December Entry #3

[mally]

The father-in-law finally replaced his Vectra estate last week with this Renault Laguna Saloon. It was registered in early 2004, only 1 owner from new and has only covered 18,000 miles. He paid £6,100 for it and was happy with what he got. (I’d have waited until a diesel came along, but the father-in-law hasn’t been drawn to the darkside… yet.)

When I first saw the Laguna I wasn’t too impressed with it. It just looked dull and unloved. So with only 18k on the clock a few clumsy looking scuff marks, plenty of algae behind the rubbers ontop of the doors and no wax pointed towards an owner that was probably too old to look after it, keeping it outside all year round and only using it for shopping trips. My father-in-law confirmed this as he told me that the previous owner had died….(it was left to his son to sell it)

I’d promised that I’d give it a clean up, so I collected the car on Saturday at about 9:30 an took the short journey back to our house. I was impressed with the comfort of the ride and the surprising power from the 1800 petrol engine (I’d have thought an 1800 would struggle with the weight of the Laguna)

I took a few pictures before I started.


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I started with the wheels, tackling 1 corner at a time. Each wheel looked the same, as if they had never been cleaned and each wheel showing at least one mark of a close encounter with a curb.

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I sprayed the wheel with Megs Wheel Brightener (5:1) (back and front) and left them for a few minutes. After aggitating the WB with a paintbrush. I had to rinse and re-apply the WB a few times (mostly to the front wheels) to get them to an acceptably clean level.

I dried the wheels off with an old MF and then applied a coat of Poorboy’s Wheel Sealant.

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Under the arches i applied some Megs APC and aggitated with another paintbrush before rinsing off with the hose.

Before.
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After
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Engine bay.
Megs APC was sprayed and aggitated with a paintbrush before rinsing with the hose. Dried off with an old t-shirt and dressed with Poorboys Bold N Bright.

Before
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After
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Onto the car
I first filled my SuperSpray sytem with Poorboys's Super Slick & Suds Shampoo (5:1) and gave the car a quick coat. I left it for 5 minutes while I sorted my buckets out.

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I filled up the 2 buckets, adding a squirt of SS&S to one and dumping a Megs lambswool in. The 2 bucket method was applied followed by a rinse off with the hose.
There must have been no wax on the Laguna as most of the water stayed where I put it.

I removed the water with a Megs water magnet

Looking closer at the damage around the car I decided that it didn’t look as bad now, so I just attacked each mark with ScratchX and got rid of most of them.

One little scuff on the offside rear corner.
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I clayed the car with Megs Quik Clay Detailing System.

The polishing stage saw the PC come out with Megs #80 on Sonus SFX-3 (although I don’t have any good lights, I thought the paintwork looked relatively swirl free)
After the polish I added a coat of Collinite 476 and I expect it’ll not see anymore wax until I’m asked to clean it next year.

The inside was given a good hoover and all plastics dressed with Armorall. The leather parts of the seats were cleaned with some leather cleaner that we have in the house. I’d have loved to shampoo the seats and carpets, but as it’s used everyday I didn’t want anybody to have to sit on wet seats.

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I lastly dressed the tyres with Pb's Bold N Bright.
By the time that I’d finished all of that, my back was shot and the sun was going down, so I only had time for a few after shots.

(any comments welcome)

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Thanks, Mally. :wave:

[MattFletcher]

Looks a bloody good clean that, the wheels and the arches look mint

[265bhp]

Ace mate really good job

[Swifty]

Can't say I like the car, but I do like the job you done on it :thumb: Lots of good pictures too, great looking job on the arches/wheels.

Craig.

[mally]

I'm not a big fan of the saloon either, i much prefer the estate version as they look better.

[Jules]

Couple of questions if I may?

You mentioned green algae on thw window rubbers - does this come off with normal shampoo or did you use something else to remove it?

When cleaning wheel arches, do you guys (in General, not just Mally) not wrap the brake disc and calipers up with a plastic bag to prevenet the disc rusting up and debris from the arches falling into the calipers?

Final result looks excellent.

[leeshez]

nice piccys.

[Thomas-182]

Nice turn around dude! Done a lot in one shot there.

[taffy]

When cleaning wheel arches, do you guys (in General, not just Mally) not wrap the brake disc and calipers up with a plastic bag to prevenet the disc rusting up and debris from the arches falling into the calipers?


I have never bothered covering the brake disc or calipers. The surface rust that appears on the discs comes off with the first couple of applications of the brakes.
The debris in the calipers would (i would imagine) would only be the same as would get in there during normal driving.

[mally]

Couple of questions if I may?

You mentioned green algae on thw window rubbers - does this come off with normal shampoo or did you use something else to remove it?



I just used an old mf, dipped in the soapy bucket. Letting the car initially stand with the soap on seemed to soften the algae making it easier to remove (made a right mess of the mf though)