Yes I know this thread is not something you would normally expect from me, cleaning cars is not really my thing and I'm certainly not a 'detailer'.
However the family 500 has got in a bit of a state recently. The outside is filthy, not just dirt but that horrible green residue as well. Added to that the black side stripes have started to peel. Well they haven't looked good for ages, and to be honest I was never 100% happy with them from day 1, but recently they have looked shite!
So With the recent purchase of a polisher for just this job amongst other things I thought I'd strip the stripes off and give the car a damn good clean and polish.
Here is how it looked yesterday, complete with crappy stripes.
Stripe
Starting to take the stripe off
http://www.berlinasportivo.com/forum...0/IMAG0392.JPG
http://www.berlinasportivo.com/forum...0/IMAG0393.JPG
Gone completely
And no your eyes aren't deceiving you, after years of using red paint that fades to pink over the years, it seems that Alfa/Fiat are now using a red paint that gets darker when exposed to sunlight.
After a couple of hours armed with all sorts of solvent removers and some clean dry cloths all of the remaining glue from the stickers has gone. I suppose one thing you get from doing this sort of job is seeing just how bad the paint finish on the car is. Orange peel in a couple of places along with some colour variation and even a paint run. Luckily all will be covered up with new stickers.
And this is what it looked like before
So the plan today is to give the outside a good polish today and order some new side stripes, but this time in silver cos I fancy a change.
