Detail & Valet

Detail & Valet Car Detailing: examples. This is my hobby. OCD is a problem for me but this gives me an outlet. I ca I have a keen eye for colour and detail.

Graham Burbridge trained by and worked at Mercedes Benz for 5 years as a car valet during A'levels (and beyond) but took up a career in graphic design rather than the motor trade. With a hobby of 'Extreme Car Cleaning' it made sense to live my passion. I have now been detailing for eight years and started building up a portfolio with the view to help persuade people I do not know well that I can b

e trusted with their pride and joy.After converting my double garage to a work space, I finally have the space all year round to polish and wax to my heart's content.

VW 1970s Beetle 1300It's a hot summer. Work has been tough to do, slightly cooling so able to work on this gemThe owner ...
09/08/2022

VW 1970s Beetle 1300
It's a hot summer. Work has been tough to do, slightly cooling so able to work on this gem
The owner remarked it needed some love!
This is a well looked after reconditioned (thick paint) but zero depth pf colour.
The paint was clean, very soft, needed a heavy MOP all over using . The shine was quick to appear.
As per all others the paint was polished with and waxed with a , then a second coat with man made NanoWax, trying to get some man made protection.
The Bug finished with oall over. Windows cleaned and Rain X coated. Interior was vacuumed and wiped down with .
Protecting and moisturising the rubbers was needed, they were very unloved. Its not only good to see clean rubber but to protects them is a longevity hope. Not a good look or feel.
Treating the rubbers with a rubber cleaner and protector such as is a simple clean and wipe – so no excuse.

All in all a cute, lovely car to play with. Started well, looked nice and when finished protected and shiny!

28/09/2021

BMW 420d, Convertible – Paint Beading
The reason time is taken to clean paintwork is this, beading. Rain running off the paint keeps it clean longer, reduces UV damage and paint fade but in all honesty is just so cool 😎

This paint took about four hours to cut, polish and protect. But this can (with care by the owner) last 6 - 8 months.

BMW 4 Series, 420 Convertible It's the end of the season. Days are getting shorter and the damp is starting to make dry...
28/09/2021

BMW 4 Series, 420 Convertible
It's the end of the season. Days are getting shorter and the damp is starting to make drying longer. Last few days of outside work I think.
Great time to talk about working in the wet. This BMW was cleaned over two days, using accurate weather apps I'm able to split days and clean with the rain.
This is a well looked after example of the BMW 420D. With a 2.0-litre turbo diesel engine and M styling. The clean was simple (aided by the wet conditions) the vehicle could be washed in one go rather than a panel at a time. As I know there will be wax on this well maintained paintwork the car was washed with a Wash-Wax and dried with a clean microfiber towel (extra large). The wheels had seen better days and the owner wants to renovate them, but liking a changeling I did several passes with red-7 and a few brushes. In the end they had to be scraped clean – I was beaten! They were then polished and later waxed with Wheel Wax.

The paint was clean, but needed a light MOP on the bonnet and roof along with a hand cut all over using .

Then polished with and waxed with a , then a second coat with a hard wax ( ). Big debates about the hard vs soft so why not both? 🙂

The paint was finished with on the flat surfaces. Windows cleaned and Rain X coated. Interior was vacuumed and wiped down with , any leather treated and vents dusted.

When cleaning a soft-top one need to be thorough, so opening the roof and cleaning the car is a must, but also with a mechanical roof, clean the roof 'half' way. This exposes all the rubbers and joints to clean and polish. protecting and moisturising these rubbers (I've owned a few roofless cars myself) is not only good to see clean but protects them from drying out. This can cause cracking and eventually leaking. Not a good look or feel.

Treating the rubbers with a rubber cleaner and protector such as is a simple clean and wipe - so no excuse.

The rain then appeared again as I was finishing up. Giving me great joy in seeing the initial beading and then the run off compared with my neighbour's car 🙂

Overall with rain interruptions this was a quick nine hours over two days.

Aston Martin DB9 (replay)Showroom CleanOne thing i really love doing more than a dirty car? A clean car. A clean vehicle...
17/09/2021

Aston Martin DB9 (replay)
Showroom Clean

One thing i really love doing more than a dirty car? A clean car. A clean vehicle means I can spend more time doing the details, more time adding wax and more time making the paint even more impressive. Adding a greater depth to the shine.

This is a rare manual 6 Litre, V12. It is garaged and cleaned often by a loving owner. So cleaning it is a pleasure, but also tough, trying to make it look even better. I've done this vehicle before (in 2016) so this was well overdue a tidy.

No decontamination was required as the car doesn't get a huge amount of miles and there were not tar splashes or dead bugs.

So to start – this was snow-foamed with Ultimate Snow Foam (this reduces the touch to paintwork and thus reduces the chances of adding any accidental scratches (even the best can have accidents), then carefully hand dried with a towel NOT a leather (never use a leather, I know dad did in the 80s but no cows should be harmed in the cleaning of a car – you also increase the chance of scratches). Once clean and touch dry the paint had a few minor scratches removed with and then polished with Cobalt+ polish and had two coats of wax (one hard and one carnauba soft just as a top coat). Then a coat of Ceramic Spray (a hybrid that has hydrophobic properties) and can be added on top of wax. Offers up to 3 months durable, hydrophobic protection and gives protection to bodywork against damage caused by the natural environment. It's not a quick Ceramic Coating (that's upward of £500 a go) but this is a nice touch to add to a professional clean in my opinion.

Wheels were cleaned with , polished and waxed with wheel wax which seals out contamination so your wheels are easier to clean.

The glass was cleaned and coated with Rain-X and the inside brushed, vacuumed and 'striped', cleaning and conditioning the leather with and cream

All in all 9hrs of total joy. I think the difference is noticeable in the pictures, (pic 2 was before) the depth of shine is more apparent and there are now stripes in the carpets 🙂




10/09/2021

Bumper Damage - Toyota Yaris

Not often that damage can be sorted quickly and cheaply. This is a short video on a bumper scratch. 3minutes with the MOP and a little and a nasty looking scratch becomes like new.

This could have been done without a MOP, but much more hard work and more product would have been used.

The car is in fact my mother's – she popped around and explained that she didn't 'see the garage wall'. Oh dear!

Enjoy!



Triumph TR4-irsThe Triumph TR4 is a sports car produced by the Triumph Motor Company from 1961 to 1965. The owner of thi...
08/09/2021

Triumph TR4-irs
The Triumph TR4 is a sports car produced by the Triumph Motor Company from 1961 to 1965. The owner of this bought a few years ago, re-chromed and changed a few bits under the hood (mostly cosmetic). Reached that time when it would be up for sale. The paintwork was originally white and was changed during a previous restoration.

The owner really looks after their cars. All are garaged and have covers, this turned up and my question was "How exactly do I improve it?".

But as my friends and family know, almost any car can be improved 🙂
– I started on the engine bay, it was tired in areas and a previous owner had not really been that careful. Lots of under-seal. So 3 hours on the paint under the bonnet, was polished and waxed, chrome was cleaned and polished, rubber was cleaned and protected. Lots of brushes and plenty of , G101 and polish.

The bodywork was washed with a wash wax (Williams) then polished and waxed with a final coat of – all in all an improvement. As the car was 'clean' this gave me more time to concentrate on those details we all talk about: behind bumpers, underside skirts, under carpets, sun-visors.

Plastic windows were cleaned and polished with Plastic Window Polish. This cleared many of the light scratches and made the view less 'milky' – a must with old plastic. The roof was cleaned and protected with trusted Highstyle by .

This was a most enjoyable day. Weather was nice, car was pretty, I could sit and 'detail' rather than clean off mud four times over and the owner loved it. Great result.










16/08/2021

BMW 3 Series 2012 – Paint Correction (2)
Side scratches.
Caused by parking to close to planted things and an attack from a "brillow pad?"

16/08/2021

BMW 2012 3 Series, paint correction

Bonnet Scratches - removed
Six passes with a MOP, but the result was an improvement. The paint gauge showed little difference (121um > 118um).

2012 BMW 3 SeriesThe owner had just bought this vehicle, needed some TLC (dent’s privacy glass etc) and paint correction...
16/08/2021

2012 BMW 3 Series
The owner had just bought this vehicle, needed some TLC (dent’s privacy glass etc) and paint correction.
This being a BMW the paint was thick enough to correct without worry. Budget and time were tight so the engine bay was not touched and the wheels were cleaned in position (so not as thoroughly as could have been). A light valet with paint correction was all that could be achieved in the 12 hours allocated.
The car was first washed / decontaminated with G101, Tardis and to remove any existing wax (although unlikely), the wheels were given their first clean of ten with Red-7.
Once washed the paint was clay-bared allover before taping up for a machine cut. The cutting was done with and G4 Scratch Removal Cream. The videos (also posted) hopefully highlight how bad the scratching was. The previous owner was not a car enthusiast at all. The paint had been treated with total contempt. But, just a little love and care it was brought back to how a BMW should look.
The transformation is quite severe. The sunlight changed the colour a little in the images, but I think it's obvious.
The valet was finished with a light polish, Canuba wax and then a new addition to the armoury – RCS500 Coating (Ceramic Spray).

Fairline Squadron 55Not the usual vehicle but if it's dirty, I'll clean it. This is a 3 bedroom boat - I'm not a Nautica...
27/05/2021

Fairline Squadron 55
Not the usual vehicle but if it's dirty, I'll clean it. This is a 3 bedroom boat - I'm not a Nautical man so I know very little more, but it's very nice. The complete valet is four weeks work; I can't swim and don't like heights, so I passed on the Gel-coat and teak cleaning. I did take on the engine and canopy though. Much more down to earth and less splashing!

The bay is a reasonable size with two large Volvo diesel engines and enough room to stand (I'm not 6ft so this was a good height). The engines were not too bad, some residual fuel and the usual grime, just lots of small brushes required for hard to reach areas.

Using chemicals in a confined space meant that the 2020 face masks came in useful. So the grime was cleaned with Surfex and Clean My Ride ( ), then polished with Autosmart Cobalt, nano spray polish. Simple to use in tight areas. All plastics and rubbers were treated with Autosmart Highstyle Long Lasting Plastic Shine. Two days work and one happy owner.

The canopy was taken away and cleaned. The matting on the floor enabled it to be laid out and cleaned thoroughly. The plastic was machine cut, machine polished with Renovo Plastic Window Polish ( ) and treated with RainX to try and help with the constant weather battering. This worked out at around one hour per window. Once the plastic windows were cut, the canvas was cleaned with a Convertible Top Cleaner, then pressure rinsed and dried naturally. All in all about 10 hours work.

The finished look is fantastic and possibly turned a grubby canopy that needed replacing into another 5-10 years of use.

Aston Martin DB9Some jobs are not that glamorous. Some are just rewarding. This is one of them. When someone has a probl...
27/05/2021

Aston Martin DB9

Some jobs are not that glamorous. Some are just rewarding. This is one of them. When someone has a problem (in this case oil) with their pride and joy and the solution is to bring it to me.

Quite simply a lovely Aston Martin mechanic left his oiled thumb-print on the A-pillar headline. Not a massive problem but with an Aston this headline is suede, light colour and had not been noticed so had dried in.

With a wealth of chemicals at my disposal there was the concern of bleaching the material, drying it out or just making the stain worse. So, with a Q-tip and some organic engine de-greaser the stain was lightly swabbed and stroked.

After a little while the oil broke down and started to come away.
30 mins later one happy owner.

It's not just about polish and shine. It's about knowledge, materials and patience.

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Tonbridge
TN92QQ

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