Open Day Report

[FinerDetails]

First and foremost, thank you to Andrew (k80) from detailing world for making the trip north, Fuey, Alice Cupra and MarkE for atttending. And to everyone else that couldn't get here, its nothing personal, and please take in good taste: this is yours

As we had three learners and two experienced detailers we took the opportunity to detail two cars.

the first was a 1999 T-reg Mitsubishi Colt. Single stage red paint, faded to the point of white in places.

The second a 2001 Y-reg 206 which belongs to my misses, so is well cared for, but not clayed for 12mths plus, and needed very minor de-swirl.

I had already washed and dried the Colt prior to the guys arriving, and Andrew used the 206 to demonstarte washing techniques and claying on with the Gents. We then taped up both cars ready for detailing.

Here's soms before pics of the Colt:

With everything in place, K80 took Fuey and MarkE onto the Colt using a polishing pad and Klasse AIO.

Alice Cupra getting down with the tape:

With the tell, and show stages in place it was time for the 'do' stage of learning:

After the AIo, they applied Klasse SG and topped with Nattys Blue Wax.


Whilst K80, Mark and Fuey attacked the Colt, Alice and I set to on our half of the 206. Using Megs Speed Glaze and a 4inch polishing pad we applied the glaze at speed 3, and moved to speed 5 for 2 passes.
Once completed we applied a layer of mages Pro polymer sealant by hand, and had some demos of do's and dont's which everyone got to see and feel:

Once the two teams had finshed the hlaves of the respectives cars we broke for lunch and collected some half way shots of the Colt:

After lunch the teams swapped cars, with K80, MarkE and Fuey continuing the Megs Speed Glaze and #20 sealant on the pug, while Alice Cupra and I attacked the other half of the Colt. We used megs speed glze, followed by Megs Pro Hand polish, sealed with megs #20 sealant.

And just for everyone's benefit we applied a layer of Pinnacle Souveran to the bonnet too.

Andrew also got the opportunity to trial a cyclo out:

With the cars completed it was time for a bit of fun. I'd collected an old car panel wing and we set it up using a 4 inch cutting pad, some megs DACP and Poorboys Sr3. Burn it through were the orders given:

and with clear coat removed and very little paint remaining

And the Finished Car:

Thanks to the Guys, and I look forward to reading your replies

 

[MarkE]

Big big thanks to Iain and Andrew for taking the time out for this today.

The sheer number of different products available make this a daunting area to start out in but they explained the applications and techniques for a number of different products and answered a lot of questions, dispelled some myths and above all showed their enthusiasm for the art of detailing. And all for free.

Those pics really just don't do justice to how bad that Colt was to begin with, either.

 

[Alice_Cupra]

Firstly, a huge thanks to Iain and Andrew for a great day of help and instruction (and also to Iain's neighbour for letting us loose on her car!)

Photos really can't do justice to the difference in the Mitsu, before and after. This car was PINK, with WHITE bits in lots of places. We left it looking a deep, glossy red.

It really was amazing what can be achieved with good quality products and some know-how.

I hope we can get some pics of the owner's face when she comes back to see it!

I have certainly learned a huge amount about technique, from simple washing tips, through claying, restoring, polishing and waxing.

I now have lots of ideas for me to take away and use on my own car (after I have booked it in for some major de-swirling and finishing)

I think I no longer need to fear a PorterCable, although Speed 6 was a wierd virbratey experience on the arms..... Just in case anyone else is scared of them, on the wing we tried to destroy, even after the Poorboys Sr3 (which you could actually feel the grittiness of) and a good couple of minutes held in ONE place with full body weight on it, we had just got through the clearcoat to the actual paint.

Top day, top weather, and great to meet you guys!

Will hopefully be getting mine sorted soon........

 

[fuey]

Yes, Yes, and Yes.
Top day was had by all.
Transformation from pink Colt to a deep red was staggering. The white lines on the raised sections of the Colt's bonnet were detailed out using the Klasses AIO (all in one).
After the three passes (speed 2, 4 and 6), it was a case of " now you see it, now you don't ".
Andy also demonstrated that AutoGlyms Super Resin Polish can do the job on the Colts drivers side panels (but no-where near as complete as the staged approach).

The do's and don't were invaluble aswell.
Don't lift off the PC on speed 6, cos the polishing pad becomes a nice projectile..
Don't apply the sealent too thick, cos it's a waste, and more wiping needed after to remove (so more sealent ends up wasted, definitely less is more).
Be extra slow and stead on speed 6 to work the product correctly.
Don't cover too large an area (again, because you won't work the product into the paint).

There was so much to learn, but with Iain, and Andrew there, their wealth of experience, and tuition was litterally invaluble.

Nice to meet MarkE and Alice_C, now where can I get one of those PC's....

 

[fuey]

The 'burn through' the volvo's wing was a nice touch.
It showed that even after a good 2+mins with the PC on speed 6, and full body weight behind it, and the cutting pad in one place, it takes alot to actually cut through to the primer beneath the paint.

The cutting pad didnt survive though

 

[FinerDetails]

Thanks for taking time to post your feedback up Guys. Its good to see we managed to hit everyone's objectives as to what they wanted from the day, plus more.

Matt- the before and afters on your Leon should prob be the next thread I suppose

 

[CH1]

Looks like an excellent transformation from pinkish to red!
Did it have much swirling, stone chips as well?

The grey panel was a good experiment to be let loose on a PC (I'd be too scared to try one on a whole car!) The panel (Volvo) was that old? new paint or old paint, i.e soft or hard? Did you measure the paint thickness at any stage during the detailing to get some idea of thickness?

 

[MarkE]

Looks like an excellent transformation from pinkish to red!
Did it have much swirling, stone chips as well?

Once the dead paint had been cut back and everything was looking shiny, it was possible to see some scratches in the finish but it was pretty non-swirly, TBH (I'm sure Iain with his detailer's eye would disagree here ). There were some small dents and chips as well but for us the point of the exercise was to see just what level of renovation work could be done with a few carefully chosen products and a random orbit polisher. Like I said above, the pics don't show you just how bad the paintwork was prior to working - I actually thought it would have needed a respray to get it looking right again.

The grey panel was a good experiment to be let loose on a PC (I'd be too scared to try one on a whole car!) The panel (Volvo) was that old? new paint or old paint, i.e soft or hard? Did you measure the paint thickness at any stage during the detailing to get some idea of thickness?

In general, the panel was in reasonable nick beforehand. For this exercise, it was a case of proving how much of a numpty you'd have to be to burn through the paintwork using the Porter Cable polisher. The paintwork stood up to some serious abuse before we cut through to primer (quality paintwork from Volvo )

 

[fuey]

no paint depth measurement was taken.
if you look at

i'd key'd 2 scratches into the paint work, the top right scratch was on un-abused paint, and the section that we'd attacked, lower left.
(rough guess, un abused sratch depth, 3 times deaper than abused)
even still, it was still passable, after the product was wipers away.

honestly, unless you really was intent on leaning on your car, for 2mins +, in the same spot, WITH FULL WIEGHT, on speed 6... with a PC vibrating away, then you probably wouldnt' get through to the primer.

even in the pic's of the wing, most of the porducts just wiped away. not sure of the age of the wing/paint, seems 'fairly' recent. not brand new (recent accident damaged car) but definitely not faded...

I'll sound like a broken record, and keep saying, it was incredible to find out so much could be achieved

 

[FinerDetails]

no answers required from me, the young Jedi's have done it all lol!

The Colt still had some deep scratches on it, but without a paint depth gauge I wouldn't have even attempted to polish these out, especially in sight of the dead layer of paint transfer we saw.

The products we use are far from the mopst abrasive polishes available, and these were only applied with polishing pads too!

 

[FinerDetails]

following a further conversation between fuey and I here is some more info to explain why we proceeded to detail the Colt as we did:

Colt- firstly this is single stage paint, ie NO clear coat, hence the fade you saw. Cars with a clear coat shouldn’t do this. The oxidized paint (white etc) is just dead paint, all the oils have gone and is is breaking away. The paint transfer you saw on the pads and cloths is some of the dead paint lifting away, but by using the megs polishes I used you saw less paint transfer as I was feeding the paint and reviving, rather than cutting it away. So a bit of both, feeding and some cut, but very little to be honest.

cheers

 

[fuey]

i parked under a tree that saturday.
car's got tree sap all over it

 

[MarkE]

My wallet wishes I'd never been to Rochdale at the weekend :

Another order already placed for the stuff I forgot on the first one. Forget what I said on Saturday about looking for a 90% finish.

Iain, you should tap Ron up for some commission.

 

[FinerDetails]

i parked under a tree that saturday.
car's got tree sap all over it

out with the clay, and this time, get them swirls out too

 

[FinerDetails]

My wallet wishes I'd never been to Rochdale at the weekend :

Another order already placed for the stuff I forgot on the first one. Forget what I said on Saturday about looking for a 90% finish.

Iain, you should tap Ron up for some commission.

lol, I'm just happy to be able to help people find the right products and techniques....

Mark, as you start to use that lot, if you want any advice etc, shout

 

[slimjim]

lol, I'm just happy to be able to help people find the right products and techniques....

Mark, as you start to use that lot, if you want any advice etc, shout

Any news on the next "Open Day" ?

Seeing as the first one went so well...

 

[Empi5]

Talking of Porters, why is their a need to buy a Counterweight ?

 

[FinerDetails]

Any news on the next "Open Day" ?

Seeing as the first one went so well...

Hi mate,

I'm fully booked up til the end of July at the mo, so finding some time to do the freebie days is gonna have to hold until later in the year

 

[FinerDetails]

Talking of Porters, why is their a need to buy a Counterweight ?

some users find using the spot pads with the standard weight gives too much vide, so buy the smaller weight. Its never bothered me, but each to their own

 

[MarkE]

Mine came with two counterweights - the one for 6" pads fitted and a second for 5" pads in the bag with the manual.