The Mazda MX5 is the best selling convertible of all time, and one drive quickly shows you why. Lightweight, dynamic, and just plain fun, the car is an absolute blast. Sure, the cars have lacked power, but this isn't what they were about, they have the perfect amount of power to enable you to have fun on the road and track without getting into too much trouble. Not only that, but on the track, a well sorted MX5 can run rings round many faster, and more expensive cars, and on a twisty mountain road? Forget about it, an MX5 in the hands of a half competent driver will run away from just about anything. In case you hadn't noticed we love these cars, so when Scott called us about giving his some much needed TLC, we were only too happy to oblige.
Now this is where things get interesting. Scott was after a full paint correction, and a complete interior rejuvenation, as he was getting married, and this car was going to be part of the convoy. He's owned it since new, so of course, it had to be! However, Scott works at the CSIRO, and is involved in aircraft coatings. And he worked with the team that tested Opti-Coat. So we have a scientist, an expert in coatings, asking for Opti-Coat for his car. When a scientist that tested the product asks for it on his car, then you know you're onto a winner. Further proof that Opti-Coat is quite simply the best all round coating there is. Without a doubt it is the most durable, and combines the best qualities desired in a coating to produce the number one coating on the market, and the only one guaranteed to last a lifetime. Anyway, we don't need to sing praises about Opti-Coat, you already how much we love it, and recommend it for most people.
Scott brought his Mazda in, and luckily it looked like a car that was driven, and driven hard. There were hundreds of stonechips, which would require a respray to remove, but Scott wasn't concerned about these, rather, the millions of swirls marks that destroyed the beautiful green paint:
Yes it was bad....
We started off by removing iron contamination:
Followed by a foam bath and thorough cleaning of the wheels:
Whilst the the foam dwelled, we got started on the interior:
The leather was given a good scrub:
And wiped clean. Check out how dirty the cloth is after just one wipe!
The mats were sucked dry:
And done. What a difference!
Before polishing, we took paint depth readings. Now, I know the MX5 is meant to be light, but the thickness, or rather lack of, was just plain scary in some locations!
We had to be very careful, and could not achieve 100% correction on all panels simply due to the lack of paint. Nonetheless, the difference was night and day! We had to use some fairly aggressive wool pads for the initial cut, and then were able to refine this.
The car literally looked a different colour!
Flawless:
And the beautiful metallic fleck is now visible too!
The car was given another wash, and the engine bay too:
And after the application of Opti-Coat, under 'the light of truth' (the sun). Practically flawless:
The metallic is just gorgeous.
Finally some nice shots of the car before it was given back to its incredibly happy owner! (Please note all the white dots are stone chips not dirt!)
This was not a small job by any means, but it helped the car was quite small! Scott was stunned, the car looked brand new, and made a fantastic wedding car. Thanks to Scott and the CSIRO for further verifying why Opti-Coat is such a gread product, and for choosing Obsession Car Detailing.
Products Used
Exterior
- Rupes Bigfoot
- Das Pro Random Orbital
- Optimum Hyper Polish
- Optimum Hyper Compound
- Scholl S17
- Optimum Opti-Bond Tyre Gel
- Optimum Opti-Coat
Interior
- Autoglym Leather Cleaner
- Optimum Power Clean
- Optimum Opti-Guard
- Optimum Leather and Vinyl
