Projects | Ford Focus RS | New Car Prep | Clear Bra

by James Melfi

When the team heard a new Ford Focus RS was coming in, it is safe to say we were all a little giddy. I mean… a Nitrous Blue RS, that’s one sweet color and we couldn’t wait to get our hands on it.

Once the vehicle arrived, we performed our initial inspection, which mostly involved us drooling over the car.

We then brought it into the wash bay to begin our decontamination stages. We started with the wheels, giving them a thorough rinse followed by liberally spraying Gtechniq W6 Iron and General Fallout Cleaner onto the faces and barrels. We left the wheel cleaner to cling to the brake dust for about 2-3 minutes and agitated with a variety of boar’s hair brushes.

After the wheels were completed, we rinsed the body removing any loose dirt and debris.

We began the wash process with a Sonax Multi-Star APC foam bath. This step allowed the APC to loosen any bonded contamination and prepare the paintwork for a traditional 2×2 bucket wash. The APC bath has become one of our favorite methods in preparing paintwork prior to a traditional wash. It drastically reduces the risk of scratching while using a wash mitt.

Once the APC had been rinsed off, we switched over to another shop favorite… Chemical Guys Citrus Wash. We foamed the car down a second time and added a few drops of shampoo into our soap bucket. We carefully washed the whole vehicle, rinsing out our microfiber wash mitt often.

After the wash process, we clayed the paint using a 22ple prototype clay bar. We dried the vehicle with the Metro Master Blaster Revolution and a couple of premium microfiber drying towels.

After the wash we began to wipe the paint down with IPA in order to remove any previous wax or sealant layers still left over from the wash. We then grabbed our Rupes Pen Light to do one more inspection before the PPF install.

We installed top coated film on the entire front end including the front bumper, full fenders, full hood, mirror caps, headlights and door cups.

The client wanted the rear emblem removed so we heated it up and removed it with some fishing line. The left over adhesive was taken off with 3m adhesive remover.

We then applied 2 layers of Gtechniq C2V3 Liquid Crystal to the paintwork, trim and glass.

Gtechniq C2 (v3) Liquid Crystal will add gloss and protection to your paint in an easy to use spray on formula! C2 v3 is a high gloss spray-on coating that will blanket your vehicle in a highly reflective, glass-like finish