Making a Phaeton worthy.......

SpoiledMan

SpoiledMan

New member
The owner of this car contacted me wanting his car detailed. He's a member here at Autopia and while has has great pride in his car(rightfully so) he just doesn't have the time to keep it looking like it should.



To start, VW Phaeton's are more rare than RR Phantom's here in L.A. and I was excited to see it and even more excited to work on it. The owner too the time to go over the entire car with me and is a real car guy himself. Truly, he and his girlfriend are the kind of people that make you feel really good at the end of the day!



The subject car was in pretty tough shape as the pictures will show. Menzerna IP (SIP used by my helper) with wool cutting pads on the rotary were used to cut away all the heavy swirling on this rather hard paint. It was finished on the rotary with 106ff and green LC pads. Who said green LC pads don't finish well??



Enough already. Here are the pictures.



Before:



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And just to think, that was on the sides! The horizontal panels were worse.



After compounding:



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Finished with Ultima Paint Sealant:



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Cool reflection shot with the owner:



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While difficult to do this car was a joy to work on. The paint is the flattest that I've ever worked on and polished up almost flawless. It's a shame that I lost the sun before I could get it finished for some shots. There's a pretty good chance that I'll see it again and I'm SURE that it wont be as bad as it was.



Thanks you to "G" and his girlfriend. Thanks a lot George as I'd still be there now without you!
 
It's interesting how rare something like this can be when a car costing 4 times as much is more common.



Thanks Z!



Andrew, yes. It's amazing how flat the paint is. I wish there could have been some sun shots though.:(
 
Well, this is one case where I can definately assure everyone the car looks better in person :D



The pictures absolutely do not do justice to the finish of the car, it looked amazing when we were finished.
 
SpoiledMan said:
It's interesting how rare something like this can be when a car costing 4 times as much is more common.
Click to expand...



I've seen a few of these around. They're pretty rare though as you already mentioned. I think the general public just had a problem mentally justifying paying that high a price for a car that had a VW on the front. So, the car is no longer imported to the USA. I believe it shares it's underpinnings with the Audi A8 which is a pretty nice car too.



My friend actually worked for the advertising company (Arnold Worldwide here in Boston) on the VW team when they were developing this car. He worked on a lot of the initial VW new Beetle advertising when the model was first revived. According to what he told me VW felt they were losing too many buyers as their income increased. So, they tried to recapture/retain these buyers by developing a higher end car. Unfortunately, I don't think VW's brand had enough cache for the plan to work.



Anyway, great job on the detail. It looks really great. It's a big sedan and I know you guys put in a lot of hard work.
 
Thanks Mike! It was a hard day made easier by the owner who made sure that we wanted for nothing! Great hospitality!
 
Great job!



One of my clients has one I've seen it a few times in person. Beautiful cars. He doesn't like it so he doesn't drive it anymore. :(
 
SpoiledMan, it's so wet, it looks like someone has a hose over it and was running water on the Phaeton! I been using the Menzerna also and love this polish (works wonders). Awesome job!:up
 
There's a Phaeton I see on a regular basis, but I definitely see more of them around there than a RR. Audi A8s are also very common around here, moreso than the Phaeton. Yes, it is basically the same platform and a lot of people that could afford a 100k car would usually get an A8L over the Phaeton. I have heard that they sell for less than $50k now brand new as VW is trying to get them out of the lots.



Funny how people don't believe me when I say "there goes a $100k Volkswagen with a 12-cyl engine." Those interiors are total class all the way.
 
One of my clients has one and when I asked why he would spend that much on a VW it was a W12 he said some of his customers would have had a problem with him showing up to a site meeting in a 7 series or a A8L. He said nobody would look at his VW.
 
Chris,



YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!!!!



Your professionalism, expertise, and client service are unparalleled.



It feels like a new car.... I cannot believe how many times I have grabbed the keys for "absolutely necessary" errands.



Thanks for everything!



G
 
Thanks again guys!



G, I'm glad that you are making all those "necessary trips" now. ;) It was my pleasure! Thanks for linking this up on the Vortex too.
 
Very, very nice work there. Outstanding level of correction, and an impressive car to boot. :)



I have seen more Bentleys cruising around my city than I have Phaetons this year. Come to think of it, I probably haven't seen one in person since last year.
 
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