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FinerDetails

Official SCN Supporter
I know its not a SEAT, but its from the VAG group so thought you'd be ok with this one:

I got to meet Richard and his stunning S3 at the last NW meet . Richard asked me to have a look at the car following return trips to Audi, and to inspect some work completed by them. We discussed what had been done, and I explained how I saw it, and gave me suggestions as to what could be done to ‘put things right’.
We had a couple of emails and telephone calls before arranging for Richard to have his car detailed. Richard also asked if I would use his Blackfire products as he would be maintaining the car with these after the detail and wanted to keep the same products in use. He very kindly washed the car the day before bringing it, so it was pretty clean, just the morning road traffic film visible to the eye.

First job was to clean the alloys. As they had been cleaned the day before, some active in a bucket, coupled to the EZ Detail and Swissvax Brushes did the job a treat. Next job was a good rinse over, then a layer of Activo via the Supersprayer.

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I choose to use this as the car was reasonably clean, and also I was getting an early start in. First layer allowed 5 mins to soak, before being rinsed, and a second layer sprayed on, and used with a noodle wash mitt and the pinnacle bucket with grit guard for washing. Once all cleaned, and rinsed, the car was then clayed with Pinnacle Ultra Fine. This removed next to nothing from the car – well done Richard! A further rinse over, and then dried with a Cobra guzzler towel, and moved into the garage. I then checked the Paint Depth Readings, the first is from the original paint, the later from the dealer’s work:

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Next job was to 3m 3434 masking tape up, and also cover and protect the huge grille that Audi’s now hide behind. Knowing Audi paint well I was expecting to be up there on the compound scales to prepped for the worst.
I started testing on the bonnet. As this area was the re-spray I was expecting this to be the harder of the two paints.

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before:

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First call was a 3m polishing pad, and Mark V Mystique. This did a good job but didn’t quite get everything out. So I swapped the pads and dropped a compounding pad on to see is the MVM would step up. It didn’t and actually looked worst if I’m being honest. So, back to the polishing pad, and 3m Extra Fine Cut. Not enough. Same pad, 3m Fine Cut. Almost, but almost is not enough! So, last step up for the polishes, 3m Fast Cut Plus. Bingo! Perfect correction of the very, very fine swirls and the RDS’s.

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In order to not loose the abrasive elements of FCP I didn’t use Ultrafina to kerb its dusting habits. Instead I used the MVM, and this worked very, very well indeed. The solo system of the MVM worked well to hold FCP in place and allow it to be worked for a good period.

Over sling from polishing driver's side of bonnet:

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drivers side:

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whole bonnet to show how little dust etc:

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To give an idea how well, my rpms were only 1500 on the rotary and I was completing very, very slow passes to get the cut from the FCP, but the MVM and lower rpms with the polishing pad meant the heat build up was considerably lower too. This helped the FCP to work for longer, giving better cut, and a great finish as the fast drying out can often cause hologramming. Now that I had all the variables settled, it was time to get comfy and settle in for a long first stage polishing. The tour of the S3 took me around 4 ½ hours to complete.

Rear shoulder RDSs:

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and after:

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Then today's little helper arrived:

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After the first stage of machining was done, and a relief it was too, it was time to start using the Blackfire range of products brought by Richard. First up was the Gloss Enhancing Polish. Thank you to Clark at Polish Bliss for the text reply and info. This was applied by DA using a 3m blue finessing pad.
Next, Blackfire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection. This was applied with a red lake county LCC applicator, and left to cure. Whilst the APPP cured, I waxed the alloys, cleaned the exhaust, using Duraseal, and also all the glass with polish. I then buffed off the APPP, and easy it was too.
Then out with another red LC CCS pad, and a layer of Blackfire Midnight Sun. This was left for 30mins to cure, before buffing off and another layer added. Second layer left for one hour to cure. Tyres and arches were dressed with Finish, and the following pictures taken – indoors thanks to the rain – again!
Thanks to Richard, that S3 is stunning and could easy live in my garage any day ;)