# Audi RS2 Detail & Audi S2 Suspension



## Sonic (Jun 28, 2007)

My first proper detail on anothers pride and joy :doublesho

This is a re-post from the s2forum so although ive removed most meaningless references you will have to excuse any remaining points. For reference Bo and Stu are friends from the s2forum (S2_Bo and 4WheelDrifter) and Steve is Fat Audi 80. Steph is Stu's other half and Andy (Karak) is a mate of mine.

Some last-minute arrangements on the saturday resulted in a meeting at my brothers house in Bridgnorth. This allowed my suspension i was purchasing from bo to be fitted to my coupe and for me to detail bo's RS2. A good trade of services 

Fresh from the mini-detailing meet at Steve's on the Saturday i flew at full pelt up the A34 to the M40, and up to the M5 to meet Bo, Stu and Steph. Just as i was leaving Steve's i got a phone call letting me know they had just arrived at the designated meeting place off the M5. I was a full hour and a bit down the road so i had alot of time to make up.

After a BBQ and some drinks on the saturday evening sunday arrived and we all leisurely awoke, ready for the days activities. The plan was for stu and bo to fit my new suspension setup - Bilsteins, HR springs, RS2 FARB, Whiteline RARB and promounts, whilst i spent the day detailing bo's RS2.

We started by arranging the cars in a more suitable layout. It was decided that my coupe would go up on axle stands on the sloped drive and i would take the flat area at the bottom of the driveway, with Andy's subaru and Neil's golf being parked along the apposing wall, just about allowing the neighbours cars to get past :chit:

I started by taking some paint thickness readings from the RS2. I was pretty shocked to find the majority of the paintwork was 70-90 microns thick and immediately had my suspicions, which i would later have confirmed. It was also clear that the rear bumper has had some paintwork repaied (which Bo later admitted to :lol and that the drivers side rear door has been resprayed.










So this is what i started with:

Very grimey alloys:




























Dulled paintwork with little depth or reflection:














































Evidence of earlier polish:





































Nasty scratches on the rear bumper:










Scuffs on the doors:



















Swirls:










So after the initial prep i started on the arches and alloys. It was clear that the callipers were flaking so there was little i could do about the discolouration, bo is planning on having them repainted. The alloys were also in need of a refurb as there were lots of deep scratches and chips that were un-repairable, but they still cleaned up nicely after a rinse, shampoo, degrease and an application of my new favourite alloy cleaner - valet pro billberry.

After a rinse, foam, shampoo, de-tar and clay of the paintwork this is what i was left with:










It became clear after claying that paint was being removed, and that there was no clear coat protecting the colour. A quick phone call to Steve confirmed that the car paint was single-stage, and so i figured that i'd better tread carefully, not taking off to much paint.

I then started on the polishing and started a test section on the front passenger side (LHD remember ). I opted for the lightest possible cutting combination of a sonus SFX-3 red finishing pad and Menzerna PO106FA. A single pass with this left a nice shiny finish but still left deeper swirls. I went over the paint again with the same combo to acheieve a finish that bo and myself were happy with, removing about 4 microns in total. To save time i used the more cutting Menzerna PO85RD 3.02 with a red pad and a single pass.










A 50/50:










Meanwhile bo and stu were proceeding nicely with my coupe. If i remember correctly they already had the rear done by this point and were cracking on with the front:














































I started taping up the RS2 and proceeded with the polishing:










Despite using a very gentle polish combo it really cleared up the swirls and added depth to the paint:























































By this time my suspension was pretty much fitted, with my coupe sitting a good 30mm lower 
































































Stu also fitted my new aircon pipe, although it turned out that we didnt have the necessary aircon o-rings required so i'll have to sort that out. There were a couple of problems with the suspension, one of which resulted in a blow torch being taken to the strut :yikes: Luckily i was to busy machine polishing to realise. As i had alloy top mounts fitted (since purchasing the car) i didnt have the OEM tops for the struts, so bo kindly donated the ones from the RS2 :beer:

As i was busy admiring the work that had been to my s2 bo, stu and steph were admiring the condition of the rs2. Bo seemed very happy with the finish, yet to know that there was still work to be done. I proceeded with applying Chemical Guys Wet Mirror Finish and Meguiars Show Car Glaze using the G220 which really added depth to the paintwork and applied a basic sealant:




























It was then time to apply a new wax to my collection, Dodo Supernatural. I let this cure before buffing and went over with a layer of last touch. During this Andy polished the alloys and sealed with Chemical Guys Wheel Guard, and cleaned up the tyres with Megs Endurance Tyre Gel.

As this was a detailing session we all embarked upon cleaning up the rubbers, plastic and the rear door trim:




























By this time my sugar level was running a little low (diabetic) so Andy raced off to get me some well deserved Lucozade:










It was well into the evening by this point and i still had so much left to do!

The others went to get a Chinese and i continued with a quick engine detail.





































Up until this evening when Andy told me i didnt realise that Bo bought both myself and Andy our food. Thank you very much for this bo, i didnt realise!

Unfortunatley after all this and having eaten the generously provided Chinese bo and crew had to return to Devon, and me and Andy had to return to the Lake District. This didnt allow time for an interior detail so the leather had to go without a clean.

After an 11 hour detail from myself with lots of time also contributed by Andy here are the final results:


























































































































































Bo and Stu - TYVM for fitting my suspension kit. I must say that the ride is awesome.

It is not as stiff as i imagined, although you certainly feel more of the road surface. The immediate thing that struck me on our little test is the car no longer dived as much when you broke hard, and also the balance and what feels like unlimited grip you get when cornering!

Upon further "investigation" (1am driving to Windermere after i arrived home) it also *feels* like the car is faster because you can get the power down so much earlier. I can work out what makes what feel good, ARB's, springs or

shocks - but it truely is ******* awesome!

Steph - Thank you for doing the washing up after the BBQ, that really took the edge of cleaning up Neil's place after we were done. Was also nice to have you keeping me in check and asking lots of questions through out the day!

karak (my detailing wing man) - As always, good man.

TY for reading :wave:


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## PAPY (Jul 5, 2008)

Stunning!


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Very nice indeed!


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## Coxy914 (Jan 14, 2007)

very nice fella! Want to see more pics of the S2 cos as the subtle lowering makes all the difference! 
I'll pop my head over to the S2 forum in a bit cos you've got to have posted pics of it over there!


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## Epoch (Jul 30, 2006)

Cracking work on the RS2 the red beaming in the after polishing stages. Top job

THe S2 looking all the better for the inch and a bit drop too


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## Ducky (Mar 19, 2007)

Good job there peeps, will nose on to S2Forum and have a nose around the post there too. :thumb:


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## djcromie (Mar 22, 2007)

lovely big car, the more I see of the old RS2 the more I like them, deadly work mate


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## Sonic (Jun 28, 2007)

Cheers guys. Was certainly a hard days work!

Ive never been that keen on red, but the more i worked on the rs2 the more i kind of liked it


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## 911fanatic (Sep 10, 2007)

Very nice sir! Give your buddy a smack for letting it get to that sorry state.


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## Fat Audi 80 (Nov 8, 2006)

911fanatic said:


> Very nice sir! Give your buddy a smack for letting it get to that sorry state.


He bought it like that! It had been stood for a couple of years I believe!


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## Fat Audi 80 (Nov 8, 2006)

Nice work Andy, I am glad to see you have got the hang of the PC so quickly 

Cheers

Steve :wave:


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## Sonic (Jun 28, 2007)

Cheers Steve.

It was that practice session on the Saturday that made all the difference :thumb:


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

nice job mate,looks stunning.And the coupe aint bad either!


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## Mike V (Apr 7, 2007)

Thanks for sharing always great to see team work like that!:thumb:


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## Trist (Jun 23, 2006)

WOW, great attention to detail, excellent :thumb:


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## rockape (Feb 18, 2007)

cracking work and write up :thumb:


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## davidrogers190 (Dec 17, 2007)

great work mate. but get some pics up of your car it looks lovely, them wheels really suit it.


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Cracking car and a lovely colour restoration on it there.


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## V8burble (Jul 3, 2007)

What a lovely, lovely car, and a great bit of work to bring it alive again. OK the S2 is rather special to... but I'm probably a bit Audi biased :argie:


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## 1996a6v6 (Feb 8, 2008)

Great work, lovely cars, one of the best sounding engines of all time too :thumb:


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