My paint correction of Renault Sport Megane Team F1 R26 - almost 3 days of work (gallery step by step)
It was not the first time I decided to make a full paint correction of a car. I made it twice on my Honda Civic Type R, on two BMW’s, and my friend’s cars. When I bought my little rocket, a Renault Sport Megane Team F1 R26 I knew it will be tough. When I inspected the paint at the beggining of May I found many swirls, scratches made by the previous owner who drove it in the city; some dents, no shine at all… Almost 3 days of work, especially with finnishing the paint - it was pretty delicate, when I cut out the scrathes I had problem with swirl marks, but I managed after long hours, litres of isopropanol, and changing the polishing pads. It was worth it, it gave the car a new, younger look, the black paint gained a lot of depth, it made a car almost a head turner.
I used Menzerna 500, 2500 and 4000 with Flexipads polishing pads system on a cheap, heavy, rotary polisher (now I’ve bought a DA for cleaners, one steps and waxes). I needed Bilt hamber soft clay bar, IPA, Poorboy’s Professional Polish, some stuff from Shiny Garage (good Polish brand…I miean from Poland, but also for polishing ;)) and (if i renember correctly) Zymol Carbon wax. After all that work I did, my hands almost fell off :). Now I take care of maintaining the paint, renembering how hard it was to correct all this stuff.
Now there’s time to take care of the interior, and to do something with the ugly exhaust tips - a task for spring!
That’s my first bigger post on CT. Comment if you like, post your photos, add questions, you’re welcome! The details of the car are in my profile, I’ll try to add some new content about it, and our adventures :)
Comments
Cracking job man :)
Thank you mate! :)
Very good job ! I would like to learn how to you a rotary machine ! I dont have one and i cant practise ! :\
It’s not so complicated if a car doesn’t have a delicate paint (like Hondas and other Japanese). I first learned how to do it with Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound, which is medium abrassive polish, powerful enough to make a visuall effect, but not too much, so it is safe. First I observed twice my collegues, I read A LOT detailing forums and advices for example ho fast, for how long should you keep the machine in rotations etc etc. First it is good to start with one step polishes or at least glazes/cleaners before waxing- it is quite easy but rewarding and by doing it, you still do more than 80 % average car guy :)
Could you suggest me a simple but good polishing machine from ebay so as to start polishing me bad paint on my car ;;
It’s hard for me tu suggest any machine but for a first buy I would take a DA machine- it’s less agressive, easier to work with. I don’t know about prices in your country, but in Poland I bought a no-name machine for about 100 dollars. You should get a backplate for polishing pads (the one you get with the machine is usually too big 150-170mm) let’s say about 100 - 125mm with a bit of soft foam for increased comfort. If you want to get a rotary machine for more effective cutting of some severe scratches, you should get the one with rotations raging from 700-1000rotations to about 2500-3000 rotations. Machines with 5000 -10000 rotations are for diffrient purposes (for builders tec, I can’t renember the English word for them). The rotation stabiliser (i don’t know of it’s the right word) would be great - let’s say that you put a 1000 rotations for spreading a polish, the machine that keeps the speed even when its pushed against the surface is much better. Then you need a whole range of polishing pads in many sizes to make your work comortable. Good luck!
Thank you very much for your help ! I will search also on the internet ! Have a nice year friend !!
Aside from the paint job , which is great , i love it , I want to talk about the performance of the car. how does it handle on the road , the sound of the engine and how you feel inside the car when you put your foot down. Also , is it worth buying for an x amount of money? <How much did you pay for it>
I’ve never measured the performance, but now it’s about 6sec to 100kmh, I’ve measured the power: 245 bhp an 338NM with minor changes, planning to put a downpipe and new remap. It handles very well, lots of grip (R26 /Cup suspension) but it is very stiff, not much comfort left ;) the LSD (only in R26) helps in drag racing as well as in the corners. The Recaro seats are wonderful. The steering is not too responsive but could be worse, the gear shifting is a bit vague, but I’m gonna manage that. The sound you should easily try on YouTube, my exhaust isn’t stock. Normal Sport Megane are very cheap, but they have diffrient suspension, no LSD, no Recaro, diffrient brakes etc, F1 R26 are the ones you should look for, but it is harder to find them, especially in Liquid Yellow. That car for me was a good deal after selling my 2005 Type R Ep3, I payed 10% extra and end up with 3 years younger, faster, better trimmed and equipped(thing I could only dream of in EP3) car, with more potential, but worse opinion (in my country Renault=unreliability and superstitions). It is quite rare too, I like to have something difrient.
Great job! I’ve always said that a rotary is like the equivalent of a Manual. Only used by professionals and enthusiasts. I would make a recommendation to get a rupes 15es long throw for softer paints and delicate areas. Aside from the flex 3401 I’d say it’s the best D.A. money can buy you!
:o awesome!!
Big fan of your work… I noticed alot of minor scratches and swirl marks when doing my car… the compound I used really helped but is there an easier way to maintain this without polishing every week?
The key is how you wash the car - big, fluffy microfibre or woll wash mitt, two buckets washing technique, in the best scenario 2-step washing: 1. active foam and pressure washer 2. hand washing. Using only clean stuff, no swiping on the dusted paint as some people do. On the black paint there’s always a problem when standing in the sun, you can always find something, and finally you stop struggling at some point. I have the same problem now, this year (that correction above was on April or May 2015, about 10K km ago of fast driving) and I have to spend a whole day to make a smaller paint correction this year (not 3 steps, but 1-2 steps maximum to remove swirs, and less severe scratches). You can also try to cover it up by a special glaze before using a wax, for example: 1. abrassive cleaner Poorboy’s Professional Polish 2. Glaze Black Hole 3. Wax
I won’t do it perfectly now, as i will have an opportunity to test some stuff from my shelve, something that will cover this easily instead of making it disappear (I sell some detailing stuff locally, as a part time job, after hours ).