Couple Questions - Could I get some opinions for a ~2000 Black Audi A8?

[drew.haynes]

Hey guys. haven`t detailed anything since last summer. Probably wouldn`t do anything but my cars this summer, but a friend is wanting me to work on his pretty swirly black A8.. I believe about a 2000. The only other Audi I`ve even messed with was a much newer A4 and it wasn`t really responding at all to a medium pad and OHC with my Makita.



What kinda pad/polish combos would be best for this car? I`d rather err on the side of safety... be aggressive enough to knock out 90% of the swirls and look way better, but not reach for 100% as it will be for free for a friend and I`d just prefer to maintain as much clear coat as is feasible since it`s 9 or so years old and I don`t know it`s history.



Thanks guys for your suggestions.

[a.k.a. Patrick]

White pad, Optimum Polish........Maybe follow with Finishing Polish afterwards if need be. will crispen the gloss slightly.

[Accumulator]

drew.haynes- My wife has a `00 A8 (and my `01 S8 has the same cosmetics).



You can use M105 without any real worries, just be more/less aggressive (pad/passes/pressure/etc.) depending on how thin you think the paint might be. It`s probably not as thin as you`d think.



Milder stuff just doesn`t do timely correction on that paint IME. You`ll find the M105 doesn`t cut nearly like you`d probably expect it to. You might be surprised how aggressive you have to get...I`d plan on an orange pad with PFW for the worst RIDS. And yeah...I`m keeping in mind that you`re not shooting for perfection (I don`t try for perfection on my wife`s car either and even the S8 has some flaws I just live with).



Back before M105 I corrected this paint via rotary using milder stuff, but it took *FOREVER* and I don`t mean just six/eight passes with the aggressive combo.



Definitely use M105 for the fingernail scratches behind the door handles.



I`ve used OCP on Audis a few times but only as the middle step of a three/four step polish. Didn`t impress me favorably.



Follow with something milder that`s rated for ceramic/etc. paint, but the M105 will finish out very close to ready-to-wax (at least it does for me on this paint).



TAPE THE BRIGHT ALUMINUM TRIM!!! The stuff under the headlights/above the rear bumper cover/around the side windows. Its clear coating is very fragile. I`d expect it to already be failing (looking cloudy) and I sure wouldn`t to anything to make it worse.



The chrome surround of the grill isn`t nearly as fragile, don`t worry much about that.



Also tape the sunroof surround and I`d tape the black pieces around the front/rear glass. I tape the GPS antenna`s sides when doing the trunklid.



I use abrasive polishes on the black plastic "B" and "C" pillars and also on the black plastic portions of the sideview mirrors (don`t get too aggressive with the latter).



Be careful removing the rear license plate, the threaded female inserts (that the plastic screws go into) can twist and tear out of their slots (big PIA).



I`m sure I`m forgetting something but the preceding oughta cover the big things :think:



Sheesh...that`d better be one *VERY* good friend ;)

[drew.haynes]

Thanks alot... also, in the past, I`ve never been able to finish down holo-free with the Makita and have had to use the PC for my last pass on cars. Is that probably what I will have to do here also, or will it be easier to finish down because the paint is so hard?



Last thing - how do M95 and M105 differ again? Sorry I`ve been gone too long...:doh

[Jason M]

M105 cuts more and finishes out nicer IMO. I helped a friend out with an 00 or 01 S8 last summer. 105/pc/Meg`s yellow pad followed by #80 and finally some #21 did the trick. It looked great when finished. About as much correction as you would want on a driver.



EDIT: Just saw you wanted to do your first step with the Makita. I have not had any issues going from 105/Rotary/Meg`s yellow pad to #80 on my PC. As long as you not leaving really bad swirls, which should not be an issue with the yellow pad, you should be able to remove the defects 105 leaves with #80 or something similar.



I would give it a go with your PC and 105 first though. 105 does a fair amount of correction on a DA. If it isn`t enough then step up to the Makita and use slow speeds. I like 1000-1200RPM with foam pads and #105. Using moderate pressure seems to work better than just the weight of the machine as well.

[Accumulator]

drewe.haynes- I can`t finish out 100% hologram-free via rotary and I`ve always finished up on the Audis with either the PC or my Cyclo (haven`t tried the Flex on `em yet).



Dunno about the diffs between those Meg`s products, never used M95 :nixweiss



I don`t really like M80 *on Audis* because it just doesn`t have quite enough cut, and if I want something *very* mild I`ll go with something that seems to gloss better with less chance of concealing (I usually finish Audis with a burnishing using 1Z High Gloss or 1Z Pro MP). I used to use M80 on the A8 but I`m a lot happier with other stuff for that step and *I* wouldn`t use it right after M105 *on that paint*. (NO, that`s not an :argue at Jason M, different people like different stuff and every detail is different. And M80 does *just* enough concealing that I can`t trust myself with it after using the rotary; I`m no rotary-Meister :o )



M105 *does* work well by PC and with 4" pads it should do the trick if you`d rather not use the rotary. I dunno...I`d probably do one pass with the rotary and then switch to the PC (still using fairly aggressive pads, in 4"). The few times I`ve had to *really* correct our Audis I`ve done best using the rotary for the initial work, but that was back before M105 too... I`ve done some *VERY* impressive correction on paints that`re at least as hard as my A8/S8 using the PC/4" and the Flex.

[imported_Ivan Rajic]

Drew if you are pretty good with the Makita and have M80 and their old 8006 pad handy give it a shot... just make sure you fully break down the polish but don`t work it too long (usually, you shouldn`t get any dust with M80 unless you work it too long) and apply more pressure than usual for the cutting passes @ about 1500... on a 2x2 foot area it usually takes me about 7-8 passes to finish down M80... I have yet to post some photos of a black Audi on which I did a 1-step with M80/8006 but it turned out perfect pretty much.

[SamIam]

drew.haynes- My wife has a `00 A8 (and my `01 S8 has the same cosmetics).

.



TAPE THE BRIGHT ALUMINUM TRIM!!! The stuff under the headlights/above the rear bumper cover/around the side windows. Its clear coating is very fragile. I`d expect it to already be failing (looking cloudy) and I sure wouldn`t to anything to make it worse.



The chrome surround of the grill isn`t nearly as fragile, don`t worry much about that.







That is the best piece of advice given for the A8. The aluminum trim around the windows will cloud up if you breath on it wrong. TAPE IT UP.



Anyone who`s owned one will know why.

[drew.haynes]

Sorry to get back here late, don`t mean to revive a dying thread really.



Here`s the game plan so far I think (keeping in mind I have to buy some new stuff anyway).



I am planning to order some 105 and 205. I just seem to hear TOO many good things about these two.



I am looking at getting a couple white Lake Country polishing pads and a red finishing kompressor also. My plan is to attempt to do the job with the white kompressor and 105 as the main first step. If there is any chance that is not aggressive ENOUGH on this hard clear, I also have So1o yellow wool and W4000 wool from Meguiars. I am not a HUGE fan of the So1o wool and have not TRIED the W4000. Meguiars rates their wool from least to most aggressive as Yellow So1o Wool < W4000 < Red So1o Wool < W5000 double-sided wool. So the W4000 may be a decent choice it sounds like, but again, I`d like to hear more opinions on that one as I haven`t tried it.



I`m looking forward to trying out the Kompressor pads, as I hear they really do grab less and are easier to control. My issue with the Makita vs the PC has ALWAYS been that many pads on the Makita just wanna grab and take off like I am having to FIGHT to keep them where I want them.



Thanks again and I`m open to more comments and opinions.



PS: Sweet.. there is a chance my friend may LEAVE his A8 in my garage for like 5 days when he comes to town, because he`ll be flying out to a wedding. So I MAY get the opportunity to spend as much as 5 days on it. I`m not expecting much as far as payment - I would just like to help him out, and I wanna see this car reach its true potential.

[Jason M]

105/white pad may or not be aggressive enough. It all depends on how deep the defects are that you want to remove. I just finished an 07 A4 today that had minor wash swirls (from me over the past year) and some deep brush scratches (dealer wash...not my fault :) ) 105 and yellow megs pad on my Makita was not enough. I ended up using a PFW pad and 105 to get them. PFW was very good by the way. First time I`ve used it.

[drew.haynes]

That`s helpful to know. I still wish I could find some more NON-meguiars-online people who have experience with the W4000 wool. I hear great things about PFW`s performance, but not always it`s durability. But based on what you just said, it does look like some wool of some sort may be in order. Turns out his A8 is like a 98 - should have years worth of swirling. I have only seen it briefly in daylight and I know there are pretty moderate swirls.

[Accumulator]

drew.haynes- Five days would be good. The `98 will still have the same hard clear and yeah...a few more years` worth of marring.



I finally did the hood of my wife`s A8 this last weekend (got marred by others a while back). This is the first time I`ve used M105 to do an entire panel of Audi clear. I suspect that the marring I corrected was far milder than that on the car you`re going to do.



The M105/white will *NOT* be aggressive enough. I used Flex/6" orange/M105 for the initial passes. Then I got more aggressive on isolated areas using PC/4" orange/M105. I still ended up leaving some residual marring that I felt was a bit deep for 100% correction, but it *did* take a few passes with those orange/M105 combos to sort out the stuff that was safe to remove. And I was leaning on the machines pretty hard.



I followed the orange/M105 with a single pass using Meg`s 8006 polishing pad/M105.



I finished up with Flex/9006 finishing pad/1Z High Gloss, first with moderate/more pressure and then with just the weight of the machine (kinda just burnishing with that last pass). Note that further burnishing with the Cyclo and finishing pads woulda, IMO, added a little bit more gloss.



Other than the PFW (yeah...get several) I`d be careful taking conventional wool pads to that car lest you instill not-so-micro marring that`ll be a PIA to get out. FWIW, I had less-than-stellar results when I tried Edge wool on Audi clear and *IME* it`s just not as happy a combo on that paint as some other approaches (PFW and foam).



Speaking of being careful, I know what you mean about "fighting the rotary" and I`d be very careful about not tilting the pad so much that you instill nasty holograms. I did OK rotarying our Audis (and I don`t consider myself a rotary-Meister) but from here on out I`ll be using aggressive *non* rotary techniques on them. I was able to do OK on an elderly friend`s *trashed* Audi using PC/3.5" PFW for the aggressive work, actually went a bit too far in a few places :o

[Jason M]

PFW is indeed a great pad. I have used the yellow SOLO pad and 105 on a few Audi`s as well. If you go that route then plan on at least 2 additional polishing steps.



I have gone both Makita/yellow meg`s foam pad/105 and DA/yellow meg`s foam pad/105 after using the Yellow SOLO wool. Both where able to remove the marring the SOLO wool left but it was taking a lot longer with the DA. Audi clear is hard for sure, but I will say that it does not mar near as easily as Vette clear. So it`s much easier to work with.



After cleaning up the marring the SOLO wool left with 105 you are going to need to chase that with something to finish. So you are in for a long day.....which is why I wanted to give the PFW a try. On the last Audi I did (07 A4 with some fairly deep brush scratches) I went like this:



Makita/PFW/105

DA/Meg`s yellow foam/Ultimate Compound (GREAT via DA by the way)

DA/Meg`s Black foam/205

LSP



All but the deepest of RIDS came out and the finish was very crisp....like rotary finish crisp.



One last thing. I did NOT have good luck using 205 as it says on the bottle on this particular paint....4-6 passes with moderate pressure and last two with light pressure. I ended up doing 6 passes all with moderate pressure and it was night and day better. Lightening up on the last couple passes didn`t leave the finish as crisp. The car was silver with a lot of flake so marring was tough to see. At just the right angle I could pick up some DA ticks and again, the finish was not as crisp. YMMV