# A8 Detail Write-Up for Steve and Mel



## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

I wasn't planning on doing a writeup on this Detail but Steve and Mel said the A8 owners club were keen to see one of their own getting the treatment so I was happy to oblige.
Here's the before shots on Friday evening:
























Worn drivers seat bolster:
























Snow foam applied:








Left to dwell for 5 minutes and PW rinsed:








A new purchase for 2009 to save my poor knees!:








Wheels cleaned with Megs WB and an assortment of brushes (see my other write-ups for examples)








Half a barnyard came out from under the arches:
















Re-foamed and washed with a lambswool mitt and the two bucket method:
















Leaves in the boot shut:








On to claying. A vital step to remove bonded contaminants.








The results from half the bonnet:
































Lower panels worse as you would expect:








Rerinsed and then dried with Last Touch as a drying aid:








Steve asked if I would take a look at some deeper marks with a Colourchips kit he had. Here's one of the deep ones:








Cleaned with IPA alcohol:








Heres the paint:








Paint left to dry overnight. Next I took paint thickness level readings. I needed to recalibrate the tool first:
































Fairly even paint all over, apart from the sunroof which was really thick. I did a paint level report for Steve and Mel but forgot to photo it sorry. Perhaps they could stick a photo up if they get a chance.
















'Low' level checked on inside door shut:








It was getting late so I called it a night after thoroughly vacuuming the interior (mats have been removed for shampooing):








Here she is at the end of the night.
























This is the first car I've done at my new house so the neighbours have had an introduction to what I do. Over the weekend I had some strange looks for spending about 20 hours 'cleaning' a car. All very friendly people - just think I'm mad!
This is my new garage. Just about getting there with painting it out and making it how I want it:
























Got some kit set up for doing the carpets. CG Fabric Clean and a brush. Was too late to make a start on them now though:
















Bright and early Saturday morning and off we go:








Wetsanding was the first job for all the deep scratches. 4000 and 2000 grit pads were used:

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Sanding marks first polished with Megs 83 polish and 4" pads:








Then the whole car was to be polished with Menzerna PO203S Polish and Meguiars polishing pads on the Makita rotary polisher. The Menz is fairly new to me but I was very impressed with its good level of cut, yet it finished down to wax ready (rather then leaving micro-marring as many polishes do). On hard german paint this was especially impressive.








Some 50:50 shots of the wings. About 85-90% of the swirls removed, leaving a far deeper, clearer finish:








































Polishing continued around the car for the rest of Saturday (this is never a quick stage, especially on an A8!). Once that was all done I went back to the interior. Glass cleaned first:








Then I got out the steam cleaner to try and get rid of some marks:








Two marks on the dash had been bothering Steve and he said he'd tried a few things to remove them with no joy:
















Mark on the headlining:








Dash after:
























Leather cleaned:
















Steve's leather dye applied to the bolster:
























Left to dry overnight:








Sunday morning and starting to look a lot better, some good reflections coming out over the bonnet:
















































































The polishing had left a lot of dust and splatter so first job was another wash to remove it all:








The paint was burnished nicely and could have been waxed straight away but before this I applied Meguairs #7 Show Car Glaze on a finishing pad to really add to the gloss and wetten the finish:
















Now we're ready for wax. Victoria Concours was used. A high carnauba content wax that's great on dark colours. Applied by hand throughout:
















































I was starting to get excited about the look now and couldn't resist a few more snaps. Not quite finished yet though:
























Megs tyre gel applied:








Megs Hyper Dressing to plastics:








Woolies sealing paste to the re-connolised drivers bolster:









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*ymol leather conditioner to the rest of the leather:








Next up was shampooing and wet vaccing those mats:








































Job done:
















More gratuitous photos:








































Muddy pedals cleaned with APC:

































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Grill dressed:








And here's the final finished shots. Thanks for reading, hope you've enjoyed!








































My favourite photo last:


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## ryanuk (Jun 22, 2007)

great work mate looks stunning!


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## clcollins (Jul 30, 2007)

Great work, looks fantastic :thumb:


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## Dave Richardson (Feb 3, 2008)

Wonderful job mate.

David:wave:


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## vw beetle (Feb 26, 2009)

BIG BIG THANKS to Matt for doing the Mrs A8 she is over the moon with it.
(if u think it looks good in pic should see it for real at least x2 better as it shows the met paint depth)
She got loads of looks in it coming back from yours. Had loads of fun taking hire car back Matt, as the sat nav got lost due to every route it wanted to go, to take back to the hire centre was closed off by P.C Plod due to rugby, wasnt the only ones tho LOL.
Anyhow we r well chuffed and def be back mmmmmmm might get u to do my small show car next










mmmm saying that tho wouldnt be right to get u to do it, as it wouldnt look right with out u doing the full outfit lol










how long would u want it for? A DAY LOL:buffer::lol:


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

superb work as always Matt, is that a vax wet n dry you have? same attachment i have for my vax 6131


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

Cracking write up Matt, fantastic finish on the A8


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## Mr Face (Jan 22, 2009)

Great write up and wow, lovely finish and not a small motor either. An aweful lot of square inches worth to shine up beautifully:thumb:

Nice :doublesho one indeed.


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## mattsbmw (Jul 20, 2008)

Great write up and loving the look of it,

one question if i amy, where do you get the leathe dye from as mine are in need of doing .

thanks


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## Bluetacker (Feb 6, 2009)

Looks a million times better. Great work, attention to detail, and result :thumb:


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## vw beetle (Feb 26, 2009)

mattsbmw said:


> Great write up and loving the look of it,
> 
> one question if i amy, where do you get the leathe dye from as mine are in need of doing .
> 
> thanks


Hi i got that one Matt used on my Mrs A8, from Ebay.


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## AGRE (Sep 25, 2008)

Excellent Job :thumb: 

How'd the scratch look after???


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## Buck (Jan 16, 2008)

Great work Matt - the showglaze did really add to the finish too!

Thanks for sharing

CM


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

AGRE said:


> Excellent Job :thumb:
> 
> How'd the scratch look after???


Thanks for the compliment :thumb:

Forgot to take a photo of the scratch after (doh!). It looked pretty good, still visible from some angles but didn't catch your eye anywhere near as much as before.


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

fiestadetailer said:


> superb work as always Matt, is that a vax wet n dry you have? same attachment i have for my vax 6131


Cheers buddy, much appreciated.

I've got the vax 6131 too mate! Really good piece of kit. Feels nice, solid and reliable (touch wood!).


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

vw beetle said:


> BIG BIG THANKS to Matt for doing the Mrs A8 she is over the moon with it.
> (if u think it looks good in pic should see it for real at least x2 better as it shows the met paint depth)


Thank you Steve. Makes all the hard work worthwhile to know you both appreciate it and are pleased.



vw beetle said:


>


^^^^^^^^You are also absolutely mental! I love it though. Interesting to see proper photos of the van. Might not be too much worse than the A8 to polish in terms of square inches of panels :buffer: (that's assuming not doing the roof and that insane trailer!!!) :lol:


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

mattjonescardiff said:


> Cheers buddy, much appreciated.
> 
> I've got the vax 6131 too mate! Really good piece of kit. Feels nice, solid and reliable (touch wood!).


indeed, mines been great so far:thumb:


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## Allblackdup (Oct 17, 2006)

Excellent job and write up as usual Matt. 

Couple of questions:

Where did you get your stool? I've been after something similar for ages. 

Secondly, i've seen the services you offer, but would you be willing to offer some help on wet sanding at all please? The new car i have i'm planning on detailing in stages, but its got a lot of surface scratches. There may be one or two deeper ones too, so i've bought myself a touch up kit with the right paint for my car, but i'm scared of sanding too much or with the wrong paper. 

I'm local, but any advice really would be appreciated. 
Thanks

Gaz


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## Jody 4444 (Mar 12, 2009)

Great write up and a cracking job, by the way can i ask where you bought your wet sanding disc holder from ( if that makes sense lol )


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

Cheers for the compliments.

I got the stool from aldi for about £20 I think. Goes up and down and it's on wheels. Really saves your back on the side panels. It was a while ago though so may not be in stock any longer.

With wet sanding I'd recommend practicing on scrap panels to find your feet if you plan on doing it yourself. Paint thickness readings are a guide but there is always a risk of strickthrough so you do have to be careful. However, good wetsanding can often be less aggressive than repeated hits of polishing.

Get some of these pads or Megs paper (3000, 2500 and 2000 grit) and get practicing! If you need a PTG report or any work done by me drop me an email via my site.



Allblackdup said:


> Excellent job and write up as usual Matt.
> 
> Couple of questions:
> 
> ...


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## mattjonescardiff (Dec 12, 2006)

Jody 4444 said:


> Great write up and a cracking job, by the way can i ask where you bought your wet sanding disc holder from ( if that makes sense lol )


Thank you. The discs are by a manufacturer called Abralon IIRC. I bought them from DW member ChrisVR6.

Hope that helps
Matt


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## Allblackdup (Oct 17, 2006)

mattjonescardiff said:


> Cheers for the compliments.
> 
> I got the stool from aldi for about £20 I think. Goes up and down and it's on wheels. Really saves your back on the side panels. It was a while ago though so may not be in stock any longer.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info Matt 

I'll try a local Aldi and see if they have anymore, especially as the nearest thing i can find on the old tinterweb is approx £60!. Up and down with wheels sounds near enough perfect really!

Re - Wet sanding. A PTG report and possibly a quick session just with the sand paper and the touch up kit may be a good idea. I haven't a scrap panel to practice on and with so many questions regarding the process, it may be a good idea if we can sort something out.

Gaz


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## littlejack (Jun 11, 2008)

excellent work matt


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