Compounding and Polishing 2010 AUdi S4 - Phantom Black (SUPER HARD paint) Progress thread

[Matador]

Hi Guys,

So I decided to finally get around and compounding the Audi. I bought it last year and the strongest stuff I had was Menzerna FG400. Used that with Megz MF cutting discs....and it did good work...but didn't get the really fine deeper stuff. So I sat on this for a while haha. But a year later...I decide to finally really try something big enough to do the job. Enter Sonax Max Cut.

This stuff did serious work on this paint and really took out those scratches! Only thing that was crazy...is still how much work it really took to get the majority of the stuff out. This paint is super hard. I still had to go over certain sections twice or even 3 times.

This part right here was a PITA....this little area I had to go over to make sure I took the little scratches out. This is after me using Menzerna 2500. Paint is so hard, I think this will be my 'final polish'.





I started the job actually last Sunday. Took off from work yesterday and finished the compounding finally last night.


This portion was the hardest. Also...this showed me how much my GG6 means to me. And how I may have made a mistake buying the Griot's "big boy" G21 when it first came out. On softer paints it did well, covered a lot of ground....but unfortunately after trying it on hard paint...I actually didn't 'bite' as much as my little GG6 with the same pad! Also the machine was getting hotter easier. I have the two washer trick too and had the 5 inch pad plate (on GG6 too).

Paint is so hard, this is also what ended up happening to my GG3 Griot's pad plate after it got too 'hot'. Used the little guy on the bumpers...and this is what happened. Good news is Griots is sending a new plate for free that arrives Friday.



But my question is......is something wrong with my 'Boss'? I am severely disappointed and don't know what to do. I mean to find out the GG6 does better work with less passes....really kills me considering I paid more than double for Boss 21 for what I pad for my GG6!

Anyway--rest of the pics below. Will Polish on Friday and have more to show then when the job will be done. Will finish with Menzerna PowerLock (my <3)

Pics:

[IH8SPM]

Nice work getting that checked off the list and looking great. The one size fits all approach doesn't apply in any other scenario and detailing is no exception. The way I now interpret the "test spot" is to use different machines with different setups.

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[Sizzle Chest]

Audi paint is some seriously hard stuff! Glad you got the 'hard' part outta the way! Look forward to final pics after she's all polished up/down!

[Matador]

Nice work getting that checked off the list and looking great. The one size fits all approach doesn't apply in any other scenario and detailing is no exception. The way I now interpret the "test spot" is to use different machines with different setups.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

Thanks! Yea--I agree. 1 size does NOT fit all. That's how I had to discover how much a PITA Audi paint is haha.

Audi paint is some seriously hard stuff! Glad you got the 'hard' part outta the way! Look forward to final pics after she's all polished up/down!

Haha. Thanks man!

Will do.


My only issue is with the Boss. I am wondering if I should reach out to Griots or if it's user error...

[Matador]

So finally finished up tonight!

The pics are not the best....but this is what I got.

I'd say I got about 90% of the scratches out during compounding. Used Menz 2500 and am happy with the outcome!

Used my new






And used my love Menzerna PowerLock (my old love) to seal all the hard work.



Will have better pics tomorrow when in the sun.

Also, I think it may be a backing plate failiure in part of the GG21 boss. I switched to the 6 inch backing plate, which has barely any use. I saw another thread here with a similar issue back in 2018 and I think this is the problem.

I am a bit disappointed because I have only used that thing a handful of times and to have the backing plate fail is pretty crappy. Going to try and contact them to see fi they can do anything about this with maybe a new backing plate or have some fix for the 'older BOSS models'.

Cause even if I get a new plate, If I have to replace a plate every handful of uses...will be not good.

Anyway--will have more pics tomorrow I am sure.

Thanks for checking in on my progress!

[Matador]

And here are some pics of her during the day today.



I restored the foglight trim with some 'tire shine' I use by Adams. Works well on the rubber tires so I thought...why not try it out on the trim? Made it look awesome!



















The car came out great! Although I am an absolute perfectionist...so I still found some RIDS, especially on the hood...but for a 2010 with really bad scratches on it when I bought it...I am happy to where I got it.

The front bumper and hood need to be most likely repainted...but I think this will work for the time being (until sometime next year).

[gofast182]

There may be plenty of newer better stuff out there but I still really like Power Lock.