CH.Detailed - 2011 Audi A8

[CH.Detailing]

The car is 2011 Audi A8 in a dark green metallic that almost looks black, and is only about 11 months old. Working on something relatively new is always a treat for me; too often I’m doing repainted vehicles and aging restorations riddled with all manner of defects. I was told to do “whatever it needed”, so that’s what I did. The owner takes fairly good care of it, and told me that he makes weekly trips to the local ‘hand wash’ volume shop, which made me cringe. It had its fair share of dirt, dust, and grime.

The wheels had a nice layer of brake dust of them, which was quickly taken care of with CarPro IronX and a variety of brushes. The tires and wheel wells were scrubbed clean with a combination of Meguiars APC+ and Super Degreaser.

…and rinsed clean. That’s how a wheel should look!

The exhaust tips were pretty gnarly as well and probably hadn’t been touched since the car was assembled. The tips were first cleaned with APC/Super Degreaser and then polished up with P21S Polishing Soap (if you don’t know, know you know…).

 

[CH.Detailing]

The engine was in pretty good shape, but was dusty and had a few oily spots. The bay was gently rinsed, misted with APC/Super Degreaser (see a trend?) and detailed with a variety of brushes. The cleaners were rinsed off and then Optimum Opti-Bond at 3:1 was misted liberally while the bay was still wet. The clean and dressed bay was left damp while I washed the car.

Once all the filthy areas were taken care of, the car itself was washed. First it was foamed with a Chemical Guys Citrus Wash N Gloss, then a 2-bucket wash of the same soap using a super plush microfiber towel.

Everything was then thoroughly rinsed, misted with Optimum Instant Detailer & Gloss Enhancer, and carefully dried with a waffle weave microfiber towel.

The car was then pulled into the garage to prep it for polishing. Its essentially a new vehicle, and I didn’t anticipate needing to do much paint correction, but I took a range of paint thickness readings to make sure everything was as it should be.

All the thickness readings checked out fine, ranging from mid-80’s to ~140 microns. Paint color, texture, and metallic flake was xxxxgenous as well so I had no reason to suspect any previous repairs or bodywork. I look for these things by habit now, even though its probably not necessary.

 

[CH.Detailing]

I turned the lights on it to see what condition the paint was in. Overall it was in pretty good shape with few RIDS and mostly just superficial light scratches/swirls.

Instead of claying the car, I used CarPro’s Polyshave Decon block. Similar to the Speedyprep Towels, it features polymerized rubber bonded to an easy to grip foam block. Its nice in that it works very quickly, and although there is less tactile feedback as compared to claying, you can actually hear the difference as it occurs. I’ve found that on softer paints it will cause a LOT of marring, but not so much that it can’t be handled with a single polishing step. On this hard Audi paint, I didn’t have any issues.

I pulled out my current favorite for a 1-step on this one. Sonax Perfect Finish, Lake Country Hydro-Tech Tangerine pads (3”, 4”, 5.5”), on a rotary. I do a quick pass to spread the product around, work it at ~1800 rpms with moderate pressure for 3-4 passes, then dial it back to ~1200 rpms for 1 pass with light pressure. Its important to use the right pad for the right job, when working in tight areas a small pad makes quick work and is worth the effort of changing machines or backing plates.

The black plastic trim on the B-pillars was particularly hammered, and the Sonax did little to improve it. I switched over to Scholl’s S3 Gold with a 3” Lake Country Orange pad, 1200 rpms with firm pressure. Working the product until it showed clear resulted in a dramatic improvement.

After all polishing was complete, the paint was stripped down again with three wipe downs using a solution of Isopropyl alcohol.

Lastly Wolfgang Fuzion was applied by hand (but not with my hands). I find
myself reaching for it more and more these days!

 

[CH.Detailing]

The lighting was kind of tricky, so I didn’t get any pictures of the interior. The owner is a neurosurgeon, so he keeps the interior surgically clean on the regular. A quick vacuum and surface wipe down with Meguiars Quick Interior Detailer had it looking great. Before I called it quits I put a coat of Rejex on the wheels and exhaust tips, cleaned the glass with a combination of Isopropyl alcohol and Optimum No Rinse, scrubbed the tires further with Meguiars #40 and a microfiber rag, and applied a coat of Optimum Opti-Bond.

Thanks for checking it out!

 

[colinpd137]

Really good work man, nice job!
Always wondered about that polishing soap from P21S, might have to get some on my next order and give it a go seeing as it transformed the tips quite a bit.

 

[Old Pirate]

Yes, great to see someone using the P21S Soap these days. Always a pleasure to see your work Conner!:drool:

 

[Pats300zx]

Beautiful work Connor...

 

[dc52nv]

I'm seeing this thread on my phone and can't wait to view it on my 24" monitor at home.

 

[mikenap]

Great work as always Connor, but the writeup was very clear and to the point as well. Thanks for going into detail about what you used and why without making it hard to read! :bigups

 

[CH.Detailing]

You know how to read?

 

[mikenap]

You know how to read?

As of last week.....

 

[AndrewBigA]

great work & great pictures! nice writeup!

 

[Wors]

Connor, great write up. The car looks amazing. Every time I read your write ups I find a nice tip. Using a very long nap MF is a great idea for 2 bucket wash. What MF is it?

 

[Todd@RUPES]

Don't know what I like more... The work, the documentation, the photographs, or the end result...

 

[CT3]

Nice job, and nice write write up too.

 

[Orinda Auto Detail]

Great job Connor!

 

[dd1101]

Amazing Job:drool:, love your format for presentation on the forum.

 

[RZJZA80]

Awesome car and great work, very nice and detailed pics

 

[ihaveacamaro]

amazing work!

 

[waynvision]

Really meticulous! Really great job! Really fabulously presented! Really!