Bought Another Black Car, Help.
- Thread starter imported_rlarsen462
- Start date
Accumulator
Well-known member
rlarsen462 said:
No experience with those.
Even the hardest paint can sustain marring (perhaps very light marring) from the wrong MFs. It can be pretty amazing how fragile those hard clears really are!
Do you mean the aluminum trim? If so, I'd just AIO/LSP it and live with any fogging. People polish it up, and it looks swell, and then after a while they're worse off than before.
You might have to choose between the best look and the best durability/protection. Eh...it's been a *long* time since I've had a nonmetallic black car and I really don't know what to recommend :nixweiss
Yikes, that does sound like work! I dunno...if I were feeling lucky I'd just use the machine (edge or not). But I guess I oughta add a "don't try this at home, kids!" caveat when I post stuff like that
Note that 3K can be a bit of a PIA if your blobs are really thick...just part of the trade-off when you use a mild paper.
Deanski
STUTTGART'S FINEST
German cars=German polishes. You should go with Menerna line for polishing the finish. Depending on how the finish is now is the way to choose which one will be best.
The harder finish can be best delt with Menerna polishes designed for "Ceramiclear" finishes. Although these polishes were really made for rotary use, more people found ways to use them with a PC.
Yes, black is a real PITA, but if maintained well, it will not be too bad... But Black is the toughest color to really excel at.
Regards,
Deanski
The harder finish can be best delt with Menerna polishes designed for "Ceramiclear" finishes. Although these polishes were really made for rotary use, more people found ways to use them with a PC.
Yes, black is a real PITA, but if maintained well, it will not be too bad... But Black is the toughest color to really excel at.
Regards,
Deanski
imported_rlarsen462
New member
Well, I already ordered the 105/205, but only in the sampler size from ADS, perhaps wisely if I find it doesn't give good results with the PC I might try Menzerna. If all else fails I will invest in a rotary and destroy my wife's Jeep learning how to use it. 
And unfortunately, the clear (in pen form) for the touch up was garbage and didn't give very nice looking results. I'm hoping sanding it down and polishing it will at least make it less evident but I don't think I'm going to get "vanishing" type results with these chips. Oh well, better than the spots of gray primer showing against the black paint.
I'll post some after shots in a week or two when I'm done working on this monstrosity.
As for the "only after washing comment" like I said, the car (for black) is by far in the best condition I've ever seen considering it's got ~23K on the clock and has seen two owners and been through 3 dealerships (well, the same one two different times and another in between). I'm hoping this translates into slightly less backbreaking labor getting it fully corrected.
And unfortunately, the clear (in pen form) for the touch up was garbage and didn't give very nice looking results. I'm hoping sanding it down and polishing it will at least make it less evident but I don't think I'm going to get "vanishing" type results with these chips. Oh well, better than the spots of gray primer showing against the black paint.
I'll post some after shots in a week or two when I'm done working on this monstrosity.
As for the "only after washing comment" like I said, the car (for black) is by far in the best condition I've ever seen considering it's got ~23K on the clock and has seen two owners and been through 3 dealerships (well, the same one two different times and another in between). I'm hoping this translates into slightly less backbreaking labor getting it fully corrected.
Dan
Well-known member
rlarsen462 said:
The Audi clear pen is pretty bad. IMO the paint in it is way too thick. Langka will remove the mess it makes quite easily though.
Accumulator
Well-known member
yakky said:
Unless the person in question has experience with wetsanding (and I'd even say specifically experience wetsanding Audis), I'd recommend the Langka.
Scottwax said:
I've done our Audis via rotary, Cyclo, Flex...you name it. Nobody (and I mean *nobody*) could tell which car got which approach. Before M105 I used the rotaries for the initial correction on them, but IME it's simply not necessary now.
Deanski said:
I can't generalize quite that much based on my Audi experiences. While I do use German polishes (i.e., 1Z ) for the final steps, the M105/M205 twins are super for all but the most gentle final burnishing.
There seems to be some debate as to whether A4s have the Spiess Hecker paint that's on my A8/S8 or a hard version of Glasurit . I don't want to overgeneralize too much here, but IME both respond great to M105/M205.
I just can't think of a better way to do the initial correction (at least without a rotary) than using M105 :think: Yeah, you could follow it with something other than M205 (I've used various 1Z polishes with good results) but the M205 is nice and easy, quick too.
Yeah, I do like to refine the resulting "perfect" (i.e., marring-free) finish a bit with something gentle from 1Z (no argument against Menzerna FPII, I intend to try that some time), but until somebody gets their Audi to the "flawless" level I dunno if such burnishing is worth doing. And I think most people (at least those who haven't done it a few times) will find it hard enough just getting the marring knocked down to an acceptable level.
And I'll admit I knee-jerk about some Menzerna offerings; the weird concealing tendencies of 106FF really bug me. All-in-all, I'm happier with the Meguiar's/1Z approach for Audis.
Eh...hope the preceding didn't come across as more :argue than I intended.
imported_rlarsen462
New member
yakky said:
Unfortunately I don't have any and the clear's been dry for a day or so, so probably too late. The blobs are high enough that if I spend enough time knocking them down with wetsanding I should be able to get tolerable results. The hood's not perfect anyway, as I suspect a fair amount of the car's 23K miles are highway. I mostly wanted to get rid of the good-sized visible gray spots from the big chips.
And yes, the problem I had with it was that it was SUPER thick for some reason. The paint itself was great, very thin and easy to use with a toothpick.
imported_rlarsen462
New member
Well, like I said Accumulator, I'm pretty hands-on DIY kind of guy, so if I get horrible results wetsanding my blobfests I'll post it up here for advice and be able to live with myself. 
Hopefully by next weekend I will have had time to mask the car down and give it a good 105/205 treatment. I might just finish with Collinite for the durability and call it a day after that. I'll post some shots.
Basically looking for the best way to balance my anal retentive desire for perfection with the simple reality of daily driving a black car. As you can imagine, it's no mean feat.
Also, I'm trying to stay out of the poor house.
Hopefully by next weekend I will have had time to mask the car down and give it a good 105/205 treatment. I might just finish with Collinite for the durability and call it a day after that. I'll post some shots.
Basically looking for the best way to balance my anal retentive desire for perfection with the simple reality of daily driving a black car. As you can imagine, it's no mean feat.
Also, I'm trying to stay out of the poor house.
Dan
Well-known member
rlarsen462 said:
Langka works a lot longer than it says. I've removed blobs that were there from previous owners. There is a bit of a learning curve with the stuff, however the potential for real damage is much much much less than some bad wetsanding. In most cases, everything is 100% reversable. It really is a neat system if you take the time to learn it.
imported_rlarsen462
New member
Yeah maybe I should pick some up. I was sort of balking at the $40 price tag as well.
I noticed the clear over the touchup has some small bubbles in it evenly distributed throughout, I wonder if I didn't wait long enough for the underlying paint to dry, or if it was a problem of the hood being too hot when I applied it (it was still warm from engine running a few hours previous).
Maybe if Langka can remove the botchjob I did I can start over properly.
I noticed the clear over the touchup has some small bubbles in it evenly distributed throughout, I wonder if I didn't wait long enough for the underlying paint to dry, or if it was a problem of the hood being too hot when I applied it (it was still warm from engine running a few hours previous).
Maybe if Langka can remove the botchjob I did I can start over properly.