Phantom Black Pearl Audi A4 - Detailed by Lawrence

[lawrenceSA]

The owner of this vehicle lives in Richards Bay (about 100 miles away from me) and came down especially for the detail. I had thus not seen the vehicle prior to its arrival on Friday night and did not know what sort of condition it would be in (always a risky prospect for a detailer, and it caught me out this time - when did an A4 Audi get some much body panel to polish? It is massive man :doh: ). The owner had selected a full multi-step correction and wanted the paint looking as good as I could safely get it and given that he would need to still drive back to Richards Bay on Sunday afternoon I knew I would be under pressure from the outset

In preparation I had purchased some Meguiars Microfibre pads which would make cutting out any swirls on the hard Audi paint a bit easier. I hired a compressor for the weekend so I could test the pads out and found it a really handy tool to have - one for the Christmas list for sure!

Friday evening 19:00 to 23:00

Mats removed
Entire cabin blown out with compressed air (so much easier than using brushes :lol: )
Seats and carpets vacuumed
Leather cleaned (Cyclo CM30 APC @ 20:1, brushed then wipes clean with MF Towels)
Air dried (compressor in use again)
Leather conditioned with SmartLeather
Dash and interior plastics wiped clean with damp MF towel
All plastic surfaces dressed with Meguiars Ultimate Protectant

First wipe off the drivers seat

Saturday morning 05:00 to 23:30

The car was covered in mud and was full of deep swirls, RIDS and a lot of contamination, in particular iron/tar - this comes as no surprise as the owner works in the port. The hard life through the corner wash was well evident and I was really glad I had the MF pads in my arsenal.

So Saturday went something like this....

Mud blasted from wheel wells with HP Washer
Wheels wells sprayed with Cyclo CM 30 @ 5:1 using a foaming trigger head to increase dwell time
Agitated using Mothers Fender Well Brush
Wheel wells HP rinsed
Tires cleaned using Meguiars All Wheel and Tire Cleaner
Wheels cleaned using using Meguiars All Wheel and Tire Cleaner
Wheels rinsed and dried
Tar removed from wheels using Autofinesse Oblitarate
Iron removed from wheels using Autofinesse Iron Out
Wheels HP rinsed
Wheels cleaned Cyclo CM 30 APC @ 5:1 to remove any remaining dirt/product residue
Door shuts and boot shut sprayed with Cyclo CM 30 APC @ 5:1 using a foaming trigger head to increase dwell time, then brushed
Door shuts HP rinsed

Some iron removal shots

All badges/emblems cleaned using Cyclo CM 30 APC @ 5:1 and various brushes
Car rinsed using hosepipe
Mud blasted off car using HP washer
Vehicle pre-foamed using a mix of Cyclo CM30 APC and Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II
Vehicle rinsed with HP washer
Vehicle pre-foamed/rinsed again
Vehicle washed using 2BM and Cyclo Polymer Car Wash
Engine bay blown out with compressed air
Vehicle rinsed using hosepipe
Vehicle sheet rinsed
Vehicle dried using WW Dying Towels and compressed air
Engine bay wiped down with damp MF towels
Engine bay dressed with Chemical Guys Bare Bones
Tar removed Autofinesse Oblitarate
Iron removed using Autofinesse Iron Out
Remaining contaminants removed using Clay Magic Blue clay

Test spots conducted - boy was I glad I had the MF pads. I landed up going with these and FG400 (the most aggressive compound I had) but quickly found that even with the increased cut these offered over my most aggressive foam pads, I still had to polish each section twice with this combo to remove sufficient damage from the paint. The damage was all deep, and this meant that my initial plan of a 3-step correction had just turned into a 4-step :shock:

Bootlid before

After 1 pass FG400/MF pad

After 2 passes

It ended up with Menzerna FG400 / Megs MF pad x 2 followed by Menzerna SF4000 / LC Tangerine, followed by Chemical guys Blacklight / LC Crimson

So I polished, and polished and polished and.....

 

[lawrenceSA]

Sunday morning 05:00 to 15:30

....I woke up and polished and polished and polished....

Once that was done I laid down a coat of Collinite 845 before finishing off the following

Door shuts cleaned/waxed using Meguiars Cleaner Wax
Exterior plastic trim treated using Chemical Guys Bare Bones
Engine bay wiped down to ensure an even finish
Interior / exterior glass cleaned
Exhaust tips polished using Mothers Mag and Aluminium Polish and a Mothers Power Ball / Mf Towels
Door/Window rubbers cleaned using Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner
Door/Window rubbers treated using Smart Dressing

As usual the nice sunny weather from Saturday had long gone and overcast skies prevailed

And the winnah

Total time spent = 33 exhausting hours

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Beautiful work Lawrence! That paint was beat!!!!!

 

[jankerson]

Very Nice, awesome work.

 

[HateSwirls]

Wow was that paint messed up.
You did a great job man on it.

How did the MF pads work out?
Reason I ask I have a Benz to do this weekend and we all know how difficult they can be to correct.

I can use my rotary and a wool pad if need be but prefer using my GG6.

 

[Sicoupe]

As always, great work my friend

 

[MarkB]

WOW. That last shot of the fence. Love it.

Seems like everywhere I go. The more I see, the less I know

 

[AaronC]

wow looks awesome..great job and x2 with the last pic

 

[Scott@IncrediblyDetailed]

Great job, that paint was trashed. Nice write up as always.

 

[lawrenceSA]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone - appreciate it!

 

[kjn]

Nice job! How do you like Barebones on the engine bay? Do you dilute?

 

[lawrenceSA]

Wow was that paint messed up.
You did a great job man on it.

How did the MF pads work out?
Reason I ask I have a Benz to do this weekend and we all know how difficult they can be to correct.

I can use my rotary and a wool pad if need be but prefer using my GG6.

I really enjoyed using the MF pads. It did take a little while to dial in a process that worked for me (remember I have only ever used foam pads before) but once I had, cutting was a lot easier than with foam.

This was how I used them (and it worked for me)

Add 4 pea sized drops of FG400 to a primed pad and then dab the pad over the entire section I would be polishing (instead of using the machine on low speed to spread it)

Then do 2 really slow and deliberate passes with a bit of pressure to take advantage of the initial cut from the DAT polish

Give the pads a quick blow with the compressor.

3 more passes with hardly any pressure.

Blow out pad, move to next section.

I found that the MF pads were much harder to use in concave panels as there is less 'cushion' than on a foam pad. They also tend to use a lot less product and I therefore found wiping off a lot easier too.

 

[lawrenceSA]

Nice job! How do you like Barebones on the engine bay? Do you dilute?

thanks - I love bare bones on engine bays

Not only does it do a great job at making the plastics black again, but also brightens up all the piping and other bits in the engine bay.

I tend to try and get it sprayed on as early as possible in the detail and then just leave it as long as I can to 'soak in'. At the end I will then wipe with a MF towel just to ensure a nice even finish.

I have not diluted it (didn't know you could)

 

[kjn]

I just got a gallon of it in the mail and i'll give it a try and also will help save my Ultima.

And yeah I saw a post on another forum where it was dilluted 1:1 and it still looked great from the pictures posted but not sure if it weakens the durability.

thanks - I love bare bones on engine bays

Not only does it do a great job at making the plastics black again, but also brightens up all the piping and other bits in the engine bay.

I tend to try and get it sprayed on as early as possible in the detail and then just leave it as long as I can to 'soak in'. At the end I will then wipe with a MF towel just to ensure a nice even finish.

I have not diluted it (didn't know you could)

 

[vdevan]

Great Job lawrence!Glad you enjoying the Megs MF Pads. Theyve just released a more aggressive MF pad that should hit our shores soon...

 

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

That is a truly stunning job. I would have wept like a baby after the first pass with fg400...


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[kochdalton87]

Looks great! Stunning results and nice write-up to accompany it. Keep up the good work.

 

[lawrenceSA]

Great Job lawrence!Glad you enjoying the Megs MF Pads. Theyve just released a more aggressive MF pad that should hit our shores soon...

Thanks Vasi

That is a truly stunning job. I would have wept like a baby after the first pass with fg400...


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Thanks - I did weep:laughing:

Looks great! Stunning results and nice write-up to accompany it. Keep up the good work.

Thank you

 

[SR99]

Great work and thanks for taking the time to photo-document it.
I have to imagine it's a great feeling when people are willing to drive a hundred miles specifically for your quality of work.
That last photo of the fence/grass reflection is excellent!

What size compressor did you end up renting? Did that seem about right for MF pad cleaning and the other things, or will you be buying a larger capacity one?

 

[lawrenceSA]

Great work and thanks for taking the time to photo-document it.
I have to imagine it's a great feeling when people are willing to drive a hundred miles specifically for your quality of work.
That last photo of the fence/grass reflection is excellent!

What size compressor did you end up renting? Did that seem about right for MF pad cleaning and the other things, or will you be buying a larger capacity one?

Thank you.

Yes it is a great feeling to know people are prepared to incur additional expenses and spend extra time, just to get to you. Over and above this one, I have had 2 customers drive around 400 miles to get their cars detailed by me - that was very humbling indeed.

I rented a 150 liter (40 gallons) one that was rated at 8psi. It was a little big (physically) and I could blow the pad out quite a few times (maybe like 5 or 6) before it 'refilled' itself.

I am currently looking at something around 1/3 of the size (50 liters) which is physically smaller (but also a lot cheaper to fit my budget).

In my (very limited) opinion, if you are only using it for blowing out pads, I cannot see why a small 6 gallon compressor wouldn't work fine.