ThermonMermon

Hey guys,

I just picked up this 08 A6 as a commuter car. There are a plethora of swirls, and bad touch up jobs. Primarily a side swipe on the driver door (it happened after the photo below was taken), and several areas on the rear bumper. The rear bumper actually was covered in stickers to hide the scratches, so i need to take some goo gone to it. Needless to say, there is touch up paint on almost every body panel.

Car passes the 10 feet rule, but it is a bit of a nightmare up close. I dont want to spend the $$ repainting the car, given it is 10 years old. But am taking this opportunity to do some DYI detailing for the first time.

Should I try buffing? Or clay bar? or both? Not really sure the best approach here. Additionally, what are some good products to help on the touch up paint spots? I.e. "back to black", etc.

Thanks!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

the only way to get rid of those swirls is to do a full detail.
a full detail entails; wash, clay, polish with machine to get swirls out, seal car with sealant or wax, then very important never go through automatic car washes. always hand wash.

it takes me (as a hobby) more than 12 hours to complete ONE car. More time is needed if the car is very large or if defects are large.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

with that being said; you are probably better off sending it off to a pro-detailer.
unless you want to spend money on products to do it yourself (again, 12+ hours)

ThermonMermon

thanks. i NEVER do auto washes, so shouldnt be an issue. what is an issue, however, is the garage is too small to store the car (its from 1915). So this will be exposed to the outdoors. again, another factor in not spending hundreds to pro detail, and then it rains the next day.

In any event, will that process help better blend and slightly remove the touch up paint spots? How do I treat those? Or will it only address the swirls.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

thats the main reason why to do a full detail. protect it from the elements. when you seal the car, it protects from UV rays (which is damaging to the paint) and also protects from acid rain.(which is damaging to the paint)

essentially, a detail KEEPS it in pristine state. maintenance washes are NEEDED, but you need to wash with technique NOT to scratch the paint again...

its all about technique.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

a machine polisher with the correct product (polish) can alleviate some of those touch up spots

ThermonMermon

thanks. so i will give it a shot myself. hopefully, i dont run the risk of damaging the paint by doing it myself.

i presume that i should buy a real buffer, as opposed to one of those handheld non-motorized buffers that you attach a drill to.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

you're too quick! lol I answered above.

check out youtube for techniques on washing, correcting paint, and sealing/waxing

also, if you're going to spend the hundreds of dollars to buy all the equipment, you better be all in. its a fun hobby.

ThermonMermon

haha, i know. then i editted it. trying to figure out if i should buy 1. a real buffer, 2. a handheld non-motorized buffer that attaches to a drill, or 3. a pad that attaches to a drill.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

so, ive learned that its about technique.
if you have shoddy equipment, you have the ability to burn through paint!!!!!! which would be bad and your efforts would just be wasted.

a novice tool; the PC 7424XP WILL NOT BURN THROUGH PAINT, because its an Oribital polishing machine and one of the weakest ones out there. I have this one.
if you watch youtube, you can gather some of the techniques of correcting the paint.
it takes me about 2 or three passes to fully get a decent result with the PC7424XP.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

do you have the time to try and do this yourself? not to mention you are going to have to shell out some money to buy and learn how to use the products? think of it like this... crabby just mentioned that he can spend up to 12 hrs on a car... how much is your time worth???

this place does great work and for a very reasonable price. my buddies send their vettes there... and i think he charges $350 for a basic detail... correction should add on maybe 100$ more... what you could do is send it out to a pro first... have them get it corrected for you... then you can maintain it going forward...

All in the Details LLC

ThermonMermon

thanks. i will reach out to them.

to be honest, i have a feeling to address the paint correction bits, and 2-stage claybar will get the costs closer to the $1,000 range. Alternatively, I could temporarily buy the machine, so out of pocket is limited to products. plus, we have one car. which makes dropping off a car 30 minutes away for 10 hours a huge inconvenience, so there actually is a lot of benefit from doing it at home. anyway, will test out some options.

i just want to make sure that IF i attempt to take a machine to the car myself for the first time, i am not running a major risk of permanently damaging the paint. although, the novice level buffer sounds to alleviate that risk.

ThermonMermon

would this work for the scratches?

polyurethane. 2000 grit. Buff.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I'll tell you this...you can LIGHTLY 2000 grit wetsand DRY touch up paint (DRY meaning a week old, not 4 hours cure time) and it'll smooth it out and blend pretty well.
Then...you'll need a porter cable and 2 sets of pads to erase the sanding. Orange pad and something like meguiars 105 and white pad with meguiars 205.

In most instances I do NOT recommend any sanding and just do a good job touching up or compounding/polishing over touch up.

Biggest key is making a nice glossy and paint fed (yes, it's a surface that needs moisture like your skin to look healthy)...which I do with a coating of Wolfgang 3.0 deep gloss sealant. I build it up by applying it every 3 months with a red or black pad on the porter cable although if you skip out on a machine, you can do it by hand too.

These are the bare bones IMO. You don't need more for a daily IMO, I don't believe in removing swirls you're going to add back in when washing, and I hate clay barring and almost never do...I've gone from Zaino hand polishing, to DA, to full rotary and back to DA. I have a minimalist approach now where I keep the clear on the car and don't cut at all.

These are my opinions but the results can be pretty stunning...even from 3 feet away.

i.e. probably 3 years of Oklahoma dust and automatic car washes (guessing here...but it was the guy's wife's daily).



Instead, I nourish the existing paint the point where blemishes kinda disappear into a sea of gorgeous depth and gloss.

ThermonMermon

Wolfgang has a two pack swirl remover and polish.

Will this have a decent improvement if used by hand? I don't have to go ape shit on detailing etc. just want to better some blemishes and swirls.

Wolfgang Duo, wolfgang polish, wolfgang swirl remover

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

That's perfect...if I were buying new product, I'd give those a shot based on my experience with their paint sealant (which i keep in the fridge, I love it that much).
Now...if I may give you my advice, having tried to keep it hand polish to save the money early on. Don't.
Buy the porter cable 7424 xp or equivalent dual action...you'd be surprised how often you'll break it out to polish something up once you own it.

Also, in addition to the kit you mentioned, add a white pad for applying the glaze. That should remove any compounding hologramming.

I'd also suggest you take a step back and start with the least aggressive and most cost effective approach first.
FEED that paint! Give it a coat of some polymer...I recall being very impressed with Gold Class Liquid (it's a hybrid wax/polymer) initially...although it can get streaky in the sun on black a few days later.

As an example and to my point...I just purchased this car...which was someone's daily for 3 years and has some decent swirls and a little touch up.
I coated it with wolfgangs on sunday...it got rained on and driven yesterday all day and this morning, look how it looked

here, no water spots!

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

so you didn't even worry about compounding/polishing out the swirls on the V? just threw sealant on it?

ThermonMermon

thanks guys. Not to heed anyones advice, but i came across this online as a really good starter kit. i literally have zero products right now post-move. figure this has the basics, and maybe the polishers could get the job done. if not, then ill be quickly heading out to get the polisher and wolfgang duo.

Sears.com

also purchased this:

Meguiar's Swirl Remover 2.0, 16 fl oz - Walmart.com

ThermonMermon

although, i have the feeling swirl remover 2.0 is not much different than the scratchx 2.0 that is bundled in the kit, so maybe a redundant purchase.

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

you should be applying the swirl remover by machine... you could do it by hand but probably won't get the results you would like... either way give it a shot...

if you find that after the swirl remover there is some hazing, follow it up with a very fine polish... like Ultimate Polish...

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Good luck, man.
Hey, we're only "experts" from trial and error so have at it! lol...

Kam...no sir...after my experience with the NBP...I don't know if it's just from overcompounding or trying to preserve the clear or what...but my opinion on swirls and clear coat has changed. Now, I believe in leaving ALL of the clear that's on the car on it...and keeping her waxed and happy. Under bright lights you might notice some swirls but overall you'll see the paint is in excellent condition and hopefully will stay that way for years to come.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

If I had ZERO products...I'd probably go for something like klasse AIO and give that a go...I had a friend that got great results from that!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

yeah, but your V probably isnt as bad as the audi pictured above....
the audi pictured above NEEDS machine compounding action!!!!!!
and if you're using the PC7424XP, i dont even think you're taking that much clear off.
of course, i dont have a paint/clear meter, so I couldnt or wouldnt know for sure .

Thermon, you're not going to acheive anything by hand. your hand simply does not have the RPM a machine has.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Dude, I've been jerking off since I was 12. I use the porter cable because if I do it by hand I'd burn right through the clear.

I do agree though, my car is only 3 years old and wasn't abused...I'm hiding light swirling.
I go back to my original recommendation.
Buy the DA polisher
Buy that 2 Wolfgang Kit with a White pad as an addition
Buy the Wolfgang 3.0 Deep paint sealant to keep it classy.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^btw, I cringed when you washed my car with the bristle brush.

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

oh the humanity...

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

lol...it's a car wash brush specifically and I used 2 bucket method, foo!
https://www.amazon.com/Carrand-93111...ash+brush+head

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

LMAO...plus after seeing your tail lights I knew a little swirlage was the least of your worries!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

I still has the same tail light.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I know!
and I bet you ain't even scared about blemishes now!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

after breaking an engine, paint seems so beneath me.

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

you should know that J doesn't like prickly things near him...

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

if I didn't...I'd have zero friends.