2002 Black Audi TT (56k uh-oh)

I

imported_animes2k

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So my friend says "yeah, it's dirty."



New Rule: if someone says it's dirty, believe them.



I was almost out of p21s wheel cleaner, so i picked up some a2z wheel and tire cleaner on the way there. My hands still hurt. Wear gloves.



So I get there, look it over and notice the swirls aren't TOO bad, but there are some suspect areas... Turns out it's looking like clearcoat failure in a few spots. Very odd. A chip in the repainted door, but otherwise not too many deep scratches. I didn't intend to attack this as a swirl-removal job. Good thing.



I noticed the wheels and thought they were painted...

wheel_before.jpg




Nope. Not painted.



I noticed the interior looked "a little dirty"... Darn garage lighting. It was filthy.



Anyway, here's the process/products:



1) fix complex-supplied hose

2) figure out how to turn on water

3) attach my own hose and nozzle to complex hose



Quick wash (z7) 4-bucket method (2 buckets x 2) FILTHY!

a2z on the wheels, scrub scrub scrub, rinse!

p21s on the wheels, let dwell

pull the mats (ew):

Folex the hell outta 'em

Prestone 'em too! Scrub scrub scrub!

Vacuum (3 whole HP of Craftsman POWER!)

Woolite (6:1) on all the leather. And then some.

Awesome (10:1) on vinyl (ew!) - a cheapie APC, all I had, $1 well spent

Spot the trunk area, scrub

Spot the carpets, scrub

Meguiar's Interior QD (had to try it!) - works pretty well, I like...

IG on glass



More wheel scrubbing, more a2z (I left the remaining 1-2 oz in the bottle there). Give up on wheels without taking them off. Curbed to hell, anyway.



Clay.

Clay.

More Clay.

Guess what comes next?

Clay. (had to hit some horizontal surfaces 4+ times to clean it off)

GEPC/4" SFX2/4-5 (x2-3 in some CC failure areas)

I was done. Souveran topper.

Armor All on the wheel wells

Meguiar's grape gel on the tires

Leave the wheels alone... Usually would have AIO/SG'd em, but um.. no.





I'll consider this the "prep" for a true prep. Ouch. I just about kicked him in the head (my friend... whose car this is).



The Before pics...

front_before.jpg


rear_before.jpg




No interior befores. Too dark, didn't think to use flash, didn't think it was that bad :P



The AFTERS. GEPC really came through and of course Souveran and natural light are my friends, but the swirls were visibly reduced in harsh lighting.



frontside_after.jpg


rear_after.jpg


rear_after2.jpg






I remember why I have a guy that does interiors for me...



- Chris
 
Beautiful!





At least your honest man...There are limits to everything, but you sure as hell made this one look a helluva lot better!



You may want to invest in some wheel acid to chew up that brake dust. A2Z and P21s can get expensive.
 
Awesome job! I hope you smacked your friend around a few times for having his car in this condition!
 
Yes, please. Wheel acid. By the gallon? Some of that stuff on the inside of the wheels was NOT going to budge. I really wanted to make a nice detail out of this, but I didn't expect such a long time (8+ hrs). I wasn't very efficient with my interior, which didn't help at all and after claying, I noticed the maintenance guys turned off the water, so I had to QD the whole car.



Thanks for the thumbs up and the comments. I knew YOU guys would appreciate it (feel my pain). :) He's impressed, but I almost had to hard-sell him on this.



Be careful what you wish for, I guess...
 
Wow, helluva job Chris. I had an Audi A8 come to me in similar condition, it laughed at A2Z. I ended up using Hydroflouric acid, it took 4 shots of it WITH AGITATION to get the rims truly clean. Even then, some of the dust was burned in beyond repair. The HFl brightener is nasty stuff though, I'd highly suggest picking up a gallon of PB's Spray+Rinse next time you order detailing supplies. If you're used to P21S, it'll knock the socks off of ya.
 
Thanks, timmAHHHY! :)

I just ordered a less-expensive wheel cleaner (DP?) to try out with an order from autogeek (arriving tomorrow! what did i order, now?)... But I'll give the PB's a shot. the p21s is terribly expensive...



I'm running either out of my garage or mobile and out of the trunk/passenger seat of my s2000... not exactly a lot more room for more products and tools. I think I need something else to detail with... 91 accord would work (my bro's), but it's been broken into 6 times already...



Thanks for the suggestion of the HFl, but I think I'll prolly pass on that for now... people are pretty understanding and most of my clients aren't TERRIBLY demanding, what few I do have. I sort of wish I hadn't even tried to clean the inside of the wheels... :) But MINE are soooo clean... hehe



----------------



Thanks, gav's!
 
Wow, beautiful job! Looks like you were very thorough in your work. Through the running out of P21s to the water shut-off, I'd say you're incredibly more patient and persistant than I am :D . Those are some great pics, too.



Awesome job! :up
 
Once again it kills me that people have cars this nice and don't care for them. Nice work, great pics!



EDIT: That's a pricey camera to tote around to details. Are you a photographer by trade?
 
pork: thanks, i take pride in my work.

johnny: yes, he was. let's hope he washes it regularly. with an instruction sheet I need to type up for him ...

tasty: thanks! he's a slacker. he only drives it every few days because he works from home and can walk or take the metro most places... but I don't think he's touched it since winter. As far as the camera, yes one of my trades (three I'm practicing at the moment, including detailing) is photography. I need to work on my automotive photography :)
 
troy: thanks... they look decent enough (one is a replacement in higher polish than the others - a different finish) but the pictures are better than in-person :)
 
Great job! I also use GEPC before Souveran and often SSR2.5 before the GEPC which works very well for depth and shine.
 
Lee: thanks for the tip. I just got some SSR2.5 and was wondering what I should use between that and my LSP. GEPC doesn't seem to get much airtime around here, but I thought it worked beautifully. Good long working time, I probably used too much, as my pad spit it ALL over the place when I lifted it accidentally... Used about 3-4oz on the car (assuming my bottle was an 8oz). Love the 4" pad on the PC though. Love it.



Thomas: thanks! I'd like to think it's a bit of an improvement :)
 
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