Getting my butt kicked by this Audi

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Hi guys, a customer of mine bought a new Audi Q5 with black metallic paint. He wanted it fully corrected and Optimum Glosss Coat applied, nothing new i've done this on 2 of his other cars, unfortunately he forgot to tell the dealer to nix the prep.

I got there Saturday and couldn't believe the amount of swirl marks in this brand new paint, I did my usual 2 bucket wash leaf blower dry and clay. As I was claying I made note of the insane amount of rock chips on the paint! He said 72 of the 245 miles on the cars were highway driving getting it home, otherwise he doesn't commute via highway.

I started with a light polish with Meg's M205 on a microfiber finishing disc with the Rupes Bigfoot 21. I came across a spot on the rear quarterpanel/door that had some fairly deep scratches that warranted the use of M105, When I shined my light after a round of M105 I couldn't believe the holograms it left behind, I have never seen anything like it.
After finishing the correction I did the standard IPA wipedown. Started on the hood and when I buffed it dry with my microfiber it was covered in swirl marks again! I tried this with 3 different microfibers that I normally use on paint with the same results.

I am truly at a loss and needless to say I did not coat the vehicle and had to leave without finishing the job and frankly quite embarrassed as I have done a lot of work for the guy in the past. I told him about the problem and he was very understanding, I told him I needed to research this and I would be in touch with him.

Please help guys... What the heck am I dealing with here? I thought Audi's had hard paint. The ones I've worked on have anyways.
 
I know the feeling...

I had a disappointing run in with black German paint a couple of weeks ago on my personal vehicle. I have a feeling you have hit the same issues I did and the defects were never really gone.

Is the paint on that Audi a metallic or a pearl? The black pear paint on my VW is very hard, but it also scratches easily and I have to be very careful with my washing, drying, and buffing.

I'd be surprised if the paint wasn't very similar, if not the same but simply called a different name since it's a different brand from the same VAG family.
 
Desertnate said:
I know the feeling...

I had a disappointing run in with black German paint a couple of weeks ago on my personal vehicle. I have a feeling you have hit the same issues I did and the defects were never really gone.

Is the paint on that Audi a metallic or a pearl? The black pear paint on my VW is very hard, but it also scratches easily and I have to be very careful with my washing, drying, and buffing.

I'd be surprised if the paint wasn't very similar, if not the same but simply called a different name since it's a different brand from the same VAG family.
Click to expand...

Yes, it was "Black Mythos Metallic" I'll curse that name till the day I die.
 
Follow up:

After racking my brain about this for days I asked the gentleman If it could be brought to me to work on it in my shop as I had a hinting suspicion it may be pollen causing the problems or some other environmental contaminant and sure enough that seemed to be it.

I went through the whole 9 yards again except it got polished, wiped and coated in a closed building and that seemed to make all the difference.

Thanks again for everyone's input
 
Good to hear. This time of year pollen can be a huge battle and cause lots of problems.

There is bound to be a few threads started about newly waxed, sealed and coated cars that all will loose the beading and sheeting properties due to pollen.

This time of year is key to work clean and be mindful of the pollen floating in the air and landing on the paint.

This is what pollen looks like when it is magnified

image282.jpg



No wonder why it can do so much damage!
 
Evan.J said:
Good to hear. This time of year pollen can be a huge battle and cause lots of problems.

There is bound to be a few threads started about newly waxed, sealed and coated cars that all will loose the beading and sheeting properties due to pollen.

This time of year is key to work clean and be mindful of the pollen floating in the air and landing on the paint.

This is what pollen looks like when it is magnified

image282.jpg



No wonder why it can do so much damage!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the closeup Evan, I never realized pollen was that "sharp" then again I suppose it is designed to stick to objects. .
 
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