Sprint Blue Audi S3 - Detailed by Lawrence

[LawrenceSA]

Another weekend.... another car from a panel beater that needs to be fixed... :crazy:


I am really developing an absolute fear of ever having to send my own car in for any kind of body work / repainting... so far I can honestly say that every single car that I have detailed that has been subjected to some form of repainting, has arrived in such a state that it seems like the only people who work in body shop are the blind.


I just don't know how this passes as 'acceptable' especially given this was from an 'Audi Approved' panel beater. There was severe orange peel, dry spraying, sanding marks left in the paint [a lot of them right on the edges of panels, making it that much harder to deal with], panels that don't line up properly, a scratch in the sunroof, clear coat on the front windscreen and the obligatory buffer trails and their polish residue left all over the place.


I guess part of why such poor quality is tolerated is because most customers accept this type of work - and the few who complain are then subjected to even more risk, as what will the body shop do to rectify their shoddy workmanship? Well, invariably they will just have the car re-polished.... which lobs off even more of your precious clear coat, leaving you potentially worse off than had you not complained....


:bang:


Oh well.... on to the detail.


So the wheels were not especially dirty, but weren't exactly clean either.

The arches also needed a good clean

My usual process was followed:


Arches, Tires, Wheels
-HP rinse arches, tires and wheels.
-Clean arches with a Cyclo APC using a Mothers Fenderwell Brush
-HP rinse
-Clean tires with Valet Pro Billbery Wheel Cleaner @ 1:6 and a Mothers Tire brush.
-HP rinse
-Repeat tire cleaning
-HP rinse
-Wash wheels and brake calipers with VP Bilberry Wheel Cleaner @ 1:6, Daytona and Daytona Jnr brushes and Valet Pro Boars Hair Brushes
-HP rinse
-Dry
-Remove tar using Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover
-Spray with APC and HP Rinse
-Dry
-Remove bonded and embedded ferrous contaminants on wheels and brake calipers with Autofinesse Iron Out, Daytona (big and small) brushes and Valet Pro Boars Hair Brushes
-HP Rinse + flood rinse
-Dry
-Polished with Meguiars Cleaner Wax
-Protected with Menzerna Powerlock
-Tires dressed with 2 coats of Gyeon Q2 Tire


The only pic I snapped during the process

Next I tackled the engine bay

Engine bay
-Blow loose dust off with air blower
-Clean with Cyclo APC, MF Towels and various Brushes
-Clean/Polish/Protect (AIO) using AF Tripple by hand with a MF applicator
-Dressed with Autofinesse Dressel


Then I tackled the door and boot jambs and petrol flap

Door/Boot Jamb / Petrol Flap
-HP rinse
-Clean with Cyclo APC and Valet Pro Boars Hair Brushes
-HP rinse
-Apply Gyeon WetCoat
-HP rinse


Then it was time to start getting the paintwork cleaned up....


Let's first have a look at what we are dealing with.

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The clear coat on the front windscreen (presumably the plastic sheeting they used to mask off the car had a hole in it?)

Wash
-HP rinse
-Applied Valet Pro Citrus Pre-wash via a spray bottle, left to dwell
-HP rinse
-Applied Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II via Crazy Detailer V2 Foam Cannon, left to dwell
-HP rinse
-2BM wash using lambswool wash mitts and a sample shampoo I am testing
-HP Rinse
-Flood Rinse
-Dried using ONR and WW drying towels


Decontamination
-Tar removed using Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover
-Iron removed using Autofinesse Iron Out
-Remaining contamination was clayed off using Shield Heavy Duty clay with ONR as lube.


Paint correction
- Paint readings were once again all over the place. On the OEM paint readings ranged from 84µ to 139µ but averaged 110µ and on the repainted stuff it ranged 179µ to 364µ with the average being 227µ.
- The amount and depth of damage on the paint was also varied and so when correcting various combinations of products/pads were used. These included the Flex 3401 / Menzerna FG400 / 6" Lake Country Purple Wool Pads followed by Flex 3401 / Menzerna SF4000 / 6" Green Lake Country Flat pads. Where this additional cut was not required I used the Flex 3401 / Menzerna PF2300 and a 6" Green Lake Country Flat pad. For the smaller areas 4" Orange and White Lake Country CCS pads were used with same polishes on a Shield DA and for the remaining tight spots, polishing was done by hand using Meguiars Ultimate Compound. The mirrors (not the original 'brushed aluminium finish' were polished using Meznerna SF4000 on a 4" White Lake Country flat pad.

Paint protection
- Soft 99 Fusso Dark


Glass
- Clayed using Shield Heavy Duty clay with ONR as lube (this removed the clear coat over-spray)
- Water spots removed using Mothers Water Spot Remover
- Glass polished using the Flex 3401 / Autoglym Glass Polish / 5.5" Tangerine Lake Country Hybrid pad.
- Cleaned using Glossworx Glass Cleaner


Door rubbers, window rubbers, exterior plastic trim
- Cleaned using Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner
- Protected using Aerospace 303


Interior
-Blow out loose dirt with blower
-Leather cleaned using Cyclo APC and various brushes and MF Towels
-Leather protected with Collinite 855
-Plastics and dash cleaned with Cyclo APC then given a final wipe using Autofinesse Spritz
-Vacuum


Exhaust tip (these had been left far too long without a decent clean and the finish has become stained and pitted)
-Cleaned using Cyclo APC
-Polished and Protected using Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish


Before

After

 

[LawrenceSA]

And here is how it looked after everything was completed.... (there is a mix of DSLR and cell pics)...

And my 3 favorite shots

Total time spent = 35 hours

Thanks for looking and as always and comments or questions are welcome.

 

[JSFM35X]

Wow great turn around. Looks amazing. I love that color.

35 hours is a lot,of time, do you charge by the hour or by the job. I hope it's hourly or I fear this might have cost you.

 

[Ronkh]

beautiful work

 

[LawrenceSA]

Wow great turn around. Looks amazing. I love that color.

35 hours is a lot,of time, do you charge by the hour or by the job. I hope it's hourly or I fear this might have cost you.

Thanks.

I charge by the job, but with a very good understanding of the time frames involved - almost all range between 25 and 35 hours.

Firstly, things over here in South Africa are VERY different in respect of detailing.... as Mike Phillips often says, most people don't know a swirl from a squirrel LOL and the term detailing is not well known at all.... the majority of the population has no clue what it is about...., and with a population of around 50m people, I reckon there are literally less than 20 detailers country wide that do any form of decent work.

Detailing for me is not a full time occupation as firstly I have a fairly decent 'day job' and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is that I made a conscious decision NOT to do the typical production type detailing. I mean no disrespect to those who do that sort of work, and understand that a) there is a need for it and b) that is where the true money is....

I have always wanted to rather take cars and completely transform them as opposed to just making cars shiny for the masses.

I am very actively involved with some of the car clubs, in particular the local VW, Audi and Seat guys (hence all the VAG work you will see me posting), and so fortunately have a group of car enthusiasts who are prepared to invest in their cars. To this end, I will only ever work on 1 car per weekend and charge accordingly (well as much as our infant detailing market allows for any way).

So for me, this is not a money making thing, but a real labor of love, a passion and a hobby that pays for itself.

It is more about seeing the transformation of the car, and seeing the owners reaction when he sees it for the first time.... its about making people fall in love with their cars again, not about lining my wallet...

beautiful work

Ron, coming from such a well respected detailer as yourself this is an awesome and humbling compliment. I truly thank you!!!!

 

[JSFM35X]

I totally get your model and if I were to embark on a detailing for money opportunity I like your idea of only dealing with people who get the value and are willing to pay. I like that as long as you can get enough volume. In your case it is not your main gig so it works.

Keep posting, I enjoy your work.

Thanks.

I charge by the job, but with a very good understanding of the time frames involved - almost all range between 25 and 35 hours.

Firstly, things over here in South Africa are VERY different in respect of detailing.... as Mike Phillips often says, most people don't know a swirl from a squirrel LOL and the term detailing is not well known at all.... the majority of the population has no clue what it is about...., and with a population of around 50m people, I reckon there are literally less than 20 detailers country wide that do any form of decent work.

Detailing for me is not a full time occupation as firstly I have a fairly decent 'day job' and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is that I made a conscious decision NOT to do the typical production type detailing. I mean no disrespect to those who do that sort of work, and understand that a) there is a need for it and b) that is where the true money is....

I have always wanted to rather take cars and completely transform them as opposed to just making cars shiny for the masses.

I am very actively involved with some of the car clubs, in particular the local VW, Audi and Seat guys (hence all the VAG work you will see me posting), and so fortunately have a group of car enthusiasts who are prepared to invest in their cars. To this end, I will only ever work on 1 car per weekend and charge accordingly (well as much as our infant detailing market allows for any way).

So for me, this is not a money making thing, but a real labor of love, a passion and a hobby that pays for itself.

It is more about seeing the transformation of the car, and seeing the owners reaction when he sees it for the first time.... its about making people fall in love with their cars again, not about lining my wallet...


Ron, coming from such a well respected detailer as yourself this is an awesome and humbling compliment. I truly thank you!!!!

 

[MikeSA]

Click here to view the original image of 929x620px and 256KB.

 

[MikeSA]

Wow Lawrence, fantastic job! I understand your comment regarding detailing in SA (I'm in Cape Town), most of my friends & family think I'm nuts wrt the effort, time I put into detailing not to mention the amount of kit I have.

 

[LawrenceSA]

Thanks Mike

Over the past few years I have definitely noticed the interest in detailing steadily growing which is awesome and will hopefully lead to the few retailers we have here making more and more of the products available to us....