One conclusive Circle

After watching the highlights of the Daytona 500 Nationwide race today and seeing yet another needless accident (its really the only racing series where these accidents take place- they need to learn from ALMS, F1, DTM where accidents are much more contained), it got me thinking about how this week has come full circle, just like a NASCAR race on an oval. 

The beginning of this week was dedicated to finishing up and delivering the 2013 Aston Martin V8 VantageS carbon wrap (detailed in last week's blog entry). It is always nice to see a nice progression of a car modification come along in stages where you can appreciate the effects of each enhancement. This Aston is proving that and was all set to be delivered Monday afternoon...

 

(2013 Vantage S all ready for delivery)

While going over the last minute details and inspecting the vinyl in daylight, I received a phone call from a great client, who excitedly told me he needed me to pick up his Audi R8 to prep it for trade in on his new V10 R8 coming next week. I immediately went and grabbed T from the kitchen (always cooking for her blog- http://www.mongastronomy.com ) and we headed down to his house to pick up the car.

 

(nothing better than double clutch rev matched heel and toe downshifts in a gated shifter)

 

(European sports car standoff)

Once back at the shop, I confirmed what we needed to do to the R8 to prepare it for trade in. Simply a quick clean up of the car and clear bra and to remove the carbon fiber vinyl that we installed on the side blades. Pretty ironic that after a weekend of vinyling, we would be removing vinyl the next week. Brought us completely full circle. This really does show how great vinyl is though, as we were able to remove the vinyl without any hassle and have this car back to stock form in under a day. When using a quality vinyl such as 3M 1080C or Oracal 970RA the vinyl does come right off without hurting the paint underneath. Making for a seamless and much cheaper alternative than painting a vehicle or in this car buying Audi OE carbon side blades.

 

(3M carbon fiber removed from side blades in under an hour and without any residue left behind)

After removing the blades from the vehicle, we quickly removed the vinyl and cleaned up the blade with some Optimum spray wax (fantastic product), and got down to cleaning up the R8 and touching up its front end clearbra, which had gotten some nasty rock chips due to all the roads under construction here in the Northeast. Using the new clear coated polymer technology in their clear bra, XPEL allows me to polish or even wet sand any scratches that may have occurred over time.

(polishing the XPEL out with a rotary to remove fine scratches)

After a quick couple of passes with the Rotary topped with some Klasse sealant and Zymol wax, the clear bra cleaned right up and our Audi R8 was ready to head back to the owner. With news that the new R8 V10 pdk model is expected in the next few weeks, prepare to see some updates of us prepping that in the near future. We can only hope it live up to the pleasure this R8 4.2 6 speed manual offered in its driving pleasure. As good as these new electronic transmissions are, they can never come close to replicating the joy of a properly executed heel toe downshift in a manual gearbox. With the way things have been going recently, don't be surprised to see a few more vinyl projects in the works over the next few weeks...