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I may be mad however as the RS3 is a long termer for me so it needed looking after from the outset. As soon as was feasible, the entire front end was inspected, decontaminated, clayed. paint lightly corrected and gloss enhanced (in pretty decent condition) before John at Autoshield Protection applied 3M Ventureshield including front bumper, full bonnet and wings and a protector strip across the rear bumper for the boot. Afterward, a wash + decontamination with Iron-X + clay for the rest of the car (for those picking up their new RS3's you'll be suprised how much comes out of the paint with Iron-X) and a visit to David at DDB Valeting who kindly loaned me some warm garage space on a bitter Saturday morning to get a coat of CG Blacklight and a layer of Collinite on for winter protection.

No point in having paint correction done at this time of year and on the whole it was OK with minimal marring or swirls (thank you Carlisle Audi) so until warmer days are here and the paint is corrected to really show the best of Suzuka Grey here are some gratuitous water beading shots.....











Now a light spray of water with the pressure washer cleans all the dirt off without need for snow foam. Big thanks for John at Autoshield Protection for the 3M application whch has already saved the paint from grit and stone chips and David at DDB Valeting for doing the prep work pre 3M instal and the loan of workshop space on a cold winter day to get the winter protection complete.

Nice work.

Looks lovely in suzuka ,can't beat collinite for winter put 2 coats of 476 on my S4 in november.

Well done PG
Good move on the venture shield....great investment

Suzuka Grey is awesome isn't it!

Looks excellent, the venture shield will prove a good investment I imagine.

Is it guaranteed against yellowing?

Love Suzuka, when you see it next to a pure white car it really stands out. Mine is currently sporting a winter / motorway camouflage....I like it dirty almost as much as I like it clean

3M provide a 4 year guarantee against yellowing on Ventureshield nowadays. I did originally have just the front wing sections partially covered when it was put on but with the colour it was easy to see where the film ended plus the wings protrude as such they'll get stoned easily so I asked for full wings to be done on a second visit. Glad I did now. There is a subtle colour diffeence between panels covered and not but this is lessened with a decent sealant on uncovered panels and then wax on all panels.

Suzuka is a great colour, fortunately someone at work has an Ibis A3 which means we often park next to each other which shows it off best and everyone in the office including the Ibis A3 owner appears to prefer Suzuka.

D_K wrote:Well done PG
Good move on the venture shield....great investment

Suzuka Grey is awesome isn't it!

How you finding the RS3 now you've put some miles into it DK?

Really liking it mate
Had a proper blast in it on Sunday and it's superbly capable
1,200miles on it now and the conti's are much much better and not giving up traction.

I think the TTRS is slightly faster but the RS 3 seems to have slightly more finesse to it. Vs. The number rock the gayRS is

Nice.

Just cracked 2k miles in mine and it is getting better. Winter Conti's are good but above 8 degrees get a bit washy.

Had my RS3 serviced and some of the recall work done at the end of last week.

When in I was chatting with the DP who was just back from seeing the new RS6 and 7.

He couldn't wait to tell me that when he asked the test driver what car they drove as a daily he said the RS3 and thought it was the most complete package in the range.

I've over 16,000 miles now and still love it (but do have an A45 AMG on order)

Steve

Yeah looks great P_G and a very good investment.

Is it expensive to have done?

I've already got a stone chip on leading edge of bonnet and on windscreen...damn chasing my mates 1M..

There are different packages available in terms of area of panels covered. The basic package IIRC is the front bumper completely covered, headlights, 1/3 of bonnet and front wings, rear boot strip and wing mirrors for about £450 - 500. I had full bonnet, full front bumper, headlights, rear boot strip and partial wings done for £699. I thought it was full wings but my mistake for not checking so I negotiated a better than RRP price for the partial wing pieces to be taken off and full wings to be done on the second visit. I would hazard a guess that if I had specified full wings originally it would have been around £900-950 all in. They also do DIY packages but I wouldn't dream of doing this!

I went for them as the installer was in Newcastle and it didn't involve travel. For reference I also got a quote from Paintshield in Peterborough who do the Xpel coating who wanted in excess of £1500 for the same coverage and for me to drive the car to Peterborough plus the cost of fuel and overnight accommodation whilst they applied it. Xpel is touted as being better than 3M but in reality the Xpel coating and Xpel people are ex Ventureshield staff anyway prior to 3M's acquisition of the brand so it is not that different, certainly not for the price differential.

Different installers give differing levels of service, some will decontaminate and machine polish your car for you which adds to the price however as mine only had a few hundred miles on it at the time and I can decontaminate myself I didn't really need this and a couple of hours max. by DDB enhanced the paint and gloss to perfection which would have cost a lot more if I had left an installer to do it. I reckon a respray would cost about the same if not more given the rarity and composition of Suzuka Grey so it made sense to me.

I'm really curious about this vinyl application. I've dealt with vinyls on rail vehicles, which are hugely expensive and are also horrendous come removal time, they age harden, oxidise and often take paint with them when they come off....which often involves a scraper and/or heat. There's no bloody way I'd stick that on my car! I'd sooner re-spray.

Maybe do some research before you start tarring all vinyl applications with the same brush? It's guaranteed for such eventualities when taken off and on factory paint which is when it is recommended it is applied rather than post respray then there have been few issues with any of the applications. But then you've already made your mind up (so how can you be curious?) so the point of your post was what exactly?

I did my research and contacted the testimonials who have had it installed and removed with no issues and also spoke to installers about it and happy with the feedback given. With a few hundred miles on the clock it was the optimum time to have the protection put on and they recommend anything up to the first 6-12 months of the cars life as ideal and on factory paint to get the best value from the application.

Easy chief!

I'm curious as I wonder what happens after 2 or 3 years. Does it still come off, does it peel, does it bring the paint off.....that's my curiosity!