lawrenceSA
New member
- Feb 7, 2012
- 1,713
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I was contacted by the owner of this vehicle who's brother had his RS3 detailed by a fellow detailer and friend in Cape Town, and she was looking for the same thing for hers. Up until this point, the car had been getting washed at a fairly well known local car wash, and so there were obviously a lot of washing/drying induced scratches in the paint which needed to be sorted out, despite the car being still quite new. 
I explained that unless something changed in this regard, I didn't believe it would be worth detailing the car, let alone adding a ceramic coating which she had asked for and so I helped get her set up with all the necessary tools and products she needs to maintain the car herself, and did some one on one training with her to give her the confidence to look after her baby herself from now on - this included doing the first wash of the car (2 weeks post detail) with her.
The detail was completed over 9 days whilst I was on leave in April, with a total of 52 hours of actual work on the car.
First up as always was the engine bay. It gets done first so that any dirty water that happens to splash out on the vehicle will be cleaned off during the wash, meaning you only have to wash the car once, thereby reducing the potential for swirls.
The first thing was to blow out any loose dirt and then seal up any sensitive areas using a combination of tape and plastic bags. The underside of the bonnet was tackled first, so that any dirt or water that fell during the process, would land on a dirty engine bay and not a clean one.
Here are the tools that would be used
Carchem APC @ 1:5 was diluted into the foam master and sprayed onto the surface, left to dwell a bit, then agitated before being pressure rinsed off. The underside of the hood was then hit with Gyeon Wetcoat to provide some protection and making future cleaning easier, and hopefully prevent some of these water spots from re-occuring
Before
during
After
The bay itself was then tackled using the same process, and as you can see there was a fair amount of dirt inside.
Once cleaned and rinsed it was hit with a blower to remove any standing water, before being sprayed down with Carpro PERL diluted at 1:3. This was left to sit overnight and any excess wiped off the following day. There are some 'after' pics of the engine bay included at the end of this write up.
The number plates were then removed to allow them to be cleaned properly, and for the holders to get a light polish, and to allow better access to the underlying and surrounding paint for correction
Later in the detail these were given a quick polish as they really were in a bad state
The fender liners were pressure rinsed, sprayed with some Carchem APC @1:5 which was left to dwell before being agitated with various brushes and pressure rinsed again.
Then the tyres were tackled
Before
Carchem APC @1:5 sprayed on
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Left to dwell a bit
[/url]
Scrubbed and busy rinsing
Wheels were then cleaned with Carlack Shampoo to remove any topical dirt and then hit with Carchem Revolt.
Then some Carpro Tar-x
And finally they were clean
The wheels and tyres would later be wiped down twice with Gyeon Prep before being coated with 2 coats of Gyeon Rim and Gyeon Tyre respectively, each applied 1 hour apart.
Then it was time to get the car washed and decontaminated and as you can see there was a fair amount of dirt on the paint
Carchem APC @1:5 via the Gloria Foam Master and various brushes were used to tackle those areas which tend to be over-looked by commercial type car washes allowing dirt to build up in these harder to reach areas over time. Places like the honeycomb, inside the fuel flap, inside the door and boot shuts, in and around badges/emblems and the mirror housings (with the mirrors folded in) are but a few more common areas I come across
Then the entire car was pressure rinsed and a layer of Angelwax Fast Foam applied
This was left to dwell before being pressure rinsed off. Then the car was washed using Carchem Luxury Shampoo along with a few lambswool wash mitts
Decontamination consisted of Carchem Revolt to tackle the embedded iron deposits, Carpro Tar-X to tackle the tar and Gyeon Clay and Gyeon Clay Lube to take care of any of the remaining contaminants
With the paint now 'bare' it was time to assess its actual condition, which as you can see, was not pretty.
Approximately 300 readings were taking of the paint at various places across the vehicle which indicated an average of 130µ with a couple of small areas measuring as low as 83µ to 90µ. After trying out a few different combinations I found the paint to be relatively soft on this car, which is not inline with the previous 5 RS3's I have detailed and just proves how important it is not to make assumptions or generalizations about paint hardness, and to conduct test spots on every car in order to dial in the least aggressive method to get the job done.
My approach was an initial cut with Menzerna PF2300 on Orange Lake Country Hybrid pads, followed by Capro Essence on White Lake Country Hybrid Pads. There were some isolated areas (like the deeper scratches on the bonnet) which were spot compounded using Menzerna SHC300 on a Lake Country Blue Foamed Wool pad before the aforementioned cut and polish took place.
Here are a few 'during' pictures of the correction process.
Some deep scratches on the bonnet
Another on the passenger side front fender in a rather awkward spot
A nasty scratch on the rear bumper which was improved, but not removed completely
Once the paint was corrected it was wiped down using Gyeon Prep and coated with 2 coats of Gyeon Mohs, 1 hour apart. This was then followed with a layer of Gyeon Cure which is designed to protect the coating from waterspots whilst it cures. The door shuts and boot shut were also protected with Cure.
I explained that unless something changed in this regard, I didn't believe it would be worth detailing the car, let alone adding a ceramic coating which she had asked for and so I helped get her set up with all the necessary tools and products she needs to maintain the car herself, and did some one on one training with her to give her the confidence to look after her baby herself from now on - this included doing the first wash of the car (2 weeks post detail) with her.
The detail was completed over 9 days whilst I was on leave in April, with a total of 52 hours of actual work on the car.
First up as always was the engine bay. It gets done first so that any dirty water that happens to splash out on the vehicle will be cleaned off during the wash, meaning you only have to wash the car once, thereby reducing the potential for swirls.
The first thing was to blow out any loose dirt and then seal up any sensitive areas using a combination of tape and plastic bags. The underside of the bonnet was tackled first, so that any dirt or water that fell during the process, would land on a dirty engine bay and not a clean one.
Here are the tools that would be used
Carchem APC @ 1:5 was diluted into the foam master and sprayed onto the surface, left to dwell a bit, then agitated before being pressure rinsed off. The underside of the hood was then hit with Gyeon Wetcoat to provide some protection and making future cleaning easier, and hopefully prevent some of these water spots from re-occuring
Before
during
After
The bay itself was then tackled using the same process, and as you can see there was a fair amount of dirt inside.
Once cleaned and rinsed it was hit with a blower to remove any standing water, before being sprayed down with Carpro PERL diluted at 1:3. This was left to sit overnight and any excess wiped off the following day. There are some 'after' pics of the engine bay included at the end of this write up.
The number plates were then removed to allow them to be cleaned properly, and for the holders to get a light polish, and to allow better access to the underlying and surrounding paint for correction
Later in the detail these were given a quick polish as they really were in a bad state
The fender liners were pressure rinsed, sprayed with some Carchem APC @1:5 which was left to dwell before being agitated with various brushes and pressure rinsed again.
Then the tyres were tackled
Before
Carchem APC @1:5 sprayed on
Left to dwell a bit
Scrubbed and busy rinsing
Wheels were then cleaned with Carlack Shampoo to remove any topical dirt and then hit with Carchem Revolt.
Then some Carpro Tar-x
And finally they were clean
The wheels and tyres would later be wiped down twice with Gyeon Prep before being coated with 2 coats of Gyeon Rim and Gyeon Tyre respectively, each applied 1 hour apart.
Then it was time to get the car washed and decontaminated and as you can see there was a fair amount of dirt on the paint
Carchem APC @1:5 via the Gloria Foam Master and various brushes were used to tackle those areas which tend to be over-looked by commercial type car washes allowing dirt to build up in these harder to reach areas over time. Places like the honeycomb, inside the fuel flap, inside the door and boot shuts, in and around badges/emblems and the mirror housings (with the mirrors folded in) are but a few more common areas I come across
Then the entire car was pressure rinsed and a layer of Angelwax Fast Foam applied
This was left to dwell before being pressure rinsed off. Then the car was washed using Carchem Luxury Shampoo along with a few lambswool wash mitts
Decontamination consisted of Carchem Revolt to tackle the embedded iron deposits, Carpro Tar-X to tackle the tar and Gyeon Clay and Gyeon Clay Lube to take care of any of the remaining contaminants
With the paint now 'bare' it was time to assess its actual condition, which as you can see, was not pretty.
Approximately 300 readings were taking of the paint at various places across the vehicle which indicated an average of 130µ with a couple of small areas measuring as low as 83µ to 90µ. After trying out a few different combinations I found the paint to be relatively soft on this car, which is not inline with the previous 5 RS3's I have detailed and just proves how important it is not to make assumptions or generalizations about paint hardness, and to conduct test spots on every car in order to dial in the least aggressive method to get the job done.
My approach was an initial cut with Menzerna PF2300 on Orange Lake Country Hybrid pads, followed by Capro Essence on White Lake Country Hybrid Pads. There were some isolated areas (like the deeper scratches on the bonnet) which were spot compounded using Menzerna SHC300 on a Lake Country Blue Foamed Wool pad before the aforementioned cut and polish took place.
Here are a few 'during' pictures of the correction process.
Some deep scratches on the bonnet
Another on the passenger side front fender in a rather awkward spot
A nasty scratch on the rear bumper which was improved, but not removed completely
Once the paint was corrected it was wiped down using Gyeon Prep and coated with 2 coats of Gyeon Mohs, 1 hour apart. This was then followed with a layer of Gyeon Cure which is designed to protect the coating from waterspots whilst it cures. The door shuts and boot shut were also protected with Cure.
rops: 
