Mini Cabriolet Full Monty Special: hood clean and two-year coating, clay bar, two-stage machine polish, drain unblocking, full gap descale. Fold lines, blocked drain mechanism and embedded grit all dealt with.
This Mini Cabriolet came in for the Full Monty Special. That means the hood gets a machine clean and two-year waterproof coating; the paintwork gets a clay bar treatment and two machine polishes; and the whole car gets a full descale, with every gap and drain cleaned out properly.
What we found before we started
The roof had a few fold lines and a weak area in the fabric. The paintwork looked reasonable but had the usual embedded grit that a normal wash never shifts; once you clay it, you can feel how smooth it actually is underneath.
The descale was the important part. The drain mechanism for the roof was sitting in standing water; the channel had blocked completely and water had pooled level with the mechanism. Left like that, it corrodes and eventually fails. We unblocked all the drains, including the ones between the rubber seals and the glass (you have to drop the glass slightly to clean those without scratching it), and cleaned out every gap around the boot, door shuts and chrome trim. Dirt that stays in those gaps causes corrosion; caught in time, there was no rust on this one.
The paintwork
After the clay, two rounds of machine polishing. The first pass removes the deeper marks and swirls; the second is the finishing buff that brings out the gloss. Tom used a smaller machine to get around the tighter areas. There was some kind of paint transfer on one door that we weren't sure would come off; the buffing machine dealt with it.
Gary's assessment before: "half a million dollars." After: "nine out of ten, 900,000." The customer was heading to the sea front.
See our convertible roof cleaning and restoration page for full details on the hood side of the job, and cabriolet hood protection for longer-term coating options.
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