Large rock (or something) chip, any precautions when polishing, or other general suggestions?

[Bill1975]

I was here a couple years ago with a 2013 VW GTI, and received a lot of help and support. I now have a 2011 Audi A3. I bought it back in January, and am finally going to give it a proper polishing and detailing. But, I noticed this rather larger (about quarter sized) chunk of clearcoat missing on the hood. Any special precautions I need to take?

My plan is to do an ONR wash, clay, polish and finish with Gtech CSL ceramic coating. Going to use Sonax EX04-06 for the polish. If I need to go heavier I have some Menzerna M400 compound. Using a PC 7424 and Lake Country pads. I gave up on detailing for a year or so and my MF towels have been sitting in a sealed plastic bin waiting to be used. Thanks!

[Rsurfer]

That chip might be to big for Dr Colorchip. You may need to wet sand to even out the edges. Apply two thin coats of touch up paint, let dry for a day between coats and several coats of clear. Clear should be slightly above the surrounding paint. You will need several coats of clear as it will shrink while drying. Wet sand until level..polish the sanding marks. Good Luck.

[Stokdgs]

I was here a couple years ago with a 2013 VW GTI, and received a lot of help and support. I now have a 2011 Audi A3. I bought it back in January, and am finally going to give it a proper polishing and detailing. But, I noticed this rather larger (about quarter sized) chunk of clearcoat missing on the hood. Any special precautions I need to take?

My plan is to do an ONR wash, clay, polish and finish with Gtech CSL ceramic coating. Going to use Sonax EX04-06 for the polish. If I need to go heavier I have some Menzerna M400 compound. Using a PC 7424 and Lake Country pads. I gave up on detailing for a year or so and my MF towels have been sitting in a sealed plastic bin waiting to be used. Thanks!

Bill1975 --
Congrats on a pretty car ! I have always loved Detailing Audi vehicles.. They are finished so nicely, especially the Interiors..

That looks like pretty bad damage to the clear coat in those 2 places.. I assume you do not want to repair this at this time ?

Be careful to not polish very much on them, because the clear coat is gone..
If there is any clear coat left on the remaining paint there, and you remove the rest of it, the paint in time, will probably start to go bad there..

Looking at your picture, the paint already has pretty good clarity, I see lots of metallic..
Good luck with this !
Dan F

[Bill1975]

Bill1975 --
Congrats on a pretty car ! I have always loved Detailing Audi vehicles.. They are finished so nicely, especially the Interiors..

That looks like pretty bad damage to the clear coat in those 2 places.. I assume you do not want to repair this at this time ?

Be careful to not polish very much on them, because the clear coat is gone..
If there is any clear coat left on the remaining paint there, and you remove the rest of it, the paint in time, will probably start to go bad there..

Looking at your picture, the paint already has pretty good clarity, I see lots of metallic..
Good luck with this !
Dan F

Thanks. That picture was taken right after I got it so undoubtedly there was plenty of glazed or whatever slapped on it they use to detail it with. I`m thinking I might just put a little bit of tape over that section when polishing I have just to be safe. I`m sure it will look even better once I have a chance to really start working on it.

[Bill1975]

That chip might be to big for Dr Colorchip. You may need to wet sand to even out the edges. Apply two thin coats of touch up paint, let dry for a day between coats and several coats of clear. Clear should be slightly above the surrounding paint. You will need several coats of clear as it will shrink while drying. Wet sand until level..polish the sanding marks. Good Luck.

Thanks, I`ll keep that in mind. I`m probably going to worry about the detail first and then see if I can get some touch-up paint for it.

[Accumulator]

Bill1975- You might consider polishing the damaged areas by hand instead of with the PC.

I have damage like that on some of my Audis, and FWIW it has *NOT* gotten appreciably worse, even after many years, even on the one that doesn`t get a UV-blocking LSP. The Spies Hecker paint they use is very good, tough stuff. The way those areas have chipped makes me wonder whether the panel has been repainted, and if so I hope they used the SH paint instead of Glasurit/etc. It`d be nice if you didn`t have to do any more than you want to, any sooner than you want to...like, at all