Audi RS3 Saloon

Starting point

The Audi RS3 Saloon in Nardo Grey came to us with just under 40,000 kilometres. Nardo Grey is among the hardest paints, and scratches are very difficult to remove. On top of that came heavy iron fallout sitting in the pores of the paint.

Work

The first step was a hand wash with iron fallout treatment. To show that iron fallout still sits in the paint pores after polishing or claying, we deliberately did only one pass with iron fallout remover first and polished straight afterwards. With contamination this heavy, at least two passes are needed. The hard cutting stages on the Nardo Grey demand special attention at all edges and transitions, otherwise they get polished through. After the complete paint correction came the second iron fallout treatment to remove even small remnants, then the degreasing wash. The paint was now well prepared for the coating. To be sure, it was degreased once more by hand with two special cleaners. Only then did we begin the ceramic coating. Polishing the paint down until no iron fallout remains, or until even very deep scratches disappear, would be the wrong approach: the car has to remain polishable for the kilometres ahead.

Result

Despite this restraint we removed almost all defects and achieved a very good paint finish, onto which the ceramic coating was then applied. You can find the video of the RS3 on our YouTube channel.

Workshop archive, original report. Product details reflect the state at the time.