Audi R8 Correction/Ceramic Treatment by Oakes

O

OakesDetail

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A Daytona Gray Audi R8 coupe recently came through for a full paint correction as well as full engine bay polishing, wheel/caliper treatment and a triple layering of Cquartz ceramic coating. The vehicle is clearly driven and the owner wanted the best protection possible for it once we got it looking the best we possibly could.



Over the course of five working days we had two of the wheels refinished for curb rash, cleaned, treated and coated the wheels, brake calipers, exhaust tips, all engine bay carbon fiber, vehicle glass, engine and bumper vents and the paint itself in 2-3 layers of Cquartz after correction. The pictures documented the process very well, check them out for yourself!



Vehicle condition as it arrived



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Wheels before, removed from the vehicle so I could clean and ceramic coat the barrels of the wheels as well as the brake calipers. After pictures are post cleaning, clay, Ironx, and ceramic coating applied two times.



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As stated above, the wheel wells were cleaned, treated and the calipers were ceramic coated twice as well.



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Exhaust tips were also cleaned, polished and ceramic coated.



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After all of the above was completed, the car was completely taped and masked off, all vents covered, no exposed plastics or openings. You can see for yourself here!



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The paint was then inspected and depth readings were taken where we found an average depth of 116 micron throughout the car. It had its fair share of marring and swirling as the picture below show:



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A few before and after photos of the correction work



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Couple finished paint snaps before ceramic application



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The head and tail lights were also corrected and coated...



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Engine bay carbon fiber was all polished and ceramic coated twice as well as the cabin glass



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After approximately 5 days of work due to the ceramic cure times and so forth consuming quite a bit of downtime as well as the wheels being refinished, the vehicle was completed with three layers of Cquartz to the paint and was ready to go home. The finished shots speak for themselves on this beautiful color combo!



Took a mix of inside and outside shots because we havent been able to win with the sun these past few weeks unfortunately, starting to get depressing! Regardless...



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Thanks for looking! Any and all feedback always welcome and appreciated, hope you enjoyed the read!



Oakes​
 
Thank you!



Tire Dressing is PoorBoys Bold and Bright, I havent been happy with any other dressings aside from Optimum tire dressing and Swissvax Pneu
 
Thanks, I've been using Zaino tire dressing for the subtle finish and 100% lack of sling but I want something slightly shinier. I'll give the PB a try!



OakesDetail said:
Thank you!



Tire Dressing is PoorBoys Bold and Bright, I havent been happy with any other dressings aside from Optimum tire dressing and Swissvax Pneu
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Wow. I really want to get into Ceramic Coatings! That looks stellar. You can tell how particular a detailer will be when the tape-job is pratically artwork.

Very nice. Read your EVO write up too. Always impressed.
 
Thanks everyone!



I actually enjoy the taping/masking a lot, honestly if you do it right then you cut your clean up of the jambs/edges in half afterwords. Whenever you have ripples in the tape and the pad happens to go over it, you allow for a mess to be created as a result.
 
A few questions:



1. 116 micron throughout the car - is that avg, above avg, below avg readings?



2. EVO article - what month was the article?



Thanks!
 
116 was the average. There was a few spots, in the same areas of the car that read as low as 74 microns, which I assume is the result of the painting process at the factory for those panels as it was in the bottom corners of the panels on both sides. Readings that low are nerve wracking, however in regards to the average depth I found, I'd say its acceptable/average readings. Paint depth isnt parallel with paint hardness, of course thicker paint readings are always more desirable but if the clear is a soft formula its still going to be finicky to work with in regards to how aggressive you want/need to get with the correction.



Heres a link to the Evo write up: http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-...-ceramic-coating-testing-10-months-later.html
 
May be a dumb question here. You are adding the ceramic coating for great protection obviously, but why muliple coats? Are you adding extra coats for light scratch/marring protection?
 
The multiple coats were both owner preference and hopes to extend the life of the ceramic and increase the protection it offers.



Thanks Mike! Its been very busy here, forgot what the floor looked like until this weekend when we got some stuff out of here...but another busy week ahead!



Wheel process was as followed - Degrease, clean, IronX, Tarminator, reclean, clay, reclean dry and alcohol wipe down. Then ceramic was applied in two coats, left to cure for 2 days and back on the car.
 
rexrock said:
May be a dumb question here. You are adding the ceramic coating for great protection obviously, but why muliple coats? Are you adding extra coats for light scratch/marring protection?
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Hi rexrock,



I was following this thread and thought I would chime in regarding my preference for multiple coats. I hope that is okay with Nick. The reasons are threefold.



One, of course, is completeness. Applying a nano ceramic coating by hand cannot guarantee even or complete coverage over one pass. Thus, a second layer was requested simply to ensure that the entire car was well covered and that the ceramic bonded to the clear coat of the car.



The second reason is regarding the depth of potential scratches and swirls. I wanted to have the ceramic coating thick enough to keep unavoidable swirl marks and light scratching from affecting the factory finish. Given that the average swirl mark is ~3.0 microns and each layer of ceramic is 0.7-1.5 microns, I decided that three layers would be ideal.



Third, is longevity of protection. Obviously, one of the benefits of applying a ceramic coating is increased longevity of LSP-like protection. Why not maximize it? I'm sure, like many products, there is a limit where the returns are minimized by potential capture of hazing or depletion of paint appearance, but the only reason why I feel that perhaps even 4 layers or more is a bit much to ask is cure time.



Thanks to Nick for a job well done.
 
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