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Detailing guidance and recent work
This vehicle started life as a GM executive vehicle. I was originally contacted to prep the car for winter, but in the process found sanding marks on the driver's door. It's unclear where these came from, but likely to have been a result of factory finishing. This was spot corrected with additional sanding, a compound and polish.
This owner was referred to me by a current client. He recently purchased this new truck for recreational use. It will be used for daily use, but also for light hunting duty. Since it will be spending some time on trails and in fields, we elected to apply a ceramic coating to make the maintenance easier. We also performed an intensive polish to remove defects that had accumulated while in the dealer's possession.
Process
This owner had found me online being located relatively close to him. He had previously hired another detailer to address the interior and exterior of the car. The previous detailer spent approximately 3 hours on the car inside and out. Needless to say, the owner was not satisfied with the paint finish afterward. While to the uninitiated, 3 hours seems like a long time to spend cleaning a car, that's only 90 minutes each when divided evenly. To wash, decontaminate, compound and polish this car to a reasonable standard, took approximately 8 hours. There were certainly some deeper defects that remained, but we were able to remove 95%+ of the defects and leave plenty of paint for future work. Now that the owner has a better understanding of safe wash practices, light machine polishing every couple years should be sufficient to keep this car in pristine condition.
Process
This is another long-time client that was interested in long term protection for his new purchase. He had originally sent me pictures of an Audi S4: White, hard paint, all wheel drive and 4-doors. When I finally saw the car, it was a little different: Black, soft paint, rear wheel drive and 2-doors. Despite being brand new, the dealer and factory had done a number on this car. Because it is a garage queen and well cared for, we elected to do a compound and polish to remove as many defects as reasonable before applying a ceramic coating to make maintenance a breeze and really amp up the gloss.
Process
This car is owned by a couple that lives a few blocks away from me. They have owned the car for about a year and while it has been well taken care of, it did need a deeper cleaning and protection prior to winter. We decided on an entry level cleaning and protection of both the interior and exterior.
Process
The owner of this car purchased it 3 years ago with the intention of learning how to work on cars. He has made some progress, but with the kids at home, it was time to let this go. The exterior hadn't seen a polish during his ownership and to increase interest in the vehicle, he wanted to achieve some improvement in the exterior condition. We decided on an AIO polish to improve the gloss and clarity of the paint while also removing some of the swirls. This is a cost effective approach that doesn't erode the sales margin.
Process
This was a very exciting project for me as a huge Audi fan, and specifically of the C5 platform. One may look at this Allroad and find it unremarkable save for the blue paint. But the blue paint is what makes this a very remarkable car. Audi did a special run of 10 Sprint Blue Allroads for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, these were the only 10 Audi produced. The German Ski Federation skiers used these vehicles during the Olympics. After the Olympics, the US ski team used them for the following ski season. After that, these cars were sold through Audi's US dealer network. Since their distribution, 2 are no longer in service, making this 1 of 8 cars.
This particular car has been modified and required some body work. The car had a 6-speed manual conversion, larger turbos, ECU tuning among other bits and bobs. The car was also hit in the rear driver quarter that required bodywork and paint. At that time, the owner chose to have the bumpers color matched. The fenders were previously polished to a gloss finish along with the roof.
The owner of this car does take good care of it, polishes it regularly and keeps it well protected. However, there were still some deeper defects and atrocious paint texture from the respray. The goal with this car was to remove a substantial amount of the defects and bring the respray texture back close to factory.
Process
This car is owned by good clients of mine. They have four children and truly need a minivan. They recently purchased this to replace one of their SUVs. Even though it's a recently purchase, it didn't take long for the kids to take their toll on the interior.
Process
I worked on this car a little more than a year ago to prepare it for concours and then a show circuit. At the time, it had been through a restoration and while the shop did an amazing job on the car and really knows their stuff, the man behind the polish left something to be desired. There was a ton of compound residue and swirls left over. With plenty of clearcoat to work with, the paint was brought back to a concours level finish. Fast forward a year and after making the rounds at shows, plenty of wipedowns and coming back to the shop to be modified for a more driveable setup, the paint was in need of a refresh.
Process
This car came as a referral from a currently client. The owner's wife was recently involved in an accident and the car was totaled. Thankfully, she came out OK. But in need of a new car. Instead of getting a new one for herself, she decided she wanted her husband's Venza. So prior to handing it over, he wanted to get it cleaned up for her.
Process
