An Audi A6 bought from new and only washed, never properly detailed. Dirt packed into every gap, door handles, badges, shut areas -- where corrosion starts. Gary spots a front bumper colour mismatch suggesting previous spray work. Full detail, machine polish, Matrix Blue on paintwork, wheels, bumpers, lights and number plates.
This Audi A6 has been owned from nearly new -- bought from the dealer when it was about a year old. The owner has washed it over the years but never had it properly detailed. Gary walks around it before they start and points out what that looks like in practice.
What "Just Washed" Actually Means
Dirt packs into every gap -- behind the badges, around the door handles, in the shut areas, around the rear number plate lights. This is not just cosmetic. Dirt holds moisture, and moisture in those gaps is where corrosion starts. Gary shows the rear of the car where you can already see the beginnings of it around the back lights.
The front bumper is a slightly different colour to the rest of the car. That often happens anyway -- bumpers are painted separately at the factory and it is genuinely difficult to get a perfect match. But in this case Gary is fairly confident there has been some repair work done at some point, which has not helped. The paintwork itself feels rough to the touch -- airborne metal particles and general contamination bond to the surface over time and create that texture. A clay bar removes it.
The Treatment
Full detail first: all the gaps cleaned out, badges, door handles, shut areas, exhausts, everything. Then machine polish on the paintwork. Then Matrix Blue ceramic coating -- three-year protection applied to the painted surfaces, the wheels, the bumpers, the lights and the number plates. The result is a car that looks like new, with every surface protected going forward.
On white cars the coating is particularly visible in daily use -- the hydrophobic effect means rain cleans the surface as it runs off, and the car is noticeably easier to keep clean. You still have to wash it, but roughly half as often.
Which Ceramic Coating Is the Best
We have tried a lot of them. There is no clear winner and opinions vary -- it is a bit like asking which is the best football team in the Premier League. They are all world-class. What matters far more than the coating brand is the preparation of the car beforehand. The polishing is a bigger factor in the end result than the ceramic. We apply Matrix Blue and a range of others; the right choice depends on how long you plan to keep the car. See our full ceramic coating range.
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