My friend Steve had a problem: paraphrased, "Tom, I tried applying and removing Gold Class wax with an orbital buffer and a wool pad, and it made a mess, it didn't work well and left fine hairs all over the place. Your car looks great, how did you do it?" Of course, I could see the big Sears 10" orbital with a wool pad, working like the dickens on 1/4" thick wax that had hardened to amber.
We PM'd back and forth, I gave him some tips. Steve's a good guy, and I wasn't doing anything today, so I offered to show up with the PC and some pads and products and do it "hands on" style.
Steve has a black '95 "R" type Miata, a reasonably rare car with track suspension, no PS/PW/AC, that kind of stuff. It's a repaint, bc/cc with lots of bad bodywork underneath, but he got it cheap; it's a "10 footer". Our goal: make it a "5 footer".
I used the Meg's pads for the first time; very nice pads. I appreciate what Mike has repeated often about why he is a Meguiar's purist: consistent, predictable, quality results. The cutting pad cuts, the polishing pad polishes, the finishing pad finishes. We started with #83 & the red pad, switching to a small wool cutting pad for some deeper scratches, then back to #83 over those areas. We switched to the yellow pad and Menzerna IP ("find something you like and use it often"), then the white pad and Menzerna FP (ditto). With each step, Steve was giggling like a little schoolgirl; he thought it looked great after the #83! We broke frequently, and worked at a leisurely pace; although Steve and I were in the same club, and had met a couple times at autocrosses and club runs, we didn't really know each other, so we talked about music, family, cars, mutual friends... life. With each product I showed him how it worked, how much pressure to use, and how the product broke down and hazed, then handed the tools to him and let him work it himself.
When the surface was finished, I got out the #81, and we glazed the black until it glistened like a lake of Texas crude. We admired our work, and I snapped a couple pictures:
I gotta figure out how to focus that camera. That's the flash from the camera on the fender. Trust me, it looks great. No, we didn't do the glass or top or wheels, obviously.
Anyhow, Steve was admiring the PC7424, and several times commented on how it was such an amazing tool, and I'm absolutely certain that he's getting himself one for Xmas. He pointed to a cabinet and said, "In there's the one I was using. It's HUGE compared to this (holding up the PC). A real bear. A guy owed me some money, and he gave me that orbital buffer instead."
I looked inside the cabinet, looking for the familiar 10" orbital pad with the two red handles, and all I saw was this big scorpion looking thing with an electrical cord coming out the back... HOLY HECK! He was trying to apply and remove Gold Class wax with a high speed rotary and a 9" wool cutting pad! It was a Snap-On ET1480, trigger operated and variable from 0 to 1750 rpm!
"Holy heck, Steve. That's not an orbital. That's a rotary. That's a real tool," I told him. "That's the next step up after the tool we're using. It goes beyond what we're doing here."
"Well, it doesn't do me any good. I don't know how to use it, and don't have the time or inclination to learn."
"Heck, I've been putting off buying one of these. If you don't want it, I'll buy it off you," I said.
"He looked at me and said, "You won't buy anything from me. You came down here and showed me more than I could have ever learned on my own. Take it. It's yours!" Of course I protested.... unfortunately, not hard enough. I had to take that beast off his hands!
So, clean car, new friends, a great day!
Tom
My new rotary, along with the pad he was using to apply and remove wax:
We PM'd back and forth, I gave him some tips. Steve's a good guy, and I wasn't doing anything today, so I offered to show up with the PC and some pads and products and do it "hands on" style.
Steve has a black '95 "R" type Miata, a reasonably rare car with track suspension, no PS/PW/AC, that kind of stuff. It's a repaint, bc/cc with lots of bad bodywork underneath, but he got it cheap; it's a "10 footer". Our goal: make it a "5 footer".
I used the Meg's pads for the first time; very nice pads. I appreciate what Mike has repeated often about why he is a Meguiar's purist: consistent, predictable, quality results. The cutting pad cuts, the polishing pad polishes, the finishing pad finishes. We started with #83 & the red pad, switching to a small wool cutting pad for some deeper scratches, then back to #83 over those areas. We switched to the yellow pad and Menzerna IP ("find something you like and use it often"), then the white pad and Menzerna FP (ditto). With each step, Steve was giggling like a little schoolgirl; he thought it looked great after the #83! We broke frequently, and worked at a leisurely pace; although Steve and I were in the same club, and had met a couple times at autocrosses and club runs, we didn't really know each other, so we talked about music, family, cars, mutual friends... life. With each product I showed him how it worked, how much pressure to use, and how the product broke down and hazed, then handed the tools to him and let him work it himself.
When the surface was finished, I got out the #81, and we glazed the black until it glistened like a lake of Texas crude. We admired our work, and I snapped a couple pictures:
I gotta figure out how to focus that camera. That's the flash from the camera on the fender. Trust me, it looks great. No, we didn't do the glass or top or wheels, obviously.
Anyhow, Steve was admiring the PC7424, and several times commented on how it was such an amazing tool, and I'm absolutely certain that he's getting himself one for Xmas. He pointed to a cabinet and said, "In there's the one I was using. It's HUGE compared to this (holding up the PC). A real bear. A guy owed me some money, and he gave me that orbital buffer instead."
I looked inside the cabinet, looking for the familiar 10" orbital pad with the two red handles, and all I saw was this big scorpion looking thing with an electrical cord coming out the back... HOLY HECK! He was trying to apply and remove Gold Class wax with a high speed rotary and a 9" wool cutting pad! It was a Snap-On ET1480, trigger operated and variable from 0 to 1750 rpm!
"Holy heck, Steve. That's not an orbital. That's a rotary. That's a real tool," I told him. "That's the next step up after the tool we're using. It goes beyond what we're doing here."
"Well, it doesn't do me any good. I don't know how to use it, and don't have the time or inclination to learn."
"Heck, I've been putting off buying one of these. If you don't want it, I'll buy it off you," I said.
"He looked at me and said, "You won't buy anything from me. You came down here and showed me more than I could have ever learned on my own. Take it. It's yours!" Of course I protested.... unfortunately, not hard enough. I had to take that beast off his hands!
So, clean car, new friends, a great day!
Tom
My new rotary, along with the pad he was using to apply and remove wax:
