# The worst Audi A3 in black EVER!!!



## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

Well, it's been nearly a year since I last detailed a car due to one thing and another getting in the way of things. So to ease myself back into the driving seat so to say I decided to pick this beauty…

The victim: 2004 Audi A3 2.0TDi in solid black. The owner has used what could only be described as an automatic scotch pad to clean the car weekly. 
Running defects 
•	Matt finish to the paint. 
•	Clear coat failure.
•	Shoddy repair to the rear bumper with "fish eyes" due to trapped silicones everywhere.
•	Oh and to top it off the stone ships were "touched up" using a tin of black paint from a motor factors applied with a ¼" paint brush!!

Nothing like breaking myself in easy. To help, I have to say a big thanks to both PJS and Clarke G for the sterling efforts in turning this pig around in the time we did! So onto the initial pics!



















Stone chips were "touched up using a ¼" brush… Nice.



























Bird lime etching everywhere.









Clear coat failure in several places.









After washing/de-taring, claying and a final wash this is the result….. Milky white "scum" oxidation all over the paint work!!! Is it too late to respray this thing!









On initial start I decided to use Menz a5RD in a cutting pad with the rotary. However this and EVERY other combination including a Powergloss/fastcut plus mix on a heavy cutting pad just "bounced" off the paintwork making no impact whatsoever!! Eventually I got the following combination to work:
•	Menz power Gloss/85RD mix on a Megs heavy cutting pad then to a LC Compounding pad applied using my Dewalt DA (2 hits)
•	Refined using 3M perfect-it applied using a compounding pad, again by DA.

For LSP we decided on 
•	CG Wet Mirror Finish applied by DA with a 3M waffle finishing pad.
•	1 coat Dodo Double (Hard) applied by Megs foam applicator then refined and worked by DA with a 3M waffle finishing pad. This gives a much better finish to the wax than applying by hand.
•	1 coat of Dodo Double (soft) applied by Megs foam applicator and left to harden.
•	Finishing buff using Zaino Z8 because it would be rude not to!

First off a Top Tip.. never clay using sweet smelling QD if you live out in the country or in no time your car will be covered in a thousand flies looking for lunch!!













































PJS hard at work with the cyclone!!









Wet sanding Norn Iron style... This is how we roll!!









Time for a hard earned buttie break!









Here is the result of a really bad repair and paint job. "fish eyes" from silicones all over the rear bumper!!



























Bumper corrected and now just nice depth and reflections!


















Correction finished so we rolled her out and washed her down to see if we missed anything and where the marring form heavy correction remained if any.


















Clarke hard at work at the wheels!


















So that's where the biscuits whet to!









Interior wet vacuumed, cleaned with APC and all surfaced dressed. Seats were given liquid leather cleaner and then conditioned 


















After LSP the finished pictures.





















































































































Hope you liked.
Ronnie…:thumb:


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## BillyT (Jun 22, 2008)

so is that why phil didnt anwser my text

great work lads very good turn around


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## M3-QTR (Feb 28, 2009)

Wow ..the car was really in a crappy shape ..

Great job !!


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Amazing turnaround there :thumb:


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## rossi007 (Sep 17, 2008)

great work Ronnie:thumb:
your son looked like he was enjoying the biccies too:lol:


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## Epoch (Jul 30, 2006)

Great work lads and good to see both you and the garage doing some good things Ronnie.

That was a troubled little motor, but looking cracking now.

How did the rotary wet sanding come out?


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## buck-egit (Aug 19, 2008)

Nice work lads!!!!!:buffer:


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

looks VERY impressive work guys :thumb:

looks like the man-cave is well set up and getting well used already


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## Mr Face (Jan 22, 2009)

A most excellent thread, thanks for posting. I think this is what you could call jumping back in at the deep end:thumb:

Yeah, start off on something easy why dont you:wall::wall:

Great work guys and truly stunning finish. I do hope you have now educated the owner and advised him of his life expectancy (short fall there of) if he doesnt wash her correctly in the future :thumb:

Stunning work guys.


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## Adam Moran (Mar 8, 2009)

Nice work


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## GSVHammer (Feb 7, 2009)

Amazing work done there. I thought the car looked like it would need resprayed.


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

superb turn-around:thumb:


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## SXI (Apr 25, 2009)

Thats a superb turn around:thumb: ; you might have to pop over the water and sort my own car out.


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## Scoobr (Jan 9, 2008)

My God, that was a mess! :doublesho

Fantastic turnaround :thumb:


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

thanks guys! it was a minger alright! The rotary wet sanding was really good and quick. there was an 11" score fron the b pillar heading towards the center of the roof. there was approx 150microns of paint after sanding is went down to 136 microns and I then removed another 1-2 mcrons refining. so all in all it was nice as it was a constant 4" strip at 800rpm so it was more controllable!


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## Escort God (Feb 23, 2009)

great transformation there


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

nice work thats a fantastic improvement.


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

BillyT said:


> so is that why phil didnt anwser my text
> 
> great work lads very good turn around


What text?
Was that you that sent an SMS message (or two!) to my landline number?
If so, got them this evening, but couldn't quite decipher what the electronic voice was saying - give me a bell tomorrow on the mobile, and let me know what I'm needed for.


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## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

Good work gents 

Enjoyed reading that :thumb:


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Thanks chaps - you'll notice a lack of the obligatory 50/50 shots, that's intentional.
We decided that if you've seen one, you've seen hundreds - so no point when the other pics clearly show the marked difference that was made to each panel and some of the worst bits.

As for the rotary wet-sanding - my hand cramped up doing the other scratches on the roof, in the same area, and as it was around half eight, with a Chinese beckoning, I decided to speed up the process before calling it quits.
So, on setting 1 (800rpm) of the Kestrel, with Ronnie nervously laughing, I cracked on with getting the big one out of the paint.
Took a bit longer than expected - should've upped the speed to 2, but best be safe rather than sorry - but the end result was not a great deal of clear was removed, and the area was kept quite wet the whole time.
Polishing only took a couple of hits with a fine abrasive on the medium-firm yellow Edge made-for-Cyclo pads, with Ronnie doing the last wee bit of refinement the next day, along with the refining the rest of the roof.


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

aghhhh so the truth is out there it was down to necessity that the rotary was used. Phil was starving and I said we had to finish the sections we were working on before we ordered the chinese!!! lol!


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## North east Car Care (Jan 14, 2008)

Stunning turnround guys


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Nice end results Ronnie and crew :thumb:

My god that was a mess for such a 'young' car, as you said cleaned with a scrotchpad causes so much damage. 

Was the clearcoat failure due to the cleaning or a bad repair ?

Liking the bat cave as well, any better pictures of the whole thing


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

Amazing turnaround! :thumb:

from:









to:









Did this "just" polished out?


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

with alot of hard work yes eventually!


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

Here are a few pics taken by Clarke.


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

Amazing detail mate, looks gorgeous! :thumb:


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## King (Apr 8, 2009)

Great job mate!


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## Doc (Feb 2, 2008)

Gobsmacked, well done.


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## Mike03 (Jun 23, 2008)

Stunning work there!


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

I liked! Thanks Ronnie! Bacon butties with HP... yummers!


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## dirk (Jun 2, 2007)

that took some hard graft there guys but the result is fantastic ,brilliant


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## impster (May 2, 2007)

Hi mate, great work (really great work actually).

What did you use - Menz?


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

yep I used mens 85RD on a megs cutting pad then refined with 3M perfect-it on a 3M waffle finishing pad.


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Very nice indeed and well doe guys it looks great :thumb:


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## xxxmerlin (Oct 18, 2006)

absolutely amazing!!!


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2009)

Missed this first time around - just found a link is one of PJS' posts.

Really amazing turnaround :thumb:. I'm very impressed with both the fisheye removal and wetsanding by rotary.


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## hitharder (Aug 1, 2009)

i think i have just wet myself, will pm you and ask for the full lowdown as i have just bought an A3!


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## shaqs77 (Jun 10, 2008)

awesome work. how much did you charge for that and how long did it take you?


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## Getdemkneesup (Jul 10, 2009)

pleasure to read.. looks great !!


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## gestev (Jul 1, 2009)

Looking well worth the effort and aggravation.... really stunning reflective shots there... very nice!


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## Tom Newton (Aug 2, 2009)

amazing job there mate,
so good it looks chrome in some of the pix


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## martyp (Oct 24, 2006)

Wow! :doublesho

That is one hell of a turnaround there! Bet the owner was gobsmacked when he came to pick the car up.


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## ClarkeG (Jun 17, 2006)

shaqs77 said:


> awesome work. how much did you charge for that and how long did it take you?


It took too long and we definately didn't charge enough! Full outside detail as well as interior got a full going over, the girl definately got a good deal.

Myself and Ronnie spent from around 9am sat morning to well into the afternoon and he'd also spent the guts of a day previously at it so that's a lot of hours.


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## chris141 (Jun 5, 2008)

Great stuff lads amazing turnaround


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

shaqs77 said:


> awesome work. how much did you charge for that and how long did it take you?


the answer to this is not enough and far too long. in total about 35 hours for external correction alone but I have to admit this is my favorite and most rewarding detail yet... esp since the car was booked in in a few weeks time to get a full respray at £2500 which the owner cancelled after seeing the car.


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## BRUN (May 13, 2006)

Ronnie said:


> On initial start I decided to use Menz a5RD in a cutting pad with the rotary. However this and EVERY other combination including a Powergloss/fastcut plus mix on a heavy cutting pad just "bounced" off the paintwork making no impact whatsoever!! Eventually I got the following combination to work:
> •	Menz power Gloss/85RD mix on a Megs heavy cutting pad then to a LC Compounding pad applied using my Dewalt DA (2 hits)
> •	Refined using 3M perfect-it applied using a compounding pad, again by DA.


i had a similar experience with my 2004 Skoda Fabia, the paint is bloody bullet proof lol


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

stubborn as heck in places but the laugh is once u hit that combo that works the rest is nearly childs play!


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## BRUN (May 13, 2006)

yup see here
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=129270

id tried 4 hits of FCP previously but i couldnt get it working properly by DA, on Sunday i just hit a magic sweet spot of products and technique, superb !


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## sunwing (Aug 1, 2009)

Fantastic job - used to own an A3 myself. Great cars.


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

cheers for the comments much appreciated!


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## Planet Admin (Jul 11, 2009)

Wow great turnaround. That Audi was filthy:thumb:


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## Miholl (May 27, 2009)

Ronnie can I ask you how are you satisfied with a CYCLO poish mashine?

Miha


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

That'd be me, since it's me that uses it.
I like it a lot, but being absolutely honest, there's times (more so on German paints) that it does take quite a bit of pressure and a more aggressive polish/pad combo to get the same refinement you would with a rotary, with a less aggressive pairing.
Hard to explain without writing a full blown essay, but given what I've learned with the Cyclo, and more recently with the Fein rotary - well I think the Cyclo's days are numbered, and will probably be sold on.


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## LJB (Dec 28, 2008)

Great job guys only noticed this tread now, could do with you guys visiting my car! excellent turnaround


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

Any time drop us a PM and we will see what we can do.


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## BMW^Z4 (May 15, 2007)

perfect job!


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## dirtybarrys (Jul 28, 2008)

excellent job, you could get yourselves another job, the wifes car needs a tlc.


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## Giftoboy (Aug 28, 2009)

Nice paintwork correction mate :buffer:. looking very good keep it up:thumb:


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## tsjuvak (Apr 15, 2009)

duuudes.....u got some serious holos left from yr buffing..check yr pics


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

where there are none.. We dont do holograms trust me????


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## ALANSHR (Jun 29, 2007)

nice work, i bet that was a real pig to sort out, well done to your and your team


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## scooby73 (Mar 20, 2007)

Great work lads, the car looks superb!!:thumb:


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## tsjuvak (Apr 15, 2009)

Ronnie said:


> where there are none.. We dont do holograms trust me????


OK,just one example.
Do you see the buffer trails on the back flip/"hood"?









The LSP did hide a little bit of them,but still they can be seen pretty well


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## tsjuvak (Apr 15, 2009)

Front left fender...
Or you are trying to tell me ,that thats a sun-in-da-sky-in-da-clouds-story  
no offence.....

you should get some Fenix light...like TK10..this "stuff" kick ass


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## RefinedDetails (Dec 17, 2006)

that is one superb turnaround sir!


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

they are not buffer trails my friend funny 6500 people looking and no one else can see them its the sun catching the panels. the first 2 pics were fresh from wipe down so no las aplied at that point and the last is the sun I am afraid to tell you thanks for the comments and the pointers but this time you are mistaken


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## Planet Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Great work guys:thumb:

Nice to put faces to names as well


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

Great to read one of your write ups again Ronnie. Stunning turnaround there by you and the guys. 

Have you stuck an abralon pad on the rotary? Bit mental but certainly a good idea to speed the job up!

Well done.


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## Ronnie (Nov 15, 2006)

not yet We have a few but never got round to using them must do I have a right mare of a job coming up in a few weeks which would be perfect for it!! will keep u posted!


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

mattjonescardiff said:


> Great to read one of your write ups again Ronnie. Stunning turnaround there by you and the guys.
> 
> Have you stuck an abralon pad on the rotary? Bit mental but certainly a good idea to speed the job up!
> 
> Well done.


It was the 3K 3M Trizact one I used, and yes, it sped up the process considerably.


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