New client sought me out as he picked up a pre-owned RS4, upon inspection I knew the vehicle was going to need quite a bit to bring it back but the process was slowed due to a injury(Tweaked shoulder doing the Range Rover before it) so I brought in Jeff @ Imacculate Reflections to help me out to finish the task. Pics as the car was brought in. Upon inspection(After cleaning one wheel) the wheels had been "Repaired" with the hackness.................brake dust sprayed over with clear trapping the dirt and brake dust so the wheels were sent out for re-spray. During the paint correction step, readings like this gave me pause.................proceed with caution. Water spot etch along with deep RIDS and marring. Pic tells the story. Marring on lower rocker area. Looking good. Deep scratch on the rear bumper. Readings taken to see how much was there to work with................not much. Repaired bumper after. Rear right quarter with a cluster of deep marring, area had enough clear for sanding step. Area "As new" again. More defects. After. Deep marring.
A few RIDS had to stay as the readings were 90 microns or less. Hub mounting surface had built up rust so I borrowed a dremel from Alek @ Alekshop and repaired this area for a better seat of the wheel upon remounting the wheels. The "Carpets" in the wheel well were hammered with built up dried crust and on one shroud road paint. After. Caliper polished and sealed. Wheels back from painting. Remounted and now "Certified tightness". Jeff polishing rear quarter. Upgraded valve caps for the wheels. My favorite..........water spot etch in the jambs. After much effort.............................removed(lol). A few interior pics. Jeff and I were working fast to meet the delivery(Finally...) deadline and almost did not get sun pics.
Beautiful work. I know you prefer not to share your pro-tips. But what category of product was used for the wheel well 'carpets'? Having a VW, I have that type of liner as well but have never thought of what type of products/tools to use.
Bob, you weren't kidding when you told me about those before pics. Even after seeing it with my own eyes its hard to believe its the same car! Bob and I fought hard to get this car in the sun for the pics: Accomplished with minutes to spare I took some pics as well, so here they are. The interior got the five star treatment as well. After much work, the dry Napa leather was restored to a beautiful matte/satin finish. Rear seats look on the shiny side, but thats just the exposure on the camera. All seats looked matte/satin and felt quite nice. *Certified*
I get a lot of these and find a good pressure washing in most cases is enough to remove all the dirt and mud. Watch for the SLK writeup I'm doing and you'll see what I mean.
Nice work guys. Thanks for the tip of using the Dremel for brake hubs. Are some body shops that pressed for time or lazy to clean all parts of the wheels before repairing and painting?
No secret here.........APC and a stiff bristle brush plus lot's o scrubbing, Ken "Nailed it" pressure washing will do it but I had the car on the lift with the wheels off so that was not a option this time.
