Abused GTD :(

[AJPB_GTD]

Hi Guys,

I have a Black GTD (60 plate) Which I acquired in April this year from a leasing company, which means the poor girls paintwork has been decimated, stone chips, scratches and swirling all over her , now I know she needs to go and see professional detailers for a through machine polish, however I cant justify £250+ on it atm (not when Im after a satnav and remap first) do you gents have any suggestions as to my best course of action to improving her and protecting her on a limited budget (£50 max or the mrs will go loopy) until I can get some funds to get her properly seen to? any advice would be greatly appreciated   

[Booth11]

Hi there

Being honest, £50 isn't going to get you very far with respect to improving her paintwork significantly, especially if it's as neglected as it sounds.  If you have little or no experience of paintwork correction then the best (but pricy) solution is to get a professional detailer to sort it.

However, it might sound obvious but maybe starting off by giving her a thorough hand wash (2 bucket method), dry and getting some protection on - sealant, wax or both, will be a good start (if you haven't already).  Sometimes it's amazing what a decent wash can achieve.  No it won't alter the fact there are stonechips and swirls but at least you will be able to make a proper assessment and have a plan to work to.

Having the proper gear will make all the difference and getting together a decent basic washing/drying kit is all you will get for £50, in fact probably closer to £70.

There are a few threads in this section including the 'detaing guides and FAQ' subsection, giving basic washing advice and more - here's a couple below.  Although some relates to a newer car, the advice for washing and protecting are the same regardless.  Some of this may well be irrelevant but worth a look:

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=273081.msg2498291#msg2498291

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=274098.0

However for proper paint correction/stonechip repair, if doing it yourself you would need to invest in the right gear such as a DA polisher, pads and polish compound, and by the time you've costed that up, getting a professional detail could well work out cheaper.  You could try and polish out some of the defects by hand but if swirls and marring are medium to bad, you will need a machine.  Hand polishing can really only offer limited results. 

If she's in quite bad a state, save up for a detail and suffer the Mrs' fury.

Hope this is of some help.

Rebecca

[AJPB_GTD]

Thanks Rebecca,

for taking the time to put such a detailed response, much appreciated  I like your thinking, until I give her a good clean myself I'm not really going to know how bad it is, so that'll be my first port of call. As for the saving up I'll give it a shot but once I've got the money, I have a horribly sneaking suspicion that it will be ending up in carbon chips pockets before a detailer ..........   

[Booth11]

Thanks Rebecca,

for taking the time to put such a detailed response, much appreciated  I like your thinking, until I give her a good clean myself I'm not really going to know how bad it is, so that'll be my first port of call. As for the saving up I'll give it a shot but once I've got the money, I have a horribly sneaking suspicion that it will be ending up in carbon chips pockets before a detailer ..........   

Lol AJPB_GTD.  And that's just the way it should be.  Assuming the car is mechanically sound and running well, then whatever is most important to you should take priority! 

[210GTi]

Hi, I feel ur pain as I have recently acquired by unloved 2010 black Gti as a replacement for my wife's 2008 Gt tdi 140 which was pristine. First thing I had to do was have all 4 Monza "shadow" alloys refurbed by Pristine in Milton Keynes as they were absolutly killing the car.  Next was a good wash, dry and polish(initial attempts with black colour magic then later with Sonax , touched up some stone chips had some dents removed by specialist and just before the funds ran out fitted an Rcd510 in place of the horrible 310 it came with and hoped she liked it!  What makes thing worse is I have a 2015 GTD as my works car and it's hard not to draw comparisons which isn't really fair .People who have seen the car recently cannot believe it's the same one we bought a few months ago so stick at it- I am sure you will get it up to standard and not regret it,cheers:-