When Mrs Teflon got a new Hyundai i20 a year or so back, we kept hold of her old '04 plate Mini Cooper. It was worth so little we decided to use it as for all those little tasks that you don't want to risk your pride and joy with. You know, trips to the dump, supermarket visits etc. Anyhow, last year, the little Mini developed the dreaded laquer peel, a big patch on the bonnet. It looked terrible, and made me care even less about the car than I did before
.
The result is that the poor car hadn't been cleaned since around September last year
. She was a real mess. I had already decided to take her to a bodyshop to have the bonnet (and a few other bits) sorted, but personal pride wouldn't let me take her in her current state, so today I decided to giver her a thorough clean.
Normally, this would involve a pre-rinse, snowfoam, rinse, two bucket wash, rinse,clay bar, etc, etc, however I really couldn't be bothered with all that, so here's what happened:
Filled a bucket (yup, just the one
) with some warm water. Added a squirt of Fairy liquid (
) and threw in a sponge (
). Starting with the roof, I wiped it over with the soapy sponge, then wiped clean with an old damp microfibre cloth. A few squirts of ONR then a quick runover with an old clay bar that frankly should have been binned long ago. This was followed up with a session with the dual action polisher and some Megs compound, before being wiped down then topped off with a coat of Colinite 476s. Repeated this frankly abusive process for each of the panels in turn and was quite taken aback at how well it all turned out.
I've still got all the plastic trim, wheels and arches, door shuts, and interior to do, which should get tackled tomorrow, but given what a wreck she looked, I can't believe how well she's turned out after only a few hours effort in the afternoon. Just goes to show, car paint is perhaps more resilient than we realise.
Still wouldn't recommend this approach though - if it's you pride and joy, it needs to be done properly.
A few photos - please ignore the plastic trim and the wheels
.
And the dodgy bonnet
:
Really wish I'd taken some "before" photos, but I really didn't expect such a massive improvement
.
Cliff