Thread: My A4 Cab

I am not a detailer by a long shot, but I had a go at sprucing up the motor this afternoon and it looks fairly good.

Basically, washed it with Tutlewax zipwax, dried with a chamoix, and then sprayed and wiped with meguiars quik detailer and then a layer of meguiars quik wax.

It took me an hour, and I wondered if it were worth buying more expensive products as it looks fairly good, and I don't know whether it would make a huge difference to the finished look?

Does look good however if your worried about the quality of the paint before waxing if it's the first time it may be worth using a clay bar, followed by polish then a few layers of wax.

I did this the other weekend and took well over 7 hours including doing the alloys and interior.

doing a car correctly does take time, if your not into that much then you might get fed up as it takes time to get a very good finish from the car. its all about the prep work mate but once its done you will be proud of your hard work.

definately get yourself some clay sop you can remove the contaminants from the paint work, you would be surprised at how much is probably still in the paint once you have fully cleaned the car(little tip is use the plastic from a fag box and put onto your fingers and feel the paint work)

I'll third the clay suggestion but before that, ditch the chamois ASAP.

Our guide to safe washing and drying is here: Safe Washing And Drying | Car Care Advice | Polished Bliss

Our basic wash kit is here..... PB Basic Wash Kit | Entry Level Car Wash Kit

lol forgot to mention about the chamois lol im still surprised to see people still actually use these.

get yourself a plush M/F drying towel mate

she's shinny good job lad:D

asda for the m/f drying towel they only £1.50 and are a good size.

the fag packet trick is great used this a few times to find imperfections in the paint

drying towel? Seriously, what on earth would my neighbour think! How does that work, do you put the towel on and leave it to absorb the water? Or rub it off like you do with a chamois?

I luv my shammy! It is a real one, soft and all, is that not as good as a towel?

This is our drying towel: PB Luxury Drying Towel | PB Car Care & Detailing Products it's got a deep pile so any bits of grit or dust getting picked up and suspended in the pile, away from the paintwork.

The towel will get you at least 2/3rds of the way round the car before you need to wring it out.

A chamois, regardless of how soft it is, has no pile so any dirt or grit gets caught between the chamois and the paint - what happens next? Scratches! The same principle applies to sponges: dirt and grit get trapped between the face of the sponge and the paint, hence a deep pile lambswool mitt is safer: Easirider Lambswool Wash Mitt | Easirider Car Care & Detailing Products

OK yes, now I understand, that makes a lot of sense.

Your lambswool mitt, do you still have stock issues?

My Meguiar's quik wax is nearly out (only a small bottle in a set) and was looking to order a similar product but I know you don't do megs, can you recommend another make?

Like most other suppliers, yes, we are struggling to get a supply of double sided mitts, though we do have single sided mitts.

We stock some Meguiar's products but not Quik Wax. For your car, I'd be looking more for a sealant (it'll look sharper) and Werkstat Acrylic Jett Trigger takes some beating: Werkstat Acrylic Jett Trigger | Werkstat Car Care & Detailing Products

For something more similar to the Meguiar's wax, 3M Quick Wax will be a good alternative: 3M Quick Wax | 3M Car Care & Detailing Products

like the others have said ditch the shammy lol and as grant said get some clay on the go you will be very supprised how much crap is on your paint i tend to do my own car about 3 times a year just to make sure she has got a good base to polish/wax otherwise you are just sealing in the crap

From what I gather, the time consuming part is polishing. I did claybar the car about a month ago and it didn't take too long at all, remember I don't have a roof!

I can't imagine spending hours polishing........ok maybe if the missus was out shopping.

the prep work is where the real shine happens last time i did my car it was prep work for gti international i spent over 5 hours on her and that was just a freshen up for the show i last did a proper detail in march , trust me its worth the time and effort the results speak for itself

I agree with all the comments on here. John from PB is correct when talking about the Werkstat Acrylic products. I use them on my grey A4 cabriolet with what I think as amazing results, like yourself I'm not a detailer or used to take that much care washing a polishing my old cars ok i used Autoglym products but as for straight line washing (not going round in small circles creating swirls) and clay barring I had never heard of them. However when my wife and I both got new cars I decided to keep them as best as possible. I now snow foam, wash with lambs wool mit and two buckets drying with a mega plush drying towel and then sealing or using Werkstat glos. Between two and three times a year I clay bar, tardis, de ironizer, then on with the werkstat prime, trigger and to finish off with a final wipe down from the gloss. I polish and seal the wheels and use 303 products on the roof (as suggested in a previous thread you posted). Some pics of the results below. I have been know to be outside 'washing' my car for 14 hrs +

It is worth it and I find it strangely relaxing and addictive, good luck going forward with your detailing.

Shez, lovely car mate, looks like you did a right good job of detailing it mate.

14 hours is like mental! I would be killed by her indoors if I tried to do that!

I suppose I am just a bit confused. I did use the Autoglym hood cleaner, but to be honest the hood dries "dirty" now, so I either did something wrong, or the product isn't as good as it thinks it is. To show you what I mean:

I am not sure if my car needs polishing, from the pics on the opening post, do you think my car is ok as is, or would it actually be worthwhile spending hours polishing it? I mean, also the cost of the products, for a cleaning package it works out just a bit less than a weekly shop. I have spent £20 on a clay bar kit, £8 on 3m leather cleaner and tyre cleaner ( cheers john) £20 on a roof cleaner, you know what I mean?

I don't mind paying £30 for a kit that does the washing (mitt and ph neutral cleaner), drying (sammy the shammy may well have to go) detailing and wax for the shine. But if I am going to spend more money, I want it to be the best for my car, the time I have available, and give me a really lush finish.

To actually polish your car, you will need to use a machine: the Audi paint is so hard that polishing by hand (using a product containing abrasives) will, in this case, be a complete waste of time!

If you want to machine polish, then one of our kits will be a good idea: PB DAS-6 Power Plus Hard Paint Polishing Kit | Machine Polishing Kit For Cars With Hard Paint

This will take you some time but you will see a definite improvement: no matter how careful you've been with the chamois, you will have some swirling/marring at least and machine polishing will remove this.

If you don't want to machine, a glaze will be best: this will mask/hide minor defects and enhance the gloss of the paint. For this, I recommend R222 Gloss Enhancing Paintwork Cleanser: R222 Gloss Enhancing Paintwork Cleanser | R222 Car Care & Detailing Products applied with a microfibre pad, buffed off with a microfibre towel then apply a wax or sealant above it.

Glazing is a non-permanant solution but you will see a good improvement: not to the extent that machining will, but an improvement nevertheless.