Audi RS6 - Full Works

WX51 TXR

WX51 TXR

New member
A trip north again to Elgin (near Inverness) for Clark and I yesterday, to do an 03 plate Audi RS6. Another detailer only recently detailed the car, but the owner was unhappy with the results, so called us in to have a look at it. On the phone the owner had told us that the paint correction work done by the other detailer was good, and that it had been the little things that had let the job down, such as not cleaning polish residues out of the panel gaps and shuts, and not polishing the exhaust tips, etc. However, just to be on the safe side, we recommended allowing up to 12 hours for the work, and as it turned out, it was a good job we did! Here’s the process and pics…



Before



Here’s how the car looked when we arrived…



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Overall not too bad, just the usual autumn grime, but I knew the alloys were never going to be able to be brought up 100% due to the kerbing...
 
Wash



Wheels, arches and all plastics pre-treated with P21S Total Auto Wash

Whole car foamed with mix of PW Slick & Suds via the Gilmour

Whole car rinsed off with the Karcher, arches blasted out

Whole car washed by hand using two buckets/Megs Lambswool Mitts

Whole car dried with PW Waffle Weave Towels



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The P21S pre-treatment didn’t shift as much of the baked on brake dust as I would have liked, so we then used Megs Wheel Brightener cut 4:1 to further clean up the alloys. The owner had specifically asked us not to get any strong wheel cleaners on the brake components, so we did the opposite sides of the alloys first, then rolled the car forward a couple of feet and did the other side – this allowed us to fully clean the rims whilst completely avoiding the brake components. Here are the final results…



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Clean



The fingertip test revealed no bonded surface contaminants, other than a small amount of paint spots on the nearside front door, so no major claying was done.
 
Interior



The dashboard, air vents, crevices, etc, were all dusted down with a Meg Slide-lock Brush and then wiped down with a damp work towel. All carpets (inc. the boot) were then hoovered. All plastics/vinyl was then wiped down with PW APC and work towels. The mats were brushed using a Megs Upholstery Brush and hoovered, and a few random grubby bits on the seats were wiped off with PW APC and work towels. The windows were then cleaned with Megs NXT Glass Cleaner and work towels, and the leather seats finally fed with Megs Leather Conditioner applied using a German Pad. The door shuts were treated with JEFFS Werkstatt Prime Acrylic.



Engine



The engine bay wasn’t bad at all, just the usual build up of grime and debris, so I opted to wipe it down with a P21S solution (cut 10:1) and work towels, and then dressed all the plastics with 303 Aerospace Protectant. The engine cover had a fairly severe scratch on the main cover, so what with it being carbon fibre, I machine polished it with a 4� polishing pad and Blackfire Finishing Polish. This greatly reduced the severity of the scratch, and left the engine cover with an awesome gloss. I then sealed it with JEFFS Werkstatt Prime Strong, and finished off by treating all of the visible painted surfaces to a coat of JEFFS Werkstatt Acrylic Jett Trigger.



Before…



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After…



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Polish



We then moved the car inside the garage, taped off all the trims with 3M 3434 masking tape, and had the first nasty surprise of the day…



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:shocked



It didn’t get much better elsewhere either…



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Fortunately most of the car was sitting a lot higher in the usual territory of 100-120 microns, but some areas had obviously been worked hard, and how the hell 52 microns still had any clear coat left we’ll never know!



We proceeded to work our way around the car, taking a side each, and me doing the bumpers with the PC while Clark tackled the horizontal panels with the Makita. Clark found Blackfire Finishing Polish and a mix of Megs Polishing and Finishing pads sufficient to achieve 95% correction on his sections, while I found an initial attempt with PowerGloss and a 4â€� light cut spot pad followed by Blackfire Finishing Polish on a 7.5â€� orange light pad did the trick for me. Just goes to show what a rotary can do, and I still can’t wait for my Metabo to arrive! Why only 95% correction I here some of you ask? Deeper random scratches unfortunately, on almost every panel, which was a bit of a bummer, but as always, you can only do so much safely without compromising the long term integrity of the clear coat. Here’s some shots…



Before…



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After…



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Before…



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After…



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(notice I couldn’t get the machine into some awkward areas, hence no correction)
 
Combined image (left before, right after)…



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A lot of folk on here seem to be using way too much product when using the new generation of polishes designed for scratch resistant clear coats, whether by PC or rotary, so here is a guide to what I use to do a largish area, such as the top half of an Audi door…



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The above pad is also getting near to the point where I would either swap it for a fresh one or wash it out in order to avoid clogging and micromarring. Keeping the foam fresh gives better results.



More paint defects visible in this shot, not only normal wash marks and deeper random scratches, but also some serious holograms, which required two attempts with PowerGloss and light cut spot pads followed by a final going over with Blackfire finishing polish and a polishing pad to fully correct…



Before…



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After…



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We finished up the polish stage with a coat of JEFFS Werkstatt Prime Acrylic by PC using a 7.5� Lake Country Black Glazing Pad – this removed any remaining traces of the slightly greasy residue left by the Blackfire SRC Finishing Polish, and left the surface ready for the application of final protective layer.
 
Protect



JEFFS Werkstatt Acrylic Jett Trigger, applied with the wipe on, wipe off method using PW Deluxe Mega Towels, and a spritz of JEFFS Werkstatt Acrylic Glos where necessary to remove any minor smearing.



Finishing Touches



All panel gaps dusted down with Megs Slide Lock Brushes and PW Deluxe Mega Towels

Alloys were protected with PW Wheel Sealant, applied using Megs foam pads

Tyres were dressed with Blackfire Long Lasting Tyre Gel, applied using Megs foam pads

Exhaust tips were polished with Blackfire Fine Cut Metal Polish, applied using a German Pad



All panel gaps properly cleaned out…



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Exhaust tips properly polished…



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After



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All in all, it was a 12 hour detail, and a 16 hour day for Clark, as he also had to drive to my place at the start and end of the day! I have to say this job was a joy to do, as it was the first time in ages that we’ve been asked to do a FULL detail, and nothing was left untouched. The working conditions were great, the owner a pleasure to work for, and overall it was a very enjoyable and satisfying day.
 
You are not only a great detailer, you are very patient. I guess thats why your work always looks soooo good. It must be because of the cooler weather that you're able to keep working for soo long. lol...:bigups
 
Here in Florida after 2 hours of detailing the humidity knocks me out. I dream for the nights (only time in december its cool enough for me) I can detail without feeling all sweaty and gross. But I should mark my words, as I don't think a Floridian like me truly udnerstands how cold it must be for you guys.
 
joyriiide1113 said:
Here in Florida after 2 hours of detailing the humidity knocks me out. I dream for the nights (only time in december its cool enough for me) I can detail without feeling all sweaty and gross. But I should mark my words, as I don't think a Floridian like me truly udnerstands how cold it must be for you guys.
Click to expand...





I'm going to retire to Florida when i'm old and grey, i've been to orlando 5 times now and love everything about the place, including the weather! :D



i think it was about 4 degrees on tuesday when we did the RS6 :(
 
Amazing results. If only i could detail like you...



I have a question. The picture showing the pad and the products you applied. I'm assuming that's how much you use after the pad's been 'primed'. How much of the car did you do to get to that stage? If you decide to wash the pads, what method do you use to get it dry quickly and reuse? Or do you even reuse it in the same detail?
 
Mr.Dan said:
Amazing results. If only i could detail like you...



I have a question. The picture showing the pad and the products you applied. I'm assuming that's how much you use after the pad's been 'primed'. How much of the car did you do to get to that stage? If you decide to wash the pads, what method do you use to get it dry quickly and reuse? Or do you even reuse it in the same detail?
Click to expand...



In this case, and whenever working with the new generation of scratch resistant polishes, I find there is absolutely no need to prime the pad in any way - I just add the four blobs, dab over the work area and away I go at speed 1 to spread. The pad in the picture had done two panels, hence why it was beginning to look caked - I swapped it after the next section. I usually carry 4-5 pads of each type on details, but sometimes even this isn't enough and I have to wash some out. The quickest way to do this is to lay them on a rubber mat on the ground, pressure wash them for 10 seconds or so, then spin dry them on the PC with the head held down into a bucket. This gets them perfectly clean and dry ready for the next panel, and is very quick! :)
 
Richard - not only your detailing skills are 5* but also your photography is top notch. Sure helps to show off the results. :bow



What camera do you use?



Also if you don't mind me asking you this? Working 12 hours x2 what do your details cost?



In my area, I'd have to charge $1000 (2 people)
 
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