Sprint Blue S3 - Detailed by Lawrence

lawrenceSA

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So I was fortunate enough to detail one of the guys from the Audi Club S3, 2 weekends ago.

How she looked when she arrived.
Before-car.jpg


Lots of dust/dirt
Beforedirt.jpg

Beforedirt4.jpg

Beforedirt3.jpg

Backbadgebefore2.jpg

Backbadgebefore3.jpg

Before-wheelarch.jpg


Swirl marks
Swirl4.jpg

Swirl3.jpg

Swirl1.jpg


Deeper scratches
Scratch2.jpg

Scratch5.jpg

Scrape.jpg


Stains
Stain.jpg

Stain3.jpg

Stain2.jpg


First things as always was to give the wheels some love
Products used:
Turtle Wax Platinum Series Performance Wheel Cleaner
CM30 Cyclonic Cleaner
Mothers Fender Well Brush
Two Way Mini Detailing Brush
Mothers Tire brush
Mothers Wheel Brush
Daytona Speed Master Wheel Brush
Turtle Wax Platinum Series Revitalising Tyre Dressing
HP Washer
Time taken: 1.5hrs
Before
Wheelbefore1.jpg

Wheelbefore2.jpg

Wheelbefore4.jpg

During
Wheelsduring.jpg

No 'after' shot of the wheels only :oops:

Next the car was washed and dried.
Products used:
CD Foam Cannon
Chemical Guys Maxi-Suds II
Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo
CM30 Cyclonic Cleaner
Two Way Mini Detailing Brush
Various paint brushes
CrazyDetailer Goldline Series Ultra Soft Chenille Wash Mitt
CrazyDetailer Supreme Drying Towel
2 Buckets with grit guards
HP washer
Time taken: 1hr 30minutes
Foam.jpg

Door jambs before
Doorjambbefore3.jpg

Doorjambbefore.jpg

after
Doorjambafter2.jpg

Doorjambafter1.jpg


Next up the car was clayed, for the first time in its life.... even though the car only has 55K km's on the clock, it had never been clayed before, and this was therefore quite a time consuming process.
Products used:
Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay
Meguiars Quick Detailer
Redline Series Microfiber Polishing Towels
Time taken: 3hrs
P1030279.jpg
 
This then revealed the true condition of the paint, which as can be seen from some of these pics, was horribly swirled.
Swirl5.jpg

Swirl6.jpg

Swirl7.jpg

Swirl8.jpg


Compounding/polishing.
Products used:
Meguiars Ultimate Compound
Menzerna SF4000
Lake Country Orange CCS Foam Pads
Lake Country Green Flat Polishing Finishing Foam Pads
Meguiars Foam Applicator Pad
Redline Series Microfiber Polishing Towels
Shield DA Polisher
Time taken: 4.75 hours
before
Swirlbefore.jpg

after compounding but before polishing
Swirlafter.jpg


All the door/boot jambs were waxed
Products used:
Meguiars Cleaner Wax (paste)
Meguiars Foam Applicator Pad
Redline Series Microfiber Polishing Towels
Time taken: 30 minutes

The windows were clayed and treated
Products used:
Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay
Meguiars Quick Detailer
Redline Series Microfiber Polishing Towels
C-Thru
Time taken: 1 hour

Finally the paint was sealed
Products used:
2 coats Meguiars NXT Tech wax
Redline Series Microfiber Polishing Towels
Time taken: 1hr

I then called it an evening :yawn: allowing the sealant to cure overnight

Up early the next morning I commenced with a clean up of the engine bay.
Products used:
CM30 Cyclonic Cleaner
Two Way Mini Detailing Brush
Various paint brushes
SmartWax Smart Dressing
Time taken: 1.5hrs
Before
Enginebefore.jpg

After
Engineafter1.jpg

Engineafter2.jpg

Engineafter3.jpg


Exhaust tip polished
Products used:
Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish
Time taken: 0.5hrs
Before
ExhaustBefore.jpg

After
Exhaustafter.jpg


Lastly the interior was vacuumed and all trim and leather treated
Products used:
Two Way Mini Detailing Brush
Various paint brushes
SmartWax Smart Dressing
SmartLeather - Leather Cleaner & Conditioner
Time taken: 1.5hrs

Onto the after shots
Carafter4.jpg


Carafter5.jpg

Carafter6.jpg

Carafter7.jpg

Carafter.jpg

Backbadgeafter.jpg

Frontbadgeafter.jpg

Carafter3.jpg

Carafter2.jpg


Total time spent on detail = 14 hours

Thanks for looking
 
Wow - best before and after shots I've seen in a while. That looks totally amazing! The swirls on the before look truly horrible. I'm blown away by your recovery - nice work!
 
Nice job! The engine bay was a huge turnaround. What is a cm30 cyclonic cleaner?
 
Very nice job....I love that car...(Audi owner also here)...my favorite S3 is the Ur S3 btw..that is very sweet also...
 
Nice work, and appreciate the detailed photo documentation.

I might have missed it but what product(s)/pad did you use for scratches on the black plastic b-pillar which isn't generally clearcoated.

I didn't even know there was an S version of the A3. Is that a non-US model?
 
Wow - best before and after shots I've seen in a while. That looks totally amazing! The swirls on the before look truly horrible. I'm blown away by your recovery - nice work!

Thanks so much for your kind words!:xyxthumbs:
 
Nice work, and appreciate the detailed photo documentation.

I might have missed it but what product(s)/pad did you use for scratches on the black plastic b-pillar which isn't generally clearcoated.

I didn't even know there was an S version of the A3. Is that a non-US model?

I actually never polished out the B-pillar:bash: but fortunately it actually wasn't in bad shape.... I did however treat it with Smartwax Smartdressing.

Yeah the 'S' version of the A3 is quite a car.... 2.0 T FSI Quattro, six speed S Tronic 260hp /350nm, 0-100km/hr = 5.6s I assume it is a non-USA model as we received it here in South Africa...
 
Top notch job man. Those before scratches on the rear of the car were terrible. You've done it a good justice.
 
how can you guys do a good job like that, I am exhausted already even before halfway...
 
how can you guys do a good job like that, I am exhausted already even before halfway...

Ha ha - yeah man it is tiring... well I find it tiring anyway.... I only detail part time on weekends, from home, so this is by no means my core job.... I have a normal 9-5'er...

The most exhausting part for me is always the claying.... I do not know if I am just too anal about it, but it usually takes me the better part of 3 hours to clay a medium sized car...and man oh man do my arms and shoulders get tired.

I have just purchased my first bottle of Iron-x and am hoping that with using this first, I can drastically cut down on the time spent claying....
 
The most exhausting part for me is always the claying.... I do not know if I am just too anal about it, but it usually takes me the better part of 3 hours to clay a medium sized car...and man oh man do my arms and shoulders get tired.

You might try a slightly more aggressive (but still mild) clay. The pinnacle ultra poly is a very light aggressiveness. Something like the clay magic blue might be worth trying.
 
Thanks for the advice.... I actually received my order of Clay Magic purple clay today, for this exact reason, and so hopefully even on cars that I don't 'iron-x' going forward, the claying process should be a little easier.
 
Great turn around, WOW!!!

That color is stunning and you really brought it out right there! I used to work at a Lotus dealership back in the metro Detroit area and we had an A3 that MTM converted to full S3 specs and that little car was a rocket!

Hope the owner never lets it get to that point ever again, once again, congrats on the transformation!!
 
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