Have any of you achieved a "perfect finish" on a previously "imperfect" DD?

[autobahn]

I want to hear your stories/techniques, if so.



By perfect, I mean all scratches removed, no spider webbing left. On my GF`s 2002 A4, we got the finish (in the spots it wasn`t scratched) to be looking VERY GOOD... but in direct sun you can still see small spiderwebbing... I`m left wondering how/if I could ever get that finish to be perfect.



Or, as I somewhat suspect, is this an almost impossible thing?

[gmblack3]

Audi clear is very hard. I have not worked on any yet. What is your process?

[awahl63]

My audi was pretty much perfect for awhile until I marred it up a little bit...I`ll lightly polish it out next spring

[imported_themightytimmah]

Yep I`ve done it before. Doesn`t last forever, but WOW it looked good for a coupla months until I went away for a week and my sister tried her hand at washing it. With Dawn. And a kitchen sponge :hairpull. It was pretty beat from 80,000 miles of abuse, process was:



Touch up scratches (black is such an easy color to touchup, the paint ALWAYS matches.)

1500 grit wetsand on touchups and deep scratches

PG/Wool/1250RPM on sand marks

PG/Orange Foam/1500RPM on whole car

PO85RD/white foam/1500RPM

PO85RD/white LC/Cyclo



I spent a full day polishing, here`s it after a wash about 3 weeks later (Paint had BN X2 and Souveran X1 on it)







Too bad the car still had dings in it :angry. Wish I knew PDR too .

[autobahn]

our process was to start out with 1z PP on a white pad and then finish up with FPII on a white pad.



like I said, didn`t take any scratches and deep swirls out, but took out most of the imperfections in areas that weren`t bad. left a very glossy beautiful finish. just annoyed me that in direct sun we could still see imperfections.



I`m going to hit it with HC or OC and a yellow pad soon and see if we can get some of the scratches on the wheel arches and hood out.

[awahl63]

Tim,

When you said BNX2 did you mean NB or is there a BN I don`t know about it?



Thanks,

Andrew

[imported_Picus]

I came tantilizingly close on my G35 - but some of the stones chips up front ruined the "perfect". Oh well, 4 yrs old and 100k on it, what can you do. The whole process took probably 50-100 hours over a month. Good luck!

[Accumulator]

My audi was pretty much perfect for awhile until I marred it up a little bit...I`ll lightly polish it out next spring

Same here. I haven`t polished the S8 for over two years, so it`s, uhm a little the worse for wear even with my careful washing. Same with my wife`s A8 after more than a year since *it* was polished. Neither one`s bad enough to redo though. I`m thinking next spring too. The minivan might be in the best shape of all my vehicles, but it`s headed to the paintshop so you know what that probably means



Autobahn- But other than stuff like RIDS that I`m chicken to tackle and issues from the varous repaints, yeah, I`ve removed all the marring from those, and they`re drivers. Basically, only stuff that`s still there when I apply my LSP are the RIDS that I don`t have enough clear to take out. Takes a *long* time to spot all the flaws on silver, but when I`m doing correction I search out all the flaws and correct them if I have enough clear for my peace of mind.



*BUT* you always have to take the individual case as a separate example. What can/can`t be safely corrected varies with the job and no IMO you can`t come close to perfection on a lot of cars. The 73K mile M3 I picked up would have clearcoat failure in no time if I did enough correction to really fix its issues. Gotta think long-term and that calls for thick clear.



On the Audis I have to use a rotary, just no way I can get them right with only the PC/Cyclo and goodness knows I tried. So I sure wouldn`t feel bad about that A4. And even when you have the right tools and know enough to use them without issues, you really do have to consider the amount of clear you`re taking off.



On the Minivan, I can get all the wash-induced marring and other such flaws out with the PC/4" combo. But it`s a lot softer than the Audis are.



Note that as themightytimmah said, once you get something perfect it`s a whole `nother issue *keeping* it that way. I can`t imagine anybody washing more gently/carefully than I do and I *still* pick up a little bit of marring here and there...nothing you notice for a long time, but then it builds up to where you *do* see it (at least if you`re looking for it in the right lighting).



For the Audi, if you want to try again by PC get some 4" pads. Try something like 1Z`s Ultra/Extra and don`t switch to the PP until it`s looking *good*. A follow up with a milder product that gives a better gloss might help, even if you don`t get *all* the marring out. PP just doesn`t quite leave a nice enough finish for my taste.



PP/white is too fine for correction on an Audi, even with 4" pads I`d go more aggressive. Seems like the paint on those is either very hard (what I`d expect) or very *soft* (Mike P. had one that was so soft #80 micromarred it, and yeah it was factory paint :nixweiss ).