Subject: 2009 Audi Q7 TDI - Daily Driver
Requirement: Remove Salt and Grime and protect before Winter Storm Nemo!

Exterior

- Wheels were prepped with Sonax Wheel Cleaner and cleaned up with various brushes
- Tires were spritzed down with Adam's APC
- Wheel wells were cleaned up
- Washed with a mix of Adam's Car Wash and Adam's APC
- Wolf's Decon Gel
- Wash down and rinsed
- Door jambs were cleaned up
- Nano Scrub AutoScrub
- Dried
- Tires dressed
- Masking
- Paint Measurement
- Sonax 5/4 Fine Abrasive Polish - Uber Green Pad - Rupes LHR 21ES
- Sonax Polymer NetShield
- Inspection with Fenix, 3m Sun Gun, Infratech, and natural sunlight
- Wheel wells were cleaned and dressed
- Rubber and Plastics Treated
- Exterior windows and mirrors cleaned and sealed
- Exhaust tips cleaned
- Windows were autoscrubed, cleaned, and sealed

Products used

Links to products used -
Exterior
Adam's Car Wash
Adam's APC
Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner
NanoSkin AutoScrub System
Sonax Fine Abrasive
Sonax Polymer NetShield
Adam's Super VRT
Adam's Metal Polish 1
Adam's Metal Polish 2
Adam's Glass Cleaner
Adam's Glass Sealant

Tools used
Uber Wool Wash Mitt
Uber No Name MF Towels
Rupes LHR 15ES Random Orbital Polisher
Rupes LHR 21ES Random Orbital Polisher
Griot's 6 inch Random Orbital Polisher
Uber Buffing Pads
Defelsko Paint Meter
Fenix TK35
Brinkmann
Kranzle Pressure Washer
Uber Foamer Attachment for Pressure Washer
2 Grit Guard Buckets with Caddies
Uber Firehose Nozzle
Metro Air Force Blaster
RoboReel Power Extension Cord

Briefing on Road Salt and what it can do.

A salt and sand mixture is frequently spread over roads before or after a snow or ice storm. Salt lowers water's freezing point, causing any ice already formed to melt even though the air temperature remains well below freezing. The sand helps keep the salt in place, plus it adds a bit of traction to wet and often slushy roads.

While road salting helps people travel safely, it has drawbacks. It can cause major body and undercarriage damage to your vehicles unless you take extra care and precaution.

If you're one of the many who must travel the saline streets in the land of the ice and snow, we have some great tips to help protect your vehicle from the ravages of road salt.

The best time to prevent salt damage to your vehicle is before the first snowflake falls; a little care will help keep the rust away.

Take a look at some of the basic steps to prevent long term damage from salt.

• To start in late autumn, thoroughly wash every inch of your vehicle, including the underside.
• Apply a wax or sealant to the vehicle's paint for protection thru out the winter months.
• Seal the undercarriage, paying closest attention to the brake and fuel lines, as these are the most susceptible items for rust and corrosion and make your vehicle unsafe if they fail.

Further tips to protect your vehicle throughout the winter months.

• Keeping your vehicle as clean as possible during the winter will go a long way to cut down the damage done by salt and sand.
• Wash as much as possible throughout the winter months. Make sure you get to the undercarriage cleaning as well as traditional car washing.
• If weather permits you can do this at home if not get to a coin operated wash bay. Begin by spraying down your vehicle using a garden hose equipped with a high-pressure nozzle, moving from top to bottom.
• Be sure to get as much dirt, grime, and salt from beneath the wheel wells, under the bumpers, behind the fenders and in any other areas prone to salty slush splashes.
• Follow with a warm water (if possible), car wash scrub down, using soap made especially for car washing (we have been using a mix or Adam's Car Wash and Adam's APC in our Foam Cannon for the and its done well cutting all the dirt and salt off the paint. As you know dish soap strips your car's wax. Use a wash mitt or a sponge.
• Don't neglect to scrub all the rubber, trim, outside door seals, tires, and the wheel.
• Rinse thoroughly, making sure to remove all traces of soap.
• Make sure everything is dry. Carefully dry the edges of the doors inside and out, including the undersides of door handles, all hinges, plus the hood and trunk edges. This helps keep them from freezing shut. Protect them as well, you can use your favorite wax or sealant use a rubber seal dressing like 1Z einszett Gummi Pflege Rubber Care to keep the seals protected and from freezing.
• Make sure you wax or seal again after each wash this will ensure car is protected.

Before shots
A lot of salt build up.




Wash - Wheels - Tires - Wheel Wells -Decon - Pre Soak - Wash - Autoscrub - Polish - Seal

Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner




Wolf's Decon Gel working well, nice long dwell times





We have found that Adam's Car Wash and Adam's APC solution works well to help cut salt and grime off the paint in colder temps (ratio for the foam cannon - 2-3 oz of Adam's Car Wash 2-3 oz of Adam's APC - fill the rest with water)


Wash




Rinse


Cleaning up the Aluminum Roof Rails on Audis can be a pain but we were able to improve them using Adam's Metal Polish 1 and 2


Close up


We did a one step polish to improve the gloss on the car using the Rupes BigFoot LHR21ES an Uber Green Pad and Sonax Fine Abrasive Polish
(sorry no photos)
Afters






Update:
Beading shots of Sonax Polymer Net Shield after the blizzard

Extremely tight beading

 

well done!

i need to pick me up a foam cannon.

 

we have more coming in and I believe we can do a bit better on pricing so hang in there for the announcement.

 

great great results....

+1 on the foam cannon

 

thanks!

 

Things to remember about salt / chemicals ... they are pretty well inactive without the presence of water and once the temperature drops . eg. below 20° F (-7° C) , so below that its just sitting there doing nothing.

I used to faitfully every Saturday morning take my own wash pail/mitt , water, soap and drying towels down to the local indoor spray wash and do the car right down to the drying etc and come spring .. pretty good shape but some marring and swirling. I realized that it was the result of not being able to properly rinse the car with the pressure wand and the drying towels were picking up a bit of grit.

What I have done in the last few years is when the car is a little crudded up I go to the spray wash and just spray off as much crud and salt as I can and rinse the best I can and wala .. lest swirling come spring.

The odd time I will take my own stuff with me and do a hand wash but now all I dry is the windows.

One of the keys is to really rinse the car well ... new cars are designed with channels in them to allow the wash/rain water to flush out these problem areas.

Phil refers to using a wash soap / APC mix but myself I think thats going to remove some of what wax/ sealant you have on the car. He also refers to waxing etc after every wash .. prolly because the APC removed everything but up here in snow country unless you have a heated garage waxing is out of the question from Nov till April.

The under carridge of cars will see a little surface rust but I have yet to see rust perforation on cars up to even 15 years old. You also have to watch some of these rustproofing ads .. they talk a good story but some will actually plug up drain holes with product preventing the proper rinsing of the inner body panels.

 

nice work on that filthy Audi! I love it when the Sonax wheel cleaner turns purple, - then you know it's eating away the salt and brake dust.

Jesstzn - great info in your post. Winter up in the snow country can be tough for detailing!