The power of clay!

[Jimble]

My wife who has had a drivers license for many years but has hardly ever driven was recently given an old 54 plate vauxhall meriva by my father in law as he's just bought a new Zafira and got offered £250 as a trade in! My wife accepted against my advice cos it's a bit of a nail tbh cos she wanted a "pranger" to get her used to driving again as shes having a year off when our baby comes along, anyway she managed to "prang" it on thursday on her works car park, nothing really bad just a scuff which we've agreed with the other party to pay for a smart repair.

I had a go at the damage to the Meriva this morning with quite impressive results imo! As the majority was paint transfer i turned to the Bilt Hamber soft clay i had.

Before:



After:



I haven't had a chance to treat it to a good clean since she's had it but i think you'll agree that detailing clay is a must for your arsenal!!

[Wo-Wo]

Looks great mate, wonder what it would come up like if you run a DA over it with a decent cutting compound?

Went out in an R today as I keep thinking about changing the 330 and I was very impressed, I tried to get it out of shape but failed, it was very planted. Only criticism would be the reduction of mid range torque, or at least the feel of a reduction.

Very tempted!

Neil

[Jimble]

It's definately getting some love with the DA as soon as i can find the time, just got so much on atm! I even took it to the local hand job from Ivan just to get it clean so i could clay it! Thats been it's life up to now so why not, once it's been polished though it'll never go there again!!

A lot of talk about the R atm, i've said in other posts that imo the R just ain't all that when it comes to the daily grind imo, it just doesn't feel special to me, i get loads of compliments on it but i honestly prefer the the GTI for 90% of the time but it's when your in the mood for a bit of fun that it really makes you smile! I was in the lakes last weekend so lots of A and B roads, was on an a single carriageway that opened into a dual and was behind a slower car doing about 55, dropped it to 3rd and floored it!! 

You need to keep the turbo spinning otherwise it feels a bit sluggish but keep it in the sweet spot and you won't stop smiling!!

[Booth11]

Nice job Jimble    I hope the paint transfer wasn't from another car 

Bilt hamber's good clay and the soft stuff is better than the regular which is a bit hard to manipulate.  Bonus that it can be used with water instead of lube.  But I have recently been seduced by a clay cloth.

You still toying with the idea of switching back to a GTI?

Went out in an R today as I keep thinking about changing the 330 and I was very impressed, I tried to get it out of shape but failed, it was very planted. Only criticism would be the reduction of mid range torque, or at least the feel of a reduction.

Very tempted!

Neil, interesting to hear your thoughts on the R.  I'm probably going to order one this month......race ya! 

[Jimble]

It was from another car unfortunately  an Alfa Mito, turns out someone did the same thing to the other side a couple of weeks ago! The damage to the other car was minimal tbh and i couldn't believe how much paint transfered from such a little touch!

My wife left her details and the owner gave her a call the next day, turns out she'd already arranged to get chips away in on monday for the other side so we've agreed to pay the additional cost to repair "our" side.

[KyleB]

Great result that - wonder how a clay mitt would of stood up to the test?

[Booth11]

Great result that - wonder how a clay mitt would of stood up to the test?

I'm wondering that too, but not so much I want to put it to the test like this