More than a buffer or DA.......

Superior Shine

Superior Shine

New member
Proper diagnosis of a vehicles finish is of the up most importance before a plan of attack can be made up. Misdiagnosis will cost you time, wasted product, possibly a damaged finish and as a pro. detailer, money.





The best tool you have is your brain. Nothing you can buy can substitute for proper training and knowledge of paint finishes and the products and tools to care for them.



You can buy a few things to help you though. To help me diagnose a vehicles finish I keep a little kit I made up of various tools to help me determine what condition a finish is in.



I store it all in a canvas bag. The kit includes a paint thickness gauge, xenon light, and an illuminated microscope. I also keep my TDS tester in there.



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Here is an illuminated microscope you can get at radio shack. This is an older model that I bought about 10 years ago. The newer one looks a little different but works the same.



You will be amazed at what a painted surface looks like close up.



You can use this tool to determine if a finish is cracked, has overspray or to see if a scratch to too deep to remove.



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To give you an idea if there is enough material on the vehicle to "play with" I use my ETG-1 paint thickness gauge.





This tool will give you a reading of all the material between the metal and the surface of the finish.



It will give you an idea if the panel has been refinished or buffed before.



This panel reads 6.6 mils. Anybody want to guess if this is factory reading or not?



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Then there is my XENON light . I love this thing.



Recently I polished a car that had bad buffer trails. They were easy to see in direct sun light.







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About half way through the job the skies turned over cast making it impossible to see the defects.



Out came my trusty XENON. I used it to check each panel after I polshed it to make certain that the defects were removed.



Here is a before and after pic of a panel iluminated with the XENON.





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You can see in this pic how over cast it was outside. This pic was taken at about 11:00 am.



Nothing would be worst than pulling this car out of the garage on a sunny day to find buffer marks on it after the owner paid me to remove them.



With the use of my XENON I am confident that it will look good in any light.





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Last in my bag of tricks has nothing to do with diagnosis but helps me insure that I am using high quality ultra pure water to wash with.



Total desolved solids, TDS, are inpurities that make water hard and that will spot a finish.



Anthing above 150 ppm (parts pr million) is classified as hard water.



Here you see two glasses of water. They both look the same.



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When I take a reading of tap water from my home I get a reading of 221 ppm. This water will spot and possibly damage a painted surface.



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Here is a reading of deionized/ultra pure water, 0 ppm.

This water wil lnot spot.



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Cost----



Canvas bag $20 at sears.

ETG-1,$200 on EBAY, They cost about $400 new.

Micro scope, about $12.00 radio shack

Xenon light, $24.95 at lowes.

TDS tester, $19.99 on EBAY



So total is less than $300. I still want to add a laser thermometer to the mix.
 
WOW!! Thanks so much for the break down. I am going to have to invest in one of those lights.... I really like how perfectly it showed the finish!



As for the paint thickness, 6.6 mils is pretty thick. If i recall correctly Automotive finish is typically around 3-4 mils, and marine gelcoat is anywhere betwen 13-18mils depending on the manufacturer.
 
Sweet thread (I remember it from MOL). Now you've made me want to buy some new tools :lol Is the Xenon light the best to see swirls etc?
 
tpgsr said:
WOW!! Thanks so much for the break down. I am going to have to invest in one of those lights.... I really like how perfectly it showed the finish!
Click to expand...



How does that light work on silver? I haven't found a portable light that works well on silver.



I don't know anything about those kind of lights. Xenon is a type of light right not a brand?
 
6.6 mils for single stage paint sounds about right. Normal 2 base coat/clear coat paint jobs are 4-7 mils if I remember right.



Great post, Joe! I saw it on the Meguiars forum too. :)
 
Scottwax said:
6.6 mils for single stage paint sounds about right. Normal 2 base coat/clear coat paint jobs are 4-7 mils if I remember right.



Great post, Joe! I saw it on the Meguiars forum too. :)
Click to expand...



Little off topic, but do you know what happened to WAC on MOL?



Since the Tsunami I haven't seen him post.:confused:
 
Thanks for taking the time to write that up. Definitely makes you more aware of the vehicles paint sitting in front of you. :up :up
 
Joe, great post! I have a similar setup... and mine includes the Radio Shack Infared Thermometer





This may be an obvious point, but I use the kit as a marketing tool to demonstrate that I clearly not only understand, but can identify and correct potential paint issues.



Well worth the investment!



Jim
 
Joe

Excellent thread with some get pics and info , Way to go , thanks for sharing those valuable tips. :xyxthumbs
 
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