Hello everyone,
I have a 2005 Audi S4 that's seen a lot of highway miles and frankly hasn't been treated very well in terms of washing and waxing. A few days after I bought the car, I had a 3M clear bra installed to help protect the nose area. Well, after 50,000 miles of mostly highway driving, with a big section traveled by rock trucks, the bra was beat to death and was super dull etc. So I removed it. The section where the bra was has some minor chipping (big rocks that got all the way through the bra) and is *slightly* darker in color due to it being protected.
My next step was a marathon (at least for me) session that went like this:
Dawn Wash
Clay entire surface of car (this took 2 solid hours alone)
Zaino Z7 wash
Dry
Spot treat with vinegar (water spot removal)
Apply Zaino Z5 with ZFX added
Wait for haze
Remove Z5 with microfiber towels
Zaino Z6
I'm slow and the car was dirty so that took me 5 hours. Once done, it looked good, but the nose area is still darker than the rest and in bright direct sunlight I can see swirl marks. A week later I washed, dried, applied Z6, did a second coat of Z5 (no ZFX this time), and did a final coat of Z6. Honestly the car looks about the same. I was hoping for the Z5 to fill in the swirl marks. It might be a little better, but they are still easy to see *only* in direct sunlight.
My bottle of Z5 is about 5 to 6 years old and some of it is caked up around the mouth of the bottle. I'm wondering if the swirl filling compounds have "settled out" and aren't being effective.
I've taken a few pictures of the paint to try to show the swirls, but they are honestly very hard to photograph. With your eye, if you move your head a little, the sunlight highlights swirls all over the hood and trunk, but with a camera, you only see a few since it is in a fixed position.
I'm looking for any advice on how to hide or remove these, given that I now have two fairly new coats of Z5 on the car already.
This first one shows that you can't see any swirls if it's not at an angle with reflected sunlight.
This shot of the trunk shows *some* swirls right where the sunlight is blooming. Trust me, it's way more obvious in person. This was hard to photograph.
Finally, I managed to get a picture of the hood showing the swirls and the darker area of the nose where the bra used to be. Notice the distinct line.
Thanks for looking and for any advice on what to do.
Brian.
I have a 2005 Audi S4 that's seen a lot of highway miles and frankly hasn't been treated very well in terms of washing and waxing. A few days after I bought the car, I had a 3M clear bra installed to help protect the nose area. Well, after 50,000 miles of mostly highway driving, with a big section traveled by rock trucks, the bra was beat to death and was super dull etc. So I removed it. The section where the bra was has some minor chipping (big rocks that got all the way through the bra) and is *slightly* darker in color due to it being protected.
My next step was a marathon (at least for me) session that went like this:
Dawn Wash
Clay entire surface of car (this took 2 solid hours alone)
Zaino Z7 wash
Dry
Spot treat with vinegar (water spot removal)
Apply Zaino Z5 with ZFX added
Wait for haze
Remove Z5 with microfiber towels
Zaino Z6
I'm slow and the car was dirty so that took me 5 hours. Once done, it looked good, but the nose area is still darker than the rest and in bright direct sunlight I can see swirl marks. A week later I washed, dried, applied Z6, did a second coat of Z5 (no ZFX this time), and did a final coat of Z6. Honestly the car looks about the same. I was hoping for the Z5 to fill in the swirl marks. It might be a little better, but they are still easy to see *only* in direct sunlight.
My bottle of Z5 is about 5 to 6 years old and some of it is caked up around the mouth of the bottle. I'm wondering if the swirl filling compounds have "settled out" and aren't being effective.
I've taken a few pictures of the paint to try to show the swirls, but they are honestly very hard to photograph. With your eye, if you move your head a little, the sunlight highlights swirls all over the hood and trunk, but with a camera, you only see a few since it is in a fixed position.
I'm looking for any advice on how to hide or remove these, given that I now have two fairly new coats of Z5 on the car already.
This first one shows that you can't see any swirls if it's not at an angle with reflected sunlight.
This shot of the trunk shows *some* swirls right where the sunlight is blooming. Trust me, it's way more obvious in person. This was hard to photograph.
Finally, I managed to get a picture of the hood showing the swirls and the darker area of the nose where the bra used to be. Notice the distinct line.
Thanks for looking and for any advice on what to do.
Brian.