2002 Audi A8L 3-step

[Audios S6]

Just for Setec, this was a 3-step, as in 3 steps of paint correction.:xyxthumbs:

With all the advances in abrasives, it pretty rare you need more than 2 steps. I had hoped to do a heavy compound and then be ready for some very light finishing to clear up the paint as is typical with my 2-step audi work. This particular brilliant black had other things in mind. The paint was absolutely torn up. The paint was very hard, but I was also leaving haze even with M205 and a rupes yellow pad when finishing. In this case, my test spots indicated I had to reduce the the aggressiveness on both the compound and polish. That meant many additional compounding passes for a 2-step. So I opted for more steps but fewer passes.

Process:
Wheels cleaned with Megs DUB wheel cleaner and protected with Carpro Hydro2
Tires and wells cleaned with Megs Super Degreaser
Prefoam with CG Citrus Wash & Gloss and Ultimate Snow Foam
2 bucket wash with CG Citrus Wash Clear
Mechanical Decontamination with Nanoskin autoscrub pad and Optimum No Rinse
Heavy Compound with Rotary, Wool and Pinnacle advanced compound
Medium Compound with 21mm DA, Megs microfiber pads and D300
Polished with 21mm DA, Blue polishing pad and Carpro Essence
Protected with a non-AG silica spray sealant
Glass Coated with a non-AG Glass Coating
Trim protected with Ultima Tire & Trim Guard v1
Tires Dressed with Carpro PERL

I only got a few photos as I was on a tight schedule for this one.

Initial condition - guy must have owned a tunnel car wash.



After rotary and wool - plenty of holograms, I worked the Pinnacle Compound long and hard, to the point is was starting to dry out on me. There were still some original defects remaining, but not enough to wheel again.



After MF and D300 - haze city, this was able to remove what remained after the rotary.



After Essence - Approximately 25 microns removed in total based on panel averages.




Couple final shots

 

[dakotaRT]

Beautiful Job! She turned out beautiful!!

 

[7.3powerstroke]

Great job my friend! 25 microns is a lot of paint!

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Dang! Beautiful work good sir. That is how a black German sedan should look. Nicely done.

You really showed that black paint who the real owner is. You.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Audios S6]

Beautiful Job! She turned out beautiful!!

Thanks! The owner was very pleased

Great job my friend! 25 microns is a lot of paint!

It was a whole lot of paint. That's about where I would end up after a wetsanding step, so in that respect, I feel like many of the defects were verging on RIDs. The first pic doesn't really do it justice. The car wasn't even black anymore. Thicknesses did indicate it hadn't been heavily corrected before so I felt comfortable. The previous owner tried to fix it before sale, he removed pretty much no paint based on where I expect thickness to be on these cars, but left splatter everywhere.

Dang! Beautiful work good sir. That is how a black German sedan should look. Nicely done.

You really showed that black paint who the real owner is. You.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Mike. I do love a big german executive sedan, they have a way of maintaining a classic appearance without looking old.

 

[JSou]

Incredible.

I love jobs like these. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Paul A.]

Wow! Fantastic results and be proud, my friend, very proud!

 

[LOL]

Nice job, looks really sharp!

 

[BrutalNoodle]

What a turnaround. rops:

I can't believe how careless people are regarding paintwork. Even when I knew nothing about detailing, I still had enough common sense to know that paint surfaces are delicate.

Great save, sir.

 

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

Wow good job, how many hours in total?

Also did you know you was going to do 3 steps going in?

Or you thought 2 initially and then you knew it needed 3?

If so I hope you got paid accordingly for your amazing work, Doing a whole extra step is wow and rare these days!

Keep up the good work

 

[Riff]

I would think this car could only take a few more light polishes for the rest of its life before it ran out of clear.

Would that be about right?

 

[Audios S6]

Incredible.

I love jobs like these. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Joe!

Wow! Fantastic results and be proud, my friend, very proud!

Thanks

Nice job, looks really sharp!

Thank you sir

What a turnaround. rops:

I can't believe how careless people are regarding paintwork. Even when I knew nothing about detailing, I still had enough common sense to know that paint surfaces are delicate.

Great save, sir.

The car has 170K on the clock. Based on his polishing technique, I don't think the previous owner had a clue about paint, lol.

Wow good job, how many hours in total?

Also did you know you was going to do 3 steps going in?

Or you thought 2 initially and then you knew it needed 3?

If so I hope you got paid accordingly for your amazing work, Doing a whole extra step is wow and rare these days!

Keep up the good work

Thanks. It was 15 hours total, I think 11-12 hours on the paint. Dropped off at 6pm on a friday, worked until 1am, then started at 8am to finish by the 6pm deadline. A few meals in there made up the balance of the time.

I had not seen the car ahead of time. I knew the owner wanted it as close to perfect as possible so it was quoted as a 2-step but didn't make any promises on correction %. I sent him a 50/50 photo after trying with MF & FG400 and he wanted better and had no problem paying for it.

I find that sending a quick photo to get their approval lets the owner know I care and makes them feel they are still in control even if the results aren't what was expected.

I would think this car could only take a few more light polishes for the rest of its life before it ran out of clear.

Would that be about right?

Only one way to find out, lol. I would agree though. The owner has an obsidian black lexus with minimal defects, so he knows how to wash a car safely. I've done other cars for him in the past and he's well aware this is a one time deal. You've touched on a subject that I've thought about in the past. You've now prompted me to generate a dedicated thread.

 

[Priyaka]

All that hard work payed off. The car looks better than new! Great job tackling a three step to turn it around!

 

[brettS4]

Those brilliant black Audis are tricky. The paint on mine responded well to compounding but it tended to haze like you experienced. You did a first rate job, but I bet you were glad to call it quits after that long!