PolishedBliss
11th January 2007, 15:34
First major detail of 2007 for us, and what a big one it was - I knew Q7's were big, but my god, they are HUGE! And now I want one! The story behind this one: the soon to be owner has had previous new cars delivered in poor condition by various dealerships in Aberdeen, so this time he passed on the lifetime treament option at £250 and called us in instead. We were all hoping for a simple protection detail, but as always, some surprises were in store.
I have to say at this point the Audi dealership were very difficult to work with - in fairness to them although they have a very fancy showroom, the space reserved for valeting is tiny and poorly equipped in comparison, and they didn't really understand what a detail was compared to the normal half hour to hour they allocate to new car preparation. Only after 9 hours of seeing us graft away did they understand. We were also lucky that the area they had in mind for us to work was turned into a building site yesterday, so we got to work in the new car delivery bay - where we should have been put to start with; the head salesman thought the site of us working in front of customers was a bad thing, so wasn't keen... but by the end of the day I think maybe they now understand what we do a little better!
Ok, onto the detail. At our instruction, we were handed the car unwashed and with all the wraps and transport wax intact...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline1.jpg
First job was to remove the wraps, and then treat the entire exterior to a friendly degreaser to remove all of the transport wax. We then foamed the exterior with shampoo, washed with two buckets and mitts, foamed again, cleaned the wheels using a pH neutral cleaner, rinsed and dried...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline2.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline3.jpg
The car was then moved to the presentation area, and a paint inspection was conducted. 75 measurements with our Posititector 6000 gave the following data: average paint thickness on all metal panels of 109 microns, with a minimum of 72 microns (front wings :eek: ) and a maximum of 138 microns, with a standard deviation of 14 microns across the whole car. Plenty of orange peel too, and sadly, defects, in the form of various random scuffs and scratches under the areas that had been covered in wraps, plus a hologram on the rear passenger side door. Oh poo...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline4.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline5.jpg
So, out with the Makita, PC and the finishing polishes, and after some light polishing work to almost all of the panels, 100% correction...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline6.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline7.jpg
Then we moved on to the protection aspect, firstly by cleansing the paint (all major panels and shuts) and laying down a basecoat of tough acrylic protection, and then by finishing with Zymol Carbon, to add wetness and further bring out the flake. The wheels were treated to multiple coats of a wheel sealant, the tyres dressed and all plastics treated with a protective dressing (including under the bonnet). The interior was then stripped of all the protective wraps and given a basic interior detail. Finally, the mats were put in place, the alloys finished off by adding the bolt covers and centre caps and everything checked over carefully to ensure a perfect finish...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline8.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline9.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline10.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline11.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline12.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline13.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline14.jpg
So, 9 hours work, fun and games to boot, but we got there in the end. The soon to be owner is collecting it first thing tomorrow, and the dealership have been instructed not to dust it down beforehand, just in case. Goes without saying that if you ever work at a dealership you need to have in place full trade insurance, and our thanks go to AndyC for helping us to arrange this at the end of last year - a true gent, and an insurance wizard. :thumb:
I have to say at this point the Audi dealership were very difficult to work with - in fairness to them although they have a very fancy showroom, the space reserved for valeting is tiny and poorly equipped in comparison, and they didn't really understand what a detail was compared to the normal half hour to hour they allocate to new car preparation. Only after 9 hours of seeing us graft away did they understand. We were also lucky that the area they had in mind for us to work was turned into a building site yesterday, so we got to work in the new car delivery bay - where we should have been put to start with; the head salesman thought the site of us working in front of customers was a bad thing, so wasn't keen... but by the end of the day I think maybe they now understand what we do a little better!
Ok, onto the detail. At our instruction, we were handed the car unwashed and with all the wraps and transport wax intact...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline1.jpg
First job was to remove the wraps, and then treat the entire exterior to a friendly degreaser to remove all of the transport wax. We then foamed the exterior with shampoo, washed with two buckets and mitts, foamed again, cleaned the wheels using a pH neutral cleaner, rinsed and dried...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline2.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline3.jpg
The car was then moved to the presentation area, and a paint inspection was conducted. 75 measurements with our Posititector 6000 gave the following data: average paint thickness on all metal panels of 109 microns, with a minimum of 72 microns (front wings :eek: ) and a maximum of 138 microns, with a standard deviation of 14 microns across the whole car. Plenty of orange peel too, and sadly, defects, in the form of various random scuffs and scratches under the areas that had been covered in wraps, plus a hologram on the rear passenger side door. Oh poo...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline4.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline5.jpg
So, out with the Makita, PC and the finishing polishes, and after some light polishing work to almost all of the panels, 100% correction...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline6.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline7.jpg
Then we moved on to the protection aspect, firstly by cleansing the paint (all major panels and shuts) and laying down a basecoat of tough acrylic protection, and then by finishing with Zymol Carbon, to add wetness and further bring out the flake. The wheels were treated to multiple coats of a wheel sealant, the tyres dressed and all plastics treated with a protective dressing (including under the bonnet). The interior was then stripped of all the protective wraps and given a basic interior detail. Finally, the mats were put in place, the alloys finished off by adding the bolt covers and centre caps and everything checked over carefully to ensure a perfect finish...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline8.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline9.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline10.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline11.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline12.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline13.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f293/polishedbliss/polishedbliss/q70107/q7sline14.jpg
So, 9 hours work, fun and games to boot, but we got there in the end. The soon to be owner is collecting it first thing tomorrow, and the dealership have been instructed not to dust it down beforehand, just in case. Goes without saying that if you ever work at a dealership you need to have in place full trade insurance, and our thanks go to AndyC for helping us to arrange this at the end of last year - a true gent, and an insurance wizard. :thumb: