Exterior Detail: 02 Audi A4 98,000 Mi (not 56k)

[conan777]

It’s been awhile since I posted a detail and just finished this 2002 Audi A4 with 98,000 miles on the odometer. It had some pretty good scratches on it so I thought it would be a good one to post.
Process: Washed with Megs Gold class and Foam gun
-2 bucket wash with grit guards
-Clay bar Megs brand white with Adams quick detailer as lube
-Taped off most trim pieces with Blue painters tape
Polish: I used the Flex XC3401 Buffer with LC Purple Foamed Wool Pad
UDM with 4” yellow pad and M105 for rear trunk lip area near emblems and license plate
-M105 Compounding Polish followed up in some areas with Menzerna SIP on White LC Pad 6.5”
-3M 1500-2000 grit wet sanding paper for the rear bumper
There was a lot of dusting so I actually tried my California Duster that was lying around and it worked surprisingly well at removing most of the dusted polish. It was about 25 degrees outside so I used my Portable Kerosene Heater 30,000 BTU which heated my 2 ½ garage to about 70 degrees and allowed the polishes to do their magic. Since I could not re-wash the car after polishing I tried Wolfgang Paintwork Polish Enhancer to clean the surface prior to applying 4 Star UPP (Polycharged) as my LSP.
The Audi paint lived up to its reputation and was rock hard. I had to hit each panel at least 8 times to remove all the deeper scratches and there were a ton of em. In that I mean I had to work in the Polish at least 8 separate times. Wish I had the rotary for this one but maybe next time. The M105 and Purple foamed wool pad really finished down beautifully which in most areas was LSP ready.
Wheels were cleaned with the Megs Gold class and then coated with DP wheel wax, Tires got 2 coats of Ultima Tire and trim guard plus
Interior was a quick wipe down with Aerospace 303 protectant. Leather seats were cleaned and then treated with Pinnacle Leather conditioner.
The car was delivered late at night on day 2 so we drove over to a nearby Gas station for the customer to look at the car under the huge Halogens (whew… it looked fantastic) I was then lucky enough to get a few daylight pics the next day at his work.
Ok on with the pics.
Questions/Comments welcome: Thanks for looking
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[conan777]

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[conan777]

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[conan777]

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[Detail4Life]

Looks awesome

 

[conan777]

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[AudiTTman]

WOW that is amazing. So tell me this, how the heck did you manage to get around the Audi Rings on the back haha. I can never really seem to work in that area well enough to get the results i want. Maybe i need some TINY LC pads. Looks showroom perfect!!

One more thing,, after you wetsanded, did you finishing down with the wool, or did you use and orange pad(with what product?). Im learning how to do this and i figured you would be a good one to ask lol

 

[mazdaspeed]

great turn around hopefully he has you keep it maintained.....yes what AudiTTman said...my back bumper looks almost like that any tips would be great,i have a PC and a rotary and wolfgang swirl remover, glaze and paint sealant all 3.0,car is a 04 mazda 6-black.

 

[sal329]

That is fantastic work, well done

 

[OGauge4Me]

Man you did a great job. What a transformation.

 

[conan777]

Thanks Guys it was a 25 hr job. I had to get a massage after that one! ha..ha..!

WOW that is amazing. So tell me this, how the heck did you manage to get around the Audi Rings on the back haha. I can never really seem to work in that area well enough to get the results i want. Maybe i need some TINY LC pads. Looks showroom perfect!!

One more thing,, after you wetsanded, did you finishing down with the wool, or did you use and orange pad(with what product?). Im learning how to do this and i figured you would be a good one to ask lol

For the Badging pieces I used the UDM with a small 4" yellow pad. It usually does a nice job getting into the tight areas. In my opinion the small pads/backing plate is an absolute must have. Handy for doing the front door sills, jams etc. Otherwise a good buff with m105 or similiar compound by hand works too around emblems, door handles etc where a machine just cannot reach. As far as wet sanding it's not that hard at all. Alot of people are intimidated by it and you really should not be. If using say 2000 grit wet sand paper or 2500 you are not going to go through the clear in 2 or 3 passes like people think. It would probably take like 60 passes depending on pressure etc. My point is simply that wet sanding is common sense stuff. Just like polishing you are trying to level the clear to get those really tough scratches out or maybe level away some orange peel, but like polishing start light and go up from there. You want to get the desired effect by removing as little clear as possible. I know some people sand in only one direction and soak the paper over night etc. Not necessary, I usually soak it for 2 mins and then I'm working with it.
In this case I used M105 and the wool pad to clean up the wet sanding marks. I have used yellow and orange pads all with great success even with a UDM. I usually go with 2000 grit but the scratches on this bumper were really deep and I needed the 1500.

great turn around hopefully he has you keep it maintained.....yes what AudiTTman said...my back bumper looks almost like that any tips would be great,i have a PC and a rotary and wolfgang swirl remover, glaze and paint sealant all 3.0,car is a 04 mazda 6-black.

I have not used the Wolfgang swirl remover. I have a sample Megan sent me but have not had a chance to use it yet. Next wet sanding job I will try it to see the cutting ability. If that does not work try another Compounding polish but I think it should work. Just remember that some scratches are simply too deep and you cannot always get them all as you can plainly see on this Audi. There are a couple really deep scratches that only a repaint could fix but over all the improvement was dramatic. Give it a shot and if you have any questions PM me.