Audi RS4 – Daytona Grey Pearl
This one left its mark with me (quite literally… (more on that later)). A truly stunning vehicle and a massive eye opener to the RS range that Audi produces.
I was fortunate enough to drive this throughout the detail stages; a collect and deliver service saw me clock just over 100 miles in it. If I had £30k sat in savings, THIS, is what I would buy. Epic.
Product
• 3M Glass Cleaner
• 303 Aerospace Protectant
• AutoSmart G101
• AutoSmart Tardis
• AutoSol
• AutoGlym Vinyl & Rubber Care
• Belgom ALU
• Chemical Guys Wheel Guard
• Chemical Guys New Look Trim Gel
• Dodo Juice Born To Be Mild
• Dodo Juice Supernatural wax
• LTT Auto Ultra Foam
• LTT Auto Ultra Protect
• Meguiars Super-Degreaser
• Meguiars All-Purpose Cleaner (APC)
• Menzerna 85RD 3.02
• Menzerna 203s
• Optimum No rinse (ONR)
• Sonus Green Clay bar
• Zaino Z8 Grand finale
Vehicle upon inspection:
Engines up first. Megs G101, Super-Degreaser and various brushes. “GO!”
Rinsed with low pressure - Engine allowed to run to aid drying stage.
Wheels, although coming off later that morning, underwent the usual cleaning process.
Front-end doused in APC to soften the squished bugs.
Vehicle foamed with G101 to help strip the rest of the surface dirt and ensure no previous protection remains.
Re-foamed with Super Snowfoam and then washed with the two bucket jobbie and Dodo Juice Born To Be Mild.
Water sheeted to aid drying stages and then remaining water collected with a super plush drying towel:
With the car raised in the garage the wheels were stripped back and all contaminants removed.
Wheel weight glue removed:
Cleaned with Jeffs Prime before being sealed:
Alu trim pieces on the centre caps were cleansed with Jeffs Prime in hope of removing the tarnished finish.
Although improved, much of the tarnishing remained. (Judging by the state of the front alu grille, a strong TFR like cleaner has been used in a previous life and potentially caused this damage)
Whilst the wheels were off, I took the opportunity to tidy up those exhaust silencers.
Tar removed with Tardis, cleansed and polished with AutoSol / Belgom.
…a bit of a sneak preview of what’s to come:
Calipers polished up with Jeffs Prime.
Once the wheels were back on and torqued, ONR was used to assist in the clay bar stages.
After full wash and decontamination:
Starting with the small pad work, Menz 203s was used with a green Hexlogic Light Cut pad which knocked back the haze caused by the swirls and finished down nicely at the same time.
A buffer trail visible in the light peering through the window:
Continuing with the small pad work:
A heavier scratch on the lower O/S was hit three times with 85RD 3.02 and a Heavy Cut pad.
Better, but too far gone for polishing.
Progress:
Bonnet shows signs of respray work (which we knew about already…)
Also blown in to the wing to keep the consistent finish…
Deep marks from factory on the bootlid:
Light clusters polished with 203s:
As were the bumpers:
Machine polishing complete on the second day and a full IPA wipeover was given.
Dodo Juice Supernatural used to protect:
Plastics dressed with AG Vinyl & Rubber Care:
Metal work and carbon fibre cleansed with Jeffs Prime (as were the rest of the ‘shiny bits’ at the front end):
Exterior plastics dressed with 303 Aerospace:
The sun made a brief appearance:
• Glass cleaned inside and out
• Tyres dressed
• Shuts polished with Jeffs Prime
• Final Z8 wipedown given
• Other dressings and toothpickery work carried out…
Leather cleaned and protected with LTT.
Dirt from gear knob removed:
Rest of interior sorted and tidied where required.
Fini.
En route, a few ‘scenic’ locations were chosen to try chase those all important after photographs..
Now, at this point, I tried to ‘elevate’ myself for a final promo shot. It went horribly wrong. Whilst slipping, I reached out to brace the fall and put my hand through a barbed fence… There was blood everywhere (fortunately, not on the RS!)
One Hospital trip later, I’m fixed and ready to go.
Lucky for me, I wasn’t by myself. Ryan from T66 Limited was around and was able to help me with the logistics and delivery of the RS (being quite the specialist!)
So I’ve been left with a mark, both emotionally and physically! Looking back, it’s more than worth it. AWESOME car.
Thanks for reading.
Jim