very much

I went in with 2000, then 2500 grade papers.
A heavy polishing set didn't remove the damaged layer so I sanded past it and then polished it back up to remove the sanding marks. A total of 9 microns of clear coat was removed on the wet sanded sections.

[Anglia68]

What a great looking Corrado and top quality detailing.

[taurus]

Lovely work - it takes great patience and commitment to detail to achieve that kind of result.

There is a guy who lives opposite who has had two of these, fantastic cars. Sadly his first one came to an end when the wiring fell to bits. He didn't have the time to spend replacing it all. His second on is due to come to me in a few weeks to clean and rust proof the underside. I suspect the end result won't be as pretty as your photos.

[scratcher]

Thanks a lot guys

taurus , send him this way when you're done, I'll make it look good all round

[Ian]

I love these, and have always had a hankering for one, when I had my Mk2 Scirocco two friends had Corrado Storms, one in blue and one in green.
They look so much better once they have been lowered a bit.
There is a garage close to where I live that has lots of 80's and 90's cars in, I keep spotting the Nugget Yellow Corrado, and have to drive past or incur the wrath of my Mrs

[MK2VR6]

Purely out of interest, what sort of dollar is a detail like that? I'm toying with the idea of having the fiancées car done and then one of those hard shell finishes which seals the paint and protects it for years if looked after right. Not sure on the name of the product.
Corrado looks fantastic btw!

[andyw]

Nice job on the Corrado.

Can't beat '90s coupes - cheaper to buy and cooler than a hot hatch.

[scratcher]

Thank you

mk2vr6 I'll drop you a PM with some prices.
The coatings I use are long term Quartz products. They're very very good. Super hydrophobic, dirt will barely stick to the surface and they add a hard layer which prevents scratches really well.

[penski]

A week of my commuting would still make it look like a horrorshow

Good results as usual! Been tempted to treat my dad to having his Sprint properly cared for...

*n

[fr€$h&m1nt¥]

Wow. Fantastic work. Looks as good as new.

Quick slightly unrelated question I'd you don't mind..
On the painted plastic bumpers on my car there are a couple of stress fractures in the paint / lacquer - just like spider web lines from an edge - resulting I guess from an impact that has cracked the paint but not the plastic itself.

Any way question is could this kind of damage be wet sanded out as you did above?

Cheers

[scratcher]

Mar 31, 2015 2:00:16 GMT penski said:

A week of my commuting would still make it look like a horrorshow

Good results as usual! Been tempted to treat my dad to having his Sprint properly cared for...

*n

Thank you
Every car deserves to be treated once in a while

Mar 31, 2015 2:46:26 GMT fr€$h&m1nt¥ said:

Wow. Fantastic work. Looks as good as new.

Quick slightly unrelated question I'd you don't mind..
On the painted plastic bumpers on my car there are a couple of stress fractures in the paint / lacquer - just like spider web lines from an edge - resulting I guess from an impact that has cracked the paint but not the plastic itself.

Any way question is could this kind of damage be wet sanded out as you did above?

Cheers

Cheers
Unfortunately the most that could be done is to reduce the appearance of the stress cracks by rounding the sharp edge off. The only way to actually fix it would be a respray

[fr€$h&m1nt¥]

Mar 31, 2015 5:28:44 GMT scratcher said:

Cheers
Unfortunately the most that could be done is to reduce the appearance of the stress cracks by rounding the sharp edge off. The only way to actually fix it would be a respray

Thanks for that, as I feared, back to the plan to find suitable stickers to cover the problem areas.

[HoTWire]

I spent most of Saturday last week cleaning my daily Volvo C30... can really appreciate how much work is in a good cleaning job now!!

Must get the Datsun done at some point, although the rusty bits need sorting first I guess....

[stevecrx]

Oof - that looks fantastic!

Mar 30, 2015 15:08:06 GMT scratcher said:

Thank you

mk2vr6 I'll drop you a PM with some prices.
The coatings I use are long term Quartz products. They're very very good. Super hydrophobic, dirt will barely stick to the surface and they add a hard layer which prevents scratches really well.

Can you PM me too please? Interested in having it done on my Boxster.

[scratcher]

Mar 31, 2015 11:06:09 GMT HoTWire said:

I spent most of Saturday last week cleaning my daily Volvo C30... can really appreciate how much work is in a good cleaning job now!!

Must get the Datsun done at some point, although the rusty bits need sorting first I guess....

Yeah, a lot of time goes into each car, even for a basic protection package. It's always worth it though

Mar 31, 2015 11:35:04 GMT stevecrx said:

Oof - that looks fantastic!

Mar 30, 2015 15:08:06 GMT scratcher said:

Thank you

mk2vr6 I'll drop you a PM with some prices.
The coatings I use are long term Quartz products. They're very very good. Super hydrophobic, dirt will barely stick to the surface and they add a hard layer which prevents scratches really well.

Can you PM me too please? Interested in having it done on my Boxster.

Thanks Steve. I'll send you a PM over.

[grifterkid]

That looks awesome...!

A Corrado most certainly is retro so thanks a million for sharing that one with us on here...

A car can look absolutely amazing after a good detailing and this one is no exception!

Beautiful...

[DarrenW]

Nice work, lovely car!

I am waiting for the right day to make a start on my E36, I keep it clean but a proper go at it should see it gleaming for the summer. I'll be googling some of the products mentioned.

[scratcher]

Thanks grifterkid  It was a fun, but challenging car.

DarrenW Cheers buddy!
E36's are lovely cars. Prices are going crazy these days.
Let me know if you'd like any advice on products, methods and such.