Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

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Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by lawrence »

I had been looking forward to this detail ever since it was booked in the better part of 6 months ago, not only because the car is still wearing it's original 30 year old single stage paint, but also because I simply love this little car.

How can any dubber not?

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The car belongs to club member slownick. Here is the rides thread http://www.vwclub.co.za/forum/viewtopic ... 1&t=164475

So.... firstly, I must give credit to Mike Phillips (ex Meguiars, currently at Autogeek) who compiled the most comprehensive guide on dealing with single stage paint, that matters to you. , without which too many a caveman would hack up this delicate paint, by applying modern approaches on something older than some of them. It was an invaluable source of information. Thank you. Here is the link to the thread should anyone want to read it http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask ... aints.html. It focusses on single stage metallic paint but the principles are the same.

Single stage paint is effectively the base color (red in this case) with no clear coat on top if it. This is how older cars were painted, and in fact how some still are. The problem with these paints is that they are prone to oxidation (where the sun's UV rays break down the pigment in the paint) fading the color and turning it a chalky white kind of color. Red fades to orange to pink to white for example - by the way, red is the color most prone to oxidation because red is at the opposite end of the light spectrum to Violet and thus 'absorbs' all Ultra Violet Rays' energy from the sun.

Manufacturers eventually changed to the modern base/clear system to mitigate oxidation by introducing the harder clear coat on top of the base coat. The downside is that these paints are more 'scratch sensitive' and their 'issue' is thus swirl marks (very fine scratches) which make the paint look dull through the refraction of light. Single stage paint still gets swirls inflicted (as you will see later), but usually the oxidation is the first thing you will notice making the paint look dull.

Single stage paint is also a lot more porous than moder base/clear coats (Polony/Strat can tell you just how much rater a modern car's paint can absorb) and so it is able to suck up any oils you feed it via capillary action, either through a wax or something like Meguiars #7 and this is where the real trick comes in when dealing with these old paints.

By first gorging the paint with oils you 're-hydrate' it and this means that you get to polish paint which is less 'powdery' and so you land up removing LESS paint, reducing the chance of having to re-spray the car which, IMO on an old beauty like this, would be sacrilege - I know the owner feels the same way. Some caveman (or many a caveman?) has unfortunately burnt through 2 spots on the bonnet, presumably by simply climbing in with the polisher on 'delicate/brittle/dry/powdery' paint, and obviously showing no regard for the raised edges.

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So this wasn't to be the normal type of detail for me and so the car was detailed over 2 full weekends and during the week after work in between them. It was a lot more work than I expected :lol: but a whole lot of fun.

Right.... let's talk about washing an old car like this....

Well.... DON'T...

Not the normal way anyway..... you see 2 bucket washes, HP rinses and flooding the car will on drive water into place where it will sit and eventually turn to rust.... so instead a 'rinse-less' wash is the way to go. Think of it liking wiping the car clean instead of washing it. BUT, you use the correct products and process. You can't just grab any old rag and a bucket of water.

Now the first thing to understand is the dirtier the car, the more likely this method will inflict swirls, so you will need to perform this 'wash' more often, which really shouldn't be a problem because it is so quick to do. I took me around 20 minutes to do the car including the wheels, which weren't really dirty to start with.

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But did need a good tire cleaning

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So how do you do it....

You get a bucket, ideally with a seal-able lid. You mix up a solution of your rinse-less wash of choice - in this case it was Optimum No Rinse. The dilution ratio is 1 ounce of No Rinse Wash & Shine to 2 gallons of water, or for us, 30ml to 7.5l

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Then you put some MF Towels in - I used 14 for this car - put the lid on (so no dirt gets in) and let them soak overnight [this only takes a few minutes to do]

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Then when you are ready to wash the car, simply grab one of the towels out your bucket, give it a little squeeze to get the bulk of the water out and fold it half then fold it again. Moving from the top of the car down work your way around the car, changing out to a new towel after you have dirtied each clean side of the towel (by folding in half and then in half again you effectively get 8 clean sides to the towel). Only wipe one short stroke with each clean side of the towel so you don't re-grind dirt back into the paint.

This is how much solution I used to clean the car.

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You can also spray some pre-mixed solution onto the car via a spray bottle to further 'lubricate' the surface, should you want to.

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But let's back up a little and see what the general condition of the car was

Some battle scars

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A little bit of dirt

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Wax in the cracks

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And some faded bumpers that had 'splotches' of what may have been a silicone dressing

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So after giving the outside a rinse-less wash it was time to start cleaning up the interior, which for the most part is really clean.

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But upon closer inspection we find

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And looking even closer we see this horrendous shiny 'dressing' (I started cleaning it off on the right)

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It was everywhere...

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So with the inside and outside of the car now cleaned, it was time to start working in more earnest on the paint. I obviously did not use an iron remover (you need to rinse is extremely well and I did not want to introduce water to the car) or a tar remover (sticker kit would not have liked it, plus you should rinse off, again not something I wanted to do). So the only decontamination process was claying.

Now you can see the swirls under some focussed lighting

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And some deep RIDS

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Once this was completed, it was time to start gorging the paint with oils....

The weapon of choice.

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So we know that applying #7 will feed oils into the paint via capillary action, but by changing the way in which it is applied, we can also remove part of the dead/oxidised layer of paint. If you use a terry towel which has a loop designed pile, these little loops will scrape the paint, removing it while you work #7 in. A MF Towel due to its design (more of a tuft of individual fibres) will be less aggressive, and given how little oxidation the car presented on arrival, I chose not to use the terry towel method but instead used short nap MF Towels)

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Worked in with some passion

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And this is the result

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This coat of #7 was applied on Saturday afternoon and left to soak in until Sunday lunchtime whereafter it was wiped off and a second coat applied. This was repeated on Monday and Tuesday too and all in all I used about 2 bottles and a lot of energy :lol: but you could literally see the deepness of the red starting to return to the paint.

In the meantime I had completely cleaned all the plastic trim working a relatively stiff bristled brush to work the cleaner in, which helped to remove some of the dead/oxidised plastic. All in all the dried out bumpers soaked in 10 applications of dressing over the course of the week.

After the 2 applications

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Then on Thursday night, after wiping off the final application of #7 it was time to start the laborious task of taping up, and on these cars, there is a lot of taping to be done.

Excuse the cruddy cell phone pics

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Then on Friday night I performed some test spots, dialled in my process and started polishing, which finished late Saturday afternoon. The first coat of wax was laid down and a second coat applied on Sunday morning.

The rest of Sunday was spent polishing the exhaust, cleaning the interior glass, cleaning and treating the exterior glass, polishing and sealing the door and boot shuts, vacuuming the interior and cleaning and treating all the rubbers and dressing the interior plastics.

This was the end result.

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List of products used

Mothers FX Wheel Cleaner and a Mothers Tire Brush
Autofinesse Gloss Tire Dressing
Shield Heavy Duty Clay
ONR at Clay lube dilution
Menerna Powerlock
Autofinesse Tripple
ONR at rinse-less solution
Waffle weave drying towels
MF Towels
Foam Applicator pads
Menzerna PF2500
Menzerna SF4000
Lake Country 4" white pads
Lake Country 4" grey pads
Lake Country 5" tangerine pads
Lake Country 5" crimson pads
Chemical Guys Pete's 53
Glossworx Glass Cleaner
Insta Finish Bead Off
Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner
Optimum Optibond Tire Gel
Autofinesse Spritz
Meguiars NXT Metal Polish

Total time spent
52 hours

Thanks for looking and as always and questions or comments are welcome :hi:
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by amstel18 »

Lawrence! You sir are a F U C K I N G L E G E N D!!!

That came out beautiful. The regular coke in the street would say the car was resprayed .

Awesome job as usual

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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by Irfaan »

You need to come to JHb for a month with all your kit and take bookings for our cars dammit!
Yip I still got my 1.4 Citi
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by THANAS »

Absolutely stunning man, I love the personalised, carefully thought out approach to each car. Your knowledge is invaluable to the forum, really. Very very well done.
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by N3mo »

Nicely done

This is one insanely hot mk1.
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by lawrence »

amstel18 wrote:Lawrence! You sir are a F U C K I N G L E G E N D!!!

That came out beautiful. The regular coke in the street would say the car was resprayed .

Awesome job as usual

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Thanks buddy
Irfaan wrote:You need to come to JHb for a month with all your kit and take bookings for our cars dammit!
Thanks bud, but where will I stay? :lol:
CCBB wrote:Absolutely stunning man, I love the personalised, carefully thought out approach to each car. Your knowledge is invaluable to the forum, really. Very very well done.
Thanks. Yeah I think this car demonstrates quite well the principal that no 2 cars are the same- obviously this was very different to the 'norm' [single stage vs base/clear] but even on 2 identical cars, the approach may not necessarily be the same as a) the paint will be in different conditions and b) the owners may have different expectations.

It is one of the things I love about detailing - nothing is the same and there are always fresh challenges.... keeps us ballies on our toes :lol:
N3mo wrote:Nicely done

This is one insanely hot mk1.
Shot bud - yeah it really is a nice example of a MK1 and it was awesome getting to spend so much time up close and personal with her.
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by dub167 »

Speechless top work bud
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by lawrence »

dub167 wrote:Speechless top work bud
Thanks bud :hug:
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by Ageless_ZA »

Holy smack in a bucket! That's a top and epic job Lawrence! :hurray:

I need to get both my cars detailed properly.... Everytime I see a detail I get the itch to do it... Then I look at my wallet and go :cry:

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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by Kyle »

Well done lawrenzo :hurray: :hurray:
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by lawrence »

Firestrm_ZA wrote:Holy smack in a bucket! That's a top and epic job Lawrence! :hurray:

I need to get both my cars detailed properly.... Everytime I see a detail I get the itch to do it... Then I look at my wallet and go :cry:
Thanks bud. Just take some of your modding budget and use that :moon: Think of it like modding your paint :thumbup:
Kyle wrote:Well done lawrenzo :hurray: :hurray:
Ag fanks man Kylo
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by AlexTDi »

Did you do this before or after Dubrun?

I saw this car and it was already :drool: worthy I can just imagine now! :hurray:
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by NHB_R »

Stunning car!
Great work! Nicely done :kewlpics:
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by lawrence »

1.9TurboVW wrote:Did you do this before or after Dubrun?

I saw this car and it was already :drool: worthy I can just imagine now! :hurray:
After Dubrun bud

Started it on the 29th June and finished it on 5th July
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by lawrence »

NHB_R wrote:Stunning car!
Great work! Nicely done :kewlpics:
Thanks
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by Justin_B »

Came out beautiful man!! :hurray::hurray:
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by lawrence »

justB.11 wrote:Came out beautiful man!! :hurray::hurray:
Thanks Justin :hug:
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by mgbotha »

Dude, that was an Epic Detail :hurray:

Just a quick question though, what did you use to get the interior plastics back to it's original state and what did you use to revitalize the black plastics i.e.bumpers front and rear. Also i see you taped up the car, did you DA the car with the 2500 & 4000?

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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by lawrence »

mgbotha wrote:Dude, that was an Epic Detail :hurray:

Just a quick question though, what did you use to get the interior plastics back to it's original state and what did you use to revitalize the black plastics i.e.bumpers front and rear. Also i see you taped up the car, did you DA the car with the 2500 & 4000?

Cheers
Thanks bud

To clean the interior plastics I used a product called Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber cleaner - a perfect example of when cheap doesn't always mean kak. This stuff really works well and is my go-to rubber cleaner.... Then the interior plastics were dressed with Autofinesse Spritz, which retains the natural look but adds UV protection and anti-static properties to mitigate dust collection. The exterior plastics were treated with Optimum Optibond.

Yes the car was first 'rubbed out' with 3 coats of Meguiars #7, then polished on the DA with Menzerna PF2500 and then again with SF4000, and the taping off was a) to prevent hammering the edges and raised lines where the paint would be thinner and b) so that the polisher did not accidentally run over any plastic or rubber trim causing damage.
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by De@n »

Epic Lawrence!I only wish you were in jhb, my mk1 would be with you right now :)
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by lawrence »

De@n wrote:Epic Lawrence!I only wish you were in jhb, my mk1 would be with you right now :)
Thanks for your kind words bro.
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by De@n »

lawrence wrote:
De@n wrote:Epic Lawrence!I only wish you were in jhb, my mk1 would be with you right now :)
Thanks for your kind words bro.
nah dude, thank you for educating us on the older cars as it applies to me as well.
I just have an issue of wheel arches trimmings fading (also smooth) on my mk1. Just need to find a way to revive it without doing any spraying on them.
Any ideas?

I will try the other products you have used.
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by lawrence »

De@n wrote:
lawrence wrote:
De@n wrote:Epic Lawrence!I only wish you were in jhb, my mk1 would be with you right now :)
Thanks for your kind words bro.
nah dude, thank you for educating us on the older cars as it applies to me as well.
I just have an issue of wheel arches trimmings fading (also smooth) on my mk1. Just need to find a way to revive it without doing any spraying on them.
Any ideas?

I will try the other products you have used.
To revive the trim, bear the following in mind.

a) it has taken years of 'neglect' for the trim to get into the state it is in, so don't expect a 5 min restoration to miraculously undo all that damage.
b) the faded plastic you see is actually dead/oxidised plastic and so 'scrubbing it off' will already reveal 'new' darker plastic underneath
c) prevention is better than cure, so finding something you like and using it often will help prevent this from happening in the first place.

Here is another detailed guide written by Mike Phillips of Autogeek (take note of the scrubbing on page 2 of the thread) http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/aut ... -trim.html
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by crumbs »

Im sure the owner was :( Came out better than a respray....
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Re: Mars Red 1984 VW Golf MK1 GTS - Detailed by Lawrence

Post by lawrence »

crumbs wrote:Im sure the owner was :( Came out better than a respray....
Hopefully Nick will respond with his thoughts at some point, but ja, from what I could see, he was a happy chappy!!!
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