Had my S3 detailed this weekend....

[themanthatcan]

My S3's paintwork was in bit of state, so I'd arranged for Alex of South Coast Detailing came to my dad's workshop this weekend to do a paint correction and detailing. He'd done an inspection on the paintwork a few weeks ago and reckoned it would take him 1.5 days and quoted me £200; very reasonable :thumbsup:

The biggest problem to tackle was the swirl marks and scratches. The original owner clearly wasn't clued up with the art of cleaning a car! Here's what a few pics of the panels looked like beforehand:

Alex set about machine polishing and it soon became apparent that the hard Audi paint was going to prove difficult to work with. Due to time constraints he simply didn't have time to work on the deeper scratches. He reckoned it would have taken him about 3 days to get deep enough.

Anyway he did his best with the time we had and I'm very happy with the results. She's shined up to a really good finish, much better than I was expecting. As an added bonus because he wasn't able to spend as much time as he would have liked on the car, it only cost me £160!

Here's some pics so you can judge for yourself. Please excuse the photos as I'm not the best at taking pics of cars (well making them look good anyway!):

 

[abdus]

very nice

was in quite a state before..lol

 

[1animal1]

you must be chuffed to bits mate....that looks awesome!!!

 

[voorhees]

good job

 

[vrbob]

Looking really good andy,

Your paintwork originally looks in a very similar state to mine so i think the detailing will defo be on my to do list.

Did you get any instructions on how to keep it looking great for the future??

Also can you post the contact details of the guy that did the detailing incase i feel the need for the shiney paintwork sooner rather than later.

Cheers

 

[themanthatcan]

Thanks guys.

Bob - Didn't get any aftercare advice really. He was pushed for time as he's emmigrating to New Zealand in a few days and had a family party to get to. As such there's not really much point in me passing on his details!

 

[S£]

Looks great mate! looks like someone used sand to polish it before! Who said you cant take pictures?! The one of the boot has great effect with the sky and hedge!! :thumbsup:

 

[Clach]

 

[vrbob]

Doh now i remember you saying that before!

Did you have someone else he reccomended or does anyone else know a good detailer down the southampton area??

 

[Nilz]

Mate the car looks mint!!

The pic of the boot looks amazing.

 

[Shy19s]

Very nice job.

 

[S3ren]

looks really nice bud...black is such a hard colour to take care of. did he use a sealent to protect the paint work when he finished.

 

[scott_johnson]

Very nice mate What products was the guy using?? I got told from my swissvax detail to use dodojuise limeprime and purplehaze wax to keep it looking mint.....

 

[jesters3]

mm mmm mmmm nice work fella, real nice work.

Always amazed at how good these guys are as well as the products use. The first shot of the sky man, that paintwork is glistening. I would be well proud of that.

Still debating on the DA Polisher but really considering it now....got to make my car look as half good as that!

 

[themanthatcan]

Thanks for all the great comments :thumbsup:

I asked Alex for a copy of his photos of the detail and what products he recommends to keep the car nice and shiney, and he's just sent me the email below:

Heres a link to the write up I did, some of the after photos came out a little blurred unfortunatly but if theres any you like I can send the full size ones over.

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=70757

For aftercare you can either go the Zaino route and use the Z7 shampoo then follow that up with Z8 spray sealant to top up the looks and protection. (from www.pro-detailing.co.uk)

Or Duragloss who make a very, very similar range and use the 901 shampoo followed by their DG Aquawax (I think the number for this is 951) from www.seriousperformance.co.uk.

washing wise the two bucket method (shampoo in one rinse in the other) with a lambswool mitt or Schmitt (sorry I can't remember where I got mine) and a good soft MF drying towel (the Duragloss and DBZ ones from Serious Performance are very good.

Once washed and dried then lightly spritz the panels with the spray wax and gently buff off with a plush MF cloth (both stores sell them) and that should keep you going.

If anyone needs a recommendation then Tim @ www.envyvaleting.co.uk is the guy who I've been passing on work to.

 

[vrbob]

Cheers Andy just the info i wanted