Picking up a new car and have a few questions

[flash_e]

I will be picking up my new car later this week and have asked the dealer not to touch it. I plan on detailing it myself. It is a meteor grey S4 and I am hoping that I will not have to do any correction. My plan is below.



Wash

Clay bar

Menzerna Super Finish with Uber green pad

Menzerna Sealing Wax with Uber black pad

Collinite Sealant



My questions are 1) am I wasting my time using the super finish on a new care or will it bring out the shine and 2) since the Menzerna sealing wax has a slight cut to it will it hurt to put the Collinite over the menzerna since the Menzerna contains carnauba? I just don't want it to dull the overall shine. Any other suggestions on how to really make the paint "pop"?

 

[scholar]

I would clay and use Menz 85RD with a blue pad instead. unless you see some light swirls upon delivery then I would use the Super Finish (106fa?)

 

[flash_e]

I also have some Meguiar's #7. Would it be better to use the #7 instead of the Menzenra SF and then apply the sealant? I don't have many different combinations. Just trying to get the best results with what I have. If need be I can buy something else if necessary.

 

[Accumulator]

I also have some Meguiar's #7. Would it be better to use the #7 instead of the Menzenra SF and then apply the sealant? I don't have many different combinations. Just trying to get the best results with what I have. If need be I can buy something else if necessary.

No, #7 (which is functionally nonabrasive) is not sealant-friendly and I've had dismal results using a Meguiar's Pure Polish on newish Audis anyhow. Not the product for this application.



IME unless you take the transit wrap off yourself you should expect some marring.



IME#2 the trick to getting Audis to pop is to no only remove all the visible marring, but to also burnish/jewel the finish; the improvement will be subtle and probably won't show up in the shop, but sometime later you'll suddenly notice that it just looks *better* than it used to.



IME#3 when Collinite doesn't give super results it's more a matter of prep than anything else. It can seem like it's muting the flake, but if you repolish (better) the exact same Collinite lets it pop; BTDT and I will say I wasn't expecting it to work out that way. That said, I quit using Collinite on my wife's A8 because it just didn't give the look we wanted.



Note that Collinite isn't generally considered a "sealant" and there are several different Collinite products. I find that 845 can be unusually short-lived on some Audi applications, no idea why. 476S lasts, but again, isn't quite the look we like.