The joy in Detailing an Audi A6 S Line in White

[wxc]

I've had another go in detailing another white car in addition to my own A3. This time it's an A6, a lot bigger than I thought but the results were very pleasing. For those who would like to have a go themselves on Audi's 'hard paint', I used a dual action polishing machine with Lake Country compounding pads along with Meguiar's 105, it did correct the light/medium swirls but the deeper scratches wouldn't budge one bit, I didn't have a more aggressive pad at hand or polish at hand sadly. Plus I found the paint quite 'thin' generally reading about 100-120um so I didn't really want to take off too much paint anyway just to correct for some of the deeper scratches.

If you're reading this, please could you share what polishing machine you use, along with pad choice and polish choice to correct these Hard paint.

So here goes: Car was soiled a little bit
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Iron deposits were invisible but Iron-X readily dissolved it. These were more evident on the front but mainly on the rear of the car and the alloys.
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Exhaust tips polished with meguiar's metal polish with fine wire wool. They say Meguair's metal polish is a light polish but it did wonders to these neglected parts of the car.
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Here are some before and after shots, white cars don't really show up swirls and scratches like darker cars but they are there.
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And after a lot of elbow grease, here are some photos in all it's glory
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These are my favorite night shots, the paint work was protected with Blackfire wet diamond sealant, I know it's generally used on Darker paints, but on white you can still achieve that 'wet' look. But I did find it leaves behind an oily residue after buffing it off after it hazes up (which was quite easy), but without proper lighting, I don't think I would've been able to see this oily residue left behind, which required a new microfibre cloth just to buff it off again, do people experience this as well?.
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And that's it! please enjoy and comment, more importantly please share which polish machine/pads/polish you personally use on your own Audi that can get the job done perhaps with a bit more ease.

Thanks for reading,
Will

 

[ScottishA4B9]

Fantastic write up and very useful! I'm going to attempt to detail my A4 soon so it was good to read how you tackled the hard Audi paint. Well done for such a brilliant finished product!

 

[B_FUR]

Brilliant job you've done there mate

 

[Brodster]

I use a Rupes Bigfoot and Mini Bigfoot (for those smaller to reach areas) My car is an Ibis White S3 and I have found using the Rupes green pad with Scholls Concept S2 is perfect for cutting Audi paint. The Scholls range IMO is ideal for Audi paint S2/S3 Gold/S17/S30/S40. For softer paints I use Sonax Cut N Finish and Perfect Finish.

After cutting and refining I use an optically enhanced wax specifically for white cars from Angelwax called Drift. This stuff is amazing and gives outstanding results........I have played around for a while trying to get the right combo for white cars and now that I found it I will never change it as customers cannot believe that white cars do shine when done correctly.

 

[ScottishA4B9]

I will point my mate in your direction for the Angelwax Drift as he is after a wax for his white 320i.

 

[Point_Audi]

Fantastic job, the car looks like it just rolled out of the factory!:icon_thumright:

Love this shot!

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[wxc]

Fantastic job, the car looks like it just rolled out of the factory!:icon_thumright:

Love this shot!

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Thanks the conditions probably better than the forecourt cars, those cars even though quite new are still plagued with swirl marks..

 

[wxc]

I use a Rupes Bigfoot and Mini Bigfoot (for those smaller to reach areas) My car is an Ibis White S3 and I have found using the Rupes green pad with Scholls Concept S2 is perfect for cutting Audi paint. The Scholls range IMO is ideal for Audi paint S2/S3 Gold/S17/S30/S40. For softer paints I use Sonax Cut N Finish and Perfect Finish.

After cutting and refining I use an optically enhanced wax specifically for white cars from Angelwax called Drift. This stuff is amazing and gives outstanding results........I have played around for a while trying to get the right combo for white cars and now that I found it I will never change it as customers cannot believe that white cars do shine when done correctly.

Hi Brodster,

Thanks for sharing your experience, very useful!

Couple of questions though, how long does this Anglewax drift last in terms of durability? Do you normally apply this straight on top of the paint or usually on top of a nano /quartz coating or synthetic sealant? In my experience the black fire sealant I used last about 5-6months with weekly washes (I put 2 layers on mine)

 

[Brodster]

The Drift has durability in excess of 6 months if applied to a properly prepped panel as the durability all depends on the prep work. I have applied Drift on top of both a selant such as AW's Ti-22 or on top of S30/S40 finishing polish. Normally 2 coats of Drift is enough.