Detailed - Audi S4 Cabriolet - Black

**XCELR8** · 10-08-2008 12:43 PM

Same friend that did my A4 a couple months ago tackled a coworker's S4. Wasn't as bad as mine, but turned out great. Here's his thread...

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Another co-worker of mine has a nice S4 Cab he wanted some time spent with. The car had never had any love other than regular washes, but it was evident the wrong kind of materials were used to wash it. The paint had some pretty good towel marks and evidence there was still dirt involved in the the drying process too. He asked me to see what I could do after seeing the results Rich's Evolution Paint Correction System had with two other black cars I have done. On with it!

I first started with a good Dawn wash and clay-barring. Lotsa tar was in the paint but afterwards it wasn't looking too bad.

As expected, when I got it under bright light things took a turn for the worse.....

It had been in a minor accident he plans to have fixed in the spring, but it was up to me to make look better for now:

Think any women have been driving it? I wonder what gave it away....

And last but not least - the big daddy. A BAD scratch that was inherited fro the prior owner. This one made me gulp hard.

First thing first. Time to get the sandpaper out. I soaked some 3M 2000 grit and got to work.

**XCELR8** · 10-08-2008 12:44 PM

I never like to have to sand scratches out but am beginning to realize clearcoat is deeper than you think. I ended up sanding the big scratch completely out before polishing, but I'm sure I have removed almost all of the clear in that area, which is scary. Near the end I was taking 2 or 3 swipes, wiping it down and taking a good look. Then I would repeat. A buddy of mine actually laughed at me because he though for sure I had wrecked this paintjob. I started by rubbing some of the deeper areas with red compound (liquid sandpaper!) to smooth them out. I thenwent to Extreme Cut on orange pads and did the entire car, using decent pressure and and Gloss Enhancer to prolong the cutting as long as possible. After finishing and doing an alcohol wipedown I hand rubbed some of the deeper scratches out again with the Extreme Cut and then did the whole car a second time the same way. I followed with Evolution Cut on yellow pads once, another IPA wash and then Evolution Polish with green followed by Gloss Activator by hand and then Gloss Finish and the white pads.

Rub-a-dub-dub.....

After working on the car for about 3 hours I was starting to see results. Sinister.....

I called it a night at 2am.....

The next morning revealed about 30 minutes worth of "sun" before the rain hit. Just enough time to hit the Audi with a Gloss enhancer wipedown and to get some pics before returning. It would have been stunning in the sun because probably 85% of the scratches that were there before were now gone.

Big scratch? Where?

If you look back you'll see there were two places on this panel that had to be sanded as well....

A few more before the drive to work. It's a good thing I drive a truck because I would be in some serious trouble in this bad boy....

Total time spent was about 10 hours over 3 evenings. As with all the others I have done lately, aside from the sandpaper and some red cutting compound the entire job was done with the Evolution Paint Correction Kit Gloss-It sells . For the novice guy like me there's nothing better out there.

**Mrgloss** · 10-08-2008 02:43 PM

Great Write up!

**tamadrumr88** · 10-08-2008 03:14 PM

I've wetsanded but that's just absurd!!! Good job

**art1188** · 10-08-2008 05:36 PM

That is some magic right there. I have a similar nasty scratch in the drivers side door of my TT I think i'll try the same way. Any tips?

**edwardabodnar** · 10-21-2008 08:18 PM

damn Impressive, I have plenty of reasons to try my hand at all that, but would be so nervous...wish you lived closer. How much did you or would you charge for that?