Accumlator, what is your process?

[SamIam]

Accumulator,



As I recall, your better half drives a pearl white A8, doesn`t she? I also remember that you had an extensive process to perfect the pearl white paint, that included 1Z polishes.



I have a pearl Lexus GS300 AWD and would like your tips.



By the way, I do miss my A8, but don`t want to get another one till I either find the deal of the century on a pre-2004 or move up to a 2006 model year. In the process of some change in my professional life, so for right now its make the Lexus as perfect as I can and I thought I`d get your input on the process to do so.



Thanks,



SamIam

[Accumulator]

SamIam- You`re close :D Accumulatorette drives a *silver* A8, it was my late father who had the pearl white car (`90 Audi V8). Dunno how helpful this will be but here goes..



The process I used on her car the last time was as follows:



I`d just used the rotary on my (virtually identical) S8 and was pretty :eek: by how well it turned out, so I did the first passes with that- 3M PI-III EC RC 05936 on some etching (when that didn`t remove it I decided to live with it), PI-III RC 05933 on the whole thing. Then the 05933 again by Cyclo. Then 1z PP on the whole thing by Cyclo. Then finally 1Z WaxPolishSoft topped with #16.



It`s hard to remember what I used on my dad`s pearl V8, but I know the LSP was #16. I probably used Autoglym SRP under the #16 but for the prep :nixweiss IIRC I was trying Griot`s machine polishes back then and still using Malm`s polish for me medium-duty one.



I bet the 1Z would be great on your pearl GS300 AWD.



Yeah, I don`t blame you on the Lexus. The friend who sold my dad`s Audi to get a Lexus doesn`t like it as well, but she *loves* never having to go in for unscheduled maintenance. Heh heh, my wife, OTOH, says that if anything happens to her A8 she wants another 2000-model-year one for a replacement (last year with perfect throttle response).

[SamIam]

Thanks for the tips. I may have forgotten the color of your wife`s A8, but I remember you put alot of effort into it.



Yeah, the nice thing about the Lexus is that you don`t have the constant niggling electrical stuff that seems to happen after you fix the big expensive stuff, like the transmission. My A8 mechanic told me however, he`s NEVER seen an Audi V8 motor die. The really nice thing about the Lexus is the way they treat you. For a guy who was tired of Audi telling me tough luck for issues like the transmission failure at 51K miles, having the Lexus dealer give me a new Lexus to drive for a 700 mile business trip and not even bat an eye was a refreshing change.



Thanks and post some pics of the RX7 and your dogs sometime. I was wondering how the Mazda turned out. I have my eye on an old 240Z right now and need some motivation!

[Accumulator]

SamIam- Well, I didn`t put as much work into her car as I did on the S8, but it was plenty ;)



Heh heh, I`ve been just *awful* about doing anything with the RX-7 :o Haven`t touched it since I got the M3 and I haven`t been touching *that* either..always seem to have something more important to do...so I just drive/wash the doghaulers that get dirty anyhow.



Oh, and we`re down to just one dog now :( My #1 K9 (10 yr old male) died unexpectedly last autumn. Made me glad I`d been spending so much time with the dogs instead of working on detailing the cars, but I do need to get going on the RX-7 and the M3 (before the next puppy gets here to monopolize my time).



Yeah, I know what you mean both about the way a dealer treats you and the never-ending issues with certain Audis. I`m lucky in that Stoddard will seemingly do *anything* to keep me happy...goodness knows some of my demands are pretty out-there but they take it all in stride and are always saying "whatever we can do to make you happy, just tell us..". That comes in handy when things go wrong, we`d go nuts if we had to take them in for service instead of having their guy come to the house for them. Latest headache- motor for driver`s seat headrest :rolleyes: This makes twice it`s quit working since they had to tear the seat apart for something else, I suspect they knocked something loose.



I too hear that the Audi V8s never die. I`ve driven early `90s V8s with over 300K that felt fine, maybe even a little peppier than less-used ones.

[SamIam]

First of all, my condolences on the passing of your male. I know how hard that can be, I lost my female shepard 3 years ago and I still miss her badly. We have a 14 yr old Belgian Tervuren female that is showing her age and I know sometime down the road we are going to have to make a hard decision.



Onto the Audi headrest. Does the motor work but the headrest doesn`t work? If so, follow the link to a procedure that fixes it.

AudiWorld Forums: Front Seat Headrest Repair Procedure -- Almost (http://forums.audiworld.com/a8/msgs/11503.phtml)



Yeah, I drove a 300K mile V8 that was a loaner car. Mechanically, it was awesome.

[Accumulator]

Thanks to tyhe AudiWorld link. Yeah, that`s what was wrong with mine (both times). Heh heh, the fix sounds straightforward enough, but not quite as easy as calling them up and saying "come get the car and fix it" ;) I know, I`m awful these days :o but I gotta say that Stoddard`s service dept. is just great; they haven`t charged me for any seat-stuff repairs since they took them apart a few years ago...don`t even remember what the original problem was.



14 is a good old age for a Tervuren! Beautiful dogs, don`t envy you the shedding though.