My Brilliant Black 2001 Audi S4 - Finally detailed! (lots o' pics)

[JackalS4]

So i've been crazy-busy since starting to put together my own little "on the side" detailing thing, barely enough time to do my own car haha! Not an official business or anything right now, but just gradually learning and doing friends/co-workers' cars (wash/clay/polish/wax+) and experimenting with my brother's Subaru beater car during my off-time from work.



Anyhow, i've made a HUGE improvement to this used B5 S4 I bought almost 2 years ago. The car was purchased with MAJOR swirls and paint issues, but this of course made for a real nice turnaround.



I started things at about a 85-90% correction rate, very impressed with how the Porter Cable 7424XP, 4" Lake Country orange/white pads, and M105/205 combo was really working very well on the hard Audi clear (tried Menzerna SIP/FP but didn't like their correction as much - understandable w/ a DA). But then this had to gradually be eased into a 70-85% correction range because weather, lack of time and what not else were holding me back from getting the correction I wanted on the whole car in time for the cold/winter. Reason for this is that for that level of correction with a DA the Audi clear was needing 3-4 full hits for each section being corrected (read: time consuming).



I did detail my interior and engine bay as well, but really the highlights and best pics are of the exterior so i'll leave it with that (the interior/engine cleanup was a very gradual process I didn't really document much). Same goes for the washing and claying etc.



SO! I present to you my S4 (exterior, quick-ish, 70-90% correction) detail!





First off - "Initial/before Pics" - swirl marks and paint condition:

 

[JackalS4]

So time to get into the actual correction!!



50/50's and progress shots:





Used the trunk lid as my test surface - ended up with 2 hits M105 and 1 hit M205 for the better part of the car...



Fine scratches:

Cleared up nicely with M105/205!

Clarity comparison (left side polished)

Holy moly...power to the PC XP!

Right side polished:

This is the kind of correction I was getting - not flawless but really, really big improvement (right side)!

B-Pillar - approached this with just M205 due to softer clear (taped first):

"Kissing" panel with bits of polish:

Spreading out the polish first - PC still off:

Corrected!

Hood - with a chunk of correction...

Rear quarter panel 50/50:

Funny 50/50... []

Front bumper section before:

Front bumper section after (white dots can still be seen despite pic, but big improvement!):

Another B-pillar before:

...and after:

Again, the kind of correction I was getting:

Trunk lid - THIS really made a BIG difference in how the car overall looked/reflected etc...

Applying Duragloss TPP #105 (LSP):

...and on trunk:

 

[JackalS4]

And now on to the finished product - bear with me as this is all with a 3.2MP Sony cell phone camera....



AFTERS:

Stone chips...not going anywhere...ah well!

A couple of edited pics in a parking garage:

Rain beading with Duragloss #105:

Oh, and just a HINT of some of the stuff used:

She's not perfect, but i'm QUITE thrilled to see her looking better than ever!



Plus protected from our lovely Canadian winter...sort of... :nervous2:

 

[Carticular]

Awesome work!! I have a brilliant black Audi too and I love the M105/M205 combo!

 

[Nikku]

Jonathan good job ! You're well on your way Keep it up!

 

[vtec92civic]

hey car looks great . . . . . always been a fan of the beading shots. You also got a nice little selection of products there =)

 

[SVTContour]

Nice job, I did battle with my brother-in-laws black A4 a month or two ago. Like you, I had to settle for less than 100% correction using my PC. Since then I've acquired a rotary, so I'm ready to go another round.

 

[brandn3w]

Oh this is FANTASTIC!!! I have VERY similar swirling in my paint and I JUST got my PCXP and 105/205 with the HT cyan/tangerine pads per the forums advice for my Brilliant Black! I actually had a B5 A4 winter beater that I loved so much I sold it and my other car to get my current Brilliant Black B6, thank God. =D



I know how hard Audi paint is, but this REALLY gives me a good feeling as to the correction I can expect. To be honest, from a simple PCXP 105/205 I think it looks just awesome. :goodjob





Quick question: What temperature did you polish at because I'd like to do it during Thanksgiving break depending on the weather. Seeing you`re from the North and I'll be using the same products I was curious what they still operate/break down at.







LOVE the 2.7TT B5 S4!!! Great looking car! Nice job, all around! =]





Example of my Brilliant Black :-X

 

[GoCubsGo]

That one needed some work and you did great job! Looks fantastic :2thumbs:.

 

[gdal]

great work ... btw how long did it take you?

 

[JackalS4]

Awesome work!! I have a brilliant black Audi too and I love the M105/M205 combo!

Isn't it a great combo??



In fact, I find on some of the lower panels I wasn't even bothering with the M205 because it just WASN'T needing it (as far as my eyes could tell, anyway) with the way the M105 was finishing down (3 pressured, slow passes followed with 2 lighter, quicker passes of just the 105).

Jonathan good job ! You're well on your way Keep it up!

Thank you sir! And she's finally finished so I can relax a bit... :clap:

hey car looks great . . . . . always been a fan of the beading shots. You also got a nice little selection of products there =)

I've been meaning to get an updated shot of my inventory, it's all been very carefully selected, and a lot of it has slowly built up.



Thanks!

Nice job, I did battle with my brother-in-laws black A4 a month or two ago. Like you, I had to settle for less than 100% correction using my PC. Since then I've acquired a rotary, so I'm ready to go another round.

I figured somehow or another, with snow brushes, ice, washes and what not else coming there's gonna be SOME degree of marring over the next while so yeah, whatever. Plus I didn't have much time and also only so much correction could be had with the PC (although I really wonder how much more correction the rotary can do if the PC was given more time - time will tell I guess). More important for me is learning, and knowing etc. And that's also why a rotary will likely be in my future (as well as for some time-saving hopefully)!

Oh this is FANTASTIC!!! I have VERY similar swirling in my paint and I JUST got my PCXP and 105/205 with the HT cyan/tangerine pads per the forums advice for my Brilliant Black! I actually had a B5 A4 winter beater that I loved so much I sold it and my other car to get my current Brilliant Black B6, thank God. =D



I know how hard Audi paint is, but this REALLY gives me a good feeling as to the correction I can expect. To be honest, from a simple PCXP 105/205 I think it looks just awesome. :goodjob





Quick question: What temperature did you polish at because I'd like to do it during Thanksgiving break depending on the weather. Seeing you`re from the North and I'll be using the same products I was curious what they still operate/break down at.







LOVE the 2.7TT B5 S4!!! Great looking car! Nice job, all around! =]





Example of my Brilliant Black :-X

These days it seems a PC can do quite a chunk of correction, with the new XP model, smaller 4" pads and the wonderful M105 for DA formula! Rotaries will always have their place, but to me I think the PC always will too.



Temperature-wise, I polished at anywhere from 5 to 20C (40 to 70F) because it was being done gradually over about 2 months (of freak-ish weather). I myself never noticed a difference I can think of in the way the polishes broke down.



Thanks for the compliments on the car, it's been a blast to own and drive in all weather conditions...totally worth the finicky maintenance for a guy like myself. Twin-turbo V6 + AWD for the win!



Wow, dude, your black B6 is pretty bad too!! :nervous2:

That one needed some work and you did great job! Looks fantastic :2thumbs:.

Thanks!

great work ... btw how long did it take you?

Thanks... because this was a gradual job, I did it over about 2 months or so, spread out. In actual polishing hours, with the tapering correction I was settling for...i'd have to loosely guess anywhere from 10-15 hours, but really hard to say. Plus I was experimenting a lot to learn stuff and try products etc. I did a single stage polish on a client's car with the PC & M205 only, and that took me about 5-6 hours IIRC to give you an idea.