2009 a5

[richy]

I was looking forward to working on this car; it's gorgeous. However, there were quite a few marks in it for a 3 year old car. Turns out to have very hard paint too. Here it is as it arrived:

The worst one was this bad-boy along the passenger side door:

Wheels/Wells/Barrels/Tires:

The tires were cleaned with Zep 505, my go-to now for tires.
Wheel faces and barrels were cleaned with Tarminator, Iron X, Zep Citrus
Wells cleaned with Zep Citrus

Convertible Top:

I always use ARO at 100% for canvass tops. It does a great job. At 100%, it's not easy to rinse out, but boy does it clean!!

Paint:
The body got foamed with a strong mix of DG 901/Dawn.
That was followed with a regular DG 901 wash.
The paint and glass was then clayed with Carpro Foam block.


Correction:

There were 2 bird bomb stains on the hood. The scratch on the passenger door got wet sanded with 3000 grit Megs disc with my GG 3" DA. The paint did not correct easily on this car. After many different steps up the increasing aggressiveness ladder, I ended up using my Dyna rotary, TB black wool and Menz PG500 to correct the scratches and misc marks. I also had to run it at about 1800-2200 to make it really work well. That got rid of the scratches, but also presented its own issues. That stage was then followed up with my Flex and a yellow B/S pad and M105. It was then perfected with a green B/S and M205. I then used the DG Squeaky Clean to ensure 2 things:
True Correction
Surface ready to coat

Here's some "in progress" shots:

 

[richy]

The wheels were coated with OG.
The glass was coated with Opt Glass coating.
The paint (after sitting overnight was first wiped down with ONR) was also coated with OG.
The tires/wells were shot with Opt OB via spray gun.
The trim was done with WETS.
The paint was then wiped down with UWW for added slickness a few hours later.

You can see on the one "after" shot that perfect correction on the passenger side was not obtained. I did not choose to go more aggressively than I already did. The customer was thrilled with what I did to the scratch otherwise.


AFTERS:

Notice my Licence Plate?????

Scratch remnant:

Reflection Shots:

Check out the sun!

Thanks for looking! Comments appreciated.

 

[RaskyR1]

Great work as always Richy! Some pretty nasty RIDS in that one. I like that color too....don't think I've seen it before.

 

[VISITOR]

your work speaks for itself, great job...

 

[richy]

Great work as always Richy! Some pretty nasty RIDS in that one. I like that color too....don't think I've seen it before.

Thanks Chad. Fortunately the owner was very understanding of the time it was taking to correct them. The owner's wife who drives it has long black hair...the colour of the car suits her well.rops:

 

[KillaCam]

Awesome job.

Is that duragloss squeaky clean available to purchase? I've never seen it. I'm guessing it strips the paint of all oils so opti coat can bond?

 

[The_2nd_G]

Great job on what is a fairly rare A5 color. I don't know if I'd of pulled the trigger on that shade when I bought mine, but it sure is nice to look at, especially when detailed to this level. Great work.

 

[richy]

Killa Cam, it will be down the road. We're still doing some testing on it, but so far so good. It was developed precisely for removing oils and ensuring a perfect bond with a "squeaky clean" surface.


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[richy]

Great job on what is a fairly rare A5 color. I don't know if I'd of pulled the trigger on that shade when I bought mine, but it sure is nice to look at, especially when detailed to this level. Great work.

Thank you. Brown is not my favourite, but the metallic is nice.


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[Ray@Autogeek]

Root beer color FTW! Great job as usual richy, and sweet license plate! :dblthumb2:

 

[y8s]

Did you say "Opt Glass"??

 

[Johny B]

AWESOME JOB AS USUAL richy.

 

[Dougw4355]

Very nice...


I was debating about trying some zepp products for basic wheel cleaning ect !!

 

[richy]

your work speaks for itself, great job...

Al, thanks for the kind words!

Root beer color FTW! Great job as usual richy, and sweet license plate! :dblthumb2:

Thanks very much Ray! I was very pleased that it was available; several other versions were gone.

Did you say "Opt Glass"??

Yes, I did. Chris was kind enough to send me some to try several months ago. I've done maybe 10-12 cars with it so far.

AWESOME JOB AS USUAL richy.

Johny, thanks a lot bud!

Very nice...


I was debating about trying some zepp products for basic wheel cleaning ect !!

Doug, thanks very much. I HIGHLY recommend the Zep line. Very underrated products for sure. I use Zep Citrus cut 4:1 on wheels, wells, etc. I now use Zep 505 on tires straight up. Strong cleaner that actually smells nice...kinda lemony. I used to use Zep Purple degreaser on the tires but I hated breathing it..pretty caustic stuff.
Hope that helps!

 

[VP Mark]

Nice job. Really unique color too.

 

[Eandras]

Great Job

Ed.

:autowash: :buffing:

 

[ARizzle]

Richy, you did a really great job on this car...I especially like how the wheels turned out...looks better than the first day that customer bought them I would imagine!

 

[RMM]

Richy, you're the man! :dblthumb2:
I don't like the colour but that flake is quite impressive!

 

[richy]

Nice job. Really unique color too.

Thank you. Yes it is.

Great Job

Ed.

:autowash: :buffing:

Thank you. The owner was very pleased and I was proud of the job.

Richy, you did a really great job on this car...I especially like how the wheels turned out...looks better than the first day that customer bought them I would imagine!

Thanks. I am a fanatic when it comes to wheels. In my opinion, they can make or break the car.

Richy, you're the man! :dblthumb2:
I don't like the colour but that flake is quite impressive!

Thank you very much. It's unique. Not my choice either, but kinda cool to have something different than everyone else too.