2004 Audi S4, first rotary use of new Optimum polishes

[Scottwax]

I`ve been trying to detail this S4 since the middle of March. First we got snowed out-yes, snowed out in March in Dallas, then two rain delays. Finally had a nice sunny day to work on the car. The owner takes good care of the car, pretty minimally swirled for a 6 year old Audi. Unfortunately, that still means some aggressive polishing since Audi paint is so hard.





After an ONR wash and Opti-Clay (probably the least contaminated 6 year old car I`ve ever done!), I inspected the paint. The hood has some scratches from a board that was kicked up in traffic and bounced off the hood and windshield. The hood also had some rotary hologramming that wasn`t on the rest of the car. Should have grabbed a few pics, those would have shown up. The mostly light spider swirls didn`t show up in the pictures.



I started off with Optimum Hyper Compound using a yellow Meguiars foam polishing pad which quickly eliminated the rotary swirls but I had to step up to an American Buffing yellow soft cut wool pad to knock the scratches down. Didn`t totally eliminate all of them but what`s left is nowhere near as noticeable as it was.



OHC and a wool pad left light holograms:







Following with OHC and a Meguiars yellow foam polishing pad left a few random, very faint holograms I couldn`t pick up with the camera.







OHC/Meguairs yellow foam didn`t appear to leave any holograms on the trunk lid.







Other than a few faint holograms, mostly on the curved areas at the tops of the doors and fenders, the paint looked pretty close to LSP read after just OHC and a yellow Meguiars polishing pad. Even the areas the sun baked for a couple hours as I moved around the car compounding it still looked good to go. OHC is as sun friendly as Meguiars #105, has a longer working time and appears to have similar cut. Just like #105, it doens`t take a lot of rpm to work either, mostly kept it around 1000-1200 rpms.



I then switch to another yellow Meguiars polishing pad and Optimum Hyper Polish. Very smooth feel when rotary polishing with it and absolutely zero issues in the sun. Occasionally #205 can be a bit finicky in the sun, laying down a blotch of polish here and there. Didn`t notice that at all with OHP. Really good results at 1000-1400 rpms.



After using OHC and OHP:











I left to grab lunch and let the car bake in the sun. The heat seems to flash the oils off and quickly expose anything they might be hiding (Meguiars #83 is notorious for this!). 45 minutes later, I found 3 very faint holograms that I could only see at certain angles. I went over the whole car with 3M Ultrafina using a blue Utlrafina pad at 1000-1800-1000 rpms.











I then washed the car down with ONR as I did get some minor dusting from Hyper Compound and Ultrafina (Hyper Polish didn`t seen to dust noticeably) and waxed with Clearkote`s Carnauba Moose. The mirrors and exhaust tips were polished with Optimum Metal polish, tires and fenerwells dressed with Armor All.











































So far, so good with the new Optimum Polishes. Obviously, I need to try them out on more than one car with a rotary to see if they truly can replace or stand toe to toe with Meguiars #105/205 combo. First impressions are quite good though.

[buiyahkah]

amazing work as always scott!

[imported_paintxpert]

Where is your porter cable????? Just kidding. You see how nice the paint correction looks with the rotary? I am not talking to you Scott. I am talking to the vibrator world of detailers. It is imperative to know how to power polish and make the glorious Sun your boss....similar to what Scott has done here. Nice work Scott. Audis have great paint on them. Correction can be fun with the right products! I will have to familiarize myself with the products your using.

[imported_Time2Shine]

Looks awesome, great work. Did you apply the Carnauba Moose by hand or via rotary? Do you think it matters for those applying carnauba as a final step by hand?

[Scottwax]

Where is your porter cable????? Just kidding. You see how nice the paint correction looks with the rotary? I am not talking to you Scott. I am talking to the vibrator world of detailers. It is imperative to know how to power polish and make the glorious Sun your boss....similar to what Scott has done here. Nice work Scott. Audis have great paint on them. Correction can be fun with the right products! I will have to familiarize myself with the products your using.

Hard paints like Audi has still require a rotary to correct, at least in my experience. Oddly enough though, the KB method works really well on Corvettes, which also have hard paint. Go figure. Whichever one works for me and gives the best finished product is the machine I use for that particular job. I just can`t see the rotary going away completely as long as there are quality products and pads that assist you in leaving a swirl free finish.



Time2Shine-99 times out of 100, I will apply the LSP by hand. Occasionally, like when trying a new product like DP`s new sealant, I`ll give the DA polisher instructions a try too.

[Accumulator]

[Insert usual regarding Scottwax`s work here...]



Scottwax- I always enjoy your daily-driver Audi jobs! The Ultrafina is still your final step huh? Interesting that it has enough cut to remove (even light) holograms on Audis. Yeah, I know, I oughta try it some day...Heh heh, I`m resisting that a lot more than *you* resisted getting into machine polishing, huh?!?



You might want to be a little careful using metal polish on those mirrors, AFAIK they`re clear anodized (not that you need advice from me, but you know how I`m always harping about the shiny bits on Audis ).



I was gonna take Paintxpert to task over his apparent compulsion to disparage the use of non-rotary polishers, but I don`t want to pollute your thread.

[RaskyR1]

Great work as always Scott! Can`t wait to try out these new polishes! :dance

You might want to be a little careful using metal polish on those mirrors, AFAIK they`re clear anodized (not that you need advice from me, but you know how I`m always harping about the shiny bits on Audis ).

.

I actually have an S4 coming in a couple of weeks and wasn`t aware of this and would have just used optimum as well. Any idea on what products are recommended on them instead?



Thanks,

Rasky

[Accumulator]

I actually have an S4 coming in a couple of weeks and wasn`t aware of this and would have just used optimum as well. Any idea on what products are recommended on them instead?



Thanks,

Rasky

I`ve always just used AIO-type stuff (i.e., chemical cleaners, not abrasives) on mine, but then they never get all that nasty either.



The finish on the mirrors doesn`t seem to be as fragile as that on the other "Audi silver colored exterior trim", I just wouldn`t want to overdo it. Just imagine if a customer blamed you for having to replace those oh-so-pricey mirrors!

[RaskyR1]

I`ve always just used AIO-type stuff (i.e., chemical cleaners, not abrasives) on mine, but then they never get all that nasty either.



The finish on the mirrors doesn`t seem to be as fragile as that on the other "Audi silver colored exterior trim", I just wouldn`t want to overdo it. Just imagine if a customer blamed you for having to replace those oh-so-pricey mirrors!

LOL...true true. Optimum is pretty mild IMO but maybe I`ll just go with KAIO then to be safe.





Thanks! :xyxthumbs

[Scottwax]

[Insert usual regarding Scottwax`s work here...]



Scottwax- I always enjoy your daily-driver Audi jobs! The Ultrafina is still your final step huh? Interesting that it has enough cut to remove (even light) holograms on Audis. Yeah, I know, I oughta try it some day...Heh heh, I`m resisting that a lot more than *you* resisted getting into machine polishing, huh?!?



You might want to be a little careful using metal polish on those mirrors, AFAIK they`re clear anodized (not that you need advice from me, but you know how I`m always harping about the shiny bits on Audis ).



I was gonna take Paintxpert to task over his apparent compulsion to disparage the use of non-rotary polishers, but I don`t want to pollute your thread.

I didn`t go too nuts polishing the mirrors because they are pretty pitted anyway.



I probably could have gone over the faint holograms again with Hyper Polish and a finishing pad but my experience has been that Ultrafina will do the trick and it is pretty much fool proof when you have very light holograms to finish out. Just love the stuff.

[Accumulator]

[quote=Scottwax]I didn`t go too nuts polishing the mirrors because they are pretty pitted anyway...[.quote]



Kinda funny (in a good way) how they can get pitted and still stay OK-looking (like, no serious failure of the finish), huh?

I probably could have gone over the faint holograms again with Hyper Polish and a finishing pad but my experience has been that Ultrafina will do the trick and it is pretty much fool proof when you have very light holograms to finish out. Just love the stuff.

Yeah, might as well use what you know will work for you.



How hot was the sun when you were doing this stuff? I`m always impressed by how you`re able to work outside in the Texas sun.

[Street5927]

Very nice job...and I love that color too!

[Scottwax]

Yeah, might as well use what you know will work for you.



How hot was the sun when you were doing this stuff? I`m always impressed by how you`re able to work outside in the Texas sun.

Not very warm, mid 70s. Winter refuses to let go.

[Thomas Dekany]

Awesome work Scott!!!!!!!!!!

[imported_fishbonezken]

Nice review Scott!

I have a question, how do they compare to their non-sprayable counterparts in terms of working time?



OHC vs OC2

and

OHP vs OP2