Monsoon Grey Audi SQ5 - Detailed by Lawrence

[lawrenceSA]

The owner bought this vehicle second hand and after getting his new wheels and suspension sorted, the car was dropped off to be restored to a condition more befitting such a nice car, which in my humble opinion, must be such a nice daily driver for the petrolhead with a family.


As always I try work from dirty to clean to prevent having to re-clean something - not only is it inefficient but more so, it simply doubles the potential for damage to be inflicted in the surface you are cleaning (especially if it is the painted) - and so first up was the home of the Twin-turbo V6 3.0 TDI


Engine Bay
Equipment - Karcher K7, Mothers Fenderwell Brush, Daytona Large + Small, MF towels, Electric Blower
Clean - Carchem Citrus APC @ 1:5 though a foaming spray nozzle left to dwell, agitated, pressure rinsed, blown dry
Dress - Autofinesse Dressel

Fender wells
Equipment - Karcher K7, Mothers Fenderwell Brush, Daytona Large + Small
Clean - Pressure rinsed, Carchem Citrus APC @ 1:5 though a foaming spray nozzle left to dwell, agitated, pressure rinsed
Dress - Autofinesse Dressel


Tyres
Equipment - Karcher K7, Mothers Tire Brush, Foam Tire Applicator, MF towel
Clean - Pressure rinsed, Carchem Citrus APC @ 1:5 though a foaming spray nozzle left to dwell, agitated, pressure rinsed
Dress - 2 Coats of Carchem Tyre and Trim Gel, 12 hours apart


uke: Your typical car wash silicone on the tires - a dust magnet and slinger of note - give me a water based dressing any day :thumbup:

Wheels
Equipment - Karcher K7, Wheel Woolies, Autofinesse Hogs Hair Brushes, Lambswool Wash mitt, MF towels, Q-tips, Electric Blower
Clean - Pressure rinsed, Valet Pro Billberry @ 1:6 though a foaming spray nozzle left to dwell, agitated, pressure rinsed
Tar Removal - Valet Pro Citrus Tar and Glue Remover
Iron Removal - Carchem Revolt applied liberally, allowed to dwell, agitated, pressure rinsed
Protection - Pressure rinse, spray Gyeon Wetcoat, Pressure rinse, blow dry

Wash
Equipment - Lambswool Wash Mitts, Karcher K7, Foam cannon, 2 Buckets each with grit guards, WW Drying Towels, Electric Blower
Foam - pressure rinse, Valet Pro ANSF via foam cannon, left to dwell, pressure rinsed
TFR - Valet Pro Citrus Prewash @ 1:8 via a pump sprayer, left to dwell pressure rinsed
Wash - Carchem Luxury Shampoo, pressure rinse
Dry - Flood rinse, ONR

Decontamination
Equipment - MF towels, wash mitt, Karcher K7
Tar Removal - Valet Pro Citrus Tar and Glue Remover
Iron Removal - Carchem Revolt applied liberally, allowed to dwell, agitated, pressure rinsed
Remaining contaminants - Shield Heavy Duty Clay

Paint
Equipment - Flex 3401, LC BP system, 5" / 6.5" Orange Hybrid Pads, CEM-DT156 PTG, MF towels
Correction - Menzerna 3-in-1
Protection - Soft99 Fusso


What's going on here? :crazy:

A deep scratch that was improved upon but definitely not removed

Some obligatory wax / polish residue from 'the previous guy' [thanks kind sir ]

Some of the defects inflicted through improper washing and drying methods.

This etching from a bird bomb was very deep. The correction you see here was from Menzerna SHC300, a Lake Country Hybrid Blue Wool Pad on the Flex [followed by Menzerna 3-in-1 on a Lake Country Hybrid Orange pad)

The correction over the rest of vehicle

Exhaust Tips
Equipment - MF Towels, dedicated Daytona Jnr
Clean - Carchem Citrus APC @1:5, left to dwell, agitated, rinsed
Polish - Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish

Exterior plastics
Equipment - Foam applicators, MF towels, Q-tips
Clean - Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner
Protect - Optimum Optiseal


Door and window rubbers
Equipment - Foam applicators, MF towels, Q-tips
Clean - Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and rubber cleaner
Protect - Optimum Optiseal


Glass
Clean - Autoglym Fast Glass, MF towels


Badges & Emblems
Equipment - Q-tips, MF towels
Clean/polish/protect - Autofinesse Tripple


Interior Plastics
Equipment- Foam applicators, MF towels, Q-tips, Various brushes
Clean - Carchem APC @ 1:20
Protect - Optimum Optiseal


Interior Carpets
Equipment- Brushes, Flex VL35C Vacuum, MF towels,
Clean - Mothers Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner,


Leather Surfaces
Equipment- Foam applicators, MF towels, Brush
Clean - Carchem APC @ 1:20, various brushes, MF towels
Protect - Collinite 855

 

[lawrenceSA]

Some after shots

Total time spent = 27 Hours

As always thanks for looking, and any question or comments are welcome.

:hi:

 

[Marc08EX]

Spectacular work Lawrence!!!

 

[FrankS]

Nice work as usual Lawrence!

 

[fly07sti]

Fanfrikentastic! Another great write up!

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Wow! Amazing work on that beautiful SQ5 Lawrence! Well done good sir!

Looks like it's lowered.... Wheels look great on it as well.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Desertnate]

Another home run! Or what ever would be the equivalent in South Africa...a winning goal in penalty minutes?

I'm really liking those BBS wheels, but they were seriously dirty. I'm surprised there wasn't etching from all that baked on brake dust.

 

[MoBenzOwner]

That baby looks great. Super job. I keep seeing folks using opti-seal on interior plastics. I have quite a bit of opti-seal and ZCS. I gotta give it a try.

 

[lawrenceSA]

Thank you all for your kind words which are much appreciated.

Mike, the SQ5 is definitely lowered - the owner is a good client of mine and all of his rides have been lowered and had aftermarket wheels fitted.

@MoBenzOwner - Optiseal on the interior plastics is something I've only recently 'got into', after having watched a Youtube video by Yvan Lacroix showing its versatility in a number of situations (paint sealant, interior plastics, leather, glass, drying aid etc) - so far it seems to be working great.

 

[Aaryn NZ]

:awesome:

First things first mate - thank you for posting your work like you do mate. The detailed write up listing your process, tools, products used & why is second to none & it takes alot of time to do, so - thank you Lawrence, another very enjoyable post with the trade mark top notch pictures to go with it. :dblthumb2:

Superb Lawrence my friend, beautiful workmanship as we all know it will be from you. rops:

Man that has an agressive stance for a so called SUV, bet its got some poke too. Very cool.

Aaryn NZ. :xyxthumbs:

 

[lawrenceSA]

Thanks everyone. Much appreciated. :dblthumb2:

Aaryn, I may not be all that active on the rest of the forum on a day to day basis (I do read a lot but don't post much) so I try to include as much detail as possible into my write ups in the hope it will benefit someone somewhere. If it weren't for the abundance of knowledge shared on this forum, I doubt I'd be the detailer I am today so its just my very small way of giving back

 

[emmjay]

:wow:

 

[jeepngli]

Detailed and very impressive

 

[larry33]

Nice work. What did you use on the pillars between the windows? Those were very scratched up!

 

[oneheadlite]

Well done! I love those SQ5's. I've only driven a TFSI, would love to drive one with the TDI.

This gets me really excited about getting my wife's Phantom Black S-Line Q5 dialed in. Advice question since this SQ5 has similar grills: What have you found works/would suggest for getting even trim coverage for the honeycomb grills?

Thanks! And again - Beautiful work!
John

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

As far as I'm concerned, you have the best show n' shines to date!

 

[lawrenceSA]

Thanks everyone

As far as I'm concerned, you have the best show n' shines to date!

WOW - thank you so much for this - its a very kind thing for you to say.

 

[tenblade2001]

Another awesome write up and great results. Thanks Lawrence! I've learned a lot from your threads.

 

[stevebrm]

Great work Lawrence ! I'm interested in your drying procedure. When you say ONR, do you use it as a drying aid? If so how? I have been looking into using it as a drying aid but I'm unsure how to proceed about it. Thanks in advance for any info.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Thanks everyone


WOW - thank you so much for this - its a very kind thing for you to say.

It's the truth....from the detailed layout, to the pictures, to the outstanding work.