In February we were approached by the owner of this Hyundai i30N Fastback. The customer had searched for months to find a reputable detailer that she was comfortable with to perform an enhancement detail.
She LOVES her i30N and has invested heavily into making it a road-going trackday car. This has included installing a short shifter...
...and the rear seats had also been removed to make way for a roll cage.
To say the car had been used on many trackdays, the paintwork and overall condition of the car was very good... everything had been looked after to the best of her ability.
The paintwork was to receive a single-stage polish to remove mild swirls and other defects associated with daily use.
We were also given a second set of 'summer' wheels to prepare and coat with Gtechniq C5 Wheel Armour.
When the car arrived it had a light layer of dirt on the boot and rear glass.
The lowers, arches and surrounding areas were also quite dirty.
As usual, we started with a full safe wash. The wheels and arches were cleaned first.
The Rag Company Ultra Wheel Mitt was ideal for the gloss black parts of the i30N's wheels; the mitt is super soft but very capable at cleaning.
Plenty of browning was present when we cleaned the tyres with our trusty Detail Factory Tire Scrub Brush. Browning is a collection of road grime and old tyre coatings. Removing this as you're washing your wheels sets the tyres up perfectly for a new dressing.
All four wheels and tyres were now looking far better with the gloss blacks and brake callipers really popping.
It was now time to move onto the pre-wash stage to remove all of the dirt, dust and grime prior to our contact wash.
A prime example of what a pre-wash does is when you can see contaminants being pulled away from the paintwork.
Using snow foam gives you an opportunity to dislodge grime from window trim, nooks and crannies as well as your fuel flap.
With all areas now agitated it was time to rinse.
After rinsing, we noticed that a few panels had some kind of hydrophobic protection applied...
...however, the bonnet was completely 'flat', with no water behaviour.
On to the two-bucket hand wash! As usual, one bucket has our shampoo and the other is for rinsing. The pressure washer activates the shampoo suds, we then fill the second bucket with fresh water.
The Rag Company's Ultra Wash Pad is one of our go-to products for hand washes; it's super soft and does a great job at carrying shampoo suds!
All areas of the i30N were given a sudsy hand wash!
After a thorough rinse, we then moved onto drying. We use a combination of towel and blow drying; the majority of residual water is absorbed by our Liquid8r towels and we use our Rokit blow dryer to dislodge water from trim, nooks and crannies.
After blowing residual water from the tighter areas, we went around the car soaking droplets up with our Liquid8r drying towel. We also took this opportunity to ensure door shuts were dried.
With the car dried, it was time to bring the car inside.
The second set of wheels that the customer gave us were prepped with Panel Wipe and coated with Gtechniq C5. This will protect the spokes and barrels from brake dust, road grime and other contaminants.
After the wheels were coated, we moved onto correcting the i30N's paintwork. The owner had done her best to look after the car, however there were some scratches, swirls and other defects for us to remove.
Our trusty bottle of Rehab came out and we went around all painted areas, wing mirrors and wind deflectors, as these plastic areas also had minor scratches in them.
One of the doors had some 'misting' on the paintwork, which was also removed.
Correcting the wing mirrors really made the metallic paint pop!
While the rest of the paint correction was being completed, the interior received a refresh. This included a hoover and wipe-down of all trim.
With the interior complete, the glass was also cleaned with TRACE-LESS, followed by 3D Ceramic Glass Cleaner. This is an economical option when customers aren't too bothered about having their glass protected with Gtechniq Smart Glass.
Most of the time we only need to use a black finishing pad with Rehab for our single-stage paint correction details. However, sometimes we switch the black pad for a yellow fine polishing pad. This is because some areas need slightly more attention and effort to bring out the best in the paintwork. A yellow pad offers more polishing performance over a soft finishing pad. The i30N's roof was a perfect example of this.
With all areas corrected, it was time to move onto installing Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light. This is a 5-year ceramic coating designed to lock-in the refreshed paintwork. It also protects against mild abrasion from hand washing should pieces of grit still be present after the pre-wash stage.
Gtechniq has done a great job with Crystal Serum Light; it applies very easily which is why it's readily available to retail customers. You do, however, need a controlled environment to ensure it bonds to paintwork correctly.
The 2x4 Terry Applicators are our go-to, followed by Rip N' Rag towels for levelling and final buffing due to the pearl weave.
After the CSL was applied and left to cure, we applied EXO V5 which is Gtechniq's 18-month, hydrophobic top coat. This boosts gloss will make washing the i30N far easier in future.
We like to use No Soak Applicators from The Rag Company. We've found the microfibre works well and, due to the special membrane, more of the coating is applied to the paintwork, rather than being lost inside the applicator itself.
EXO V5 is left to 'sweat out' before being levelled and buffed.
With the blue RIP N' RAG towels used up for this job, we switched to 'standard' grey Pearl towels from The Rag Company. They're exactly the same specs as the RIP N' RAG towels, however they are pre-trimmed singles at 40cm x 40cm.
Finishing touches included applying a tyre dressing and a coating of Labocosmetica Hydra to the plastic door trims. One of the downsides of plastic trim is that very little can be done to correct any scratches or other defects accumulated over time. We were able to refresh the look of them, which the customer was happy with.
The next day, and with all coatings cured, we took the i30N outside to check our work and to get some mandatory photos!
Tyres looking good!
And the refreshed interior ready for some track action!
And, of course, Bear the shop dog gave his stamp of approval! 🐶
We then took the i30N back inside ready for the customer to collect her car!
Upon collection, the customer was over the moon with the results! Want to see more? Feel free to follow her on Instagram.
If you'd like your vehicle detailed, talk to us today about a bespoke package; we're only too happy to cater for your needs and budget.
The Clean + Shiny Team.
