manhattan$
Past Member
I thought i would have a crack at getting my A2's paint work back to the day it rolled out of the factory.
The car was purchased from Reading Audi, and judging by the paintwork it looks like they washed it with a dirty bucket and a gritty sponge. I cant believe dealers use incorrect washing techniques, especially on cars like Q7's and RS4'S worth between 40-60k
Anyway, i started by using my karcher powerwasher with autobrite foam lance filled with a mix of chemical guys citrus wash n gloss shampoo and autobrites super snow foam. The foam that that is produced by the lance and SSF is incredible! It looks like a sheet of snow covering the whole car!
After leaving the SSF for around 5 minutes to soak and delodge any grit, i then used the standard karcher and lance to remove the remaining suds.
Next up was a hand wash using the two bucket technique and a shmitt wash mitt which come highly recomended. The shmitt is made from a special fine foam that holds tons of water and suds and has a grooved surface that catches dirt but does not scratch the paint like sponges do. The two bucket technique is used to protect your paint from dirt and grit picked up by the wash mitt. One bucket was filled with warm water and chemical guys citrus wash n gloss, and the other bucket was filled with only warm water as a rinse bucket for the shmitt to remove any grit picked up from washing. I then used some sonus fine green detailing clay with lubricant that removes contamanents road tar and industrial fallout stuck to the paintwork, and makes the paint feel like glass, great stuff!
After this i gave the car another quick blast with the karcher then dried the body with a sonus drying towel.
I then used some paintwork cleanser and a sonus buffing cloth to remove any previous wax that the dealer may or may not have put on.
Now onto the paintwork correction.
Using the porter cable professional machine polisher and various sonus polishing pads i got to work. I used menzerna intensive polish which has quite a bit of bite and a sonus sfx polishing pad i proceeded to remove the fine swirls and paint defects. Working in 2ft square boxes at a time to make sure that the polish gets broken down properly then checking the finish with a microfibre after a few passes. The porter cable polisher is a great piece of kit, but expect to spend around 10 hours to do a full detail on your A2. By hand you are talking a full week!
Next up was clearkote vanilla moose hand glaze which was applied then buffed. This stuff cleanses the paint and also fills any remaining fine marks to the clearcoat on the paintwork. After this is used some Autoglym EGP which was left to haze for around 30 minutes then buffed off. Last up was to wax the car. I used victoria concours wax which is a great polish, expensive but worth every penny. The paintwork now looks like liquid silver and the blue silver and red flake in the Akoya paint has come alive!
The photos dont really show how glossy and reflective the paint now is, due to the sun being quite low and the car in a difficult position to take photos.
Anyway i hope this helps a few of you too keep your A2's in tiptop condition!
The paintwork correction only needs performing once a year, but if you dont want to goto the expense of buying the machine polisher etc, then just get out there and buy some decent detailing products!
The car was purchased from Reading Audi, and judging by the paintwork it looks like they washed it with a dirty bucket and a gritty sponge. I cant believe dealers use incorrect washing techniques, especially on cars like Q7's and RS4'S worth between 40-60k
Anyway, i started by using my karcher powerwasher with autobrite foam lance filled with a mix of chemical guys citrus wash n gloss shampoo and autobrites super snow foam. The foam that that is produced by the lance and SSF is incredible! It looks like a sheet of snow covering the whole car!
After leaving the SSF for around 5 minutes to soak and delodge any grit, i then used the standard karcher and lance to remove the remaining suds.
Next up was a hand wash using the two bucket technique and a shmitt wash mitt which come highly recomended. The shmitt is made from a special fine foam that holds tons of water and suds and has a grooved surface that catches dirt but does not scratch the paint like sponges do. The two bucket technique is used to protect your paint from dirt and grit picked up by the wash mitt. One bucket was filled with warm water and chemical guys citrus wash n gloss, and the other bucket was filled with only warm water as a rinse bucket for the shmitt to remove any grit picked up from washing. I then used some sonus fine green detailing clay with lubricant that removes contamanents road tar and industrial fallout stuck to the paintwork, and makes the paint feel like glass, great stuff!
After this i gave the car another quick blast with the karcher then dried the body with a sonus drying towel.
I then used some paintwork cleanser and a sonus buffing cloth to remove any previous wax that the dealer may or may not have put on.
Now onto the paintwork correction.
Using the porter cable professional machine polisher and various sonus polishing pads i got to work. I used menzerna intensive polish which has quite a bit of bite and a sonus sfx polishing pad i proceeded to remove the fine swirls and paint defects. Working in 2ft square boxes at a time to make sure that the polish gets broken down properly then checking the finish with a microfibre after a few passes. The porter cable polisher is a great piece of kit, but expect to spend around 10 hours to do a full detail on your A2. By hand you are talking a full week!
Next up was clearkote vanilla moose hand glaze which was applied then buffed. This stuff cleanses the paint and also fills any remaining fine marks to the clearcoat on the paintwork. After this is used some Autoglym EGP which was left to haze for around 30 minutes then buffed off. Last up was to wax the car. I used victoria concours wax which is a great polish, expensive but worth every penny. The paintwork now looks like liquid silver and the blue silver and red flake in the Akoya paint has come alive!
The photos dont really show how glossy and reflective the paint now is, due to the sun being quite low and the car in a difficult position to take photos.
Anyway i hope this helps a few of you too keep your A2's in tiptop condition!
The paintwork correction only needs performing once a year, but if you dont want to goto the expense of buying the machine polisher etc, then just get out there and buy some decent detailing products!
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