yeah well we are quite good here and have less arguments then the 8L section must say, everyones great
If you're not into cleaning cars or seeing many pictures of the same car, take this as a warning. There are lots of pictures of the same car, and lots of cleaning. - So a month ago I appraised this vehicle for part exchange - To me, it wasn't what I was interested in at all. It was a diesel, the bodywork was filthy and it was covered in swirls scuffs and scratches. Bleurgh. I gave the spec and condition of the car back to the other salesman (who had asked me to do the appraisal because I was into Audi's) and that was that. I told him to take it for a drive and see if everything worked, and then walked off. I got chatting with the owner and discovered it was a one owner from new, with full Audi history to interval and had never wanted for anything in it's life. I also discovered the other salesman hadn't driven it, so for my own piece of mind having appraised the car and put my name on it I took it out for a quick spin. It drove sooooooo well. Anyway, the guy did buy a car off us but said he wasn't trading the car in and that he would offer it to his brother. So I didn't give it any further thought. Later that evening I started thinking about it as I jumped in my 250bhp solid mounted track ready daily driver and scraped down the road to my girlfriends with my brakes honking, fillings falling out and spine shattering with every turn of the wheel. Not to mention the inability to drive it at all in the wet, or the fact I looked like a nob. I thought about the A3 a couple of times over the following weeks, and how nice it drove and I thought. "Hmm, well actually I would like a new car...Maybe." Well much to my delightment I decided to work last Friday; and early in the afternoon the Audi pulled up outside. And the customer collected his new car. And the Audi stayed parked outside. Hmmm... By 6PM I had the keys, log book and was on my way to the customers house to pick up the service history and pay him for the tax disc. Very very happy indeed It had evidently been a very much loved family car, and the original owner and her husband were totally in love with the car and were gutted to see it go. But equally happy that it was going to me and that it was going to a new owner who would also love it. That said, the bodywork was still a pretty big issue. It had clearly been too busy being driven to have been polished, the wheels were black and the interior was as you'd expect an 8 year old 100,000 mile old Audi that had been home to a family of 4 since new. But it was all there, and in very good condition. Now until this point I had been VERY selective on which pictures I posted, and how they were edited. Because I don't want anybody to see my car in anything but mint condition. Today I did a full 7 hour paint correction on it, and it is by far the best I've done yet. Iron-x'd. Clayed. (including glass) Trims cleaned with Autofiness APC, Wheels clayed. Paintwork prepared and cleansed with Dr Beasleys. Paintwork refined with Black Hole and a rotary. Waxybox Anniversary wax was used to finally seal in the paintwork and to provide a glass like gloss with great depth. I cleaned the interior with Autofiness APC, treated the plastics with Megs' interior trim protector and wet vac'd the upholstery. The leather was fed with Glyptone and buffed with a microfiber. I love the car, it really is great. And after having the 8L for so long I am missing it; but this is such a better chassis. I may keep it for a year or so and then upgrade to an 8P S3. That's what I'd like to do anyway.
Thanks Nige. Don't know why there are *'s in the lines, I've tried to edit it a load of times and they won't come out
Super duper boring post for most people. Sorry. So last night I did a basic correction and protection on the A3; I work at at 6 this morning and the sky was clear and it was set to be a spot on day. So I got the rotary out, donned my harshest wax striping foam and set about getting a better finish on the A3. I cut the paint work even further, as much as I could safely go without a paint gauge, and refined it further still with black hole. There are no pictures of this actually happening, because I wasn't sure if it was going to rain and time wasting wasn't an option. So the car was re-cut, and then re-cleansed with Dr Beasleys, further refined with a tiny amount Black Hole and a buffing pad, then given three coats of wax with the final coat being finger applied. NOW I'm happy with it. I re-addressed the interior plastics, I wasn't happy with the finish of the Megs trim protector. So I went over it with Nanolex.
Last night I opened the bonnet. I have had the car for a week, so I thought it was about time I checked if there was an engine in there. Never seen anything so filthy in my life! So I wrapped the wings and front bumper in cling film, put cling film over the fuse box and replaced the lid and set about it with my steam gun. I scrubbed years worth of minging rubbish off the washer bottles, inlet pipes, engine covers etc. Then polished and waxed the edges and underside of the boot, inner wings, bulkhead etc. This morning I have dropped the car off at the bodyshop to have the front bumper resprayed, and stone chips on the bonnet rectified. Currently the highest bidder on an LED RNS. Ordered wind reflectors. And a bundle of goodies from Brotek.
As I said before, looks really tidy dude. Stoked to see you're enjoying it so much but still intrigued to see how long it lasts!
Epic paint work there!!!!! Like an optical illusion some of them, is it the reflection off a panel of the real thing. one other Mod could be the silver air vents if not already suggested.
Love threads like this. Awesomely clean car! A set of MY11 rear lights would tidy up the back end nicely. One of the best mods I've done on my Black A3.
I may have a set of MY09 lights for sale soon...will let you know once the buyer of my car wants them or not. Beautiful looking car btw! Amazing work on the detailing
Got the car back from the body shop today. Front and rear bumpers resprayed, bonnet resprayed and a scuff on the rear arch machine polished and a dent pulled. I stripped off the anniversary wax, and hand applied Dark Angel which was supplied by Mark at Brotek. I really really like the finish with dark angel, its much smoother and much less synthetic than the anniversary wax. Because of the black colour charge it fills in minor marks and imperfections. Doesn't go cakey, works in beautifully and doesn't make plastics go white. Pea sized amount rubbed in the palms of my hand and massaged into each panel for three minutes, then worked into the next panel and buffed off. Sorry for the **** pictures.
Car is looking mint Jardo. All that hard work paid off..........you should come and work for me....lol
I'd put you put of business big boy, they'd be calling it Jard-Tek Thanks for peer pressuring me into getting Dark Angel; I really love it. And the smell...Matches my 212VIP aftershave perfectly.
Wow, that's quite a difference, looking back the pictures which all looked good at the time it's noticeably better now, tell me more about this paintwork wizardry??
Sorry. I didn't see your reply! More on paintwork wizardry later. On Tuesday I threw away every car product I own, my old kit bag, everything. All I kept was a small tub of Crystal Rock, a tub of Desirable, a tub of Dark Angel and a tub of HD Wax. New kit bag ordered, and a trip to the Zaino HQ on Thursday
Beautiful car mate! I started with a black saxo, then had a black civic type r and now have a Akoya silver A3. Not getting the same satisfaction detailing the A3 tbh!! Miss that reflection you've pulled off to a T! What's the deal with this angel wax gear then? Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the kind words. So Angel Wax is my new product of choice, very easy to work with, very easy to get hold of and well priced. I have used samples of all the products and been very happy with them. So have upped to full size. There are a couple of products here which are new to me, Heaven leather cleaner and conditioner being one of them. I will write up a guide and review of the individual products once I have had a chance to use them all
Afternoon guys. This is a slightly weird response, but basically sorry I have been so quiet over the last couple of weeks. I've literally been on the verge of a heart attack, with average blood pressure averages exceeding 174/111 for two weeks constant. So I've not be able to really do anything to the car. All the time this was sat on my cabinet. Annoying me. Today however, I just decided to go for it because the car was filthy and even though I've not been driving it much I still wasn't happy looking at it every day either. Started off with a two bucket wash, but it was so early there were no pictures of this. I then used Revalation on the entire car, and a hog hair detailing brush (I know...) to work the wheels, door shuts and trim lines. Rinsed the car, re-washed and took it for a quick spin to dry it off. Which is less than ideal, but does the job. Quick detailed it with Angelwax QED. I had no reason to polish or refine the paint further, as it was only recently done. Also, if I'm honest I didn't really feel up to it. So I put a second layer of QED on it, just to make sure it was totally clear. I keep telling people my car isn't black, it's grey. But they don't believe me. Sun came out for half an hour, so I snapped a picture to prove this. Waxed it to death, hand applied Dark Angel with my palms. Worked in for 5 minutes per panel, left to haze for 5 and polished off with a super fluffy microfiber. No real pictures, CBA you all know what my car looks like. I treated all the exterior trims with AN Gel, buffed it to a satin gloss because I've gone off shiny exterior trim now. Spritzed the tires with Elixir, then buffed them to a satin finish and reapplied to double layer it. Used Elixir on the engine bay, and all the lower dash and foot well trims. Cleaned the seats with Heaven, which is amazingly good! Now my interior has a rich leather smell, and is fresh and nice. So very happy with that. Used a fresh detailing brush to restore my steering wheel, very happy with the results. This is the best way to use a leather cleaner in a detailed area without splattering crud everywhere. With Heaven you don't really have to worry, as it's a very gentle cleaner. And it smells so nice... Detailed the interior, all nooks and cubby holes sorted. Used one of my detailing "dib dabs" as I call them to do all of the trim ends and fittings. (snip)
(/snip) I used AN Gel again on the sides of the seats, and the door shuts. A little goes a VERY long way with AN Gel. Did all the door shuts with QED and Autoglym HD, just because I didn't want to waste dark angel on them. Jumped in the back and cleaned all the glass, and applied H2Go to the outside as a rain repellant. ANGel'd the wiper arms. Hoovered it. Filled it up with washer fluid, checked all the levels, checked the tyre pressures. Done. - In the new year I will be taking a long drive up to Scotland to Brotek to collect a DAS rotary, be shown how to use it properly, and do lads stuff with cars. I'm storing up my Crystal Rock until it can be applied in a proper unit by a professional, and I'm sure Mark will be up for that.
Looking dude. The seat pic you posted up on facebook and never said which side was which but looking at your video I assume it was the right side you've cleaned and the left side you left alone? If this is the case that's messed up all my thinking of a leather cleaners. I was always under the impression that when the leather is new, clean and treated well it should be a nice matt colour but that looks shiny/glossy? Am I missing something?
The leather is clean, and there is a little bit of synthetic in Heaven. Buffed off, once applied to the whole seat it looked like this - Totally clean, no leather balm or rejuvenator on there. Just cleaned with Heaven and then buffed with a microfiber. Most people don't know how to use a leather cleaner, they kind of cake it on and wipe at it with a microfiber. Which doesn't really do much haha.
Today I ordered some goodies. Brushed aluminum mirrors. Some carbon goodies. For that diesel race look. As well as a modified DAS6 Pro DA, all the new Angelwax products, and some other goodies.
looking very good dude, maybe your'e next step should be some wet sanding to remove some of the orange peel, the car would be faultless then
Jardo, can I just ask, how does it compare to the 8l when driving? fwd vs the quattro? Power, handling etc.
Car's looking goood, just worried now about your health, remember to always put that first, clean car - no Jardo just ain't the same. Can I change the subject a bit; http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...ming-through-heater-resolved.html#post2026149 Jardo fixed my car and while he wasn't well too, Cheers
I've gone for some serious machine polishing today which has really really helped. But it is still a little bit peely. Hi, My old car wasn't an S3, just a lowly FWD A3, although modified to a very high standard. Even so, total chalk and cheese against the 8P. In performance terms the 8P has lots less power, lots less torque, lots less driving feel etc. That's not to say that I don't prefer the 8P, it's a lot easier to drive fast in. At high speeds on A roads the 8P is effortlessly fast because there is less steering feel and more suspension travel, so it's just much easier to drive fast. Only a well experience driver who KNOWS my old A3 would be able to lose the 8P on a proper road, because average Joe would just think the 8L was going to crash. Thanks! It's come to a head and I'm now off work for a week for total R&R, which for me means car cleaning. And lots of car cleaning. I was offered a chance to upgrade from my basic rotary, Mark at Brotek was buying a new Rupes Bigfoot so I've purchased his old backup DAS.* I also purchased a stages set of Dodo Juice fin cut pads, orange which is a fast cutting pad, green polishing pad and a black finishing pad. Armed myself with Black Hole, went over the A3 with one pass on the orange cutting pad.* Whoop. Ended up like - Along with lots of light swirls and imperfections. Stepped it up to the green polishing pad. Went over the entire car again, refined it further. Followed that up with something new to me, Ti22 which is a titanium based coating designed to create a sealing layer for the wax to stick to and create a uniform finish. It worked well! Ti22 is best applied with a foam applicator pad, douse a bit on and work it across the paint work and then leave it to cure and buff it off. So not too hard. Not easy to remove properly though. Then I tried a second first for me, applying Angelwax Dark Angel with a DA. Not something that Mark at Brotek's done before, and not something I've seen anybody else do to be honest. So on with the black finishing pad it was. All done. Then I went over it with Corona, which is a new sprayable wax from Angelwax. It's not got quite as nice a finish as it did straight off with the Dark Angel, but it should hopefully last a lot longer. Not that there's anything wrong with the durability of DA.* So all in all, another good first day off.
Jardo, where can i buy a full set of the DA gear im currently using Dodo juice but would love to try something else Thanks dec
