Audi Q5 3.0T Glacier White Metallic - One step correction and Collinite 845

[emmjay]

Hello All,

While I was working on my car and my gf’s car, my mom asked if I could do her car as well. My parents were travelling for the week so I squeezed in her car as well.

The car was a 2013 Audi Q5 3.0T in Glacier White Metallic. My aim was to finish the car in a day, but boy was I in for a surprise. The paint was very very hard and just getting my test spots in took some time.

I went for my most aggressive combo (aggressive based on what I own). The combo was Ultimate Compound, Flex 3401 and Orange Hybrid Cutting pads. I used this as a one step.

The paint was filthy as you will see so I had to change out my pads often as the cut was diminishing even though I cleaned my pads on the fly (my own way). I eventually ran out of the orange pads as I only have 8. The hood itself took 2 pads.

Due to this, the roof and rear trunk/hatch area received UC on white hybrids.

Products used:

Interior:

Vaccum – hoover I guess?
Meguiars Rich leather cleaner conditioner
1” boars hair brush
Boars hair leather brush – the big wide one
Meguairs Quik Interior detailer
Meguairs APC 4:1

Pressure washer:

Karcher K3, vario pressure nozzle

Wash:
Meguairs NXT Shampoo
2 buckets with grit guards
MM Incredimitt wash mitt (only because it was receiving correction)
Chemical guys HoneyDew Snow foam
DP foam cannon


Wheels and Tires:

Sonax full effect wheel cleaner
Meguiars APC 4:1
Wheel woolies
Makeshift wheel well brush
Mothers wheel face brush
1” brush for lug nuts
Meguairs spoke brush
Grey towels
Stiff tire brush (can’t remember where from)
Wolfgang exterior trim sealant

Trim

Wolfgang Exterior Trim sealant

Paint:
Orange 5” Hybrid Pads
White 5” Hybrid Pads
Flex 3401 Speed 5
Meguiars Ultimate Compound
Meguairs white clay
Nanoskin Medium Wash Mitt
Gold plush junior
Purple plush small and medium sizes
Meguairs Supreme Shine towels

Paint prep:

IPA
WG perfect finish paint prep

LSP:

Collinte 845
Red 5” Hybrid Pads
Flex 3401 speed 2

Car as it arrived:






















I did the interior a couple weeks ago one night so I only have these pics:



Much better:





I wish I had taken more pictures but doing the interior wasn’t planned. Just one night my parents were out so I did it and surprised mom

[emmjay]

Let the work begin:

Filthy Paint:









After:



Washed and ready for clay :



Now here’s the kicker:

The paint was so bad…..it seriously felt like sandpaper and the clay was ridiculously tough to work and took very very long. I eventually gave up and used the nanoskin wash mitt. I wanted to use the clay to see the filth as this car was never worked on in 3 years.


Only the font section of the roof…Passenger side…yes it was that bad:



Only HALF the hood:



The paint had all these black specks even after claying aggressively. This is where I wish I could find some iron or tar removal products in Dubai….Even with the aggressive polishing not all of it came out….like 80% came out and this really surprised me.




Roof, Driver side:

[emmjay]

Paint defects, these were really hard to capture due to the color of the white paint, but trust me they were worse than the picture show. I had my work cut out for me.





One of the clearer pictures:





Before:



After:



Before:



After:



Hood complete:



This is how filthy the paint was….This was taken after half the roof. Thank the lord for the large panoramic sunroof, otherwise the roof would have been tough.



Roof before:



Roof After:



Roof Before:



Roof After:



Roof front before: This was really hard to capture…



Roof front after:



Roof complete:



Before near the fuel tank :



After near the fuel tank:



Before, rear door:



After, rear door:



50/50 front and rear door:



Passenger front door:

Before:


After:



Weapon and Ammunition:

[emmjay]

Once I was done with the front and roof, I decided to prep them and seal them to save me some time. If I did creep into the sealed areas later I would just use the sealant on those areas again. These were usually near panel separation lines so it was okay to creep a little lol.

Following Nicks thread on how to use the Collinite 845 I went to work.



Shaken not stirred:





Kiss the finish:



Thin thin thin



This wax took much longer to haze up than say Menzerna Powerlock. PL is done in 15 mins tops in this weather. 845 still took close to 45 mins minimum.

Swipe test:



Buffed off – GORGEOUS!



Passenger side complete and I repeated the process:



Next day:

I did a quick rinseless on the panels that were not done yet. Just overnight they were completely covered with dust. The water taps are just “HOT” so I have to resort to other methods lol.





Rear trunk before:

Remember for this area I only used white pads and a little more pressure:



Rear trunk after:



Rear bumper before:



Rear bumper after:



Gave the lights some love too – not too much but I got out 70% of the imperfections. I really really wish we could get the Rupes Nano ibrid here (with proper after sales support).

Before:




After:



Around the emblems:

Before:


After:


Rear loading area:



After:



Rear bumper section:

Before:



After:

[emmjay]

Finished shots:




























Lastly….Collinite 845 was very very nice to work with and this was the first time I ever waxed the car with a machine. I don’t know why I didn’t always do this. In all honesty, I was scared but after reading about how forgiving Collinite is on trim I gave it a shot. Waxed a full roof and hood in about 2 mins…no kidding.

Buff off was a little more difficult than say Powerlock, but not at all bad. It just took a little more “bites” to get it off, but once off it gave a super slick and wet finish.

I would also like to buy something to make one stepping hard paint easier.

I wish we could get the griots creams here as they seem so nice. I also prefer SMAT and I am honestly not looking to get into DAT because I am limited by heat, humidity and working outside. However, recommendations are still welcome.

What I know I can find here:
Meguiars, 3D HD, Menzerna and Sonax – I have not seen anything else around.



Thank you all for looking!

Mukul

[VISITOR]

been on a roll, another fantastic job!

btw, megs uc is a sleeper product and can hang with the best of them...

[NotoriouswithaG]

megs UC and orange pad, sometime smicrofiber pad is my fail safe. great job on the turn around!

[shadwell]

Suggest a rotary and foamed wool next time with SMAT compound to increase the cut rate and prevent cut rate drop off...

The diminishing compounds are great especially if a single step is realistic.
But on hard paint you often need a second step anyway so may as well get the work done quick then finish quickly with the foam pad thereafter..

IME trying to get foam to correct on very hard paint is just slow going , overworks the pads and demands regular pad change which slows it all down even more..

Anyhow good results.. Nice one!

[FrankS]

Very nice work and nice write-up also!

[sweatthedetails]

Very complete write up. Nice job!