Interior Exterior
Q:
I'm about to order the complete bundle, and I don't even have my Elise yet
Didn't your forget leather cleaner/conditioner?
Barry
A:
Thanks Barry. I thought about leather conditioner, but there seems to be some debate on whether the leather needs to be treated or not. Personally, I'm going to treat my leather.
A:
Originally posted by DetailersParadise
Thanks Barry. I thought about leather conditioner, but there seems to be some debate on whether the leather needs to be treated or not. Personally, I'm going to treat my leather.
So which product do you use on the Elise and why?
A:
I think Lotus recommends against it because of the perforations in the seat. It will be pretty easy to gum them up with conditioner.
As for my car, I have been testing a product from Italy called Leather Masters. They have a full line of leather care products, but the one that interests me the most for the Elise is their product for motorcycle jackets. Basically, it is designed for outdoor leather. Leather treated with it will resist water and clean up easier. Once treated, it will simply be damp cloth cleanup. Since the Elise is an open top car, this makes the most sense to me.
I have an order in with LM and should have a good selection by Dec 1.
A:
damnit, nick...added the super bundle a day too late! now offer the basic bundle extras as an upgrade bundle and i'll order that too!
A:
I think it's fantastic that Lotus doesn't recommend Hide Food for the Elise. That was the messiest leather conditioner I used, but was the only one they recommended for the Elan, so I used it. I'll order your bundle sans the leather conditioner for now, get the rest later.
Barry
A:
I picked my starter bundle up in person on the day before Thanksgiving. It was just a short side trip, as I was picking my brother up at DIA (I told him to pack light). I drove by Nick's house at first, but once I turned around I it was easy to find with his Elise parked there.
Here's a picture of our cars.
A:
Hey, it is 20% of the Elise population of Colorado.
Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad we were able to get you all set up.
BTW, one of the guys from the local Lotus club reported seeing you driving around Ft. Collins last week. I told him next time he should flag you down and say hi.
A:
I just received my "customized bundle" of Detailers Paradise supplies from Nick - He was great, he spent probably a good 45 minutes on the phone with me, advising me as to exactly what I should buy and how to use it etc. Now I'm inspired to get out there (when I get the time), and practice on my and my wife's cars, before I get my Elise !
Thanks Nick !
Mike
A:
Hi Mike! Thanks so much for shopping with us. Please don't hesitate to call if you get stuck.
A:
Wax Pimp,
Any information you found out after you detailed your cars that you can share with us. I already discusse this with you regarding the "soft" clear coat of the Elise, did you find it to be comparatively soft?
How did it go removing the swirls that the were on there?
-Trieu
A:
I went through the paint at the back edge of the targa bar.
In my defense the paint was very hacked up, swirled, squiggled and sufficiently thinned at the port by the 14 year-old trainee with a buffer. At any rate, be very careful around the edges. Very, very careful. The pad/polish combo I was using should not have done any damage. I made one quick pass and noticed the black showing through the BRP. Oh well, at least you all can learn from my mistake.
The car has absolutely no flat surfaces. If you want to use your PC on the car, I strongly recommend a 4" pad. I started with a 6" and quickly found it was too difficult to tell where I was polishing. The curves are just too, well, curvy. A 4" pad gave me much more control.
I used einszett Metallic Polish and a white pad for most of the car. I had to move to Paint Polish on some trouble areas. When the car looked about as it should, I moved to einszett Wax Polish Soft and a black finishing pad. My last step was with P21S. I am very happy with the end result. The paint looks warmer, deeper and livelier.
The swirls came out without much trouble, but the paint/clear is so, so very soft. MP/White will not even touch my Audi. It will barely do anything to soft BMW clear, yet it removed 90% of the imperfections on the Lotus.
Finally, I repeat: Be very, very careful around the edges.
A:
I have the Elise bundle pack. I washed my car yesterday and then applied the P21S wax. Today I noticed some light surface scratches. How do I get rid of that?
A:
You have two options.
1. You can temporarily hide them will a filler product such as a glaze. This is a short-term solution and won't last longer than a wash or two.
2. You can abrade them away. A light polish is all we need on the Elise. You can even do the work by hand.
A:
For number 2, what polish do you recommend?
A:
I would start with einszett Metallic Polish. If they are on the deeper side, you may need something a little more abrasive such as the einszett Paint Polish. I would start light and simply work the area longer if you aren't getting the results you are looking for.
A:
So do you offer a foam paint brush (or two) with the Lotus super bundle, or do I need to order them seperately? I searched through your website but didn't see them listed.
A:
Just got my bundle; thanks for calling me and helping me make the right choices! And for suggesting an 'abrasive' to make the Audi shine properly. I probably could have gotten the items for a bit less elsewhere, but not with such great customer support! Worth every penny. And the personalized "how to" sheet is a blessing for me.
Unfortunately, it's well below zero here, and a snowstorm is coming. It will probably be weeks or months before she comes out of hiding and sees any of these products, but I'm ready for the first warm day. I didn't want to wait for warm weather to order, and then be tempted to put turtle wax on while waiting...
FYI- one item was mistakenly left out of my bundle. When I let these people know, they immediately sent it to me, with no hassles!!! Definitely rate these folks as A+++++
A:
Vantage and ???,
Got my car in November have washed it 4 times with mild gel wash. Now I want to wax it. Prior to reading this post I ordered Maguires products Polish, Wax and a two step plastic coat to use before I wax.
It looked like my dealer Rancho Mirage European motorcars waxed the car as I can see white powder on the lower part of the front windshield.
My question is will I be doing damage using the Maguire products. I am in a delima the wife stated that I need to curb buying anything else for the car and as I have already ordered the Maguire products.
Thanks to everyone for this great site.
A:
IMO Meguires makes good quality, consumer-oriented products, but the Detailers Paradise will take you to the next level as far as the finished result. I don't think there's anything wrong with using the Meguires for awhile, and then moving into the Detailer's Paradise line after a while. In fact it may be interesting for you to experience both, this way you'll be able to decide for yourself if the products really make enough of a difference, for you.
BTW, I really love the products I bought from Nick at DP, especially the Einszett Polishes. A friend has a 1959 Porsche 356 with a pretty rough paint job (lots of scratches some deep some not and lots of oxidation). We spent yesterday afternoon claying and then polishing and even though we've only finished with the first most aggressive stage of polish, there's already a very dramatic improvement. I can't wait until we've finished with the two more stages of polish, and then the wax products !