Car Covers/ Paint Protection

**C172s** · 22-09-2013,08:31 AM

Hi All,

Loving my new A6. I thought my A4 was brilliant, but this is a new level of luxury and performance. Anyhow, that's stating the obvious.

With the the work I do, I tend to leave my car in a designated secure open air car park for days on end. I've had previous cars dinged in there before and though have gone ding free for the past 6 years, I'm still conscious of the possibility. It only takes one careless/jealous person.

Are there any car covers protectors that some of you could recommend for the A6 C7? I see audi only do an indoor one.

Also, with black cars, water spots are easily apparent. Would detailing the car keep this to a minimum and if so, which product would you recommend.

Thanks in advance

**ScottyA6** · 22-09-2013,09:22 AM

Not sure about a cover to protect against dings but for that black paint you can't do much better than Poorboys Black Hole with the wax of your choice over the top (or a decent sealant if that is your thing, which it isn't for me !). The Black Hole goes on fine by hand but even better by machine. For protection I go for the Collinite 476 in the Winter and Raceglaze 55 in the Summer. You might want to look up on paint cleansing before either, claying is easy if you use plenty of lubricant (I use lots of grade 1 tap water personally) and go easy and slowly. It does make a massive difference to the end result.

On the other hand I have a friend who bought a bottle of Autoglym Super Resin Polish and their HD Wax kit at Halfords and all credit to him, his entire shopping list cost less than a pot of my Raceglaze 55 but the end results are very, very nice. The SRP is a great polish and with a decent wax on it the car looks a country mile better than you car wash visitors every Sunday.

Detailing can become OCD in a flash if you let it, I used to do classic concours years ago but a lot of therapy later I am fine...tick....tick....!!!

**Passatier3** · 22-09-2013,10:56 AM

I like my car to look nice but didn't want to go down the claying route etc. - I'm too OCD already!

I also use the Autoglym Super Resin Polish and HD and the car looks great. OK if you look very closely or run your hands over you can see/feel the odd imperfection (that claying would remove) but for a car that has to be used they're not worth worrying about. Especially when you start getting stone chips anyway - I'm fretting about the ones I've picked up already!

Water spots are a fact of life unfortunately, I get them on my grey car after the rain has dried.

A good car cover does sound like the best solution as will offer protection from knocks and will hopefully have a psychological effect on people to be careful around your car as well as helping with the water spots and dust of course.

**ScottyA6** · 22-09-2013,03:47 PM

Originally Posted by Passatier3

I like my car to look nice but didn't want to go down the claying route etc. - I'm too OCD already!

I also use the Autoglym Super Resin Polish and HD and the car looks great. OK if you look very closely or run your hands over you can see/feel the odd imperfection (that claying would remove) but for a car that has to be used they're not worth worrying about. Especially when you start getting stone chips anyway - I'm fretting about the ones I've picked up already!

Water spots are a fact of life unfortunately, I get them on my grey car after the rain has dried.

A good car cover does sound like the best solution as will offer protection from knocks and will hopefully have a psychological effect on people to be careful around your car as well as helping with the water spots and dust of course.

A couple of hours twice a year makes a huge difference and claying has a bit of a stigma, honestly, you are rubbing your car with a bit of blu-tac.You think a freshly delivered car is squeaky clean, it isn't by a long way. Still sounds like you have a good combo going, no wax or sealant will help with chips though. Console yourself that you are hugging a tree with that fragile water based paint !

I used a cover on my A8 but only on the drive at home. The major problem was when it was windy, and it was a proper outdoor tailored item but it got pulled off whenever a decent breeze got up (and it does round these parts). The cover did keep the weather off when it was on though but it was still too thin to prevent dents from idiot adjoining others.

**ukgroucho** · 22-09-2013,07:47 PM

Having suffered from a few door dings and a small 'keying' scratch (kids I think, when the car was 11 months old) on my old C6 Avant I decided, for my new allroad, to buy a 3 year dent and scratch policy from my Audi dealer - there main 'benefit' is the company they sell the policies for will only use Audi paints etc. to repair minor damage. I am sure there are other policies out there but for just over £100 per year it gives me a bit of piece of mind. That's not to say that I don't circulate car parks (and airport car parks in particular) and do my utmost to find those juicy parking spaces where door dings are much less likely.

**harryg** · 22-09-2013,08:33 PM

Hi,

I use Glossworks-Auto Wash Gloss Booster and Paintwork Cleanser, have done since it was first sold amazing stuff used it on my last 3 black cars. You can get it from Chemical Guys, just wash the car use a final rinse of free-flowing water (nozzle off the hose) allowing water to sheet off and towel dry so you don't get white spots.
Sorry can't help with a cover.

**Passatier3** · 22-09-2013,11:01 PM

I suppose the other downside to a cover is that if the car has any dirt on it, which very likely it will (unlike when you cover a car in a garage straight after cleaning it) that there is a very real danger of scratching it, which with black is particularly bad.

Whichever way you look at it having to leave your car like that is a real bummer.

**passman** · 23-09-2013,12:37 PM

You can get paint and chip cover protection from Audi. I have purchased a 6 month old A7 and the paint protection cover was offered to me. I cannot remember the name of it.

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**Passatier3** · 23-09-2013,12:44 PM

I took it out for my car - doesn't cover stone chips etc. on the front though.

**ScottyA6** · 23-09-2013,05:52 PM

Originally Posted by harryg

Hi,

I use Glossworks-Auto Wash Gloss Booster and Paintwork Cleanser, have done since it was first sold amazing stuff used it on my last 3 black cars. You can get it from Chemical Guys, just wash the car use a final rinse of free-flowing water (nozzle off the hose) allowing water to sheet off and towel dry so you don't get white spots.
Sorry can't help with a cover.

Yes, you will get fine scratching from that. I had the same with the A8 but it was Silver and that is one of the best colours for not showing. I am sure on any type of Black it would be worse. A decent polish say three times a year will keep it neat though.