# Polished Bliss: S3 & 911 GT3...



## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Here's 2 cars that were done recently, first one was this Audi S3, booked in for a 3 day major correction:


















































































As you can see, it was in need of a thoroughly good detail!

First up with the pre-foam - Megs APC at @ degrees:










Left to dwell for 5 minutes and then rinsed off at high pressure:










The wheels were cleaned up as well as I could but they were far from perfect as they were in need of a refurb in all honesty:










The tyres/arches were cleaned with Meguiars Super Degreaser as usual.

Shuts and exterior trim were sprayed and agitated with P21S:



















The engine was sprayed with Eimann Fabrik Engine Degreaser:










Then agitated...










Then rinsed at medium pressure:



















The car was then washed with the 2 Bucket Method and Gloss-It shampoo, then rinsed:










After going round with Autosmart Tardis and rinsing again, I put the car inside and clayed with Gloss-It aggressive clay. This removed a considerable amount of contamination:










Now dried off and with paint readings taken (average of 130 microns in most places), I then went round the car to take some pics of the defects.

I should probably mention at this point that the car has been washed with a brush since new...
































































These pics are probably as good as any to demonstrate why you shouldn't let the overhead lance from petrol station pressure washers hit your paintwork...





































The back bumper had several scrapes along the back of it which had broken the paint so this would get corrected with the G220 and Gloss-It Extreme Cut and One step polish with the Menzerna Compounding/Polishing pads:










So, as you could see the car had seen a hard life of incorrect washing/drying techniques and I had my work cut out on this one. I knew I wasn't going to get 100% correction as some of the RIDS were far too deep to even have a chance of removing.

Polish of choice was 3M Fast Cut Plus combined with a 3M Compounding Pad @2000rpm's (1500-1800 on the smaller areas):










I'd decided to give each section 2 hits. What came out came out and what didn't was going to have to stay put. With any remaining time left, I'd go back and polish the worst areas again if needs be.

Luckily, 2 hits gave decent results considering the state of the paintwork:



















This pic (although out of focus) shows the kind of scratches left after polishing. Even without proper focus you can see they are fairly deep!










Clarity and Gloss was restored nicely though:










N/S wing after FCP stage:










And on the other wing where those horrific scratches were:










After correction:



















Considering the state of the wing before hand, I was quite happy with the level of correction achieved without the need for wet sanding 

Round the other side, midway through correction:





































Again in the above pic you can see the deeper one or two RIDS remained after 2 hits.

Offside back 1/4 before:



















After:



















Once corrected, it was time to refine the finish and for this I used Menzerna PO85RD and a Polishing Pad @ 1500rpm's. As always, this produced superb clarity:










Even though the wheels were past their best they were sealed anyways (to remove any polishing dust if nothing else) by Marsha, who also applied Gloss-It tyre dressing and polished up the exhaust with the Blackfire Metal Polishes.

The engine bay was dressed with 303 as always:




























The interior was fully detailed including feeding of the leather with Raceglaze Leather Balm and Werkstat Satin Prot on the mats, shuts polished and sealed with Werkstat Prime Strong. Interior glass cleaned with Eimann Fabrik and exterior glass done with Rain-X.










Back to the paintwork, which after a wipe down with Top Inspection (Carefully! I get major paranoid when working on solid black about marring it!) was sealed with Gloss-It Signature Gloss and left for around 45 mins to make sure it cured properly in the cold temperatures.

That gave the following results (apologies for lack of quality pics as the owner turned up just before I finished):




































































































And from one of the worst cars I've seen for a while, to one of the cleanest 

This GT3 was in for 2 days to have the paintwork machined only (no interior detail etc):



















No pics of the wash process as my camera batteries were on charge but it was the usual pre-foam, 2 bucket wash, menz 7.5 on the wheels etc etc.

The car didn't really need claying but I always prefer to do this step to make sure as you always find one or two bits that the clay pics up:










A quick walk round with Sun Gun showed the defects:


















































































As you can see, the defects were fairly light, but not quite light enough to quickly buzz round the car with the likes of 85Rd on a finishing pad.

This gave me a perfect opportunity to further try out one of the new polishes from Menzerna - PO203S. It's kind of an in between of 106FA and 3.02 and it worked perfectly on this car, although some panels needed a couple of hits where the odd deeper scratch was.

Fully broken down and ready to buff:










A wipe down with Top Inspection to ensure all the oils are removed:




























Whilst I was attending to the paintwork, Marsha had sealed the wheels and applied the Gloss-It tyre dressing. You can either mist it on to the tyre wall and leave it but the trigger that is supplied isn't always ideally suited so sometimes it's easier to apply it to an applicator pad instead:



















I've found that a couple of coats with 15/20 minutes (or even longer if you can) in between gives the best results :thumb:

Marsha also applied Gloss-It TRV to the front splitter.

I carried on with the machine work. The masking tape across the middle of the bonnet and wings are to protect the armour fend applied to the front end:



















After a TI wipe down:










Back end before:










After:










There are some bits where you just cant get the machine into so this has to be done by hand. The older USA version of Menzerna IP is great for this as the abrasives are more fragile and break down easier:










Worked untill barely visible:










Done:




























It's the little things like correcting the underneath of side skirts and bumpers etc that make all the difference and also what can contribute to the hours adding up on a detail:




























Once the paintwork was corrected, I nipped out any light marring on the armour fend with Blackfire Gloss Enhancing Polish with the G220:










As it's been a while since I used it, I decided to apply Blackfire's Midnight Sun Wax as LSP:










This was applied to the whole car and then buffed off after 10 minutes.

Then after a wipe down with Gloss-It QD, this was the results:




















































































































































































































































Thanks for looking as always :thumb:

Clark


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## rockape (Feb 18, 2007)

lovely work :thumb: hope the owner of the s3 changes his wash technique.


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## SURFERROSA (Feb 7, 2007)

Both of them great finishes as usual mate.


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## baseballlover1 (Sep 25, 2007)

Looks great clark!


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

brilliant work on both, and the improvement on the S3 is amazing


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## TUBS (May 9, 2006)

Great work, love reading about your details, it doesnt get any better !!!


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## Trist (Jun 23, 2006)

Awesome job, you produce some of the best finishes :thumb:


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## Silva1 (Sep 16, 2007)

2 Great details :thumb:

Brilliant work as always


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## A20 LEE (Feb 20, 2007)

Nice work, I hate solid black Audi's:lol: They do shock you when you put the halogens on them but you do get the reward with clarity and a very black, black. Mines overdue for a once over but it can wait!!


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

Awesome correction on the S3 mate, also love GT3's that one looking all the better for your hard work.:thumb:


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## drive 'n' shine (Apr 22, 2006)

Cracking work on the (seriously ******) S3, I feel your pain on solid black paintwork had a solid black mini in yesterday


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## Jim W (Feb 3, 2007)

Excellent Clark, I enjoyed that (being an S3 owner myself)

I've just had a look on Audi-Sport.net, might be worth posting this job in their aftercare forums?!

This might sound like a daft question.. but, through the waxing stage, how many MF's did you get through?!


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

stunning as always:argie: (the audi looks black now)


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## Miglior (Feb 12, 2006)

GREAT work as always!


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## Refined Detail (Nov 27, 2006)

As per everyone elses comments - great work as always, and OMG how bad was that S3?!!

Out of interest, what halogens do you use? Thanks


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## Perfection Detailing (Nov 3, 2007)

Cracking stuff Clark that S3 was in some state....


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## Summit Detailing (Oct 9, 2006)

Nice to catch up on some of your latest efforts fella....good stuff as always:thumb:


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## nicp2007 (Apr 25, 2007)

great work mate :thumb: love black cars but they are a pain at time :thumb:


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## al_lotus (Nov 10, 2007)

both cars look stunning now - i especially like the combination of flake pop and wetness on the 911


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## Offyourmarks (Jan 4, 2006)

jeez the audi wasnt for the feint hearted mate. awesome correction work


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## paddy328 (Mar 4, 2007)

As above.


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Great work on both there, especially the S3 :thumb:


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2008)

fantastic work on both car's there mate especially the s3,let's hope they havent wasted there money and your time, and look after the car in the future .


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## Sandro (Mar 16, 2008)

paint on the porsche is lovely!!

good correction on the S3, looks great man!


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## bjorke (Dec 21, 2007)

Stunning work and write-up as always )


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## Gloss-it (Nov 14, 2008)

Fantistic write up and transformation on the Audi S3! Rich had shared with me the other day you were working on a black car that should of required some paint work. This car was no joke! Wish I could of seen the customers expression when they picked the car up.:doublesho


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Excellent correction work as always, and great to see a very honest report of what you are able to remove on the S3 - I do always think its important to see that some marring is just not going to move without comprimising the paint life. 

And as always, lovely machine finishing - to the point where (in pictures at least) I am pretty convinced the LSPs have added nothing to the looks which just speaks for the quality of the machine work.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

2 cracking details - especially the rescue of the S3 :thumb:


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

Stunning work as always, fantastic correction on the S3!


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## tdekany (Jul 22, 2006)

Beautiful work!!!!!


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## wd40 (Jun 20, 2007)

Amazing work as always guys !!!!! :thumb::thumb::thumb:


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## djcromie (Mar 22, 2007)

lovely work mate


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## s3 rav (Apr 30, 2008)

always look forward to a polished bliss detail. great results with the s3. you obviously are choosing the new golls it stuff with your cars, how are you finding these compared with before and what are you replacing them by


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## veedubsimon (Mar 13, 2008)

always look forward to reading ur posts! great transformation on the s3! Keep up the good work:thumb:


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## justin30513 (Dec 12, 2006)

Awesome Clark!
Nice when you can't tell the difference when you add the LSP on.


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

Fantastic turnarounds mate!! :argie:

The S3 paintwork was shocking!!


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

Bloody hell that S3 was in a right state, the Porka is just stunning as usual did both proud 

Baz


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Jim W said:


> Excellent Clark, I enjoyed that (being an S3 owner myself)
> 
> I've just had a look on Audi-Sport.net, might be worth posting this job in their aftercare forums?!
> 
> This might sound like a daft question.. but, through the waxing stage, how many MF's did you get through?!


It'll get posted on AS at some point. Getting the write up for DW is enough effort at the moment! 

As for waxing, I only use one MF from start to finish, always have. the only time i found the need for multiple MF's was when we briefly applied the waxes by bare hand 



Rich H said:


> As per everyone elses comments - great work as always, and OMG how bad was that S3?!!
> 
> Out of interest, what halogens do you use? Thanks


Just the usual ones from e-bay/screw fix mate. I only ever use them for extra lighting (and heat) in the unit more than anything and for helping with pics. I work with the Sun Gun for my correction work mainly as you can too easily miss defects with a halogen on some colours. Get paintwork perfect under the Sun Gun and it'll look great in any lighting in my opinion 



Dave KG said:


> Excellent correction work as always, and great to see a very honest report of what you are able to remove on the S3 - I do always think its important to see that some marring is just not going to move without comprimising the paint life.
> 
> And as always, lovely machine finishing - to the point where (in pictures at least) I am pretty convinced the LSPs have added nothing to the looks which just speaks for the quality of the machine work.


Cheers Dave. Blackfire along with the RaceGlaze 55 is one of the products i find does slightly darken the paint even after machine polishing, but it's almost impossible to put that difference across in pictures.

I'm still one of those that are of the opinion that you can alter (be it greatly or subtle) the way a car looks by the LSP chosen, providing the prep work is of a half decent standard


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## Thomas-182 (Mar 5, 2006)

Thanks! Excellent write up. Lovely stuff Clark.


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## buck-egit (Aug 19, 2008)

Nice looking shine on both cars


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## scooby73 (Mar 20, 2007)

Excellent work, the correction and finish on the A3 is fantastic!:thumb:


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## Consultant (Sep 19, 2008)

Stunning work on both cars!!


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## Mark M (Nov 29, 2006)

Top work on both, but glad to see Murray's Dad's GT3 restored


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## PootleFlump (Jan 1, 2006)

Nice job on both motors.

Out of interest what is the funny mat you've got the cars standing on during the wash phase. Is it some environmental collection things to collect and recycle the water?


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

Excellent work as always, Clark!


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## Rich @ PB (Oct 26, 2005)

PootleFlump said:


> Nice job on both motors.
> 
> Out of interest what is the funny mat you've got the cars standing on during the wash phase. Is it some environmental collection things to collect and recycle the water?


Exactly!


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## 111Robin (Sep 26, 2008)

Excellent results as always Clark


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## leo_jones (May 27, 2008)

nice one clark spot on work as usual mate!


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## Chris_4536 (Sep 20, 2006)

Both cars looking sensational, fantastic work + write up as always.


PB - a true inspiration :thumb:


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## SevenW (Sep 19, 2008)

Wow and wow!

Top job with top finishes.


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## Shug (Jul 13, 2007)

Looking at all those before pics of s3, I'd swear that was my car! (I wish it was!)
Same dirt, swirls and desperately overdue a detail (unfortunately not the same turbo!) 
Dealer I got it from liked to keep the cars clean. With a brush :wall:
How long did you work the polish for roughly?
As much as I'd like to get mine looking that good, I'll have to settle for something within my limitations!


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## Piratez (Jun 28, 2008)

Fantastic Jobs:doublesho


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## uiuiuiui (Nov 2, 2008)

great write up on two very nice details 



PootleFlump said:


> Nice job on both motors.
> 
> Out of interest what is the funny mat you've got the cars standing on during the wash phase. Is it some environmental collection things to collect and recycle the water?


btw there are countries in the world which already prohibited washing your car on the street.

question to Clark or WX51 TXR.

who makes your water collection system, do you have some kind of pump to remove the water out of the "pool"?

Thank you very much.


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Shug said:


> Looking at all those before pics of s3, I'd swear that was my car! (I wish it was!)
> Same dirt, swirls and desperately overdue a detail (unfortunately not the same turbo!)
> Dealer I got it from liked to keep the cars clean. With a brush :wall:
> How long did you work the polish for roughly?
> As much as I'd like to get mine looking that good, I'll have to settle for something within my limitations!


Polish gets worked for a good 2 or 3 minutes roughly, sometimes longer when really burnishing the finish and it's also polish dependant


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

uiuiuiui said:


> great write up on two very nice details
> 
> btw there are countries in the world which already prohibited washing your car on the street.
> 
> ...


It's from a company called Morclean (I think!) and yes, we have a pump that transfers all the wash water into a tank located outside the unit


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## uiuiuiui (Nov 2, 2008)

Thank you very much.

just out of curiosity how much are you paying for the water recycling or disposal?


sorry for being a pest


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## R55_SND (Aug 12, 2008)

christ that s3 was bad and i thought mines was in poor condition when i brought it to let you guys see! great work as usual tho! really impressed!


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## audi2k40 (Dec 17, 2008)

Excellent work especially on the S3!


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## KKM (Dec 10, 2007)

Cracking work on both cars, but the turnaround on the S3 is simply stunning!!

Keep up the good work!!

:thumb:


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## s3 rav (Apr 30, 2008)

i recently give the car a good clean up. my s3 had lots of swirls and used the poorboys world swirl remover as a polish. i would say it removed approx 75% of swirls but there are still lots to be seen. is there any other polish that can be used (by hand) to remove or get better results on a black 2000 x reg s3


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## Jim W (Feb 3, 2007)

s3 rav said:


> i recently give the car a good clean up. my s3 had lots of swirls and used the poorboys world swirl remover as a polish. i would say it removed approx 75% of swirls but there are still lots to be seen. is there any other polish that can be used (by hand) to remove or get better results on a black 2000 x reg s3


Hi Rav, (audi-sport.net, right?)

Wait for Meguiars' new 'Ultimate Compound' - saw live demo's of it ~4 week ago, looks to be a fantastic product (for hand application)

Failing that, I'd go with AG SRP (but rememeber, it will only mask the swirls, not remove them)


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## s3 rav (Apr 30, 2008)

haha yes mate its me. where have you been recently haven't seen you on there. whens this meguirs ultimate compund out then mate do you know? what do you use? the car looks alot better now with a deeper black colour and used blackfire sealant which has kep *** looking good but in the light i can still see lots of swirls.


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