Audi paint..

[Mr Miyagi]

I have ordered an Audi Q5..moving from a Lexus IS350

[Mr Miyagi]

Re: Audi paint..

I have ordered an Audi Q5..moving from a Lexus IS350

well..somehow the rest of my post is gone..

but basically wondering about Audi paint..is it any more (or less) difficult to maintain than Lexus, etc?

[erobertson]

Re: Audi paint..

Their white is easy to maintain and will really shine. Black paint more temperamental but certainly an eye catcher when properly detailed. I'd advise having protective coating aka "clear bra" applied; especially a small strip placed in tail gate area. I didn't opt for that at purchase and just went for traditional hood, grill and mirrors. Found the tail gate area was quickly scratched up when we used the vehicle during a move. The few extra dollars up front would have solved a big headache later. Hope you enjoy the Q5!

[wifpd4]

Re: Audi paint..

Miyagi,

Funny question. In my limited experience with detailing a black Audi Q7 and repeated detailing a couple Obsidian black RX450h's, the answer is they are both easier. The Lexus is soft paint and will swirl easier, therefore will correct easier too. The Audi is a little more difficult to swirl (I said a "little"), therefore a bit easier to correct (fewer swirls).

Maintenance will be the same. Be careful how you touch them !!

[davey g-force]

Re: Audi paint..

I own a late model white A3 and it's paint is hard. It's M105 to achieve any correction.

But being white, it generally hides the swirls well.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Audi paint..

Audi, like most other manufacturers, uses more than one paint system depending on the factory in which the vehicle was built. We've seen Audi paint that is rock hard, and we've seen it extremely easy to correct.

Here is a 50/50 shot of an Audi TT with heavy dealer installed rotary swirls. The car was just a few weeks old when this happened, but we corrected it easily with a G110v2, yellow foam polishing pad and Ultimate Compound.


Funny story: this was a couple of weeks after another manufacturer had conducted a webinar on their new compound, and they used a swirled black Audi as the demo car. One commenter on their site said they were extremely brave to use a black Audi since "everyone knows how ridiculously hard Audi paint is". He concluded by stating "you, sir, are a detailing god!!". Well, after we did this test spot with UC and a yellow foam pad, we had the car owner finish off the rest of the quarter panel, and he did so quickly and easily, even though he had never used a buffer before. Of course we just had to tell him that he, too, was a detailing god..... just to be fair, you know?

Lesson learned: take with a grain of salt what you read on forums about the hardness or softness of any manufacturers paint. If someone says "Brand X has such-and-such paint", that is likely very true for the specific car they just worked on, but it's no guarantee that the paint on your car will be the same. And that's why we always do a......... test spot.

[davey g-force]

Re: Audi paint..

Of course, I should have clarified that ^^

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Audi paint..

Of course, I should have clarified that ^^

Well, you were accurate; your Audi has hard paint - fair enough. Had you implied that all Audi paint is hard just because your paint is, then we would have started worrying about you. But that wasn't the case, so we still hold you in high regard around MOL!!!!