2007 Audi RS 4

If you've got an older car and you're wondering whether a coating does anything for paint that's already lived a life, this is the one to look at. It's a 2007, and it doesn't read like a 2007. The owner had us put Icon Rocklear on it, our permanent paint protection coating, and it bonds into the factory clear coat rather than sitting on top as a layer that wears off. You can see what that buys him in the door shots, where the hex lights land as clean, hard-edged shapes with a wet gloss under them, not the soft smear you get off a finish that's giving up.

The B7 is a good body for showing that off, because there's almost nothing on it to hide behind. The doors and rear quarters run nearly flat from the front arch back to the tail, so a reflection has nowhere to break up, and an uneven finish would band straight down the side of the car. It doesn't. The other one to look at is the satin mirror cap, where the reflection has to turn a hard corner and come out the far side still in one piece.

Nearly twenty years of California sun is what usually kills a dark grey, and that's the part the coating's actually for. Icon Rocklear resists the UV fade and the dulling behind it, and it keeps dirt and grime from getting embedded and crusted into the paint. It doesn't yellow, and it doesn't need waxing. If it ever does wear down, the factory clear coat underneath is untouched. There's more on how it works on our Icon Rocklear page.