New S5 valet and detailing advice

[Niall_s5]

Hi all,

New to the forums and am about to pickup my new S5 in a couple of weeks, woo hoo . I was looking for some tips on valet and detailing, i went for the audi autoglym package as i managed to get the sales guy to throw it in for virtually nothing but having read a bit on these forums and i wonder if even taking it all was a good idea as i read quite a few posts from people saying 3rd party detailing/valet is better.

Is it still woth me taking my car down to a detailer once i pick it up and in terms of general cleaning and valeting what do you guys do? I'm used to just giving my TT a pretty average 2 bucket wash but wondering if i should get my s5 professionally cleaned say every 6 months or something, i treated my TT a little shabbily and so don't want to make the same mistake with new S5!

Anyone know some good valet/detailers around the Leeds area?

 

[Dippy]

Hi Niall. My pro detailer was telling me some anecdotes about his experiences with dealer valeting which were truly frightening. But in a nutshell, believe what you read. The reason why dealers 'throw in' valeting for free is because it costs them maybe £50 tops. They are not worthless, rather they are the opposite. YES. They can actually make the paintwork of your new car WORSE.

I refused my dealers' offers and also asked them not to even wash my new car. Unfortunately the message did not get through, but fortunately I was lucky that whoever washed it did a good job. After I took delivery I gave it to a pro detailer near me and he said the paintwork was good and he did not have to correct it, which is UNUSUAL for a new car! He then did a coat of GTechniq C1+EXO with overnight curing in his 'shop. It cost me about £600 + VAT but it was worth every penny. (Note that you can probably get cheaper - my detailer is not aiming at the 'competitive' end of the market). The coating is water-repellent and dirt simply does not stick to it. Washing it is simply so easy. 4 months on and it looks as good as it did on day 1. Apparently it will last around 18 months, although possibly longer in my case as I garage my car and don't use it every day.

So in summary you are doing the right thing. Do NOT take the dealer package and even ask the dealer not to wash your car at all. As soon as you can take it to a professional detailer and get your choice of protection done. Hopefully you'll get a good reference for a local dealer (but not from me as I'm a long way south from you).

 

[Niall_s5]

Hi Niall. My pro detailer was telling me some anecdotes about his experiences with dealer valeting which were truly frightening. But in a nutshell, believe what you read. The reason why dealers 'throw in' valeting for free is because it costs them maybe £50 tops. They are not worthless, rather they are the oppođsite. YES. They can actually make the paintwork of your new car WORSE.

I refused my dealers' offers and also asked them not to even wash my new car. Unfortunately the message did not get through, but fortunately I was lucky that whoever washed it did a good job. After I took delivery I gave it to a pro detailer near me and he said the paintwork was good and he did not have to correct it, which is UNUSUAL for a new car! He then did a coat of GTechniq C1+EXO with overnight curing in his 'shop. It cost me about £600 + VAT but it was worth every penny. (Note that you can probably get cheaper - my detailer is not aiming at the 'competitive' end of the market). The coating is water-repellent and dirt simply does not stick to it. Washing it is simply so easy. 4 months on and it looks as good as it did on day 1. Apparently it will last around 18 months, although possibly longer in my case as I garage my car and don't use it every day.

So in summary you are doing the right thing. Do NOT take the dealer package and even ask the dealer not to wash your car at all. As soon as you can take it to a professional detailer and get your choice of protection done. Hopefully you'll get a good reference for a local dealer (but not from me as I'm a long way south from you).

Thanks Dippy thats kind of what i suspected. If i don't get any references i'll do a bit more research on some local ones. Im kinda surprised there isn't a forum listing for that kinda stuff.

Do you think you'll get it redone after 18 months? Also how do you clean your do you just give it a regular bucket wash? Wax? Alloy clean?

Sorry for all the Q's but im really keen to make sure i do it right day 1 rather than get a year in and learn i've been trashing the paint job!!

 

[NHN]

If you fancy a drive, go down to Salford to a very good friend Nathan, who runs Kowalski Details, he knows his detailing & does some amazing work

Great café round the corner aswell, amazing food.

 

[Niall_s5]

If you fancy a drive, go down to Salford to a very good friend Nathan, who runs Kowalski Details, he knows his detailing & does some amazing work

Great café round the corner aswell, amazing food.

Well I did go to Uni there so am over that way from time to time. Thanks for the info!

 

[Dippy]

Yes Niall, I agree with your sentiment - which is why I invested in the GTechniq coatings. I shall take my car back to the same detailer for a 'refresh' treatment when it needs it. If that is 18 months so be it but I expect it might last longer.

Although I did get into carnauba waxing for my last car (B5 S4), but the time it was 13 years old I was just washing it in a basic way. So I had to learn again when coming to care for my new S5. The first lesson I learnt was that investment in snow foam & lance was essential. If I do a full wash I use the foam as a pre-wash. followed by jet-rinse and then do a 2-bucket wash before towel drying. Then I use a QD spray for a final polish. I use Britemax products because that's what my detailer recommended, but of course there are plenty of great brands to choose from. My detailer was correct in that after the GTechniq coatings I don't need to wax (other than that which is in the QD spray). However if the car is not too dirty then I just follow the pre-wash and jet-rinse with more snow foam and wash with a mitt and a single bucket for rinsing. The alloys have GTechniq on so they are just as easy to clean as the bodywork - in fact simply jet-washing removes all the dirt and so they hardly need much of a clean. However I do recommend wheel-woollies brushes to get inside the wheels. I only have the caliper brush because I have the rotor wheels which are so easy to clean. Presumably for 'more complicated' wheels a full set of brushes might be needed.

My conclusion is that with a decent paint protection coating it becomes quite easy to keep a car in showroom condition, so it is very much worth the investment.

 

[SparkyMcA]

got my s5 2 weeks ago and guy before me got it applied with GuardX very happy with the protection, i use snow foam also but when i have spare time ill apply hd wax for extra protection. makes care much easier to clean i feel afterwards.

 

[Pinky1959]

www.detailingworld.co.uk
There you will find tons of info and also a thread which lists detailing companies

 

[daryloffset]

Dealer coatings are a waste of time IMO. As suggested above a decent detailer will do a much better job. Just research into them alot - there are many detailers about and I get handed some work that's previously been 'detailed' and it's frankly laughable.