2013 Audi Q5 - Paint Correction & Opti-Coat by Mr. Sparkle Detailing - Long Island

Mr. Sparkle · Feb 18, 2013

Client contacted me looking for Opti-Coat protection for his wife's new Audi Q5. Car was white, and just picked up from the dealer so I anticipated a 1 step polish. This correction proved to be a bit of a moving target though as I learned.

Shortly after booking the date, we had a major blizzard. The snow was pretty much gone by the time it was dropped off but the car was filthy after the storm.

Started off with a big rinse outside the shop. Tons of dirt rinsed off. Did my best to get the undercarriage as well. While I was outside I cleaned the wheels with CG sticky gel and Optimum Power Clean for the tires / wheel wells.

Brought it inside, and foamed it down. CG citrus wash & gloss + OPC

Cleaning all the hard to reach areas

During my 2 bucket wash you can see just how dirty this car was even after rinsing and foam.

Once cleaned the paint showed some tiny bits of tar and rust blooms. Seemed like a good time for CarPro TRIX

TRIX doing its thing

With Iron X and TRIX I spray product, spread with a damp applicator for full coverage, let it dwell a couple minutes, then go over it again with the damp applicator. Here it is after all that and resting on the side for a few. Thats bits of iron on the applicator. This is a good way to see if the product is working on a dark colored car which can be tough

The thorough decon step left very little to clay which went very quickly.

Finally I could get a decent look at the paint. Swirls can sometimes be difficult to visualize on white paint. Not in my garage. The power of LED lights giving me sight beyond sight

Did my test spot on the rear of the car. Tried LC white with Menz Power Finish and it was almost enough. Moved on to LC Tangerine with Power Finish and got the following

Was moving around the car and here and there I found a stray scratch or two that required a second pass. Eventually I was adding a tiny bit of Menz SIP to the Power Finish. This was giving me a little extra bite to start while still finishing down how I liked.

Made sure I got the taillights while I was doing my thing

Got to the black pillars and found this paint real soft in comparison to the rest and also a little more beat up. Small area but I ended having to 3 step these guys. D300/MF pads, then power finish & tangerine followed by super finish (SF4000) and black pad

Got to the hood and I'm glad I didn't do my test spot there. It had deeper defects than the rest of the car for some reason. Had to use D300 and Optimum MF pads and finishing with Power Finish / Tangerine

The doors responded well to the Power Finish / SIP mixture. This side of the line not yet polished

This side was just finished

After the correction I took a dinner break and returned for the evening session. Another wash, wipedown with Eraser, and Opti-Coat all around

Serving Long Island from the Mr. Sparkle garage in West Babylon, NY!

Mr. Sparkle Detailing.com