Ok guys, I'm back with the review and pics! Sorry it took so long, I got caught between detailing, cooking dinner, editing the photo's, and trying to pull myself together from an ice hockey game this morning, then a full day on the MINI. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the review!
First off, the Laser Buff wasn't the only product I tried out for the first time today. Actually, just about everything I tried today was new to me.
So we're working with Chemical Guy's Laser Buff, Back to Black, Natty's Blue, and the Wolfgang EuroTech Smart Foam Pads from Autogeek.
The subject is my MINI Cooper S, with British Racing Green paint, a white top and white stripes. (pics to follow.) The paint is in good shape, but not flawless. Or at least it wasn't.
I started with the laser buff and the wolfgang pad, which is advertized as a 'light cutting pad'. The pad is flat, with a little lip on the back, and a large section of velcro. The one main complaint I have with this product is that the velcro doesn't seem to strong. There were times where I let up on pressure, and the pad moved around on the backing plate. Which sucked ***. Other than that, the pad seemed to work well. I'm not sure i'd buy these again, but they seem to do the job, and if they hold up, I'll be more impressed with them. My most common complaint with pads is the velcro failing, so if these hold up longer in that regard, i'll forgive the weakness.
Now to the main event. The Laser Buff. As you all know, Laser buff is considered to be a diminishing abrasive compound, that removes swirls, then polishes the car to a bright shine. The first time I ran it across the hood of the MINI, I started to panic. It didn't seem to be a very user friendly product. It flashed very quickly on the paint, and seemed like it was going to be very hard to remove. Keep in mind that I was working in the sun, and they do say it's supposed to work that way. However, I kept working the area, and much to my joy, the hazing didn't mean the product was dried and worthless as it does with some other compounds. It's just the look it gets when being spread. I worked the hood slowly, and you could actually see the compound break down. It went from white to light grey, to harldy noticable. When the area was done, it started to dust. Actually, it dusts like a madman. If you are against dusting compounds, then you prolly won't like this one. It dusted so much that I used a cali-duster to remove the dust before proceding to the next panel. But there was a definite time line of life to the product, and it let you know where it was in that life at any given moment.
At any rate, I finished the hood, then wiped it down and removed the dust. It looked like this:
Holy crap you say, it's beautiful! Well, yes, it was. I was very impressed. As I moved to other panels on the car and grew more comfortable with the product, I learned that it works best with a good amount of product, and a QD prepped pad. I got better results by keeping the pad wet and lubed, and the laser buff really seemed to take off once I started doing this. Not sure if it was because of the new pad soaking up all of the product, the direct sun, or just the product tendencies, but it was much happier that way.
So, I finished the door, sat back, and was like... Wow.
Overall, I'm very impressed with this compound. I like the way it works, I like using it, I LOVE the smell, and I LOVE the results. I'll be using this for a while. The only two concerns I have are how much of the swirl removal is fillers, and how long they'll last.
Next, it was time to put on the Natty's Blue, and dress the trim with the Mothers Back to Black. I put the Natty's on the entire car, and let it haze while I applied the Back to Black.
The back to black seems to work great, but all trim dressings look good when they're first applied. I'm interested to see if this does remove ground in wax and brings the trim back to new like they say. Otherwise, it's just an average dressing, which might even be a little too shiny for my tastes.
The Natty's... Wow. What more can you say, other than: My paint... It's Melting! Meeelllttiingg...
Well, that's all for me. Hope my review was helpful.
Questions? Comments??
- Jared
