2002 Audi S8 2 & 3 step paint correction

Audios S6

Audios S6

New member
This car was form one of the local audi forums. Current owner just purchased the car as a daily driver and was trying to get it back into top condition. The week prior he had the leather recoated, which case out nice aside from a few spots that were too far gone. The already knew the bumper and hood needed a respray from all the rock chips of 150K miles. On initial inspection, it looks like a ton of lighter defects on the hood and some more significant ones on the doors. The car had clearly spent a lot of time at the swirl-o-matic. I had initally planned on a one step to get to 80%+ correction, but after seeing the test spot the owner wanted to take it further, so the top portions for a two step and the sides got a 3+ step correction as noted below.


Process:


Wheels and tires got DUB wheel cleaner, megs D103, PERL and Permanon platinum
Foam presoak with BH surfex HD and CG citrus wash + gloss
2BM with CG citrus wash clear
ONR as clay lube with nanoskin autoscrub on the GG6


Top portions tried the rupes UHS and did well but proceeded to:
Compound: FG400 on megs MF pads on rupes
Polish: FF3000 on LC white hybrid on rupes


Sides:
Heavy cutting: PG1000 on wool with rotary TWICE very quickly to avoid any burns
Compound: FG400 on megs MF pads on rupes
Polish: FF3000 on LC white hybrid on rupes & flex 3401


Bumpers:
Heavy cutting: PG1000 on wool with rotary very quickly to avoid any burns
Compound: FG400 on megs MF pads on flex 3401
Polish: FF3000 on LC white hybrid on flex 3401


Finished with BFWD
B pillars got FF3000 on 4" green buff and shine on flex 3401
Trim got water based UTTG
Exhaust got S100 polishing soap and CG heavy metal


On arrival, very dirty














Filthy german brakes





Typical swirls on door





nasty RID on the drivers side and more swirls





typical of entire car





b-pillar before and after








after rupes UHS system, very good on the moderately hard paint, but owner wanted more after seeing the test spot





So I turned upside down and that made all the difference, along with FG400 and MF pads








quarter panel test with FG400 did not get the job done, neither did one cycle with PG1000 wool and rotary, so we did it twice, problem solved


FG400 only



2x PG1000 with wool and rotary



wheels all cleaned up





A lot of cutting did the trick


http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag290/detailedcreationsmpls/IMG_6698_zpsm9i4zulw.jpg[/IMG]














Sides were not perfect, but massive improvement. The damage had already been done by the swirl-o-matic





iphone of hood that was just about perfect, line between compound and polish barely visible.





thanks for looking
 
Adios S6- Nice save, goodness but that was trashed. How's the aluminum trim...is it getting cloudy?

Couldn't quite tell from the pics, but it looks like it's been debadged like mine (trunklid except for the rings). Does it still have the "S8" badge on the grille (I took mine off)?
 
Trim wasn't cloudy, just completely white, lol. Every time I've done a D2 I've tried all kinds of stuff to no avail, just like everyone else. I did play with it a little more this time since I had the rotary and wool out, was able to make a little difference after taking off 20 microns of material on the bumper trim but still cloudy, you can see in the second to last pic. D-pillar did ok with CG heavy metal, but once I got above the rear window that stopped working.

I had really good luck with white diamond on my S6 roof rails, but different material obviously.

I'd have to look at the photos, rear badges are still there, but the rings are chipped. Not sure about the grill badge; there's not much I've found you can do with that grill material so I leave it alone.

The lower grills were zip tied like 90% of D2s are now.
 
Adios S6- Thanks for answering all my Qs!

The one piece of replacement trim on my S8 is cloudy, came that way as NOS. Accumulatorette's A8's trim is just a bit cloudy, only one area that actually bugs me...can't quite bring myself to try getting really aggressive with it and it doesn't bother her. Interesting that your roofrails are apparently a different finish.

It's been so long since I've looked closely at another D2 that I've maybe forgotten what the emblems look like on those! Eh, I erred in my last post- my S8 has *all* the emblems off the trunklid, even the rings; my wife's A8 still has the rings and arguably looks better that way (I personally like the ultra-shaved look and hey it's my car ;) ).

Yeah, at this point I think most D2 cars have lead pretty tough lives :( I basically *NEVER* see them in decent shape, though a local Audi Tech has a pair of decent ones; he and his wife have an A8/S8 pair like ours that he picked up at work.

Interesting about the lower grilles being zip-tied [shudder]. I wonder what your client is gonna think about the car after he lives with it for a while, I suspect it'll, uhm...have some needs; those cars are never for sale in fully-sorted condition. We simply *LOVE* ours, won't ever replace them, but that's just us and I just can't see most normal people having one long-term.
 
Yikes. That was trashed! Nice work!

i actually saw a red Audi in the lowes parking lot this afternoon. Paint was in similar condition. Almost wanted to drop a business card on it.
 
Accumulator said:
Adios S6- Thanks for answering all my Qs!

The one piece of replacement trim on my S8 is cloudy, came that way as NOS. Accumulatorette's A8's trim is just a bit cloudy, only one area that actually bugs me...can't quite bring myself to try getting really aggressive with it and it doesn't bother her. Interesting that your roofrails are apparently a different finish.

It's been so long since I've looked closely at another D2 that I've maybe forgotten what the emblems look like on those! Eh, I erred in my last post- my S8 has *all* the emblems off the trunklid, even the rings; my wife's A8 still has the rings and arguably looks better that way (I personally like the ultra-shaved look and hey it's my car ;) ).

Yeah, at this point I think most D2 cars have lead pretty tough lives :( I basically *NEVER* see them in decent shape, though a local Audi Tech has a pair of decent ones; he and his wife have an A8/S8 pair like ours that he picked up at work.

Interesting about the lower grilles being zip-tied [shudder]. I wonder what your client is gonna think about the car after he lives with it for a while, I suspect it'll, uhm...have some needs; those cars are never for sale in fully-sorted condition. We simply *LOVE* ours, won't ever replace them, but that's just us and I just can't see most normal people having one long-term.
Click to expand...

The previous owner replaced the tranny with a crated tranny, from ZF. I mentioned the oil cooler to him and he's had audis before so he's well aware of the valve cover gaskets and cam chain tensioners. He already expects to put $2K+ into it per year.

I expect he will be a very good owner for the car.
 
Adios S6- Ah glad to hear he's going into this with his eyes (and checkbook ;) ) wide open. Maybe the car has fair shot at a whole second life!

Yikes, I bet that replacement tranny cost a bit of money!

Accumulatorette's A8 (similar miles) costs a bit more than $2K/yr, but it gets used a lot and we're paying dealership prices.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top