# Brand New Audi A4 Detail (Pic Heavy)



## cl0nd0n (Mar 29, 2008)

So after waiting for what seemed like an age (well 3 months) for it to arrive & spending many an hour researching new products & methods on DW it was time to detail my new Audi!

I had specifically laid down the law with my dealer & made it clear they were not to touch the car upon delivery. I agreed to them removing the plastics only to check the paint & I would collect it as it was. So on Friday afternoon I made my way to the dealers to collect it!

Now as this is our first real proper detail it was a bit of a daunting task but we had allowed plenty of time so no need to rush!

So Saturday afternoon arrives & it's time to start getting this car shiny! The paint was dull & very dirty and had the usual transport wax covering & other grime from it's trip to blighty! Crew for the day was myself & Ginger! The plan was to get the car washed & wheels done by end of play on Saturday in time for a BBQ & a few beers. Then apply sealants & wax, trim & final details on Sunday.

So first things first this is what we have to get to grips with.

It's a new 2008 Audi A4 2.0 TDi S-Line. When I ordered in Ibis white I really had no idea how good this would look in the flesh! The aggressive styling & S-line kit really help set it off!

Even though it was brand new I had decided I wanted to get the windows tinted to really set off the beautiful white so I popped it down to the tint guy on Saturday morning before getting started on the big clean!










*Products Used :*

Foam & Wash

Megs APC 4:1
AB Supersnow Foam
Dodo Born To Be Mild Shampoo
AS Tardis Tar & Glue Remover
2 Bucket Method with Sonus Sheepskin Mitt

Wheels

AS Smartwheels
Megs APC 4:1
EZ Detail Wheel Brush
Chemical Guys Wheel Guard
Chemical Guys New Look Trim Gel

Paintwork

IPA Wipedown 1:1
Chemical Guys Jet Seal 109
Dodo Hard Candy Wax

Interior, Trim & Engine

Poorboys Natural Look Dressing
303 Aerospace Protectant
AG Fast Glass
Rainx

The next few shots show the remains of all the transport dirt & sticky residue from the plastic coverings.
































































So the first job was to spray all the lowers bodywork, arches & sills with Megs APC 4:1. This started to work right away. I left to dwell for a couple of minutes then the whole car was rinsed off on high pressure.




























Next up was snow foam. 1" AB Supersnow Foam & a cap of Dodo Born To Be Mild topped with warm water was the mix of choice. Car was foamed & allowed to dwell for 5 minutes then rinsed.
































































It was pleasing to see just how much dirt the foam was pulling off.



















The whole process was repeated again to ensure we removed as much dirt & wax as possible.










Next up was a gentle wash to avoid introducing any marring or swirls as the paint seemed pretty good at this point & I wanted to avoid machine polishing.

New CG Buckets from the group buy ready for action!










Plenty of MF cloths etc on standby!










So we hit it with the trusty TBM, Sonus Sheepskin Mitt & Dodo Born To Be Mild shampoo, which I have to say smells lovely!




























Next up was a good dry with a Miracle Dryer towel. I love this bit of kit as it is a great size & just sucks up the water. All sills & gaps were dried with spare MF's to avoid any transfer of grease to the towel.




























Next up was to hit the remaining tar spots & residue from the plastic coverings with some AS Tardis & MF cloth. Tardis was sprayed on 1:1 mix, left to dwell for 2 mins then wiped off.










On to the wheels. All wheels were heavily coated in wax & dirt so they all came off one by one. This allowed us to pressure wash all the wax out of the arches and under the sills as well!




























Considering I had only driven the car home on dry roads with 18 miles on the clock it was amazing how much crud was in the arches!




























18 miles of grime! Looking forward to seeing 1800 miles worth!





































Wheels were taken off & sprayed with AS Smartwheels. This stuff is a gentle non acidic cleaner but really does the job!










Tyres were hit with Megs APC 4:1 & a good scrub. Boy they needed it!










Wheels were agitated with EZ detail brush, rinsed & washed with a MF sponge & Dodo Shampoo.










Arches were sprayed with Megs APC 4:1 again, rinsed on high pressure. This how they are meant to look!



















Next up was to hit all the wheels with 2 coats of Poorboy's Wheel Guard.










Wheels refitted to car & tyres dressed with CG New Look Trim Gel. Now I have used this stuff on tyres I don't think I would use anything else! It gives a great finish & soaks in to the rubber very well.










So this is what we had so far. Car was parked up in the garage over night while we headed out for a BBQ & a few cheeky Corona's!










Sunday morning arrives & it's time to lay down 2 coats of Jetseal 109. First we hit the car with an IPA wipedown at 1:1.










A shot of the Jetseal 109 on the roof. Bit hard to see as we had no sun today & seeing this on the white paint is added difficulty!



















So the Jetseal 109 was left to dry for it's recommended 20 mins.










Jetseal 109 was then buffed off with a Eurow Shag Pile MF. It was a pleasure to buff off & only left a very small amount of dust which I then removed.



















A 2nd coat of Jetseal 109 was then applied.










While this was curing I decide to tackle the engine bay. I popped the hood to find all it would need is a quick wipedown with an MF & some Megs APC.










All the engine plastics & pipes were then dressed with 303 Aerospace! Amazing finish!




























Quick wipe over & polish of exhaust with some Autosol.










Now the Jetseal had done a great job & the paint was already looking very wet. However I wanted to get a couple of coats of wax on top to make it really pop.

I decided to try out some Dodo Hard Candy as I had a sample pot. This went on well but it was tough in the dull afternoon light to see it on the paint. I did find the Dodo quite hard to apply via a wax applicator with a spritz of Reglaze but I am sure the weather was not helping!




























All buffed off with Eurow Shag Pile. The Dodo had given a great finish but we decided to hit the car with a 2nd coat of wax which was duly applied then buffed off!










Final job was to hit the interior! All that was needed on the seats & carpets was a quick hoover out. I then dressed all the interior with PB Natural Look Dressing. This was applied with a German applicator & buffed off with a MF. All interior glass was then cleaned with AG Fast Glass.




























S-Line steering wheel! Very nice!










Half leather, half Alcantara sports seats with silver stitching! Very comfy!























































Finally all exterior glass was hit with AG Fast Glass then a coat of RainX all over!

So after about 10 hours work getting the S-line ready to hit the road this is what we are left with.

Unfortunately it was a typical dull British Sunday afternoon which made getting any nice shots of reflections etc pretty hard.

Enjoy!














































New LED running lights! Love em!



















Managed to get a few arty shots too!














































Not a bad reflection!























































A big thanks to Ginge for all his help today! I think the Audi has turned out great & now I look forward to enjoying it!


----------



## Breezy (Jun 24, 2006)

superb work and an excellent write up!


----------



## PTAV (Nov 10, 2007)

Great car!


----------



## philyoung531 (Jul 16, 2007)

Love the colour, like your arty shots, next Audi I purchase will be white me thinks.:thumb:

Phil


----------



## jpmcc (Mar 3, 2007)

fantastic car


----------



## daves2rs (May 7, 2007)

:doublesho Nice write up and a cracking motor


----------



## Jim W (Feb 3, 2007)

Good job, looks real nice! Got to love new White cars...

:doublesho










that's the worst swirl I've ever seen, how did you remove this?


----------



## S-X-I (Sep 6, 2006)

Excellemnt work the cars is stunning in white.

It might just be the order of the write-up but did you do the wheels and arches after the wash satge?


----------



## Naddy37 (Oct 27, 2005)

Nice work. Great looking car...:thumb:

You'll be looking at a new set of front tyres soon. Mine only lasted 28k on my A6..


----------



## Mark J (May 10, 2007)

Lovely motor ! Nice job ! :thumb:


----------



## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

Very nice car - looks just right in white!!

Stunning - the tints really set it off!

You say in your write up that you applied Tardis solution 1:1 0 did you dilute it? If so, don't as it should be applied neat.

Also, you were leaning your beautiful new alloys against the kerb to clean them :doublesho: Best but of advice I got was from Rich at PolishedBliss - two pieces of wood on the floor to lay the wheel on - no chance of slipping, scuffing or scratching!!


----------



## chrissy (May 2, 2008)

excellent result well worth the time and effort


----------



## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Very nice 

Not seen a new A4 in white yet but that looks superb.


----------



## cl0nd0n (Mar 29, 2008)

Jim W said:


> Good job, looks real nice! Got to love new White cars...
> 
> :doublesho
> 
> ...


Ah! Me thinks I made a booboo with the old photo edit! Ooops!


----------



## cl0nd0n (Mar 29, 2008)

S-X-I said:


> Excellemnt work the cars is stunning in white.
> 
> It might just be the order of the write-up but did you do the wheels and arches after the wash satge?


Yeah we did the wheels after the wash stage as we were taking them off one by one so seemed silly to get them all covered in crap by washing the car after I had cleaned & sealed them up!

Obviously would not go this way if we were not taking them all off!


----------



## cl0nd0n (Mar 29, 2008)

cheekeemonkey said:


> Very nice car - looks just right in white!!
> 
> Stunning - the tints really set it off!
> 
> ...


To be honest I did use the Tardis @ 1:1 purely as I had not used it much before & wanted to be cautious with the strngth on such new paint! In fairness it did a great job @ 1:1 but in future I will always use neat!

As for the wheels we only rested the tyre on the kurb for the photo and not while washing! I was not going to risk any damage to my new rims!
The old wood trick sounds like a great idea!

Cheers


----------



## S-X-I (Sep 6, 2006)

cl0nd0n said:


> Yeah we did the wheels after the wash stage as we were taking them off one by one so seemed silly to get them all covered in crap by washing the car after I had cleaned & sealed them up!
> 
> Obviously would not go this way if we were not taking them all off!


Ok, thanks for clearing that up.

It was just incase the body work got dirty again due to cleaning the arches.

Once again the cars looking great :thumb:


----------



## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

That car looks simply stunning!

Awesome work mate and a top quality right up. I will definitely enjoy reading more of your details! :thumb:


----------



## joe_0_1 (Apr 7, 2007)

Stunning!!

Excellent work and write up!


----------



## ryanuk (Jun 22, 2007)

stunning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## s3 rav (Apr 30, 2008)

love it mate, very nice finish!


----------



## honda-r (Mar 20, 2007)

Nice car, lovely interior, nice finish


----------



## isherdholi (Sep 18, 2007)

I saw a new A4 the other day, they look really good.

Unfortunately, some of the popular image hosting sites (e.g. Photobucket) are blocked at work, so I cannot see the pics in this thread (or any other thread that uses such sites, which are blocked)

I'll make sure I revisit this thread when I get home this evening


----------



## KnightUnit (Dec 31, 2007)

Very nice work and lovely car!


----------



## 1996a6v6 (Feb 8, 2008)

Great post, lovely car too


----------



## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Echo of the above sentiments - top job of both the write-up and the detail/photo shoot.
Well done, and lovely car - more so in white.


----------



## 66Rob (Sep 25, 2007)

Gorgeous, absolutely stunning. You should take it to the dealer and show them how fantastic it looks. :doublesho Great looking car and great choice of colour.

Rob


----------



## donnyboy (Oct 27, 2005)

That looks very nice in white. :thumb:

What options are on it?


----------



## cl0nd0n (Mar 29, 2008)

66Rob said:


> Gorgeous, absolutely stunning. You should take it to the dealer and show them how fantastic it looks. :doublesho Great looking car and great choice of colour.
> 
> Rob


Thanks for all the great comments guys! This was the first time myself & buddy Ginger had done a full detail so we are fairly chuffed with the results!

The dealer was a little bit funny with me collecting it dirty and I think the director wanted to know why I did not want his boys touching it!

Well I took it back in yesterday after I had detailed it and showed them why!

They were blown away by it!


----------



## Dibbuz (Apr 11, 2007)

Very nice, really love the car! One of my favorites!


----------



## Petrol-head (May 26, 2008)

Cracking Job!

Really like the new A4 and the S-Line model really brings out the best in the car.


----------



## Slewey (Feb 13, 2008)

Great car and a stunning result! :thumb:


----------



## Monkeyboy3333 (Mar 18, 2008)

loving the new a4 clondon, 140/170 bhp? Both great engines I had an a3 140 bhp but now have the a4 special edition, released just before the new model came out with the 170bhp diesel and same wheels as you....... although they take forever to clean.

helios - 28k on an a6 , i would say that's pretty good going mate....my first set of conti's on my a4 special edition 170bhp diesel lasted 11k. They were the worst tyres i have ever had, crap in the wet crap in the dry -and i certainly don't rag my car


----------



## BigMac (Jun 30, 2006)

Really excellent job!! Car is going to be a joy to clean after all that prep work.

The tints look great against the white. Look pretty dark though. What % or grade of tint did you go for as it looks like the fronts are just as dark as the rears?


----------



## REFLECTS (Apr 7, 2008)

Jim W said:


> Good job, looks real nice! Got to love new White cars...
> 
> :doublesho
> 
> ...


Damn, I was gunna post that lol

Super car mate.

That Snow Foam was mental - Cracking finish :thumb:


----------



## cl0nd0n (Mar 29, 2008)

BigMac said:


> Really excellent job!! Car is going to be a joy to clean after all that prep work.
> 
> The tints look great against the white. Look pretty dark though. What % or grade of tint did you go for as it looks like the fronts are just as dark as the rears?


Yeah I am very happy with the tints! They made such a huge difference to the car! Just look at the first photo without them!

In the end I went for the light tint on the front and medium on the rear. The light only being 15% lighter. The thing with tints is that they are affected by the amount of light in the interior. As my interior is all black there is limited light in the cabin to reflect out so they look really dark. Gotta love em though!


----------



## cl0nd0n (Mar 29, 2008)

Jim W said:


> Good job, looks real nice! Got to love new White cars...
> 
> :doublesho
> 
> ...


I had to fix it & re-upload the photo! It was bugging me!


----------



## supercharged (Feb 1, 2008)

Love this car and love your detail! awesome job! So many pics, love them!


----------

