imported_Dave KG
New member
Today's detail saw Bryan and I take another trip to see Jim to detail his recently acquired Mercedes CLK. Bry nactually went up for a few hours yesterday to wash and clay the car, clean the hood, arches, wheels and tyres - so this write up starts from after that stage so no before pics I'm afraid...
Exterior
While Bryan got started on the interior, I set up a pair of Makitas (one with polishing pad, one with finishing pad) ready to tackle the paintwork in front of me, which had medium and in places (the clamshell) severe swirling:
Before doing anything with the machines, the thickness of the paintwork across the car was assessed to ensure the polishing process woud be safe...
Average reading of 110um suggest a healthy level of paint on the car, however there were thin patches (<100um) where more care would have to be exercised... No very thin regions were revealed.
Tinkiering around on a test patch revealed the ideal combo for the day - carrying the full compliment of Meguiars #80-series and Menzerna Cerami-Clear polishes gives me good variation of polishes to choose from. There's a lot more to the machine polishing process than simply removing swirls - the finish has to be spot on too, crystal sharp, and this requires testing to assess what will give the best results on the paintwork. Today, Meguiars #83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish was used for the defect removal and this was followed by Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish to add extra crispness to the finish ready for the wax.
#83 was applied using a Meguiars W8006 Polishing Pad, spread at 600rpm, two passes at 1200rpm, two at 1500rpm, then with medium pressure about ten passes at 1800rpm until the residue nearly vanished followed by two slow passes at 1200rpm with light pressure to refine. #83 seems to have a consistent cut throughout its work time, only refiining towards the end of the set so cutting for a long time which suited the defects on the paint allowing the best defect correction out of the medium abrasives I had.
PO85RD was applied using a Meguiars W9006 finishing pad, spread at 600rpm, two passes at 1200rpm, ten to fiftenn passes at 1500rpm until the residue turned clear and then two or three slow passes at 900rpm to refine. This gave a little extra crispness to the finish, allowing the tight flake in the paint to ping through at its best.
Results under the lights of the polishing stage, using Sun Gun:
And using a camera flash, a very good light for highlighting even faint defects:
And a couple of pics of the finish after only the polishing stage - the rotary finish giving good clarity and depth to the finish:
Now onto the LSP, this time Swissvax was chosen. The Cleaner Fluid was applied by hand using a foam applicator pad, worked in for a few passes and then removed with microfibre. Best Of Show was chosen as the wax, applied again by foam applicator pad, left for ten minutes and then removed with ease using a microfibre cloth.
The end results of the paint prep in the garage:
The tyres were then dressed with Meguiars Endurance, glass cleaned with Swissvax Cleaner Fluid, trim with All Seasons Dressing and the car rolled out for final pictures: no sunlight today I'm afraid, but at least it was dry
Exterior
While Bryan got started on the interior, I set up a pair of Makitas (one with polishing pad, one with finishing pad) ready to tackle the paintwork in front of me, which had medium and in places (the clamshell) severe swirling:
Before doing anything with the machines, the thickness of the paintwork across the car was assessed to ensure the polishing process woud be safe...
Average reading of 110um suggest a healthy level of paint on the car, however there were thin patches (<100um) where more care would have to be exercised... No very thin regions were revealed.
Tinkiering around on a test patch revealed the ideal combo for the day - carrying the full compliment of Meguiars #80-series and Menzerna Cerami-Clear polishes gives me good variation of polishes to choose from. There's a lot more to the machine polishing process than simply removing swirls - the finish has to be spot on too, crystal sharp, and this requires testing to assess what will give the best results on the paintwork. Today, Meguiars #83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish was used for the defect removal and this was followed by Menzerna PO85RD Final Finish to add extra crispness to the finish ready for the wax.
#83 was applied using a Meguiars W8006 Polishing Pad, spread at 600rpm, two passes at 1200rpm, two at 1500rpm, then with medium pressure about ten passes at 1800rpm until the residue nearly vanished followed by two slow passes at 1200rpm with light pressure to refine. #83 seems to have a consistent cut throughout its work time, only refiining towards the end of the set so cutting for a long time which suited the defects on the paint allowing the best defect correction out of the medium abrasives I had.
PO85RD was applied using a Meguiars W9006 finishing pad, spread at 600rpm, two passes at 1200rpm, ten to fiftenn passes at 1500rpm until the residue turned clear and then two or three slow passes at 900rpm to refine. This gave a little extra crispness to the finish, allowing the tight flake in the paint to ping through at its best.
Results under the lights of the polishing stage, using Sun Gun:
And using a camera flash, a very good light for highlighting even faint defects:
And a couple of pics of the finish after only the polishing stage - the rotary finish giving good clarity and depth to the finish:
Now onto the LSP, this time Swissvax was chosen. The Cleaner Fluid was applied by hand using a foam applicator pad, worked in for a few passes and then removed with microfibre. Best Of Show was chosen as the wax, applied again by foam applicator pad, left for ten minutes and then removed with ease using a microfibre cloth.
The end results of the paint prep in the garage:
The tyres were then dressed with Meguiars Endurance, glass cleaned with Swissvax Cleaner Fluid, trim with All Seasons Dressing and the car rolled out for final pictures: no sunlight today I'm afraid, but at least it was dry
