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Paint Correction: 2002 Audi S8

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Sometimes it’s a good idea to promise less and give more. The owner of this 2002 Audi S8 wanted the car cleaned up a little bit. He was not looking for anything special, and specifically stated that he was not looking for all the scratches to be removed. (Or any of them for that matter) The Audi had spent most of it’s life outside and was pretty scratched up as you can see from the pictures. (When I say it spent it’s life outside, I mean there were actual plants GROWING with roots and everything in the dirt in the trunk jam.) The customer explained just wanted it cleaned up a bit and a good coat of wax applied.

On this particular day, one of my other customers had rescheduled so I had the whole day to just work on the exterior of this car, so I thought what the hell and really did a number on the paint.

After washing the car with the Gilmour Foamaster II Foam Gun filled with Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and claying the entire car, I could see what I was really dealing with. It looked like the car had been previously washed with a Brillo Pad.

Paint Correction by Gotham Auto Works 2002 Audi s8

While my partner got to work on the interior, I got to work figuring out the best combination was going to be to restore this car from what could only be called flat gray to its true mirror black. This turned out to be the best result:

Paint Correction by Gotham Auto Works 2002 Audi s8

Step 1).
Machine = Makita 9227C-X3 Rotary Buffer
Pad = Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool Pad
Product =  Meguiar’s Ultra-Cut Compound M105

I have recently become a very big fan of the Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool pad, especially when using it with the Meguiar’s Ultra Cut Compound 105. No matter what I tried with other pads, the M105 always gummed up on me a bit, but this pad seems to keep it to a minimum. It seems to be the “missing pad” from my collection and I use it as my “Go-To” pad for compounding.

Step 2).
Machine = Makita 9227C-X3 Rotary Buffer
Pad = Lake Country Green Very Light Cutting Pad
Product = Meguiar’s Ultra Finishing Polish M205

I chose the Lake Country Green Very Light Cutting Pad for this second step since since I still wanted to do a little more work on the paint that a pad geared more toward a final polish may not have been aggressive enough. I knew that it would take A LOT more work to really get this car back to show room condition, but I did want to really do some work to impress the customer. I went with the M205, because well, they were made to be used together and I like that I can make a couple (usually 3-4) passes before the M205 becomes too thin..

After performing these two steps, I washed the car again with the Gilmour Foamaster II Foam Gun filled with Chemical Guys Citrus Wash to remove all the dust from the body of the car and to make sure I had removed all the M105 and M205 from the surface of the car before moving onto my next step.

Step 3).
Machine = Makita 9227C-X3 Rotary Buffer
Pad = Lake Country Black Finishing Pad 5.5 Inch
Product = Chemical Guys Extreme EZ-Creme Glaze with Acrylic Shine II

To apply the EZ-Creme Glaze, I dialed back the speed on the Makita all the way down to 600 to just give me a little bit of help to minimize the appearance of any scratches that were deeper into the clear coat and the color itself. As I mentioned, the customer ONLY wanted a coat of wax, so I wasn’t overly concerned with getting every defect out of the paint.  At this speed  was able to do three passes on each section before the EZ-Creme dried up.  The EZ-Creme is a great product to use as a final step before applying your wax or sealant.

Step 4).
Machine = Cyclo Dual Action Polisher (a Porter-Cable-M17/7424XP-Random Orbital Buffer could be used here as well)
Pad = Lake Country Black Finishing Pad 4 inch.
Product = Meguiar’s Synthetic Sealant 2.0 M21

I went with a sealant rather than a wax for my final product because I knew that the vehicle was just going to get beat up again, and I wanted the customer to remember the work I put into the paint.

Before:

Paint Correction by Gotham Auto Works 2002 Audi s8

After

Paint Correction by Gotham Auto Works 2002 Audi s8

Before:

Paint Correction by Gotham Auto Works 2002 Audi s8

After:

Paint Correction by Gotham Auto Works 2002 Audi s8

Before:

Paint Correction by Gotham Auto Works 2002 Audi s8

After:

Paint Correction by Gotham Auto Works 2002 Audi s8

When the customer came to pick up the car he was thrilled. He never expected that it would look the way it did. I did inform him that I did more work then what he was paying for, and of course he was happy about it.

8 comments on Paint Correction: 2002 Audi S8

  1. Good work of bringing that rock-hard Audi paint back to life Kevin! I too believe in the business concept of under-promising and over-delivering…it’s always great to see the look on the clients’ faces when they pick up their cars.

  2. Kevin says:

    Thanks Todd!

  3. Greg @ DI says:

    Very nice work restoring that black paint. I always wanted to race that car around town after watching the chase scenes in the movie Ronin a few times.

  4. Mike says:

    Great article Kevin. I think we all run into this situation once in a while where we have some ‘extra time’. Also, great website.

  5. Peter says:

    This is just amazing! Do you know anybody who’d be able to do a miracle like this in Phoenix/Scottsdale area? I have a jet black ’06 E90 that could use some professional TLC.

  6. Kevin says:

    Peter,
    Thank you for your comment! Off hand I do not know of anyone in immediately your area. It looks like Eric Schuster of Envious Detailing is the closest. He may be able to travel to you or have your car shipped to him, or at least recommend someone a little closer. Good luck

  7. Kevin Awalt says:

    Peggy, or Sam, or whatever you feel like being called today. I will admit the pictures are not that great. I am using an average, everyday digital camera. Also, the before pictures were all taken in the morning, and the after pictures were all taken in the afternoon, so the lighting is certainly different as well. By all means, call my photography skills into question. Most of the time, my before and after pictures don’t even come out at all. It’s something I am working on. I am not sure why you are questioning my detailing ability, but all my contact info can be found here and I would be more then happy to speak to you about it. Keep in mind this business is how I support my family and I would appreciate any attacks on my reputation be brought to me first to see if they are justified before any accusations are displayed.

  8. larry says:

    I have a Audi S4 Black and it looks like some of the cars here does anyone know of a real professional who could help in the Green Bay Wi area?? I have a Porter Cable used Merzena and darn near everything else, can not get it right so I need help??

    Thanks

    Larry

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