Last month I detailed two of Germany's newest super coupes, the new C63 AMG Black Series Mercedes and a 2013 Audi RS5.
Nice to finally have the RS5 in the states! Both cars were poorly prepped by the dealer and had some factory finishing issues which needed to be corrected. The goal for both vehicles was a proper new car preparation and 100% level paint correction to remove all the defects and restore maximum gloss and clarity.
First, C63 Black Series:
Prep consisted of 2 bucket wash, Iron Cut, Sonax wheel cleaner and the Nanoskin autoscrub clay disc.
The overall finish of the Mercedes, as with most Mercedes was farily good. There are two main reasons for this: one is Mercedes very hard ceramic clear coats (more resistant to wash marring) and the other is high quality finishing from the factory. The Black Series may be considered and exotic auto but it is still very much a Mercedes Benz and you'll notice very few if any Mercedes driving around with factory installed holograms or sanding marks, on the Ferrari's, Astons and Lambo's however these defects come standard on every new model :shakehead:
Not too much factory defect and luckily just some marring from the dealer prep
Lower carbon fiber spoiler corrected first with the Flex rotary and an orange cutting pad with Menzerna Super intensive polish @ 1200-1500rpm
Front fender some light holograms and light RIDS shown under the LED light, reasons to avoid a dealer prep at all costs
After correction
Carbon fiber splitters corrected with rotary as well..
Before
During
After
After final polishing all the other areas were handled as needed. Cleaning the matte finish wheels here using Swissvax Opaque pre cleaner..
Engine detailed and all plastics dressed with 303 protectant
All finished, only took 18hours to get it perfect!
Some sun shots..
LSP of choice was Wolf's Bodywrap (Hard Body had not come in yet) but the BW still looked the business (you Chris Harris fans will appreciate such a remark)
After the sun went down the finish still looked incredible, the metallic flake may not be popping here like it was in sunlight but the depth and clarity remains fantastic..
Last shot of the evening..
Next... 2013 Audi RS5 in brilliant black metallic
This is one of those cars I was hoping to get my hands as soon as it came out, it's absolutely beautiful (more so after some polishing work)
The RS5 had been buffed at some point, RIDS and wool pad holograms all over the paint
This is what I refer to as "holo-grimey"
Decklid section wool holograms
50/50 after compounding, gloss improved already and this was simply after Meguiars M105 compound no finishing work done yet. At this point I had a feeling I could take the brilliant black to another level, the amount of gloss that came out after only 1 step was very impressive. Some fine finishing work was sure to kick it up one more notch.
Under the LED
After finishing with PO85rd on the rotary, flake looking as it should now still no LSP
Rear bumper had a good amount of issues as well..
After correction the car was wiped down with Eraser to remove all polishing oils and prep the finish for LSP which was Wolf's Hard Body sealant. I applied this with a DA machine using a black pad on speed 2 left to sit for 15 minutes and then went on to detail the rest of the car. A second coat was applied a few hours later.
Interior was still in new condition so the leather was gently cleaned and hard plastics protected with 303. Doorjambs sealed using Aquartz Reload.
Final shots, I took a bunch of photos of the metallic flake up close it just popped off the paint I could not resist, 3.5hrs of fine polishing has its benefits!
Wheels sealed with Aquartz reload and tires dressed for a dark matte gloss
The metallic flake truly was some of the best looking I have seen out in the sun, it just popped from every angle
Thats all for now will work on getting some more writeups soon. Thanks for reading as always!
Regards,
Dave Saunders
Street Dreams Detail
Nice to finally have the RS5 in the states! Both cars were poorly prepped by the dealer and had some factory finishing issues which needed to be corrected. The goal for both vehicles was a proper new car preparation and 100% level paint correction to remove all the defects and restore maximum gloss and clarity.
First, C63 Black Series:
Prep consisted of 2 bucket wash, Iron Cut, Sonax wheel cleaner and the Nanoskin autoscrub clay disc.
The overall finish of the Mercedes, as with most Mercedes was farily good. There are two main reasons for this: one is Mercedes very hard ceramic clear coats (more resistant to wash marring) and the other is high quality finishing from the factory. The Black Series may be considered and exotic auto but it is still very much a Mercedes Benz and you'll notice very few if any Mercedes driving around with factory installed holograms or sanding marks, on the Ferrari's, Astons and Lambo's however these defects come standard on every new model :shakehead:
Not too much factory defect and luckily just some marring from the dealer prep
Lower carbon fiber spoiler corrected first with the Flex rotary and an orange cutting pad with Menzerna Super intensive polish @ 1200-1500rpm
Front fender some light holograms and light RIDS shown under the LED light, reasons to avoid a dealer prep at all costs
After correction
Carbon fiber splitters corrected with rotary as well..
Before
During
After
After final polishing all the other areas were handled as needed. Cleaning the matte finish wheels here using Swissvax Opaque pre cleaner..
Engine detailed and all plastics dressed with 303 protectant
All finished, only took 18hours to get it perfect!
Some sun shots..
LSP of choice was Wolf's Bodywrap (Hard Body had not come in yet) but the BW still looked the business (you Chris Harris fans will appreciate such a remark)
After the sun went down the finish still looked incredible, the metallic flake may not be popping here like it was in sunlight but the depth and clarity remains fantastic..
Last shot of the evening..
Next... 2013 Audi RS5 in brilliant black metallic
This is one of those cars I was hoping to get my hands as soon as it came out, it's absolutely beautiful (more so after some polishing work)
The RS5 had been buffed at some point, RIDS and wool pad holograms all over the paint
This is what I refer to as "holo-grimey"
Decklid section wool holograms
50/50 after compounding, gloss improved already and this was simply after Meguiars M105 compound no finishing work done yet. At this point I had a feeling I could take the brilliant black to another level, the amount of gloss that came out after only 1 step was very impressive. Some fine finishing work was sure to kick it up one more notch.
Under the LED
After finishing with PO85rd on the rotary, flake looking as it should now still no LSP
Rear bumper had a good amount of issues as well..
After correction the car was wiped down with Eraser to remove all polishing oils and prep the finish for LSP which was Wolf's Hard Body sealant. I applied this with a DA machine using a black pad on speed 2 left to sit for 15 minutes and then went on to detail the rest of the car. A second coat was applied a few hours later.
Interior was still in new condition so the leather was gently cleaned and hard plastics protected with 303. Doorjambs sealed using Aquartz Reload.
Final shots, I took a bunch of photos of the metallic flake up close it just popped off the paint I could not resist, 3.5hrs of fine polishing has its benefits!
Wheels sealed with Aquartz reload and tires dressed for a dark matte gloss
The metallic flake truly was some of the best looking I have seen out in the sun, it just popped from every angle
Thats all for now will work on getting some more writeups soon. Thanks for reading as always!
Regards,
Dave Saunders
Street Dreams Detail
