My love/hate relationship with black.

**neoprufrok** · 03-01-2004, 04:22 PM

So.. I spent another weekend in the garage with my halogen lights, PC, and a few polishes. My black A4 took a beating from the dealership and body shop. Long story short, there was a lot of swirls/scratches.

So this is what I did:

After testing out various things on the hood, I went-

p21s wash

pinnacle clay

Meguair`s DACP with yellow pad

3M FI3MG with white pad

Klassse AIO x 2 with white pad

Klasse SG x 1 so far.

My results:

My observations:

1) This was my first time useing Meguiar`s DACP. I found it to be more aggressive than 3m FI3MG leaving some very fine swirling afterwards. I iniitally tried 3m SMR after DACP but it didn`t take out the swirling. So I switched to 3m FI3MG which did the job with the white pad.

2) Uisng the PCWhtie pad with Klasse AIO was much better than by hand. It seemed to remove the slight haze left behind by the 3M FI3 better than by hand.

3) In myopinion, you can`t ever return a car`s paint back to factory fresh, zero miles condition. After all my work, there is still some very minor scratches and swirls that will show up with halogens or very bright, direct sunlight. I figured I could spend hours on end chasing those swirls, but the yield would be less with each attempt.

4) Black cars are the greatest test of your detailing prowess. Once I did this for my Black audi, I detailed my wife`s silver mercedes in a similar fashion and It looked stunning!

**Bill D** · 03-01-2004, 04:57 PM

I have the same car , but an 03, what happened to it that needed to go to the dealer/body shop? Sounds like they caused all the swirls. Any way, glad to see the car is looking good again.

**neoprufrok** · 03-01-2004, 05:20 PM

Well.. long story short, they installed the clearbra 2months after I bought the car because they couldn`t install it at the time of delivery. I saw that even though I washed the car right before I brought it to them, they washed it with their own machine non-touchfree wash. In addition, the person who put on teh clearbra must have used crappy towels. Lots of swirls near the clearbra.. which is still a problem I need to take care of.

The bodyshop was to repair a scractch in teh door left there by the dealer. They did it, but in the process buffed up the door some. I`ve had a horrible time getting bodyshops to take care of swirls, so I just didn`t even bother talking to them to fix it.

It is looking a lot better though.

Also.. the WOO method works great. No hazing and no residual Klasse.

**Bill D** · 03-01-2004, 05:28 PM

:scared

Wow, glad to hear its doing better. Gotta love the WOO method with Klasse :up

**Accumulator** · 03-01-2004, 05:51 PM

neoprufrok- Nice job; that Audi clear takes a lot of work :xyxthumbs BTW, I think you`re smart to take a "reasonable" view of black car ownership.

Oh, FI-III MG or PI-III MG (05937)?

**cas** · 03-01-2004, 06:05 PM

nice. I might follow your method. I have to do my baby soon

what is 3M FI3MG

I hope the image is showing up correctly.

**04Runner** · 03-01-2004, 06:19 PM

NEO - What are you putting on your tires? The car looks awesome.

**neoprufrok** · 03-01-2004, 06:26 PM

Originally posted by Accumulator

neoprufrok- Nice job; that Audi clear takes a lot of work :xyxthumbs BTW, I think you`re smart to take a "reasonable" view of black car ownership.

Oh, FI-III MG or PI-III MG (05937)?

Thanks!

Yeah.. it took a LOT of work.

I`m sorry I meant to say PI3MG!

**neoprufrok** · 03-01-2004, 06:28 PM

Originally posted by caster

nice. I might follow your method. I have to do my baby soon

what is 3M FI3MG

I hope the image is showing up correctly.

Man.. I love those cabs. Trying to convince the wife to dump the MBZ coupe and get a cab.. but she wont` bite!

**Accumulator** · 03-01-2004, 06:29 PM

neoprufrok- OK

on the PI-III. I wasn`t being [whatever], I just wondered if there was something new out there that I wasn`t aware of.

Caster- That is an especially nice looking ride! I dunno if I ever really appreciated the S4 cab until right now. That *IS* an S4 cab, right?

**neoprufrok** · 03-01-2004, 06:29 PM

Originally posted by 04Runner

NEO - What are you putting on your tires? The car looks awesome.

Thanks! I use Zaino actually. I love the stuff. I used 303 protectant up to a certain point, but I found it loss its silky shine within 2-3 days with any amount of rain. Zaino stays on for a week ro so, which is good enough for me. It also looks natural, not greasy.

**cas** · 03-01-2004, 06:37 PM

Originally posted by Accumulator

neoprufrok- OK on the PI-III. I wasn`t being [whatever], I just wondered if there was something new out there that I wasn`t aware of.

Caster- That is an especially nice looking ride! I dunno if I ever really appreciated the S4 cab until right now. That *IS* an S4 cab, right?

s4 cab doesnt come out till aprilish.. This is the 1.8T cab

**Accumulator** · 03-01-2004, 06:43 PM

Caster- OK, gotcha. The wheels fooled me. It`s still one VERY sharp car :xyxthumbs

**neoprufrok** · 03-01-2004, 07:15 PM

I should mention one other thing. My PC 7424 is having some trouble actually rotating with the 7.5" pad. Seems easier with the 6" pads. Anyone else have this issue?

**cas** · 03-01-2004, 07:55 PM

i never got my question answered. what is 3M FI3MG ? Maybe machine glaze? I got IHG,SMR, p21s DACP . I just want to pick up some Klasse Twins and hopefully I should be able to achieve what neo did!