2002 Black Audi TT (56k uh-oh)

[animes2k]

So my friend says "yeah, it's dirty."

New Rule: if someone says it's dirty, believe them.

I was almost out of p21s wheel cleaner, so i picked up some a2z wheel and tire cleaner on the way there. My hands still hurt. Wear gloves.

So I get there, look it over and notice the swirls aren't TOO bad, but there are some suspect areas... Turns out it's looking like clearcoat failure in a few spots. Very odd. A chip in the repainted door, but otherwise not too many deep scratches. I didn't intend to attack this as a swirl-removal job. Good thing.

I noticed the wheels and thought they were painted...


Nope. Not painted.

I noticed the interior looked "a little dirty"... Darn garage lighting. It was filthy.

Anyway, here's the process/products:

1) fix complex-supplied hose
2) figure out how to turn on water
3) attach my own hose and nozzle to complex hose

Quick wash (z7) 4-bucket method (2 buckets x 2) FILTHY!
a2z on the wheels, scrub scrub scrub, rinse!
p21s on the wheels, let dwell
pull the mats (ew):
Folex the hell outta 'em
Prestone 'em too! Scrub scrub scrub!
Vacuum (3 whole HP of Craftsman POWER!)
Woolite (6:1) on all the leather. And then some.
Awesome (10:1) on vinyl (ew!) - a cheapie APC, all I had, $1 well spent
Spot the trunk area, scrub
Spot the carpets, scrub
Meguiar's Interior QD (had to try it!) - works pretty well, I like...
IG on glass

More wheel scrubbing, more a2z (I left the remaining 1-2 oz in the bottle there). Give up on wheels without taking them off. Curbed to hell, anyway.

Clay.
Clay.
More Clay.
Guess what comes next?
Clay. (had to hit some horizontal surfaces 4+ times to clean it off)
GEPC/4" SFX2/4-5 (x2-3 in some CC failure areas)
I was done. Souveran topper.
Armor All on the wheel wells
Meguiar's grape gel on the tires
Leave the wheels alone... Usually would have AIO/SG'd em, but um.. no.


I'll consider this the "prep" for a true prep. Ouch. I just about kicked him in the head (my friend... whose car this is).

The Before pics...



No interior befores. Too dark, didn't think to use flash, didn't think it was that bad :P

The AFTERS. GEPC really came through and of course Souveran and natural light are my friends, but the swirls were visibly reduced in harsh lighting.






I remember why I have a guy that does interiors for me...

- Chris

[animes2k]

more pics...

[BigAl3]

[G35stilez]

Beautiful!


At least your honest man...There are limits to everything, but you sure as hell made this one look a helluva lot better!

You may want to invest in some wheel acid to chew up that brake dust. A2Z and P21s can get expensive.

[RuffRyder]

Awesome job! I hope you smacked your friend around a few times for having his car in this condition!

[animes2k]

Yes, please. Wheel acid. By the gallon? Some of that stuff on the inside of the wheels was NOT going to budge. I really wanted to make a nice detail out of this, but I didn't expect such a long time (8+ hrs). I wasn't very efficient with my interior, which didn't help at all and after claying, I noticed the maintenance guys turned off the water, so I had to QD the whole car.

Thanks for the thumbs up and the comments. I knew YOU guys would appreciate it (feel my pain). He's impressed, but I almost had to hard-sell him on this.

Be careful what you wish for, I guess...

[themightytimmah]

Wow, helluva job Chris. I had an Audi A8 come to me in similar condition, it laughed at A2Z. I ended up using Hydroflouric acid, it took 4 shots of it WITH AGITATION to get the rims truly clean. Even then, some of the dust was burned in beyond repair. The HFl brightener is nasty stuff though, I'd highly suggest picking up a gallon of PB's Spray+Rinse next time you order detailing supplies. If you're used to P21S, it'll knock the socks off of ya.

[gav'spurplez]

very nice !!

[animes2k]

Thanks, timmAHHHY!
I just ordered a less-expensive wheel cleaner (DP?) to try out with an order from autogeek (arriving tomorrow! what did i order, now?)... But I'll give the PB's a shot. the p21s is terribly expensive...

I'm running either out of my garage or mobile and out of the trunk/passenger seat of my s2000... not exactly a lot more room for more products and tools. I think I need something else to detail with... 91 accord would work (my bro's), but it's been broken into 6 times already...

Thanks for the suggestion of the HFl, but I think I'll prolly pass on that for now... people are pretty understanding and most of my clients aren't TERRIBLY demanding, what few I do have. I sort of wish I hadn't even tried to clean the inside of the wheels... But MINE are soooo clean... hehe

----------------

Thanks, gav's!

[guapsnaman]

Nice car and excellent pics man.

What kinda camera you using?

[animes2k]

thanks, guapsnaman... it's a canon 10d... i usually bring along my wide zoom on details (16-35/2.8), as I did with this one.

[Porkanbeans]

Wow, beautiful job! Looks like you were very thorough in your work. Through the running out of P21s to the water shut-off, I'd say you're incredibly more patient and persistant than I am . Those are some great pics, too.

Awesome job!