Svend’s post today reminded me that I wanted to share having my old girl cleaned up. Back in February I decided to sell my S3 and and buy this old girl outright, to move a car payment off the family dole. So far the 2011 GS has been flawless aside from an intermittent TPS light from a tire pressure sensor that either has a dying battery or wasn’t installed correctly when I got a pair of new tires.
Anyway, given the car is eight years old and hasn’t been enthusiast-owned, it needed some love. I booked it a week-long spa visit with my local detailer while we were on vacation where it received a two stage paint correction, headlight restoration and a two year ceramic coat and I received a large bill.
Unfortunately, I didn’t really take any before pics, but it had lots of scuffs and scratching around the decklid area from luggage being carelessly loaded/unloaded, the headlights were pretty hazy, the door handle cups were full of scratches and the paint overall was just not quite up to snuff.
Fortunately, the results speak for themselves.
She almost looks new! Certainly doesn’t look like a car with 115k on the clock. Right now, the only things letting the car down is a lousy tint job that needs removed/replaced and the wheels are pretty beat up and could stand to be repaired/replaced.
I’ve never had a car ceramic coated before, but I’m honestly already hooked. We’ve had rain off and on ever since I picked it up and the car still somehow looks clean. It’s amazing how well it repels water/dirt/etc. The only negative of the detail (aside from the bill) is that the pinstripe was faded in a couple spots, and the detail only exacerbated that. I’ve spoken with him and he’s just going to remove it and recoat those areas when I bring it back in for its yearly maintenance.