Just got a UDM, what do I need to make my Ming Blue A4 shine?

[Nessy]

I was very lucky to receive a new UDM for Christmas (a totally unexpected prezzie!) that alas didn't come with any polishes etc but did come with Sonus green and blue foam pads.
Now,I've had a good look on this forum and am totally stumped as to what polishes/ extra pads etc I need to get!
The car has generally sound paint ie hardly any deep defects but is absolutely covered in swirl marks and light scratches affecting the clearcoat.
Can anybody recommend a course of action for my car as there seem to be so many brands of polishes etc out there?
I had thought of the Sonus Swirlbuster pad/polish followed by a final polish followed by a good sealant eg Klasse but the more I look on the internet the more I get confused as there are just so many products available!
Would rather stick to the more easily available brands as I like to shop on Ebay (lol) , if anybody could recommend a particular sequence of products I'd be very grateful!

Thanks!

Paul

 

[James243]

I use Meguiars products on mine and it always comes up great. They do a variety of polishes and restorers. I used some of their clay when I brought my Audi its a very fine cutting agent and will remove any surface contaminants - old polish, tree sap, bird droppings, etc and (although its says it doesnt) light surface scratches. You could then look at slightly coarser cutting agents - something similar to T Cut for example.
If the swirl marks are very prominent you could have the bodywork 'mopped' at a body shop.

 

[jr001]

First of all, you may be best forgetting any idea of Sonus polishes for the hard VAG finishes. Menzerna would be a suitable replacement. I'd also recommend 4 inch spot pads, say the CCS ones from Polished Bliss, to give you a sharper cut.

The first car I tackled was my Ming Blue A4 with a DA polisher. Then I used Menz Power Gloss yellow cutting pad, followed by Menz 106 FA on a Sonis white polishing pad and good success. The Power Gloss is difficult to work properly with a dual action polisher and will leave some scratches in the paint. The final finish polish stage of course takes car of that.

For the past 6 months all my swirl removals have been with the rotary but if I was doing my car again with a DA I would go for the 4 inch pads, Menz Intensive Polish 3.02 (with polishing pad), then 106 FA (this has high gloss but also a wee bit of cut), also on a polishing pad. You may have to go over some panel sections more than once with the 3.02.

After the polishing, good cleansers to prime the paint are:

PRE-WAX
Either Zymol HD Cleanse or Dodo Juice Lime Prime (half the price, easier to use and as good a prep IMO). Or the Jeffs Werkstatt Prime Carnauba.

PRE-SYNTHETIC SEALANT
Jeffs Werkstatt Prime Acrylic, this cleanses AND lays a basecoat of sealant.

The Jeffs Acrylic system is a fantastic all-rounder and has several uses around your car and could prove best value for money in the long run - paint, windows, wheels, internal palstic inlays and other non-porous items.

Ebay sellers have some excellent products but I'd doubt if you can purchase the Jeffs stuff that way. And anyway, your pads, polishes, cleanser, sealant can all be purchased from the section sponsors Polished Bliss. They are genuinely so helpful and support budding detailers when they need it. Lots of people on here would recommend using them. Their contribution to this forum is immense.

There's other threads with high praise for the Jeffs stuff.

My original Ming Blue thread, if you are interested, is here:
http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=37713

To let you see what difference you can expect, here's a few immediate pics:

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Hope this helps. When you finish your car, you will realise what a nice colour the Ming Blue actually is! Its true character will impress you.

Happy New Year,

JOHN:icon_thumright:

 

[Nessy]

First of all, you may be best forgetting any idea of Sonus polishes for the hard VAG finishes. Menzerna would be a suitable replacement. I'd also recommend 4 inch spot pads, say the CCS ones from Polished Bliss, to give you a sharper cut.

The first car I tackled was my Ming Blue A4 with a DA polisher. Then I used Menz Power Gloss yellow cutting pad, followed by Menz 106 FA on a Sonis white polishing pad and good success. The Power Gloss is difficult to work properly with a dual action polisher and will leave some scratches in the paint. The final finish polish stage of course takes car of that.

For the past 6 months all my swirl removals have been with the rotary but if I was doing my car again with a DA I would go for the 4 inch pads, Menz Intensive Polish 3.02 (with polishing pad), then 106 FA (this has high gloss but also a wee bit of cut), also on a polishing pad. You may have to go over some panel sections more than once with the 3.02.

After the polishing, good cleansers to prime the paint are:

PRE-WAX
Either Zymol HD Cleanse or Dodo Juice Lime Prime (half the price, easier to use and as good a prep IMO). Or the Jeffs Werkstatt Prime Carnauba.

PRE-SYNTHETIC SEALANT
Jeffs Werkstatt Prime Acrylic, this cleanses AND lays a basecoat of sealant.

The Jeffs Acrylic system is a fantastic all-rounder and has several uses around your car and could prove best value for money in the long run - paint, windows, wheels, internal palstic inlays and other non-porous items.

Ebay sellers have some excellent products but I'd doubt if you can purchase the Jeffs stuff that way. And anyway, your pads, polishes, cleanser, sealant can all be purchased from the section sponsors Polished Bliss. They are genuinely so helpful and support budding detailers when they need it. Lots of people on here would recommend using them. Their contribution to this forum is immense.

There's other threads with high praise for the Jeffs stuff.

My original Ming Blue thread, if you are interested, is here:
http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=37713

To let you see what difference you can expect, here's a few immediate pics:

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Hope this helps. When you finish your car, you will realise what a nice colour the Ming Blue actually is! Its true character will impress you.

Happy New Year,

JOHN:icon_thumright:

Wow,thanks for the detailed reply!
Have to admit that at the moment the only time the Ming Blue paint really stands out is when I'm filling up with diesel at the local petrol station , lol, where it really does appear to be a lovely colour when illuminated by the fluorescent lights there!!!
If the Sonus will not be up to the job then will probably try the Menzerna stuff; there's such a bewildering array of products available that I was after specific recommendations, so thanks again!

Cheers,

Paul.

 

[jamiekip]

First of all, you may be best forgetting any idea of Sonus polishes for the hard VAG finishes. Menzerna would be a suitable replacement. I'd also recommend 4 inch spot pads, say the CCS ones from Polished Bliss, to give you a sharper cut.

The first car I tackled was my Ming Blue A4 with a DA polisher. Then I used Menz Power Gloss yellow cutting pad, followed by Menz 106 FA on a Sonis white polishing pad and good success. The Power Gloss is difficult to work properly with a dual action polisher and will leave some scratches in the paint. The final finish polish stage of course takes car of that.

For the past 6 months all my swirl removals have been with the rotary but if I was doing my car again with a DA I would go for the 4 inch pads, Menz Intensive Polish 3.02 (with polishing pad), then 106 FA (this has high gloss but also a wee bit of cut), also on a polishing pad. You may have to go over some panel sections more than once with the 3.02.

After the polishing, good cleansers to prime the paint are:

PRE-WAX
Either Zymol HD Cleanse or Dodo Juice Lime Prime (half the price, easier to use and as good a prep IMO). Or the Jeffs Werkstatt Prime Carnauba.

PRE-SYNTHETIC SEALANT
Jeffs Werkstatt Prime Acrylic, this cleanses AND lays a basecoat of sealant.

The Jeffs Acrylic system is a fantastic all-rounder and has several uses around your car and could prove best value for money in the long run - paint, windows, wheels, internal palstic inlays and other non-porous items.

Ebay sellers have some excellent products but I'd doubt if you can purchase the Jeffs stuff that way. And anyway, your pads, polishes, cleanser, sealant can all be purchased from the section sponsors Polished Bliss. They are genuinely so helpful and support budding detailers when they need it. Lots of people on here would recommend using them. Their contribution to this forum is immense.

There's other threads with high praise for the Jeffs stuff.

My original Ming Blue thread, if you are interested, is here:
http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=37713



Hope this helps. When you finish your car, you will realise what a nice colour the Ming Blue actually is! Its true character will impress you.

Happy New Year,

JOHN:icon_thumright:

Hi,

I can second John's comments above.

I have a Sprint Blue Audi S3 and after much advice from Rich @ Polished Bliss settled on the menzerna polishes for any corrections (not used on mine yet, but have used on Phantom Black A4 with good sucess with a porter cable).

Rich suggested the JEFF's acrylic kit for my car as it's easy to prep and apply, offers reasonably long results and easy to maintain. It really brings pearl paints to life - highlighting the flake in the paint.

There are a few pics of the results of mine in the following threads:
http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=35864

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=37249

I can't recommend the JEFF's enough simply for it's ease of use really.

This is the kit I got - good value too!
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/jeffs-werkstatt-acrylic-kit-protect.html

As John mentioned, the team at Polished Bliss are incredibly helpful and always willing to answer questions when they can.

Hope this helps - but be careful - this is a very dangerous can of worms your opening.... after getting on this forum I've spent £100's on getting all the gear to keep on top of my car.

JK

 

[Nessy]

Hi,

I can second John's comments above.

I have a Sprint Blue Audi S3 and after much advice from Rich @ Polished Bliss settled on the menzerna polishes for any corrections (not used on mine yet, but have used on Phantom Black A4 with good sucess with a porter cable).

Rich suggested the JEFF's acrylic kit for my car as it's easy to prep and apply, offers reasonably long results and easy to maintain. It really brings pearl paints to life - highlighting the flake in the paint.

There are a few pics of the results of mine in the following threads:
http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=35864

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=37249

I can't recommend the JEFF's enough simply for it's ease of use really.

This is the kit I got - good value too!
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/jeffs-werkstatt-acrylic-kit-protect.html

As John mentioned, the team at Polished Bliss are incredibly helpful and always willing to answer questions when they can.

Hope this helps - but be careful - this is a very dangerous can of worms your opening.... after getting on this forum I've spent £100's on getting all the gear to keep on top of my car.

JK

Thanks for your detailed reply too!
Will definitely go for the Menzerna stuff methinks, trying to make up my mind whether to go for 4" pads or use the pads that came with my UDM.
Know what you mean about the cost, each time I visit the Polished Bliss website I wish I hadn't.....lol.