Shocking Aston Martin dealer preparation
I arrived early in the morning to find this beautiful car being reversed out of the garage. Parked in the shade where it looked rather lovely, a quick look at the clocks revealed its newness, and the exquisitly expensive scent of supple hide and plush carpets was a delight:
With the sun rising rapidly, I had a look around the car. I noticed a few squashed bugs on the Armourfended nose, a bit of brake dust on the alloys from the client’s first few miles in the car, and on a tiny patch in the sunshine, a few swirls. No big deal I thought…..:
However, whilst talking to the client the sunshine was starting to move along the car, the rear offside quarter was now in the sun and I could very clearly see the cause for complaint.
The pictures clearly show the swirls, marring and severe holograms in the paint. The main cause of paint defects like this is someone with insufficient time or experience (often both) machine polishing the car with an abrasive compound and not fully breaking the product down. The result is the fine particles in the polish leave scratches of their own that appear to ‘float’ above the paint, like a hologram. Thankfully, whilst very unsightly, they are rarely a problem to remove. I reassured my client there was no permanent damage and prepared my work area.
As the sun continued to rise, and the car was fully exposed to the light, the full horror of the situation was revealed over the whole surface.
Very disappointing on any car, let alone a brand new prestige vehicle costing over £100,000. I immediately set about putting it right.
Following the usual routine, I carefully washed the car and checked for any bonded contaminents (rough areas on the paint). Very little was present but the paint was cleansed with a clay bar anyway to guarantee perfection. Once rinsed and dried, certain areas were covered with masking tape, paricularly where the extensive armourfend edges were so as not to risk them being lifted during polishing.
Previous experience with this particular manufacturer has shown the paint to be reasonably hard but very nice to work with, this example being no exception. It responded very well to polishing, the true beauty of the car soon shining through.
The depth and clarity of mirror-like reflections that can be achieved with this paint is truely amazing, as shown below by this picture of the driver side door. Remember, there has been no wax applied at this stage, this finish has been achieved just by burnishing the paint to a perfectly smooth surface.
Some 8 hours after starting, the paint correction work was finished. I gave the car a quick dust down before applying Swissvax cleaner fluid to prepare the paint surface to accept the wax. This done, I chose to apply Swissvax Best Of Show wax as I knew it would really highlight the amazing gloss and wetness achievable with Aston Martin paint.
Wax buffed off, exhaust tips and grill polished, panel gaps cleared of dust and polish residue, glass cleaned and interior vacuumed, this stunning car finally looked how it should.
Testimonials
“I would definitely recommend anyone to use Shine On regardless of marque, Paul is a genuinely nice bloke who has the rare attributes of actually loving his job and doing it to the best of his ability (bordering on OCD). I personally plan to use this service at least every 8months to keep the cars looking at their best.
And to top it all off…..even my wife commented on how and I quote ‘amazing’ it looked, that testimony alone is worth its weight in gold!
Andy (M3 and Battle Bus!)”
