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this must be the 5th thread I’ve started, so apologies if I’m a bit over zealous. However I’ve decided to save 2k (Detailers have gone crazy with labor prices these days) and detail the car myself. The paint is in great condition but no without some problem spots. I intent to do a 2-step paint correction and apply a ceramic coating. Just ordered the whole gamut of products from the good people at chemical guys and will knock it out probably two weekends from now. Has anyone fully detailed their f type and/or have any “I wish I knew this before” tidbits to share?
There are strong opinions about car care and little agreement. But in my experience of decades of detailing Jaguars, the word DETAILING tells the whole story - and that word means different things to different people. We all have our own comfort level. For me it means attending to every detail, inside and out (and often the engine compartment as well) - bringing the car, if possible, to a better than showroom finish everywhere. Cleanliness being the basic thing - treating the car as though it were being entered in a judged Concours event - these judges miss nothing, so my goal is to make them approach my car already convinced that every detail has been looked after (and making sure that it has!). On this car nothing was found except a small bug which had found its way between the headlamp and the chrome surround. But my excuse was that the car had been driven a couple of hundred miles to the Concours event. And yes, the deduction for the bug remained.
And every detail, means EVERY detail, not forgetting the plastic lenses and, if seen, the screws that secure them:
And it means eliminating the inevitable swirl marks on a car in regular use, the spider-webbing - and these defects of life are most visible on dark colours, especially in sunlight. But the right preparation and the right finishing product can produce a perfect, deep mirror finish. The starting point is a paint finish which has been cleaned and smoothed to remove grit particles. Minor scratches can be removed using a very fine finishing abrasive. My favourite brand is the range of 3M professional products:
These photos, by the way, show my own hand detailing, not the result of spending money at a detailing shop, and it means finishing with nothing more than a microfibre cloth and the right wax - no buffing machines, no coatings, just wax, multiple coats of wax - the right wax: a non-abrasive carnauba-based wax (but the finish obtained varies significantly from brand to brand - we all seem to have our favourites). While there are chemicals added to all waxes to promote certain characteristics, carnauba wax has a natural UV inhibitor. I use it on every part of the exterior: paint, chrome, plastic (which in a modern car includes the headlamps). A good carnauba finish will outshine any ceramic coating. It is what you do NOT see in these photos that is most important: the micro-scratches that arise mysteriously even if a car sits unused: the colour here is Black Cherry:
This is Jaguar Racing Green:
Black Cherry:
Jaguar colours are complex and the factory finishes are excellent - but they can indeed be made better than new, with care - like a mirror, with no "orange peel":
The interior of a Jaguar is all about the leather (and often the wood trim - and it IS wood veneer, not plastic) - and leather and wood need care - the principal bit of care is to protect them from sun and heat. The wood should be waxed with the same carnauba wax as used on the exterior. While F-Types do not have interior wood trim, they do have leather - and if your car has the extended leather package (the name of which varied from year to year) then there is leather everywhere - a very fine, smooth-grained leather. Windscreen sun shades, and regular conditioning of the leather (using a good non-silicone conditioner) will keep the leather soft and supple. Yes, modern leathers are colour-coated and if you believe that this makes conditioning irrelevant, I can tell you about an ocean-front house in Saskatchewan available for a song. If you are only keeping your car for a few years, then conditioning the leather may not be important to you. But if you want the leather to look as new after 20 years, then regular conditioning is more than advisable; Look at these two interiors, both from Jaguar V12 Vanden Plas cars - what separates them is the care given to the leather (and wood):
First, where no conditioner has (ever) been used - the leather has dried and shrunk, pulled the stitching and warped the piping (note the passenger seat especially). This can not be salvaged:
and now the original leather in the same model, but regularly conditioned; after decades it remains as new. The driver's seat:
and the passenger seat. Note the absolutely straight piping - the leather is soft and full:
Have you considered paint protection film (PPF)? Many of us on here have had it applied to our cars. Generally this is done right after a full paint correction. F-Types have a bad habit of accumulating paint chips in front of the rear wheels.
1. strip back wax etc with a product like Carpro reset shampoo;
2. clay the car (I use a microshave block);
3. wash, then give a run over with alcohol to take off any contaminants;
So this aspect is really the foundation of it, it is probably the most tedious part of the process and shouldnt be rushed.
Now you have a car that is pretty much back to clearcoat. It is time to polish!
I used a "shinemate" battery operated polisher. I was such a newbie the first time (on a different car) that I thought you used it to buff the polish off, not to put it on (lol). So you need a few decent pads for this, depending on what the condition of your paint is. I used one with a bit of cutting power to it (in shine mate they are red or yellow) and used Scholl s20 1 step on it, essentially like this
On the Jags I used Polish Angel Famous as the wax (also machine applied), which gave a very nice finish as well. The Polish angel product has a lot of cornubia(sp?) wax in it so it gives a really nice richness to the shine, like putting a lens filter on.
Then I waited for a day and gave it all a wipe on/wipe off wax with Polish Angel spray wax, which is essentially a 5 minute thing.
Last edited by BruceTheQuail; 05-13-2024 at 05:54 PM.
FWIW…I did a lot of research on ceramic coats. A guy in Texas did a year long evaluation of about 24 different ceramic coatings, He fully prepped a hood, sectioned it off, and put a different ceramic coat in each section, he put the hood outside, rotating it periodically, and washing it once a week. There were some clear early fails, and a few that remained effective after 1 year. One that remained the longest was as in the photo from Amazon. And interesting enough, it was one of the cheapest. I just ordered some for my soon the be delivered new to me ‘15 XKR.
this must be the 5th thread I’ve started, so apologies if I’m a bit over zealous. However I’ve decided to save 2k (Detailers have gone crazy with labor prices these days) and detail the car myself. The paint is in great condition but no without some problem spots. I intent to do a 2-step paint correction and apply a ceramic coating. Just ordered the whole gamut of products from the good people at chemical guys and will knock it out probably two weekends from now. Has anyone fully detailed their f type and/or have any “I wish I knew this before” tidbits to share?
The pros are very expensive, especially the good ones, and I suspect that you are about to find out why first hand ;-0
In all seriousness, my R is going in for full PPF tomorrow.
After that I’m going to apply a PPF-specific ceramic coating myself.
I’m also going to be applying a wheel-specific ceramic to my wheels.
The price of the PPF job itself is a bit eye watering, so I decided to put some sweat equity in. I had asked them what they would charge to ceramic just my wheels out of curiosity, and it was something like $1300 Cnd (Approx $950 US).
The pros are very expensive, especially the good ones, and I suspect that you are about to find out why first hand ;-0
In all seriousness, my R is going in for full PPF tomorrow.
After that I’m going to apply a PPF-specific ceramic coating myself.
I’m also going to be applying a wheel-specific ceramic to my wheels.
The price of the PPF job itself is a bit eye watering, so I decided to put some sweat equity in. I had asked them what they would charge to ceramic just my wheels out of curiosity, and it was something like $1300 Cnd (Approx $950 US).
Exactly. The cost is wild. 4 years ago I got a car coated for $1000, now a coat on a relatively small 2 door coupe is over 2k. Wild stuff.
I wasn't planning on doing it but I may need to add it to the list given the dust these pads create. When it's time to replace them I'll look into the Porterfield brakes, but until then I'll have to live with them.
I wasn't planning on doing it but I may need to add it to the list given the dust these pads create. When it's time to replace them I'll look into the Porterfield brakes, but until then I'll have to live with them.
Yeah, I keep hearing the comments about how bad the brakes are for that. If the option had been available in Canada I probably would have at least considered specing carbon ceramics to avoid all that nonsense, but choosing that direction apparently brings other nonsense: 1) Apparently they squeal like a pig for regular non-track driving (annoying), 2) In Canada they are ridiculous money to replace…Saw a guy on a Canadian forum say that Jaguar wanted $50k Cnd to replace the brakes all around…When I saw that I was kinda like, nah, that’s alright…lol
In any case, yeah, the brake dust that I keep hearing about is why I decided to just ceramic them from the get go…
50k??? Even in Canadian money that's still around 40k US...my God.....
Have you experienced any huge benefits with coating the wheels when washing your car?
I literally am only picking my car up from the dealership for the first time tomorrow, and I’m driving it right to the PPF shop for about a weeks worth of work. Again, it’s getting full body PPF.
I have no direct experience with ceramic coatings of any kind, but a good buddy of mine did his wheels and body for his Aston Martin Vantage and swears by it…Which lines up with most things that I have read…
I think they had a good video which covered all the steps and the prep work and how to go about doing the work in sections. I haven't had good luck with Clay bars, so I bought a Griots garage synthetic. Happy with the Avalon ceramic, nasty stuff doesn't stick, car cleans up well. I also purchased their Armor Shield Lite detailing spray and use it after the wash. https://www.autozone.com/wash-cleane...E&gclsrc=aw.ds
I'm still dealing with the OE brake pads and they are so dirty. Instead of blowing through bottles of wheel cleaner, I got smart and put the Avalon ceramic on them. Now, after a spray with water, a soapy detail brush cleans them nicely. Looking forward to the Porterfields.
I literally am only picking my car up from the dealership for the first time tomorrow, and I’m driving it right to the PPF shop for about a weeks worth of work. Again, it’s getting full body PPF.
I have no direct experience with ceramic coatings of any kind, but a good buddy of mine did his wheels and body for his Aston Martin Vantage and swears by it…Which lines up with most things that I have read…
Ahhh apologies for my lapse in reading comprehension. Long day today. Definitely post some pictures when you get her!
Sorry, my post was more about the detailing and not ceramic coating. I've flirted with ceramic coating a few times but even though I was OK (not thrilled) to pay the money, what put me off was that all the wrap would have to come off before it could be done, then I thought maintaining it (I was looking at pomponazzi) sounded like a nuisance, if a bird ***** on the car you have to massage it with the semen of unborn unicorns while chanting under a full moon, in the end I thought it would be more trouble for me with my lifestyle than what it was worth. The cars always look fantastic when it is done but I think that is from the paint correction rather than the coating.
I should confess though that my cars dont get driven on roads where they will cop a lot of dust or dirt etc, so for me the coating was only to make it easier to clean than for paint protection as such.
Here she is on an overcast day when I got back from the dealer (before the detailing bonanza occurs). Hopefully the weather will clear up and I can get some proper shots.
The color is indeed extremely nuanced. In some lighting it looks silver, in others it almost looks beige. Never had a color remotely like this but I’m definitely learning to appreciate it. It’s very difficult to accurately represent it in a photo. It should look incredible once polished.
05-13-2024, 12:26 PM
Detailing Tips
