Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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This is what I've been up to for the last couple of days...
Firstly, a big thanks to jr for putting this my way 
This was a 2 day detail to restore as best as possible the paintwork of this fubarred Audi R8 - despite being almost brand new, the paintwork was ruined due to the bodyshop getting hold of it before the customer 
Result = Grey looking paint, huge amounts of swirls, RDS, several areas of burn through and dangerously thin paint in some places - Fun!!
An example of what I had to contend with:
Tbh, due to the poor lighting, it doesn't look that bad in the photos below!!
Day 1:
First up, the interior.
Before:
As you can see, the leather was suffering from dye transfer, but other than that, it was pretty tidy. A thorough hoover and dusting session, before cleaning all leather (inc. dash) with AS leather cleaner and conditioning with Gliptone. All plastics were treated with AS pazaz, carpets were spot cleaned with AS brisk foam.
After:
With that out the way, it was time to attend to the exterior.
The obligatory foam shot:
Foamed with BH Autofoam, before being thoroughly rinsed off and washed using TBM, Zymol sponge and Dodo Juice Sour Power shampoo. Wheels were cleaned with AS smart wheels, tyres and arches with AS G101.
The paintwork was then clayed using BH regular clay, before being re rinsed and dried off using ultra plush drying towels and AS Tango.
During the claying stage, the wheels were also done to remove the last bits of excess tar and pitting:
Before:
After:
As it had already visited the bodyshop, I knew that some panels were going to need to be treated carefully, but I wasn't quite expecting the paint thickness readings I took from the vehicle - it showed me that the front end had been blown in, but both doors had also been sprayed extensively, only the rear was untouched, however, the entire car had been mopped afterwards, resulting in some pretty thin patches of paint where full correction was not going to be possible.
After a few pad and compound experiments, I settled on Megs 83 on a Megs cutting pad for the original paint, and 3M Extra fine on a Lake Country polishing pad for the rest of the panels - this restored the gloss nicely and cut back a lot of the swirls, leaving only the deeper swirls and RDS behind.
Couple of 50/50's:
Left of feint tape line original, right corrected:
The entire car was then refined and cleansed using Lime Prime on a Sonus polishing pad via the PC.
This was followed up with a coat of Poorboys Black Hole glaze to enhance the gloss and mask some of the deeper marks, and sealed with Britemax UV resistant sealant.
The car was then refoamed to remove the polishing dust, dried and the first coat of Dodo Supernatual applied, before being buffed off and calling it a day.
Day 2:
The second coat of Dodo Juice supernatural was applied and left to cure for around an hour whilst other small jobs were done - glass with AS silverscreen, door shuts and under bonnet with AS platinum, engine bay with AS G101 and Finish, Wheels with 2 x coats of PB wheel sealant, wheel nut covers replaced, tyres with 3 x coats of AS Finish, black trim with black wow. The wax was buffed off and entire car wiped down with AS reglaze.
I also attended to a couple of the more obvious spots of burn through I had found throughout the detail. The most noticeable being on the rear spoiler:
(On the corner)
Exhausts were attacked with fine wire wool and autosol:
Time for some afters:
And the obligatory reflection shots:
Thanks for looking
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am4nf
Member
Registered: 27th Jul 08
Location: South Ayrshire Drives: Corsa Sport
User status: Offline
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before and after swirl mark shots?
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Eck
Premium Member
Registered: 17th Apr 06
Location: Lundin Links, Fife
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Stick a picture or two in the relection page! Nice work mate
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mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
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What a car. Nice work!
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by am4nf
before and after swirl mark shots?
Didn't get any after the 50/50's as I wanted to get on. The swirls were reduced and in a lot of cases removed, but 100% correction wasn't achieved, as stated in the write up
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a_j_mair
Member
Registered: 23rd Jan 04
Location: Scotland
User status: Offline
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why had it been to the bodyshop?
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by a_j_mair
why had it been to the bodyshop?
Nobody actually knows! And nobody knew where it'd been sprayed  From what I gather, it was an ex demonstrator. The front I presume was blown over to hide the stone chips, the doors, the only sort of logical answer it due to their size, they'd got dented / scraped?
Either way, because of the bodyshop, the paintwork looked less than almost new!
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Phil W
Member
Registered: 1st Jul 05
Location: Shropshire Drives : Focus ST
User status: Offline
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What were the paint depth readings like?
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Phil W
What were the paint depth readings like?
Lowest was 74.5, highest 396.4
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jr
Member
Registered: 20th May 02
Location: Kent
User status: Offline
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Have to say Rich and his helper  were more than professional, had to deal with loads of work people watching and asking questions etc
the end result was amazing, the stuff done on the 2nd day was brillaint, made such a diffrence
rich, it went back to the customer, he was very happy  loved what you had done inside, and nice advice sheet 
result, if you can use rich and refined detail, do, massive thumbs up from us 
[Edited on 03-04-2009 by jr]
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_Allan_
Member
Registered: 24th Mar 04
User status: Offline
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Come on Rich, how much do you charge for the full 2 day correction/detail?.
Damn you need to do a CS tour
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jr
Member
Registered: 20th May 02
Location: Kent
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Rich H
quote:
Originally posted by a_j_mair
why had it been to the bodyshop?
Nobody actually knows! And nobody knew where it'd been sprayed From what I gather, it was an ex demonstrator. The front I presume was blown over to hide the stone chips, the doors, the only sort of logical answer it due to their size, they'd got dented / scraped?
Either way, because of the bodyshop, the paintwork looked less than almost new!
i know where it got painted, just not why, but stonechips is the rumour, and confirms why the bumper is a piss poor fit
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fir3vip3r
Member
Registered: 14th Jun 06
Location: Stevenage, Hertfordshire
User status: Offline
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i spy a VFR 400
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JonnyJ
Member
Registered: 23rd Sep 05
Location: Scotchland
User status: Offline
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Awesome Rich
Must have been a nice car to work on
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jr
Member
Registered: 20th May 02
Location: Kent
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by fir3vip3r
i spy a VFR 400
indeed, our apprentices, even my car is in a shot too
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Cheers for the comments guys
Price, well excluding travelling, a detail to that extent is £295.00.
James - Thanks mate - again much appreciated with arranging the booking and sorting it out so I had a decent working area etc. And at least your colleagues are polite and speak English unlike the BMW dealer I worked at! Glad the customer was happy too! And the helper was the old man who was intrigued to look round an R8, and is actually helpful on bigger jobs
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Daimo B
Member
Registered: 20th Mar 00
User status: Offline
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The Audi Estate?
Got one of those as our pool cars. I love it. Heavy as a UFC fighter eating McDonalds, but its superb in town and on the motorway. 50mpg @ 100mph ftw.
Great job on the R8. Looks spotless now!!!
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_Allan_
Member
Registered: 24th Mar 04
User status: Offline
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Wow that's not as expensive as I thought. Your work does look excellent though
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Chrissy
Premium Member
Registered: 28th Jan 06
Location: Sunny Glasgow Drives: Astra J
User status: Offline
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Did you stripe the interior mats?
Awesome job there mate
>>>> Chris <<<<
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jr
Member
Registered: 20th May 02
Location: Kent
User status: Offline
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customer loved the lawn striping of the mats
i had worked out that was your old man, mainly when you went "NO DAD, THE OTHER BOX"
as i said, didnt want you to turn up and think were a 2 bit operation, so tried to pre empt any issues
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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Yeh the carpet striping is just a silly first impressions detail thing - only lasts until somebody sits in the car but hey!
Allan - No I'm not that expensive tbh in comparison to a lot of other people out there - doesn't mean I don't work to the same levels or skimp on products etc though
Thanks again everyone
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CORSA NUT
Member
Registered: 3rd Aug 01
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline
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Now that is a nice car
Best combo too IMO
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.dean.
Member
Registered: 21st Sep 07
Location: Hindley, Wigan Drives: Like Its Stolen!
User status: Offline
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i wana see pics of a old car bein detailed like this, see if you can get the same afect or is it just cos there new?
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Rich H
Member
Registered: 26th Oct 05
Location: West Sussex Drives: E46 M3
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by .dean.
i wana see pics of a old car bein detailed like this, see if you can get the same afect or is it just cos there new?
Check my portfolio: http://www.refineddetail.co.uk/portfolio.html
Old cars can be done too, not always to the same level as the paint can be beyond repair sometimes, but a huge improvement can always be made. I did also do one of the DB5's used in the Bond films last year - had loads of nice before photo's, but it pissed down during the detail so I had to finish it in the garage with no room to take photos afterwards
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BluKoo
Member
Registered: 8th Apr 02
Location: Stonehaven (Scotland)
User status: Offline
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Good job.
Just out of curiosity, what side is the before and what side is the after on this pic?
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