OCDetails Detailing Blog

Today was a fabulous day for detailing. If it hit 80 degrees then I'd be surprised. It was amazing outside. It was the kind of day that would have been perfect to go golfing, but I had a car to detail.

This is the car of my former director at my previous job. I have been out there a couple of times either detailing her vehicles or their son's vehicle. This time it was a new car that I haven't done before. The Audi A6 that she is presently driving is a lease takeover from her sister. She said it is the first car she has ever driven that was actually 'fun' to drive in addition to being transportation. She doesn't typically purchase vehicles for the fun factor, so it has been a fun car for her.

On arrival I pulled the car into the sun to see what I was dealing with. Swirls, industrial fallout (IFO) such as overspray and tree sap, and just general dirtiness. The inside was actually pretty clean, so I knew most of the work would be the outside.

That kind of swirl damage isn't tough to resolve, but Audi paint can be pretty hard and unforgiving when it comes to this kind of thing. Good thing I brought a selection of polishes with me, eh? :)

First order of business was the washing of the car and cleaning the engine bay. I always start with the wheels and tires first, but these had been freshly detailed so I considered skipping those at first, but then decided that it was best to be thorough. The tires were glossy black and looked

freshly dressed, but who knows who did that and how long it has been since the tires were cleaned. So out came the Eagle 1 A2Z wheel/tire cleaner. The engine wasn't too dirty and basically just needed a rinse and a little attention with a towel.

Washing the car wasn't too difficult either. It was the claying of the car that got tricky. It wasn't overspray, but there was something localized to the hood and front fenders that made the surface feel like sandpaper. I think what it happened is the car was parked under a particular tree that likes to spray sap all over the place in a fine mist whenever the wind blows. This covered the front of the car and was very difficult to remove. I'm sure I put a couple new lines in the paint while trying to get it off, but polishing takes care of any damage that clay creates, so I wasn't too worried about it. It was a brand new piece off a Clay Magic bar and it was doing a good job.

Polishing was the next step. I used Danase Swirl Abolisher II to start with, but I saw that it wasn't doing the job. I only brought a white and a blue Edge 2000 pad with me, so if I was going to get results then I would have to step up to the Swirl Abolisher III. I don't use that one very often, so I was anxious to see what the results would be. I've only detailed a dozen or so vehicles with my FLEX XC3401 polisher this year and even fewer with the new Edge 2000 adapter modified backing plate, so this would be a good test.

It took two hours of polishing total to restore the paint to picture perfet condition. I topped it off with Danase Paint Sealant for great protection through the coming months of fall and the start of winter. More photos can be seen in the Photo section of the Blog. Here are a couple of them.

All said and done it took 4 1/2 hours to get the car looking new again. It is smooth as a baby's bottom and well protected. While working on it I passed out half a dozen business cards to neighbors who drove by and wanted their vehicles done as well. Because it turned out to be a great day for referals as well, I cut the owner a little bit of a discount on the job.