Silver Audi A8 Detail - Printable Version

Silver Audi A8 Detail - Printable Version

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Silver Audi A8 Detail - Lambros - 13-02-2011 10:12 PM

Hi all,

First Show Room post ... here we go. Wavey

I finally had some ‘alone’ time with my car on Friday and Saturday where I put many of the forums recommendations to good use. I did plan on using my wifes car to test my abilities and show better results due to the dark colour, but she would not let me near it after she heard the DAS6 spool up! Nono

I prepped the weapons of choice I would be using from a couple of days before. All cloth's were given a clean, a quick run through the dryer on a warm setting to remove any loose fibres and the tags were also removed:
[Image: Weapons.jpg]

Some before pics:
[Image: CarBefore1.jpg]

Pulled the car into the shade and let it cool before attending to the wheels. A quick spray with Sonax Full Effect and pressure cleaned:
[Image: Mag2.jpg]

I also gave the wheel arch's a quick brush and clean:
[Image: Mag3.jpg]

Gave the car a pre-foam with the K3 using a mix of CG Maxi-Suds II and Blade APC:
[Image: CarDuring2.jpg]

Followed with a standard cleaning using the same dilution and mix, paying special attention to all the badges and panel gaps with a soft brush. This was followed by a quick claying using the Megs Smooth Surface kit:
[Image: CarDuring1.jpg]

This is what the damage looked like using a normal incandescent bulb. I never would have noticed this if was not for the forum Bluebiggrin

! The boot, roof and bonnet were bad while the rest of the car had minor swirls and a few scratches:
[Image: Assess3.jpg]

Some scuffs on the rear doors (black mark is a bug-in-flight):
[Image: RearLeftScratches1.jpg]

Taped-up car and got ready to try a pad/polish combo on this paint:
[Image: CarTaped1.jpg]

Before polishing, I spot buffed out some deeper scratches with a combo of ScratchX then SwirlX by hand, each followed with a clean with alcohol/water mix to clean out any possible fillers.

I went with the Menzerna Power Polish on an orange then green LC pad and followed with Power Finish for the boot, bonnet and roof. The rest of the car was worked with Power Finish / green LC pad and completed with Final Finish on a yellow 3M polishing pad.

Here's a pic of the rear quarter panel after a few passes with the Power Finish, I could not believe the difference in colour (less yellow) compared with the unpolished rear door:
[Image: PowerGloss1_2.jpg]

I finally finished the polishing and managed to achieve about a 60 or 70% correction - I found the clear coat to be quite hard. Here are the afters:
[Image: After3.jpg]

I used an orange spot pad with Menzerna Final Finish for the bumpers and pillars:
[Image: BPillar2.jpg]

I then gave the car another wash and dry before applying a coat of Poor Boy's White Diamond glaze. This was followed with Wolfgang Deep Gloss paint sealant 3.0 (no cleaners) and left to cure overnight.

While the sealant was curing, I gave the exhaust tips and rear boxes a once-over with Autoglym Metal Polish - I sped things up by wrapping an old wool bonnet around a drill bit for cleaning inside the tips.
[Image: TailPipe2.jpg]

The following morning, I uncovered the car and tried my hand at applying my first paste wax, the Collinite Marque de Elegance. My initial priority was always to put down as much protection as possible - the Collinite came highly recommended.

Application with a foam applicator was easy, buffing off was difficult. I probably only used half a teaspoon of the wax for the entire car. I now get what most people talk about when applying wax on a light colour car - the hard popping silver colour seemed to adopt a very slight gold 'halo'. I'll admit that I liked the finish with only the sealant but prefer the extra protection.

Here are the full after pics:
[Image: SunPick1.jpg]

I also applied the Wolfgang sealant to the rims (rims have a circular brushed-finish on the spokes) and Megs Endurance tire gel:
[Image: Mags4.jpg]

Rear lenses were polished with Megs PlastX by hand:
[Image: RearLens.jpg]

Engine was wiped-down with APC dilution and dressed with Megs Engine Dressing:
[Image: Engine1.jpg]

Finally, the interior plastic trim and 3M CF wrap was given a quick wipe-down with Sonax matt cockpit cleaner and windows cleaned with Sonax anti-mist spray. By this stage I was too tired to even think about vacuming or treating the leather (last treatment was 2 months ago anyway):
[Image: Interior2.jpg]

Thanks for looking and all your great advise.

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - STaX - 13-02-2011 10:49 PM

Nice job. Really looks good.

How effective did you find the Autoglym Metal Polish? How long did you have to work it before you got the desired results on the exhaust pipes?

Do the Z-5500s make up part of your detailing kit? Bluebiggrin

I'm still looking(and saving) for a set of those, best home theatre speakers for the money IMHO.

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - Lambros - 13-02-2011 11:18 PM

(13-02-2011 10:49 PM)STaX Wrote: Nice job. Really looks good.

How effective did you find the Autoglym Metal Polish? How long did you have to work it before you got the desired results on the exhaust pipes?

Do the Z-5500s make up part of your detailing kit? I'm still looking(and saving) for a set of those, best home theatre speakers for the money IMHO.

Thanks STaX!

The Autoglym Metal Polish was easier to work than I initially thought. First I gave the inside/outside of the pipes a good clean with APC and old rags (5 years of carbon build-up isn't pretty) and worked the polish for about 5 minutes on the outside of each pipe by wrapping a cloth around and using an up/down motion. I would probably still be polishing the inside if I didn't MacGyver the wool bonnet! Bluebiggrin

With the drill, it took about 10 minutes to clean the inside, including a finishing buff. I am considering changing the rear tips as you can now see the spot welds. Luckely they are held on with bolts and not welded to the silencers.

The Logitech's are excellent; I bought them about 4 years ago and still going strong. I agree with you, best out-of-the-box setup you can get for the money. I use them for my PC ... my neighbors hate me when I feel like some Call of Duty or F1! Rofl

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - calypso - 14-02-2011 07:39 AM

If this is a first time you did an excellent job with alot of off the shelf products.
A car as big as a A8 is not an easy job.

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - Jughead - 14-02-2011 08:28 AM

Awesome work Lambros ... Thanks for the write-up and pics ... a noticeable improvement all round ... Thumbsup2

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - katotter - 14-02-2011 09:02 AM

Great outcome

I just hope my first comes out just as good Thinking

How did you find the clear coat, was it difficult to correct? I know our German cars has a very hard clear coat.

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - PAP AND FLIES - 14-02-2011 12:10 PM

Brilliant work Clap

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - PrevanP - 14-02-2011 12:36 PM

Great work Lambros..........love the A8 !!

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - Lambros - 14-02-2011 02:51 PM

Thanks to all for the kind words!

(14-02-2011 09:02 AM)katotter Wrote: Great outcome I just hope my first comes out just as good
How did you find the clear coat, was it difficult to correct? I know our German cars has a very hard clear coat.

Given that this was the first time I used a DA and proper pads, I would say that the paint is on the hard side. It was a bit daunting starting with a light cutting pad and low-cut polish and not seeing any results after a bunch of passes! Thinking

Eventually, I did about of 3 sets of 6 section passes with the Menz Power Gloss and light LC cutting pad for the bad roof, boot and bonnet to get a respectable correction. This alone took me half the day.

Next time I'll either consider using a more abrasive pad to cut quicker then polish the finish back up ... or sign-up for some rotary lessons! Iono

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - Carn - 15-02-2011 08:21 PM

Nice work Lambros, for a first attempt you certainly nailed it

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - springbok - 15-02-2011 08:56 PM

You can be justifiably chuffed. Well done on an excellent job.

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - onyx - 21-02-2011 11:50 AM

Nice work on your first attempt!

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - Edlover - 02-03-2011 02:44 PM

Excellent work. How effective would the Metal Polish be if used by hand? I find that I never get the great results I want when using just APC (also, any other metal polishes you recommend for use by hand?)

Secondly, who did the carbon wrap? It looks awesome. Is it quite durable, or can you see the edges/finishing when close up?

PS - one more question. Scratch X, how useful do you find it? I found it made no real difference when used by hand, or a Shield Orbital polisher.

I tried it on external lights, and on internal instrument clusters. I cant seem to get the fine scratches off my internal cluster.

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - Lambros - 02-03-2011 05:45 PM

(02-03-2011 02:44 PM)Edlover Wrote: Excellent work. How effective would the Metal Polish be if used by hand? I find that I never get the great results I want when using just APC (also, any other metal polishes you recommend for use by hand?)

Secondly, who did the carbon wrap? It looks awesome. Is it quite durable, or can you see the edges/finishing when close up?
PS - one more question. Scratch X, how useful do you find it? I found it made no real difference when used by hand, or a Shield Orbital polisher.

I tried it on external lights, and on internal instrument clusters. I cant seem to get the fine scratches off my internal cluster.

Thanks for the compliments!

I have not had much experience with metal polishes but can attest that the AG needed to be pretty worked hard but with good results. Carn has an excellent acid-based product and method (25 hours with a Z4 ///).

I did the carbon wrap over 8 hours taking my time as this was my first attempt. I used the '3M Di-Noc' CF vinyl which is a quality product as it's very easy to apply and trim. Durability is guaranteed to last about 4 years outside and 10 years inside and I have not been able to scuff or scratch it yet. The only recommendations I can give is that it is best to first remove and clean (with alcohol) those trims pieces you want to wrap and invest in a scalpel, heat gun or powerful hairdryer to stretch the wrap over the edges to leave a perfect finish. I have some CF off-cuts left if you're in JHB and want to look/try the material.

I found the ScratchX to work well as a cleaner and concealer but not very effective at removing paint scratches permanently unless you really work the product for a long time (I focused on isolated scratches by hand). I would recommend PlastiX + elbow grease for your lights and cluster as its better suited to softer plastic material.

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - Edlover - 12-03-2011 11:36 PM

Thanks dude. I am in Cpt and was planning an intensive detail on my Audi this weekend, but my baby had other plans and wanted to see the world sooner than we expected so now my time is dedicated to the new baba. Seems car cleaning will take a back seat for a bit :-)

I have tried PlastX with little or no success on the centre cluster.

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - Torres1 - 13-03-2011 06:54 PM

Nicely done...

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - Lambros - 13-03-2011 08:49 PM

(12-03-2011 11:36 PM)Edlover Wrote: Thanks dude. I am in Cpt and was planning an intensive detail on my Audi this weekend, but my baby had other plans and wanted to see the world sooner than we expected so now my time is dedicated to the new baba. Seems car cleaning will take a back seat for a bit :-)

I have tried PlastX with little or no success on the centre cluster.

Congratulations on the new arrival - All the best for your newest member of the family! Clap

I'll do some research regarding the Audi cluster plastics and see if I can find some polishing alternatives which may work better.

RE: Silver Audi A8 Detail - Edlover - 03-04-2011 02:52 PM

Thanks dude. I managed to wash the Megane and polish it with Meg's gold class. It really worked well on the black. Now I just need to find time to clay the audi and polish it. I plan to every weekend, but yaw, a baby keeps u busy and when you are not busy, you're tired!