This weeks detail was a very nice Audi A6 Allroad in metallic black over grey. The car had been detailed by another detailer but the owner decided to bring it to us as we were considerably closer to where he lived. The car itself was in very good condition with just general swirling from daily usage and the odd deep RDS from country life. Initially all seemed well until I started doing some initial paint readings and found that in some areas there had been a considerable removal of paint which would leave full or really any level of correction out of the question. Because of this it was agreed to do as good a job as we could and focus on getting the best level of gloss that we possibly could. On further inspection it was also very evident that who had previously been working on the car had also buffed through the paint on one of the wheel arches and had gotten a very speedy (read shoddy) smart repair to cover up the damage, so first port of call was off to my body shop to have the arch rubbed down and properly repaired. And this time painted in the correct colour. Another example of some of the leading detailers over here knocking out great work unfortunately. For this detail, the following products were used from my new range of detailing products. Wash stage: Orchard Autocare Citrus Precleaner. Sprayed on using a foam lance and left to dwell for 5 minutes. Wheels cleaned using Orchard Autocare Iron Cleanse to remove all bonded Iron Contamination. Then cleaned using Orchard Autocare Wheel Cleanse RFU Safe wheel cleaner. Snow foamed using our 100:1 snow foam left to dwell and rinsed off after 10 mins. Washed using 2BM with Shampoo and plush wash mitts. Tar removed using Tar Cleanse, Clayed using Bilt Hamber Autoclay. Door shuts, engine bay and under arches cleaned using Orchard Autocare All Purpose Cleaner. Here are the pictures of this stage. For correction we had to be very careful as we had some readings that were quite low from some serious machining, so we had to map out the areas that were ok to machine, areas that were getting low and areas to avoid. By doing this along a diagram of the car it allowed us to see where we could correct and areas that although they were ok paint depth wise there were RDS running into low paint areas. What’s this for you may ask. Simply if you have a RDS running for example the length of the car then if you correct one panel fully but the next panel beside it can only be refined then what you will get is a patchwork effect which will look like it has been painted and the defects show old panels and the defect free areas could look like a freshly painted panel. So to avoid this we then blend the defects by gently fading them out in areas we can and refining them or softening them where they cannot be removed. This is a very time consuming task and one where constant paint readings are needed and referring to our diagrams but the finish gives a much more natural look and distracts the eye from obvious areas that could not be touched! Now how low are were these readings I hear you ask surely you are just buffing the fact that you did not do a total correction detail ay saying this. Well this was the lowest reading we managed to get. It was not only a single low reading the whole area was within 15 microns of this and it was checked using 2 different paint gauges! What you must remember is this is a paint removal process, to remove defects. The area around the defect is being lowered to “remove” it. Therefore you have to think is it worth removing a certain amount of paint to totally remove the defect. This is a big problem that I am now seeing on a regular basis. Correction stage: For this stage, we used the Megs Microfiber system to remove the defects then refined by rotary using Megs 205 and a mixture of yellow and black waffle pads. The main aim was to get as perfect a finish as possible and to get a really high level of gloss and reflection. Below are a few in process pictures. LSP stage. All interior plastics including dash door trims etc, rubber seals and engine bay plastics were cleaned with Orchard Autocare Interior Wizard nano cleaner. Externally, for this stage it was back to old faithful Zaino Z2 pro with ZFX enhancer. 3 layers were applied with Z6 in between each layer. Wheels were also given the same treatment as were all door shuts. To finish off , all surfaces were treated to a coat of Zaino Clean Seal for added durability. Below are the afters. Once again many thanks for taking time to read through the thread and as usual all C&C are welcome. Thanks, Rollo
Excellent write-up! beautiful outcome! Do you have a picture of the bad wheel arch? I would love to see the before, for reference.
many thanks no sorry I dont have a before pic sent it off before I remembered to take on it was basically a goldish patch where the repair had been!
^^ lol I have been perfecting my lights over the last while and think I finally have them sussed does look funy though getting a bit OCD me thinks!
