A farewell detail

[oneheadlite]

Well, after just shy of 9 years and nearly 200,000 miles on the road together (nearly 300k on the odometer), I’ve decided it’s time to move onto a new daily driver.

As is tradition, it was time for one last shine before we part ways.

This was a 2 part’r, the interior done Saturday with the exterior saved for Sunday. It was a very Griot’s weekend, as it’s what I tend to reach for when I just want things to work.

Interior was done with Interior Detailer, Leather 3 and 1 Spray for the seats. Wood trim was chased with Rinseless Wash and Wax.

As mentioned when I put it in the “What have you been doing detailing related”, despite being a dog hauler, commuter, and ride service for my 8yo daughter, I didn’t need to reach for anything deeper reaching for most surface cleaning. I did step it up to Multi Surface Citrus cleaner for some tar spots on the driver’s dead pedal, and Interior Cleaner for the pedals.
The all weather mats got hit with a pass of Interior Cleaner (scrubbed with a soft tipped bench brush), rinsed, and chased with Interior Detailer. Quick wipe with a microfiber after and they’re clean but not slick.

Full confession - the carpet only got a thorough vacuum (yes, that’s salt crust you see in the drivers footwell…). A friend is buying the car, and for what he’s paying for it I’ll let him close out the relay race. It’s nice to know he’s the type to pull seats to really do carpet right, so it’s going to a good home…






For the exterior, it was a solid hand wash with Duragloss car wash (just what I had on hand). Clayed with soapy water from the bucket with a boost of N914.

Wheels hit with one of Sonax’s heavier cleaners (I forget which one). In case he wants to take the wheels the rest of the way, I just chased them with Sonax BSD to not leave them naked. Tires I used Mike Phillips trick of Pinnacle Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner/Conditioner on a drill brush.

Door jams/fuel filler done with Ech20.

Paint correction /protection done with Griot’s Ceramic All in One Wax and Orange pads, GG9 and G8. They say not to use it on rubber, so I cheated and hit some areas with Blackfire One Step since I haven’t had trouble with it in those areas.
Blackfire One Step for the glass.

Grills and lower trim hit with Optimum OptiSeal.

By the time I was done, wasn’t the best lighting for dramatic final product photos, but here’s what I got.





Through the years, the car treated me exceptionally well, helping me financially with a couple insurance payouts.

One was a deer strike to the RF that crossed over to the drivers side, bending the RF fender and hood, breaking the headlights, blew off the drivers side mirror, put a little crease in the drivers a pillar. Only cracked the bumper and front grill. “Totaled” the car.
Junkyard (same paint color) hood, pulled the fender back up, new headlights, junkyard mirror (if you look close, only the driver’s mirror is black).

Another incident that left bigger scars was the morning I got to meet a 19yo on my way to work one morning. Turns out while traffic was stopping, she was looking over her shoulder to change lanes, blasting my LR corner. Did my best to leave them room for braking/get out of their way (as well as flashing my rear fog lights to alert to the slowdown), but she got me anyway. Folded my LR muffler out until it made contact with my LR tire, for the first time rendering my unstoppably reliable car immobilized.

Brought the car to a frame shop for inspection after hanging new exhaust on it to make sure it was still safe to have my daughter in. After his blessing, it got a new bumper reinforcement and all 4 taillights (only 2 got blown up, but this way they matched). Got lucky, and force didn’t transfer into the LR quarter.
I spent a good while searching for a replacement bumper cover that matched, but to be honest I needed the money more than the appearances bothered me.

Side note, I’m also a little superstitious about replacing rear bumpers after going through something similar with my wife’s last car. Hers had rear bumper repair done before she bought it, and the bumper condition always bugged us. Searched around and found a really nice black bumper cover. Got it cleaned up and installed, and 3 weeks later she got tagged in the back by someone not paying attention at an intersection. I was then convinced if I found the unicorn matching color rear bumper cover for my avant (not a lot of wagons in the states…), it was going to be a target on my backside.

And so, she spent some time on the road like this:



Anywho. Thanks for reading this far, I don’t often have a chance to sit down and do write ups.




Time for this one to go off into the sunset, soon I’ll do a post when I get my new Daily up to ‘Geek snuff.

[Klasse Act]

Well, after just shy of 9 years and nearly 200,000 miles on the road together (nearly 300k on the odometer), I’ve decided it’s time to move onto a new daily driver.

As is tradition, it was time for one last shine before we part ways.

This was a 2 part’r, the interior done Saturday with the exterior saved for Sunday. It was a very Griot’s weekend, as it’s what I tend to reach for when I just want things to work.

Interior was done with Interior Detailer, Leather 3 and 1 Spray for the seats. Wood trim was chased with Rinseless Wash and Wax.

As mentioned when I put it in the “What have you been doing detailing related”, despite being a dog hauler, commuter, and ride service for my 8yo daughter, I didn’t need to reach for anything deeper reaching for most surface cleaning. I did step it up to Multi Surface Citrus cleaner for some tar spots on the driver’s dead pedal, and Interior Cleaner for the pedals.
The all weather mats got hit with a pass of Interior Cleaner (scrubbed with a soft tipped bench brush), rinsed, and chased with Interior Detailer. Quick wipe with a microfiber after and they’re clean but not slick.

Full confession - the carpet only got a thorough vacuum (yes, that’s salt crust you see in the drivers footwell…). A friend is buying the car, and for what he’s paying for it I’ll let him close out the relay race. It’s nice to know he’s the type to pull seats to really do carpet right, so it’s going to a good home…






For the exterior, it was a solid hand wash with Duragloss car wash (just what I had on hand). Clayed with soapy water from the bucket with a boost of N914.

Wheels hit with one of Sonax’s heavier cleaners (I forget which one). In case he wants to take the wheels the rest of the way, I just chased them with Sonax BSD to not leave them naked. Tires I used Mike Phillips trick of Pinnacle Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner/Conditioner on a drill brush.

Door jams/fuel filler done with Ech20.

Paint correction /protection done with Griot’s Ceramic All in One Wax and Orange pads, GG9 and G8. They say not to use it on rubber, so I cheated and hit some areas with Blackfire One Step since I haven’t had trouble with it in those areas.
Blackfire One Step for the glass.

Grills and lower trim hit with Optimum OptiSeal.

By the time I was done, wasn’t the best lighting for dramatic final product photos, but here’s what I got.





Through the years, the car treated me exceptionally well, helping me financially with a couple insurance payouts.

One was a deer strike to the RF that crossed over to the drivers side, bending the RF fender and hood, breaking the headlights, blew off the drivers side mirror, put a little crease in the drivers a pillar. Only cracked the bumper and front grill. “Totaled” the car.
Junkyard (same paint color) hood, pulled the fender back up, new headlights, junkyard mirror (if you look close, only the driver’s mirror is black).

Another incident that left bigger scars was the morning I got to meet a 19yo on my way to work one morning. Turns out while traffic was stopping, she was looking over her shoulder to change lanes, blasting my LR corner. Did my best to leave them room for braking/get out of their way (as well as flashing my rear fog lights to alert to the slowdown), but she got me anyway. Folded my LR muffler out until it made contact with my LR tire, for the first time rendering my unstoppably reliable car immobilized.

Brought the car to a frame shop for inspection after hanging new exhaust on it to make sure it was still safe to have my daughter in. After his blessing, it got a new bumper reinforcement and all 4 taillights (only 2 got blown up, but this way they matched). Got lucky, and force didn’t transfer into the LR quarter.
I spent a good while searching for a replacement bumper cover that matched, but to be honest I needed the money more than the appearances bothered me.

Side note, I’m also a little superstitious about replacing rear bumpers after going through something similar with my wife’s last car. Hers had rear bumper repair done before she bought it, and the bumper condition always bugged us. Searched around and found a really nice black bumper cover. Got it cleaned up and installed, and 3 weeks later she got tagged in the back by someone not paying attention at an intersection. I was then convinced if I found the unicorn matching color rear bumper cover for my avant (not a lot of wagons in the states…), it was going to be a target on my backside.

And so, she spent some time on the road like this:



Anywho. Thanks for reading this far, I don’t often have a chance to sit down and do write ups.




Time for this one to go off into the sunset, soon I’ll do a post when I get my new Daily up to ‘Geek snuff.

Great shape all things considered! Are you getting an RS6 to replace it

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[Desertnate]

Great shape all things considered! Are you getting an RS6 to replace it

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

You read my mind!

What's next? If not an RS6 maybe a V60 Polestar? E63 AMG Wagon?

The car looks great. It's nice to know the next owner will appreciate what you've done to keep it on the road and the farewell "spa day" it received.

[Sizzle Chest]

Looks great and doesn't owe you a dime! Very nice and impressive mileage!

[Prange]

Looks great. Your friend should be thrilled with it.

[oneheadlite]

Great shape all things considered! Are you getting an RS6 to replace it

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

You read my mind!

What's next? If not an RS6 maybe a V60 Polestar? E63 AMG Wagon?

...

I wish I had as much money as you guys have optimism for my next purchase.

Honestly, I’d been planning on a B9 A4 allroad as a replacement, but they’ve been hanging higher in value than I can get myself to justify. Pipe dream would be an A6 allroad, but I think those are definitely out of my envelope for a while.

Turns out, right around the time I was seriously thinking it may be time to make a move car wise, a customer at work had let one of the service writers up front he was thinking about selling his ‘16 A6. Was thinking out loud bouncing ideas off my wife one night, and decided what-the-hey, I should give him a ring and find out what he’d want for it. He was just looking to get the trade in value he’d receive for it, which was a lot less than I was expecting, and a whole lot less than an A4 allroad.

And so I find myself without an avant as a daily for the first time since 2010 (had a ‘98 A4 avant, 2.8 5 speed quattro before the C6); first time having a car with a trunk since 2012 (when I parted ways with my E36 M3).

“New car” is a ‘16 A6 2.0T Quattro, a minuscule 70k on the clock. Meticulously maintained (above and beyond the basics; hard to find these days!). Havanna (*gulp*) Black over brown/black interior. Every option you could get on a 2 Liter A6, so even though the old car had everything one would have at the time, the new one feels like a definite upgrade.

A prestige car (3.0t) would have opened up the ability to get ventilated seats, heads up display, power trunk, and the next level of sound system. But this one still has LED headlights, adaptive cruise, lane assist, and around view camera (witchcraft!). I don’t miss the 3.0t (the supercharged iteration for this gen); as a facelift car the 2.0t is hitting 276 ft lbs at 1600 rpm, which is just fine for a commuter. Definite fuel mileage increase over the old car, and maintenance costs go down with the 4 cyl which is really nice.

I wanna drive it stock for a bit, but the +69 HP and +88 TQ APR can unlock with just software is awwwwwfully tempting…

[hoyt66]

Great example of what a solid detailing routine will do for you.

[Desertnate]

“New car” is a ‘16 A6 2.0T Quattro, a minuscule 70k on the clock. Meticulously maintained (above and beyond the basics; hard to find these days!). Havanna (*gulp*) Black over brown/black interior. Every option you could get on a 2 Liter A6, so even though the old car had everything one would have at the time, the new one feels like a definite upgrade.

That will be a nice commuter and road trip car. Congrats! Sounds like it was a great opportunity you couldn't really let pass.

I don't see any downsides to the APR tune. It would probably give you just enough of a bump in power to overcome the slight weight hit you take with the 2.0 vs the 3.0 on a larger car like an A6. From what I remember when researching the APR tune for the GTI I owned at the time, there was no fuel economy hit with the tune; it might actually improve economy AND boost power output. That seems to the be the beauty of those VAG 2.0 engines.

[Odrapnew]

Thoroughly detailing a car before handing over the keys to new owner, that's a dedicated detailer...I'm sure since it was a friend, that had something to do with it.

Also, should we be planning for a Show N' Shine post of the new vehicle in the near future.....after we get through this nasty heat/humidity?

[oneheadlite]

That will be a nice commuter and road trip car. Congrats! Sounds like it was a great opportunity you couldn't really let pass.

I don't see any downsides to the APR tune. It would probably give you just enough of a bump in power to overcome the slight weight hit you take with the 2.0 vs the 3.0 on a larger car like an A6. From what I remember when researching the APR tune for the GTI I owned at the time, there was no fuel economy hit with the tune; it might actually improve economy AND boost power output. That seems to the be the beauty of those VAG 2.0 engines.

Yeah, it’s partly just wanting to spend some time in stock form to get a butt-dyno and fuel economy baseline. I’m an APR fan; when I was at the dealership I never had one car with an APR tune have any oddities, which I couldn’t say for other tunes. Had a friend that chipped his 1.8t Passat at 10k miles and run it nearly to 200 with nary an issue.

Thoroughly detailing a car before handing over the keys to new owner, that's a dedicated detailer...I'm sure since it was a friend, that had something to do with it.

Also, should we be planning for a Show N' Shine post of the new vehicle in the near future.....after we get through this nasty heat/humidity?

I dunno, I guess it’s the same part of me that passes out lunch samples to my foodie coworkers - that part that’s like “Here! Check out this thing I like!”. All the easier when the age and mileage hide behind the shine.

And absolutely on the show and shine for the next car. As it sits now, it’s in “well cared about civilian car after a MN winter” mode. No interior wear or damage to soft touch surfaces or screens/panels, but in need of a thorough once over. Little salt crust (more than the avant) to work out. The exterior has an odd film over it, honestly not sure what it is. Nice thing though is no major RIDS or beater-brush car wash abuse marking.

Dying to get it reset to a proper baseline, but we just did a road trip in the wife’s Q5, so it’s first in the queue.

“New” car is a neat color, in my opinion. In darker situations, it looks black; but in the sun it’s got a rich brown look to it. I don’t have polarized sunglasses, but a couple friends have commented on how much the color change stands out when you have them.