The Challenge
For this Blog we are taking a 1999 Audi A3 1.8 daily commuter that has been driven to work, parked (in the wrong places) and driven home again each night. The result is not a bad car with low KM’s for it’s age 188,000 kms.
We plan to take this car from a sorry state to a Mega gloss finish with a clean hydrophobic interior with everything working in sound condition in 7 days. We paid AUS $1500/$US1200 for the car.
Our objective is to sell it for AUS$4500/US$4000 with 12 months Australian registration included.
Day 1
The purchase and then the assessment. Car was bought from a foreign student who’s tenure was completed in Australia and it was time to return home. We washed the car with Mega Gloss car wash so we could do an assessment of what is needed to achieve out goals.
Things wrong.
- Hood lining separated ( a common problem for German cars in hot climates)
- Many small dents
- Scuff marks on the front Bumper
- Swirl marks on every painted surface
- Dull paintwork
- Body plastic trims loose and hanging down
- Very dirty seat fabric and luggage areas
- Bump strips on doors peeling
- Rims have excessive brake dust build up
- Engine bay very dirty
- Headlights are hazy
- Glove box hinge broken
- CD cover missing
- Not registered for road use
- ABS light on and a clunk when applying brakes. (sounds like a loose brake calliper and on checking there are new brake pads so this is possible)
- 2 x tyres needed
Things needed
- NDG products
- Mega Gloss wash
- Shield 120
- NDG Hyperseal
- NDG Clay Bar
- NDG instant detailer
- NDG Genesis Compound & Polish
- NDG Extreme Hydrophobic Shield (For all wheel rims)
- NDG Fabcare
- Bio Crystal Magic cleaner
- Engine lacquer
- NDG Long life tyre shine
- Audi touch-up paint
- 1200 emery & sanding block
- Paintless dent removal equipment
- CD cover
- Plastic adhesive
- New hood lining material
- Trim glue
- 2 tyres
- Registration
Day 2
- Firstly to find out what that noise is when braking.
- Count the number of small dents in the paintwork and arrange the paintless dent removal tools
- Reattach plastic trim pieces
- Repair glovebox hinge
- Clean engine bay
- Order hoodlining trim (possible a change of colour to black)
- Remove all wheels and clean rims and apply NDG Extreme Hydrophobic Shield
- Remove seats for cleaning and NDG Fabcare treatment
- Clean Carpet and apply NDG Fabcare
- Apply NDG Shield 120 to all glass surfaces
- Start the paint restoration process
Day 3
After a morning at a photoshoot with the Barn Yard rescue Mercedes which was invited to attend the official photoshoot for the reopening of a Drive-in theatre after 33 years of abandonment. (just a one off event) it was back to theDaily Ride Rescue Audi.
Work completed:
- Paint correction and colour coded touch-ups.
- Re-apply underbody paint to doorsills
- Re-buff the bodywork with Rotary machine and waffle pad
- Vacuumed interior
- Repaired plastic trims
- Cleaned all door trims
Day 4.
Getting closer to finishing you always need to ask yourself it you are putting too much into the project. In this case probably the answer in “Yes” but the results we are getting from this A3 are excellent. We did remove the Headlights and repaired a broken mounting tab and cleaned lenses and reflectors which always gives a car that new look. Now the remaining jobs are Re-trim the hood-lining and to remove the remaining small dents.
Work completed:
- Restoration of headlights
- Removed tape holding down re-glued trims
- Vacuum the car
- Repainted the battery clamp
Day 5.
The new RH lower control arm arrived and was fitted without any issue. The car has been taken by a journalist who it driving it until the headlining material arrives where the interior will be removed and seats will be cleaned and coated in NDG Fabcare while the headlining is being re-trimmed. If we have enough material left we will also trim the door and side panel inserts. We took the car for a drive to settle in the suspension and check for any noises. We got a nice video of NDG Shield120 in action. The remaining dents will be removed on the final day of the work. This is turning out to be a nice car.
Work completed:
- Lower control arm fitted
- Smaller dents removed
Day 6:
Now the hard part of this rescue project. Replace and treat the trim with NDG Fabcare. First we needed to remove the Hood-lining and inserts on the door trim and back seats areas. No-one put their hands up for this job as it there is no fun in doing this work on an older car. clips break and plastic is brittle so a hot glue gun needs to be on hand to repair this inevitable breakages. But outside of this the replacements went straight forward enough and the car just looks that much better. We all think we did a better job of trim colours than the Audi Factory. We noticed that there was a small coolant leak and on closer inspection saw that an o-ring was leaking so we replaced it. The AC was a bit weak so one of our staff have an AC service license and got that sorted out along with a medium pressure clean of the condenser to improve the temperature drawdown.
Work completed:
- Straighten the steering wheel
- Replace the Hoodlining
- Replace the door and side panel trim inserts
- replace the Temperature sensor o-ring
- Service AC system.
Before
After
The End result is that we all like this car and if it wasn’t a project car we would keep it. It turned out great!. Maybe we put too much effort into is car but it was a case of everything we did just made it a nicer car. Now to sell it to someone who will enjoy it.
Project Daily ride rescue completed, SOLD and delivered.
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