This weekend I worked on a 2001 Audi A3 recently purchased by Mech81's partner and Dennis booked it in for a bit of TLC and Opticoat treatment.
They've had the car only for a couple of months and whilst it was picked up for a bargain, it wasn't hard to see it'd had a hard life in terms of its paint.
The previous owner had the car outside for several years and it had built up a reasonable layer of oxidisation, which had faded the metallic blue somewhat.
Without even stripping the oxidisation, there were already signs of some severe paint marring waiting to be uncovered (apologies if these are a bit hard to see. The oxidisation had dulled the paint to the point where it had also dulled the scratching underneath..... a concealment technique I must admit I'd never thought of )
Scratching starting on the passenger side front guard:
Continuing to not so light scratching above the passenger side door:
and still more scratching on the passenger side rear door:
Finishing with yet more scratching on the C pillar:
It was a similar story on the driver's side.
Front guard (scratching just above the corner of the headlight):
Driver's side front door:
VERY deep scratching on the driver's side rear door:
Another deep scratch on the driver's side C pillar:
More scratching on the driver's side rear quarter:
Oxidisation had dulled the once prominent four rings:
Wheels just looking "tired" (pun intended )
Two rounds of decontamination to start the process:
Then a wash and some all purpose cleaner in the guards:
Now we're starting to get somewhere:
A little attention to those four rings:
And of course to the rest of the car to start chipping away that oxidisation:
"Plates off" for this one methinks:
Clearer already. It's amazing what a little "special" acid will do lol (no I'm not joking):