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Lotus Elise 111S Show Preparation

With the 2020 Autosport International rapidly approaching, it was time for our in-house detailer, Elliott, to get our Managing Director’s Lotus Elise 111S ready for its stance at the show.

Knowing from previous maintenance washes, the Lotus needed a good polish. Elliott set off with the pre-wash stages using Dragons Breath  on the wheels, agitating with our Large Sash Brush  then allowing to dwell while he applied a generous layer of Advanced Neutral Snow Foam  to the vehicle – helping to break down the caked road grime from its daily 46 mile commute.

While the Snow Foam was working its magic, we used some diluted Citrus Pre Wash  and a Large Sash Brush  to get into those intricate areas. The whole car was then rinsed, including the wheels, ready for the hand washing stage. For this, we went for our Concentrated Car Wash – a great sudsy shampoo but with no added wax or gloss enhancers, making it the perfect go-to for this detail.

After completion of the hand wash, the car was once again thoroughly rinsed in preparation for the decontamination stage. Since the entire detail was on a tight deadline, Elliott applied our Dragons Breath  to the body to not only act as a chemical decontamination, but to also act as a lubricant for the claybar. Given more time, we would recommend using our Clay Rider.

Following the final rinse down, it was then time to get the Lotus under the lights for paint correction. For this, we used our Microfibre Polishing Pad  and Advanced Compound for a single stage polish – getting rid of the worst paint defects from the previous owners trips to the hand car wash.

Since the vehicle is to be involved in upcoming Lotus Speed Trial events later this year, we took this opportunity to apply our ValetPRO decals to the bodywork just after the correcting, but before applying a healthy layer of our Beading Marvellous – giving it a nice show shine and protection for up to 4 months.

The interior was next in line to be tackled. Being a fairly tight space, the best option was to take the seats out. This gave us access to somewhat hard to reach and hidden areas, whilst also unveiling some nasty surprises as seen in the video. To combat this, Elliott whipped out our Advanced Interior Cleaner. Being pH neutral, the product is safe to use on suede and alcantara, but is also proven to be a great all round cleaner. A trusty hoover then took its place on the mats, interior carpet trims, and seats. This was followed by a wipe down of the cockpit aluminium footplates.

With the seats back in, the dash was dusted using our Dash Brush  and hoover. The plastic trims were then dressed with Black To The Future . This concluded the detail and made it ready for its dirty motorway drive to the NEC.

Haven’t seen the video? Head over to our YouTube channel to see these steps carried out in action.

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