Partybish's 190k HDI Cleanup Thread

[partybish]

There's still a rip in the driver's seat bolster but when I get the time I will strip down the spare seat I have and replace this.  They are much nicer to look at on the whole and I will hopefully get some door cards to match at a later stage.
   
With the interior all back together and a few odd jobs attended to the thing I had been really looking forward to was cleaning the exterior.  
The paint was looking pretty dull and flat before I started. 
   
I started by washing it with Meguiar's NXT car wash which made it look a lot better.
   
I then removed all the door strips and used a DA machine polisher to get rid of the worst marks on the car - like this scuff which had left white paint on the door.
   
Part of what let the car down was the alloys, they were flaking really badly from a DIY spray job and each one had a different brand of budget tyre on.  One tyre was completely bald meaning I had to put a steelie on just to get it home.
   
Before I even sourced the car I had manged to acquire a set of Wheelmania Lions from a user on the gti6 forum.  These wheels seem to divide opinion but I really like the OEM look they give the car whilst providing a bit more to fill the arches than the 15" cyclones.  Anyway, when swapping the rims over I decided to paint the calipers in hammerite smooth silver.
   
After washing, decontaminating, hand-polishing and sealing the car I was pretty pleased with the difference.
Before (I have no idea why the steelie was covered in red paint).
   
After shots...
   
   
   
And that's pretty much where I am up to.  I've actually changed my mind about how much work to put into it because I have really enjoyed working on it so much and it's been rewarding fixing things and learning as I go so when I get a bit more time I plan to do a full machine polish, tidy up the engine bay and continue the soundproofing in advance of adding a nice stereo setup for the daily commute.

Hope it wasn't too dull a read and all comments welcome