Black Audi A3 Transformed by Unique Car Care

RickRack · 07-28-09, 04:38

This Audi A3 was scheduled for a complete detail to get it ready for resale. Despite only having just over 20K miles on the odometer, the car was in dire need of some TLC. It had spent a lot of time in the city, so it had its fair share of scratches, nicks, blemishes, etc… Luckily, the front of the vehicle was protected by the clear-bra protection film, which I was really impressed by. The exterior had lots of bonded contamination on the surface, as well as all exterior glass. The owner said that the car had been parked in a parking garage while it was raining, so it left some horrible water spots on the paint and all exterior glass due to the fresh cement.

Here are a few pictures to show how the car looked upon arrival.

The clear-bra was looking a bit rough and had quite a bit of damage, so the owner asked that I remove it completely.

Here you can see how good the clear-bra protected the paint…

After I removed the entire clear-bra, I gave the exterior a thorough pre-rinse to remove as much loose contamination as possible. Before proceeding to the wash, I spent a good amount of time cleaning the engine compartment, wheels, tires, wheel wells and jambs. P21S Wheel Cleaner Gel was used for the wheels and Spray Nine was used to clean the engine compartment, tires and jambs. Next, I soaked the car in foam with CG Maxi Suds II using my Gilmour Foamaster Foam Gun and let it dwell for several minutes before rinsing. I like to get as much dirt off the finish before washing it to prevent any additional marring.

I proceeded to wash the exterior using CG Maxi Suds II and gave the car a quick rinse. The contamination was pretty severe, so I clayed each panel very carefully to make sure that everything was removed. It took several Sonus claybars to remove all of the contamination. This made a huge difference and left the paint feeling silky smooth. I washed the exterior one last time using a fresh batch of soap and sprayed each panel with a degreaser to remove any previous products that may have been imbedded in the paint. I gave the exterior a final rinse and dried it completely. All door, hood and trunk jambs were wiped clean using a microfiber towel and all cracks & crevices were purged with compressed air to remove any remaining water

My brother started detailing the interior while I prepped the exterior for polishing. An acrylic solvent was used to remove any paint transfers from the finish as well as any leftover residue from the clear-bra. Next, I masked off any trim, moldings, etc. before any polishing took place.

The pictures below show the condition of the paint after the prep, prior to any polishing…

RickRack · 07-28-09, 04:40

I started by trying the least aggressive method possible, but it barely did anything. I continued to test different polishes and pads until I found the right combo. My goal was to remove as many of the defects as possible, without having to do a 3 or 4 step buffing treatment.

To remove the more serious defects, I used a combination of Menzerna Power Finish and Menzerna Super Intensive Polish using a blue Scholl Concepts pad on the rotary. It worked surprisingly well, but it still took several passes to get the results I was looking for. All in all, it took me about 13 hours straight to complete this step. It was a very long day, so I decided to close up shop for the night and continue the following day.

The following day, the exterior was wiped down with a damp microfiber and received an alcohol wipedown to remove any leftover carrier oils. I had Ryan give me a hand with the final polishing after we inspected the finish under halogen lighting. Although there were minimal holograms present, I wanted to use a product that had enough cut to remove them, yet finish off perfectly. For the final polishing step, I retired the rotary and switched over to my PC using Power Finish on an orange pad. This worked beautifully at removing the light holograms and finished off perfectly.

Here are the results after final polishing with no LSP…

Blackfire Wet Diamond sealant was applied to the entire exterior with a gold concours foam pad using the PC to ensure even coverage. While the Blackfire was drying, all tires were dressed with Opti-bond Tire Gel, all wheels were wiped down with Optimum Instant Detailer and the exhaust tips were cleaned with steel wool and polished with Wicked Metal Polish. To remove the cement stains from the exterior glass, I used super fine steel wool and window cleaner, then treated all glass with Optimum Opti-Seal. Lastly, the wet Diamond was removed using a fresh microfiber towel.

It was raining the next day, so the owner decided to leave it in the shop for another day until the weather got better. The car collected a little bit of dust while sitting in the shop, so I used compressed air to blow off the top surfaces and did a Zaino Z8 wipedown before the pictures were taken.

Here are the final results!

RickRack · 07-28-09, 04:41

As you can see, the rear bumper had some damage that I was not able to get out. I did touch-up these areas with factory touch-up paint after the picture was taken…

Thanks for looking!