LSN Autodetail - 2011 Audi TT - LSN Swan Song? Lots of Pics

[LSNAutoDetailingLSNAutoDetailing is verified member.]

2011 Audi TT AWD Turbo

Engine: 2.0 L 4-cylinder

Horsepower: 211 hp / Torque 258
0-60 5.7 seconds
55000 Miles
​

Client allowed me to take her car as long as I wanted. She got a new job and received a company car, but moreover she travels 3 days per week via airlines, so no car required. She let me take the TT as long as I want for a series of videos I'm doing, so it was nice to pick one thing to work on and record it. My first attempt in front of the camera, so it's more difficult than I thought. My hats off to Mike, Larry & Pan.

Also, this may be LSN's swan song for detailing other than maintenance on existing customers. It's been a great run and I've enjoyed the folks I've helped, and the cars I've worked on. Needless to say, my life has got busy (as per my participation on this forum has declined), Interior Gal resigned on me... Don't worry, 26 years of marriage this month, and we're ok... It's just she's done with detailing. We both want to get out and do more things, and our poor greyhounds mope around the house all day while we're detailing. Needless to say, Interior Gal resigned on me prior to taking on the TT, so this was all me. I had the car for a week, and did a lot of videos that I have to go into editing on.

I chose to take on this TT due to it's HAMMERED condition both inside and out to more or less go out with a bang, and have good content for video recording. Thank you all for the kind comments over the past four years...

Each facet of this vehicle was challenging. Since 2011 the vehicle has NEVER been detailed, only automatic washes. The alcantara needed to be cleaned and excited, and that took a lot of time. The wheels were caked and baked and the paint was beyond hammered, with hard-water etching. Deep scratches in various locations. The drivers door was hammered with deep water spots.

One thing to note, I had no idea there was metal flake in the paint until we got to correction. I was stunned to see the metal flake!

Enjoy the show-n-shine:

Delfesko PTG ---> All paint read 7-10 mil
Scangrip Lighting

Engine:
McKee's Degreaser,
various Mothers brushes, Speed Master Brushes,
Megs D114
BlackFire Tire & Trim AIO
McKee's Trim Shine
Pinnacle Chrystal Mist QD

Wheels:
McKee's Degreaser
Chenille Wash Mitts (black)
Megs D142 Non Acid Wheel Cleaner
Wheel Woolies / Speed Master Brushes
Pinnacle Chrystal Mist QD

Tar:
Tarminator and McKee's Bug & Tar Scrubber

Exhaust Tips:
0000 Steel Wool
Pinnacle Exhaust Tip Cleaner
LC Scrubber
Pinnacle Chrystal Mist QD

Wash:
McKee's Extreme Iron Remove
AGO Foam Gun w/ Megs Hyper Wash & CarPro Reset
2BM Hyper Wash / CarPro Reset & Chenille Wash Mitts
PureTech De-ionized / De-minerilzed water
Guzzler Towels
GG Medium Clay Mitt / Megs D114 clay lube
CarPro Spotless

Test Spots: GG G15 BOSS MF Pad / Boss Fast Correcting Cream and Megs 105

Correction:
G-15, Boss Fast Correcting Cream, Boss MF Pads (x6)
Rupes MKII / Yellow Polish Pads / HD Speed

Trim and plastic: Blackfire Tire & Trim AIO

Interior:
Metro-Vac
Tornador
McKee's HD APC (10:1)
Pinnacle Vinyl Leather Cleaner
Sonax Alcantara Upholstery Cleaner
HF DA w/ Blue Aqua Brush and McKee's Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner
McKee's Fast Interior QD
McKee's Krystal Vision Glass Cleaner and white waffle glass towels



Final Wipe-Down: Pinnacle Chrystal Mist Detailer

Enjoy!

 

[LSNAutoDetailingLSNAutoDetailing is verified member.]

 

[LSNAutoDetailingLSNAutoDetailing is verified member.]

 

[LSNAutoDetailingLSNAutoDetailing is verified member.]

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Holy cow that car was a disaster (before)! You said 7-10 mils paint....is that normal for an Audi? I don't think I've ever seen a reading that high.

Do you detail full time, or part time? If full time, what are you moving on to?

 

[Bruno Soares]

Nice save. Took it from trashed to show room new again.

 

[boosteddub69]

Excellent job sir. That car cleaned up very well despite all those years of neglect, a testament to your skill. Good luck on the next phase of things too! I've enjoyed all of your posts over the years.

 

[DasTurboWagen]

Wow, fantastic work. That TT looks brand new. I love every generation of that car.

 

[LSNAutoDetailingLSNAutoDetailing is verified member.]

Holy cow that car was a disaster (before)! You said 7-10 mils paint....is that normal for an Audi? I don't think I've ever seen a reading that high.

Do you detail full time, or part time? If full time, what are you moving on to?

Hey Setec, the door jamb reading was 6.5 Mils, everything came in between 7-10 on the body panels. Given the door jamb reading I'd say Audi laid it on pretty thick that year. I'd have to look at what the readings were on the R8 we did 6 months ago.

We'll still take customer cars that are on maintenance, and only "select" new customers. Things will be few and far in-between, especially with Interior Gal's departure from the biz.

Nice save. Took it from trashed to show room new again.

Thanks, and one thing I forgot to mention. Since she barely drives the car, she initially took it for a quote to sell. They were going to offer her $10K. When she brought the car back after we worked our magic, the same place offered her $13K. Nice jump in value!

Excellent job sir. That car cleaned up very well despite all those years of neglect, a testament to your skill. Good luck on the next phase of things too! I've enjoyed all of your posts over the years.

Thanks boosteddub! We'll still be kicking around. Like I said, a few select vehicles hear and there...

Wow, fantastic work. That TT looks brand new. I love every generation of that car.

Thanks, it was fun car to drive too. The turbo didn't scroll up fast, but once it did it kicked you into the seat. Completely different from my Ecoboost Mustang, where it's dual-scroll turbo so there is power throughout...

Now we have a ton of video we have to get into editing... Was the perfect car in the perfect condition for how-to-stuff.

 

[PaulMys]

Wow! You kicked that things a$$ Paul! You do some incredible work, and I always love to see the jobs you guys do.

Was really nice to read that you two will be trying to get out and try new things as well. Detailing is very satisfactory, but is also a lot of work. (As you well know).

Best wishes to you guys in whatever you choose to do! :cheers:

 

[Sizzle Chest]

OMG! Amazing turnaround! Great work on this!! Glad you had enough 'paint' to work with and get those results. Just great!

 

[LSNAutoDetailingLSNAutoDetailing is verified member.]

Wow! You kicked that things a$$ Paul! You do some incredible work, and I always love to see the jobs you guys do.

Was really nice to read that you two will be trying to get out and try new things as well. Detailing is very satisfactory, but is also a lot of work. (As you well know).

Best wishes to you guys in whatever you choose to do! :cheers:

OMG! Amazing turnaround! Great work on this!! Glad you had enough 'paint' to work with and get those results. Just great!

To get a "Wow!" from Pauly and "OMG!" from Scott... I must have done something right... LOL. To be honest, this Audi was so far gone, I just wanted to have fun and make videos and do the best I could for the client. I was skeptical that on a few things going into it. I wasn't sure about the water spots. I could literally get my finger into them. I decided my first test spots were going to be smack dab on the areas of the hood where the deepest water spots were.

To elaborate, 105 cut quickly and finished off with a high gloss. It eliminated the water spots, but sadly there were still lots of swirls and scratches. My heart sunk a bit, because IMO, 105 is the toughest stuff I have.. Second test spot was Boss FCC... Mainly inspired by Sizzle Chest. I did close analysis and I was shocked. It not only eliminated the water spots, but got rid of the scratches 105 couldn't. The only issue, was it had a slight haze compared to the 105. No worries, since this wasn't a "coating" and I was running out of time, HD Speed was going to be the follow-up. In hind sight, I wish I had done 205 or Boss Perfecting Cream and then Megs UFF or Pinnacle Liquid Soveran. But the owner had to show the car the next day to sell it.

The tail tips; I wasn't sure if they were supposed to be black or not! LOL... I did a test spot on the bottom of them, and I started laughing... And then there was the wheels.. I actually had to invent my own new process for the the wheels.

Wheels: I took my finger and noted that a lot of that was grease. Last thing I wanted to do was eat a set of Wheel Woolies, so here is what I did. First I doused one wheel with Griot's Heavy Duty Wheel Cleaner... Normally, I see it start working, but not this time. It did NOTHING!

I filled my wheel bucket with Dawn Dish Washing Soap. I figured, it cuts through grease right? No sense on using Hyper Wash in the wheel bucket at this point. I liberally sprayed the wheels with McKee's Degreaser and let it dwell for several minutes, then I used black Chenille Mitts and McKee's Bug & Tar Scrubber. I got my hands into the barrels and wheels and went to work. The gunk came off unbelievably. After that, I dumped the bucket of black water, and got fresh with Hyper Wash. I sprayed the wheels with Megs Non Acidic Wheel cleaner and went about my normal method with my wheel woolies. I was still pulling gunk and junk out, but I spared my wheel woolies and got the wheels clean.

There were a few things I had to invent on this car...

 

[Eldorado2k]

Amazing results and superb job on the write up and pics. It’s almost a bit overshadowed by the “swan song”. It’s a bit sad in a way the way you made it sound as if it’s going to be door shut goodbye. I dunno, that’s how it sounded. Good luck, you won’t be forgotten.

 

[SWETM]

it Looks So New know

Awesome work and write up and pictures Paul!

Holy maccaroni what a transformation! The TT looks like better than of the manufacture line. And you had all the troubles that a car can have it seemed to. How was the alcantra leather to clean? Have heard it can be a nightmare to get cleaned up again when neglected.
If you come around those kind of dirty wheels again. A tips is to use a tar remover first like tarminator. To break down and get the most of the oil based grime off the rims first. Then have at it with the wheel cleaner.

Thanks for shareing your work! And a big good luck to you both with yours new adventures!

/Tony

 

[LEDetailing]

Excellent write up and photos. You really cannot see the metallic until the paint is cleared up. Enjoy your detailing retirement/slow-down.

 

[LSNAutoDetailingLSNAutoDetailing is verified member.]

Amazing results and superb job on the write up and pics. It’s almost a bit overshadowed by the “swan song”. It’s a bit sad in a way the way you made it sound as if it’s going to be door shut goodbye. I dunno, that’s how it sounded. Good luck, you won’t be forgotten.

Hey Eldo, thank you for the remarks. Much appreciated. I think LEDetailing put it best, semi-retired from detailing. Interior Gal bowing out is huge in a lot of ways, that and over the last 18 months the ops tempo of the day job has kicked up to 100%. We really enjoy working and transforming vehicles, I certainly enjoyed the TT, being able to take a car for as long as I want and work on bits at a time to near perfection.

I'm going to continue to offer my services, but it's really for unique circumstances where it's more of a project than a production. I have a neighbor down the street who has two classic cars and a Ferrari. The Ferrari is in BAD shape, thus we hope to get that vehicle in. But it will be a one-panel-at a time project kind of thing.

From April to end of September we've got temps up to 119, monsoons, etc... Come October to April is the best weather and I've been wanting to do more hiking, bike riding (pedal kind), and enjoy the outdoors. I guess one could say detailing is outdoors.. hehehehe. But we want to get out more and do more adventures. Our dogs certainly enjoy the early morning hikes, and attention. We're going to maintain our IDA certs, and go to SEMA next year, so we'll still have one foot in.

So yeah, I would say if something comes along and I want to take it, I will... but I won't push it or force it to happen. I'm open to opportunity!
I do really dig your new addition to the fleet.

it Looks So New know

Awesome work and write up and pictures Paul!

Holy macaroni what a transformation! The TT looks like better than of the manufacture line. And you had all the troubles that a car can have it seemed to. How was the alcantra leather to clean? Have heard it can be a nightmare to get cleaned up again when neglected.
If you come around those kind of dirty wheels again. A tips is to use a tar remover first like tarminator. To break down and get the most of the oil based grime off the rims first. Then have at it with the wheel cleaner.

Thanks for sharing your work! And a big good luck to you both with yours new adventures!


/Tony

Thanks Swetm! The Alcantara was in bad shape. I used that as an opportunity to shoot a series of videos on how to clean alcantara. I used the Sonax Upholstery and Alcantara Cleaner, some small horse hair detailing brushes, and microfiber cloths... I demonstrated tamping and whisking. Then I used the blade of my vacuum to lightly (with my fingers between the cloth and the vacuum attachment) lift the fibers. It was a painstaking and very long process that paid dividends.

I didn't think of the tarminator, mainly because I try to use that stuff sparingly. When I do, I have a mask... There is some agent in it that absolutely makes me choke if inhaled. The degreaser worked equally as well... After it dwelled, the scrubber just lifted all that gunk out.

Excellent write up and photos. You really cannot see the metallic until the paint is cleared up. Enjoy your detailing retirement/slow-down.

Thanks LED, much appreciated. I think you hit the nail on the head...