Lighting for swirls and detailing

T

True North

New member
First post here in the Autotopia forums. I was told on the AutoGeek forum that they allowed discussion about items that aren`t sold through their website.

I have been researching various lighting options to find swirls and other marks. I am also interested in reviewing completed polishing work to make sure no paint corrections have been left behind or overlooked.

There are the obvious small flashlight type options which seem to have their place. I was also interested in finding some stand mounted lights that would not only allow me to hands free shine a light on the side panels but also the hood, trunk and roof.

I reviewed the new Scangrip options but those lights seem overpriced and they don`t really allow the light to properly angled over flat surfaces horizontal surfaces like the hood etc..

I was initially considering attaching an LED lit magnifier lamp arm to some sort of wheel stand. Through my searches I came across a Esthology Facial Magnifier Lamp that would seem to do the trick;

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...itle_huc_13?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3KUYHN7HI5ZSF

I would love to hear your thoughts on using this type of light
 
Get a boom stand. scangrip may be pricey, but I do not feel they are over priced for what they are and used for. If budget is a problem, look for astro pneumatic equivalents, they work just as good. I wasn`t a firm believe of scangrip until I had their matchpen and compared it to my trusty 219b pen light...

You want a point of light to spot swirls not flood. but you want flood to spot dirt... (my opinion anyway)

Those inspection lamps are good.. if you choose to put it inches from your paint, and look through the magnifier per its build purpose. I wouldn`t even waste the money, but I wont consider scangrip a waste of money... go figure.

True North said:
I reviewed the new Scangrip options but those lights seem overpriced and they don`t really allow the light to properly angled over flat surfaces horizontal surfaces like the hood etc..
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The Claw LED Rechargeable Auto Detailing Light
 
There are some real good threads on Autogeek detailing lighting setups. It`s ok to discuss lighting on AG because they don`t sell all the necessary items to set up all the lighting "necessities".
 
First of all, welcome to Autopia!

I went with the DIY LED Light Stand ZMCGovern45 shared with us and love it: http://www.autopia.org/forums/auto-detailing-101-a/45355-diy-led-light-halogen.html

Except I went with similar lights from Home Depot since I had a gift card: DIY LED Light Stand (2600 Lumens 5000K) - Album on Imgur

I recently switched to using single bulb sockets and now have two light stands instead of one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HZURY3Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Or you can go with the Donbeezy version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjgdgwaQTMk

Or the enhanced pro version: http://www.autopia.org/forums/auto-detailing-101-a/186002-diy-led-light-enhanced-pro-version.html
 
For some reason I find many types of lighting that others like just don`t work well for me so I suspect it`s a YMMV situation.

Ronkh and mjgraniero like how his Claw works for swirl-spotting, but neither of my similar LED lights show light swirls for me. Great for general purpose illumination though. Sometimes I do OK with an LED flashlight, but not consistently.

I still prefer my 3M SunGun (terrible, *terrible* batteries) for spotting holograms.

What kills me is when people say fluorescent lights work for seeing marring! Good for texture (orange peel, broad scratches), and oddly enough not too bad for moderate scratches on *white paint*, but generally I find that everything looks closer to marring-free under fluorescents no matter how bad it really is.
 
Accumulator said:
For some reason I find many types of lighting that others like just don`t work well for me so I suspect it`s a YMMV situation.

Ronkh and mjgraniero like how his Claw works for swirl-spotting, but neither of my similar LED lights show light swirls for me. Great for general purpose illumination though. Sometimes I do OK with an LED flashlight, but not consistently.

I still prefer my 3M SunGun (terrible, *terrible* batteries) for spotting holograms.

What kills me is when people say fluorescent lights work for seeing marring! Good for texture (orange peel, broad scratches), and oddly enough not too bad for moderate scratches on *white paint*, but generally I find that everything looks closer to marring-free under fluorescents no matter how bad it really is.
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Yeah I do more paint work with color sanding that just buffing anymore so I still use 500 watt halogen lights. They are extremely bright and allow me to see every scratch. I see a lot of shops that just use the fluorescent lighting but that doesn`t cut it for me. I don`t want to have to go back over the car again after I pull it in the sun. I`ve got a sun gun but the batteries are shot and bulb. The bulb is $50 and batteries about $30-$50 to rebuild. Just not worth it for me to do. A set of halogens from lowes is like $36. Set them up and get to work. JUst move the stand when needed and I can see my panel the whole time instead of clicking a light on and off. Electricity wise it may not be the cheapest but it`s worth it to me.
 
xtremekustomz- Yeah, I still use my old halogens too, and regular ol` incandescent light bulbs, which do the "point-source illumination" thing quite well and allow me to easily see marring on colors like silver and white.
 
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