John had brought this Peugeot 307 just a week ago and wanted a full paint correction detail as the car seemed to have seen better days. Upon viewing the car for the first time there were evident swirl marks, severe scratches, dents and car was filthy all over. It looked as though the previous owner had not cared much for the exterior although mechanically the car was sound. John understood that I was unable to do anything with the dents and severe scratches which had penetrated through the clearcoat but wished for me to breath some life back into the paintwork. He also planned to get some aftermarket alloys so did not want me to do anything with the wheels. John then confirmed that he would be jetting off for an autumn break and that I could have the car for five days which was great since this was going to be a tough detail.

I decided the best course of action would be to wash and clay the car and then I could view the defects in close scrutiny under the halogens to see the full extent of what I was facing.

I began the detail by rinsing the wheels and applied Carlack Wheel Cleaner and left it to do its stuff for 5 minutes. I then rinsed thm through and applied another dose of Wheel Cleaner and worked the wheels with an assortment of wheelbrushes to clean them thoroughly. After an extensive amount of elbow grease, the wheels were transformed and looked like new and was well worth the effort. I then washed the rest of the car with Meguairs Shampoo Plus and rinsed clean. Onto claying, I used a new block of Fine Poly Clay with the aid of Meguiars Last Touch diluted 1:1 to act as lube. To say the clay bar did its job is an understatement. Lets just say the yellow clay bar was black by the time I had finished with it and was ready for the bin. I washed the car again with Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo & Conditioner, rinsed clean and dried using a Sonus Der Wunder Drying Towel.

The followng day, I took the car into the garage and looked at the paint defects in more detail under the halogens and was horrified to see the full effect of the swirl marks and scratches. I taped up a test area on the bonnet and proceeded to hit it with Menzerna Intensive Polish PO85RD 3.02 on a Sonus SFX-2 Polishing Pad with the Porter Cable 7424 set on speed setting 5. The combination worked a treat although I had to follow up with Menzerna Final Finish PO85RD on a Sonus SFX-3 Finishing Pad to refine the finish. I proceeded to use the same combination on the rest of the car and after what seemed like an eternity of polishing, managed to achieve close to 100% correction. I found the Peugeot paintwork very easy to work with and do have to say I enjoy working on the soft but thick paint.

As the plastic light covers were also suffering from scratches and haziness, I used Final Finish PO85RD on a Sonus SFX-2 Polishing Pad and proceeded to hit them with the PC7424 on speed setting 3 and was very happy with the finish as they came up as good as new.

With the machine polishing complete, I decided to use my new Zymol range of HD-Cleanse followed by Glasur wax. I applied a coat of HD-Cleanse with an applicator pad being sure to apply a very thin layer and buffed the excess with a microfibre cloth. The cleanser did a fine job leaving the paintwork smooth and glossy with a deep nuance. I followed the cleaner with a coat of Glasur wax which was applied by hand and allowed to cure for no more than 10 minutes per panel. Buffering was extremely easy with the aid of a Sonus Der Wunder Buffing Towel and the wax really enhanced the metallic flake whilst adding a nice deep wet-looking finish to the paintwork.

Onto the wheels and I applied a couple of coats of Chemical Guys Wheel Guard to the alloys with an applicator pad and buffed with a microfibre. Further, I dressed the tyrewalls with a coat of Chemical Guys New Look Trim Gel and also applied the same to the exterior trim and rubber. Finally, I polished all the glasswork with AutoGlym Fast Glass and the detail was complete.

I had taken my time with the Peugeot 307 and worked a few hours each day and dedicated a lot of time and effort to the detail and it was justified as I was delighted with the transformation.

John arrived on Saturday morning with his wife and was simply ecstatic with the outcome and expressed his gratitude with a tip. He decided to keep the alloys as they were as he had not expected them to come out so good and felt it would be a waste to replace them and would use the money saved to repair the dents which were more visible now the car was clean. John then booked the car in for a quarterly Bronze Waxxx Detail to keep it looking its best and so I shall be detaling a dentless Peugeot 307 come January 2008.



The photos - click thumbnails to enlarge