100% Hydrophobic: 2011 Black VW GTi drenched in CQuartz by AutoLavish - 300 pictures

Both the enormous amount of work done and the exemplary write up/photos are just mind staggering. Detailing? No. Art? Yes. I bow to the artists involved in creating this Masterpiece.
 
Crazy. Just crazy. Unbelievable work and dedication. Thanks you so much for sharing.
 
Boys, that was an incredible job!! How many man hours total? I see you applied the CQ with a foam pad...how does that compare to the suede or the makeup pads? I was thinking of trying that myself actually. Your photography is amazing and the work is just stellar. Thanks for taking all the time to document, write and photograph that journey!
 
WOW that looks great! You didn't leave anything untouched!! Bet the owner was amazed. One question have you seen any signs of the anti-seize breaking down and contaminating the brake pads and rotors? I think the idea is great for the hub where the rim rest on it, but is looks like you coated the whole face of the rotor hat. Just speaking from many years of truning wrenches professionaly I would not reccomend the use of anti-seize in the future on the rotor hat. Also check the temp rateing on that anti-seize, as there are diffrent ones. Permatex makes one that is ceramic based and is ultra high temp that workes well. To coat the rotor hat I suggest getting some spray moly coating. Mask the rotor face and sprak the hat after its been cleaned and this stuff sets up to a nice dry chemical resistant layer and it also is a natural lubricant.
 
Another Amazing Job!

You guys keep setting the bar higher and higher.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Great write-up!! I put CQuartz on my Ford Flex lastnight and a coat of Reload on this morning.
 
Great work! And you weren't kidding about a long thread!
 
Amazing write-up and great job on the detail! I enjoyed reading the walk-through and I really liked the detailed pictures!
 
Thank you gentlemen! I bow to you all in appreciation :)

I'll answer some of the questions:

Hellspawn said:
Such attention to detail! Great work. Question though, the cquartz won't make it shed water without leaving some (will it?), so what about the 'not using a towel'?
Click to expand...

These coatings will shed water very well, more than a typical sealant, even more with Reload or C2. Using the hose sheeting technique should leave a car that is much more dry than typical, making using a blower the perfect tool for drying. The owner knows that drying can also cause marring if the towel is not perfect. And he knows his towels are not perfect (heck, our towels are not perfect!), so the less he has to wipe dry the better. This is as close to wipe-free drying as we could get ;) There will be some water left, but not enough to drench a towel. I would like to see if we could dry it with a small 14x14 towel!



XLNTShine said:
WOW that looks great! You didn't leave anything untouched!! Bet the owner was amazed. One question have you seen any signs of the anti-seize breaking down and contaminating the brake pads and rotors? I think the idea is great for the hub where the rim rest on it, but is looks like you coated the whole face of the rotor hat. Just speaking from many years of truning wrenches professionaly I would not reccomend the use of anti-seize in the future on the rotor hat. Also check the temp rateing on that anti-seize, as there are diffrent ones. Permatex makes one that is ceramic based and is ultra high temp that workes well. To coat the rotor hat I suggest getting some spray moly coating. Mask the rotor face and sprak the hat after its been cleaned and this stuff sets up to a nice dry chemical resistant layer and it also is a natural lubricant.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the comments and the good tip on anti-seize! You are right, this stuff is nasty and should not get on the working brake parts. Although I have gotten anti-seize on my personal cars from being in a hurry, minute amounts will not affect breaking too much or too long (at least on my M3 on the track). Regardless, the trick is to apply as thin and as sparingly as possible. The spray on stuff is better IMO, but I did not have any on hand at the moment.

VW wheels (and most front wheel drive cars with alloy wheels) tend to get stuck on the hubs very hard. I have to kick the tires to break the wheel from the hub. The faces are what stick together. I don't use AS on the lug threads as it will change the clamping force exerted with the same tightening torque applied. So when I applied the AS here the intention is to help keep the spacers from sticking to the hub, and I applied as thin as possible to keep it from seeping or squeezing out to the brakes. Notice I only go to the edge of the hat face, only the areas that come in contact. The brake discs are still new and look the same color, but the hat has no AS. This has worked for me on my cars very well, and makes enough of a difference. I would rather have the spacers stick than have AS run off, though for sure.
 
Ahh... the color is what got me on this. The face of the hat and hub should be fine. It looked like you went down the sides of the hat because of the color. Great post BTW!! Just thought I would put out the Moly coating idea.. Enjoyed the read!
 
What a phenomenal write-up. Even the progress pics were top notch, then you add Steve's at the end, fantastic! Must have been a lot of hours put into it. Again, great work!
 
A lot of work, but the results are unbelievable. Congrats to entire AutoLavish team!
 
Ya know.. my lease is up in September and I may just have to get a GTI.

Excellent work! Keep up the great write ups!
 
I think this is the best thread yet you've made. As I've said before, I LOVE reading your threads. You put extreme care into ALL vehicles and are excellent at doing so! Great job!
 
Simply amazing...what an incredible thread...Awesome work guys...
 
Looks great guys... in regards to the PERL... what dilution rate, if any did you use on the tires? Also, did you use the PERL on any trim?
 
Loving the love, guys!! Thanks!



ObsessiveAutoDetail said:
Looks great guys... in regards to the PERL... what dilution rate, if any did you use on the tires? Also, did you use the PERL on any trim?
Click to expand...

PERL went on pure, and I did 3 coats of it as I felt it was too matte for a black car. I did the inside face of the tires as well. It should last long. Soon after I received some Tuff Shine, which would have made for an interesting comparo. That will have to wait for another thread, though ;) All trim got coated with C4, though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top