Polishing Magnesium?

R

rstype

New member
Since you two are pretty experienced with the Auto Int. "ABC" system, I was wondering if you can only use the "B" to remove ferrous metal deposits or as a clay replacement.



Thanks... your comments will be appreciated!

~bw



(Oh and welcome back Ron! Here is your little buddy you missed: :bounce )
 
The B removes the ferrous particles, but keep in mind that is was formulated for the removable of those which have been on the vehicle no longer than 120 days.



If they do not come off due to the age of the vehicle, then a second application of the A and B is required.



We have on occasion used clay to remove them during the second application of B, using the product as the lubricator.



Had one of these last week. The car was 5 years old, had been clayed only 4 times and within a couple of days, due to the high temperatures and humidity in Maylasia, were visable again.



By using the two together, the particles came out of the clear, since the B had disolved most of the particles, but the acids that the ferrous particles created had caused the clear to be "pitted" and the particles were deeply imbedded deep into the clear.



The car came out beautiful, they were amazed to say the least.



We did a light polish with our Preconditioner Cleaner and a lambs wool, applied OEM One Step, the team stated that it looked better than brand new cars they had on the sales lot.



And it did, they don't really have a program for taking care of new vehicles while in inventory.





Ketch



:bounce
 
Like i said, I found the B to be a good substute for clay. The paint came out nice and smooth. I also think it works better in a sence (the whle ABC system) than clay because it neutralized the paint preventong further damage. But as Ron said, some stuborn spots need some physical agitation where clay could be usefull, so if you go ahead with the ABC, which i recomend you do, thenn you should have just some clay lying around just in case, ( i have some griots clay left whcih should be sufficient)
 
Thanks for the help guys! I think it's best to get the whole system I guess.



Goodbye (well.. almost) to clay, and welcome ABC!
 
Used the ABC for the first time yesterday with very good results , the B should last me a long time. I love the wash or C one oz. for a gallon of water , good value , good aroma and cool color.



I highly recomend The ABC system. :up
 
Yeah, i found that the B should last pretty long, i used only about 4 ounces. Yeah, the ABC system is great, and the C is a good all around wash.
 
I've also used ABC, and I really like the stuff. Some of my initial misgivings with "B" were unfounded as I wasn't fully aware of the extent to which it worked. It did not remove alot my "rust specs" because they have been imbedded in the paint for 2 years. Ron mentioned before that it would only work on specs that were 120 days old at most. Next spring I will re ABC and clay the specs while B is dwelling. I have no doubts this will work like a charm.



I ABC'd 2 cars prior to fall. The first I did not clay after I ABC'd because I was very happy with smootheness of the surface. But, as a test, I did clay the second car after I ABC'd, and let me tell you, I would highly recco it. The paint felt outstanding. ABC left the car very smooth, but it can't replace what clay does. Clay grinds away your paint and literally smoothes out all the peaks and valley's. No chemical paint cleaner can do that. Now I wouldn't recco claying on a consistent basis. Once every year or year and a half should suffice, if necessary.



I have a quick question for Ron:



Why should "B" only be applied to horizontal surfaces?





Ron, welcome back to the forum. We missed you.
 
I apply B to the whole car. Also, clay will smooth the paint out more but i try to aavoid as much paint abrasion as possible.
 
I have been thinking of getting ABC system for removing sealants, it seems like it is very easy. I have a quick question for Ron or Brad. Do you have to use "B"? I mean lets say I just want to strip off all the sealants and waxes off my paint to start with a clean base, could I just use A and C?



Thanks.
 
When a clear or non-clear is washed with a alkaline solution, be it "A" , Dawn, any water based cleaner with a pH of more than 8, plastizers are removed from the paint.



This is what accounts for the loss of gloss as much as the removal of waxes/sealants.



Plastizers are in paint, vinyl, rubber, etc and contribute to the gloss or brightness factor as well as elasticity of the substrate. These plastizers are acid based and in all automotive paint.



The "B" is a blend of acids, safe, but still acids. The formulation was developed through work with all three of the major OEM paint suppliers, PPG, DuPont and BASF.



The product replaces the plastizers removed by the alkaline nature of the "A" product, as well as completing the "deep" cleaning of the porusity of the clear or non-clear. It also removes the ferrous particles, bunker ash sulfur deposits, etc.



Ketch



:up
 
Bill,



I concurr with Bradford. I applied A, B. and C to the whole car. I think this might be where your question is coming from. On the instructions for B it states to "dry the horizontal surfaces after applying A, and then apply B."



Now, I checked out why you leave the sides of the car wet after A, but dry the horizontal ones. I found several answers.

1. Leaving the sides Wet dillutes the B a bit.



2.As "most" of the metal particles, contaimnation etc stick to the horizontal surfaces(kind of like swirls!) drying the horizontal surfaces allows B to work the strongest where most of the contamination probably resides.



Don't worry, I was concerned too about the instructions on the autoint.com website. However, after checking with a regular user of ABC, and autoint.com, I found the reasoning behind the instructions.





Let me know if that helps to answer your question Bill.



Showroom,



I would say that to completely clean your paint, you want to use A,B, and C. The product states that the process is not valid unless all are used. In light of Ron K's comments above concerning the paint and how B restores it..I would think you would want to use B as a part of the process.



Hey, don't forget about C! It is a great everyday wash. I use it weekly on the mustang and find it cleans really well.



SJ
 
Actually water will not dilute the B but make the reaction stronger, acids become stronger when mixed with water (i could be wrong so chemists flame away) Ron said you dont want to much excess water adddd to the product. I think its just because water will pool and rest on the horizontals where as on the sides it will sheet off.
 
Yeah, acids dont become stronger when mixed with water...they become more dilute and less molar. Not a flame. OTOH, water can many times be the "catalyst" (yes, I am not using this word properly, but it works here) to causing damage on a car finish. Case in point, dried road salt isnt all that corrosive to your paint by itself. However, when water dissolves the road salt, the solution can be highly acidic and cause a significant amount of damage.
 
<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote' >

<em class='bbc'>Originally posted by SJ [/i]
<strong class='bbc'>Bill,

I concurr with Bradford. I applied A, B. and C to the whole car. I think this might be where your question is coming from. On the instructions for B it states to "dry the horizontal surfaces after applying A, and then apply B."

Now, I checked out why you leave the sides of the car wet after A, but dry the horizontal ones. I found several answers.
1. Leaving the sides Wet dillutes the B a bit.

2.As "most" of the metal particles, contaimnation etc stick to the horizontal surfaces(kind of like swirls!) drying the horizontal surfaces allows B to work the strongest where most of the contamination probably resides.

Don't worry, I was concerned too about the instructions on the autoint.com website. However, after checking with a regular user of ABC, and autoint.com, I found the reasoning behind the instructions.


Let me know if that helps to answer your question Bill.

SJ [/b]</blockquote>
SJ,

thanks for the response. Yes that does answer my question. I guess I goofed up a bit because I didn't apply "B" to the vertical surfaces. Oh well, next spring I'll re-ABC.

Thanks again.
 
The application of "B" to vertical surfaces is required, but only following the application to the horizontal surfaces.



This system is used in high production facilities, the water on the sides has run off by the time that you have finished applying to the top or horizontal surfaces.



The excess water on the horizontals will over dilute the "B" and decrease its effectiviness.



Which is why the instructions call for removing excess water from the top surfaces (horizontal) and then applying to the them, followed by application to the sides (vertical) of the vehicles.



If one sees "streaking" on the sides, it is due to not evenly applying the "B" to the sides , following the application of the "A", in short, you are not fully cleaning the sides as you did the top surfaces.



Ketch

:up
 
Don't know if this is much help but many many moons ago (1970 ish ) I did some wheels on a Watson Indy roadster with Semichrome paste. Took forever by hand but wheels came out like chrome. Last time I saw a tube of that product was at a local bike shop.
 
The 2005+ Mustangs use magnesium for the valve covers. I know I spent hours sanding and polishing them by hand and they never really reached a point where I was satisified with the look. I sanded, rubbed, went thru 400, 600, 800, 1500 and 2000 grits, compounded and polished. And still the covers seemed to dull after just a few days and stained when coming in contact with fluids. I ended up poweder coating mine.
 
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