http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/ Pictures and comments from our Saturday Detailing Classes! en Thu, 23 May 2013 06:57:43 GMT vBulletin 15 http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/cpstyles/meguiars/misc/rss.png http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/ http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?58933-Pictures-from-May-11-Vintage-BMW-Club-Class&goto=newpost Mon, 13 May 2013 19:55:07 GMT We had the pleasure of hosting the Vintage BMW Club over the weekend and we knew that some cool cars would be showing up. Check out this beautiful pair of Bimmers! Image: http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/2118/2013_05_11_Saturday_0001.JPG Our demo car, a blue E46 M3,... We had the pleasure of hosting the Vintage BMW Club over the weekend and we knew that some cool cars would be showing up. Check out this beautiful pair of Bimmers!



Our demo car, a blue E46 M3, was in serious need of some defect removal.




After removing the loose dust we checked for the presence of bonded contaminants.


Claying was called for, so the guys jumped right in.


We used Ultimate Compound, Ultimate Polish and Ultimate Wax by hand first....


... and then moved on to the G110v2 dual action polisher.


In direct sunlight you can see the improvement made with a long pass of UC. Plenty of swirls up high in this image, but in the test spot they're almost completely gone. A test spot will help you determine how long you need to buff, what products you might need, etc.


Time to turn the guys loose on the hood and get a feel for the buffer.


Demonstrating how to buff tight curves on body panels.


The trick to this is to keep the centerline of the pad in direct contact with the arc of the body curve. Doing this will let you keep your pressure up without stopping the rotation of the pad.
]]> Pictures from Saturday Classes Michael Stoops http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?58933-Pictures-from-May-11-Vintage-BMW-Club-Class http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?58853-Pictures-from-April-27-Saturday-Open-Class&goto=newpost Wed, 01 May 2013 20:24:18 GMT Finally a bright and sunny Saturday morning - perfect for a Detailing 101 Class and perfect for spotting paint defects.


Speaking of paint defects, this 2009 BMW 3 Series had plenty, from swirls and water spots to the dreaded DISO (dealer installed swirl option). That's right, the car was recently purchased as a used vehicle from a dealer who gave the car a quick detail for it's new owner.


Layers of swirls and holograms.


As is customary in these classes, we removed the loose contaminants from the surface first and then clayed to remove bonded contaminants.


This is what we call "hands on training". :heelclick1.gif


We put our standard go-to products to the test: Ultimate Compound/W8207, Ultimate Polish/W9207, Ultimate Wax/W9207


Cleaning the pad on the fly - important for maximizing results when buffing out any vehicle.


The results of our test spot


Bringing back clarity while eliminating holograms and swirls is quick and easy once you know how.


What did we say about hands on training?


Dueling buffers?


Keep that pad flat against the paint!


Keeping a watchful eye on a new user.


Thanks to everyone who came out for the day - we love your dedication, passion and support! ]]> Pictures from Saturday Classes Michael Stoops http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?58853-Pictures-from-April-27-Saturday-Open-Class http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?58700-Pictures-from-April-13-Saturday-Open-Class&goto=newpost Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:30:43 GMT Overcast skies didn't stop an enthusiastic group from coming out Saturday - we had a great time with plenty of great questions and lots of interaction.

Following the classroom portion of the day we went outside and selected a demo car for the hands on portion.


We needed to wash the car before we could evaluate and work on it, and Ultimate Wash & Wax Anywhere was just the ticket.


Once the paint was cleaned of all the loose contaminants we determined that it really needed to be clayed.


With over 100,000 miles on the clock, this Toyota was loaded with swirls, water spots, etch marks, and some really deep scratches that would require sanding to fully remove. Since sanding is beyond the scope of this class, we left those deeper scratches alone.


Our two demo areas consisted of using two different tools - here it's the new DA Power System with the cutting pad and Ultimate Compound to start.


Step two in this process is the polishing pad and Ultimate Polish


Finally, a coat of Ultimate Wax is applied with the finishing pad.


On the other side of the demo area we used UC on the G110v2 dual action polisher.


After following with both UP and UW on separate finishing pads, we pulled the car outside to evaluate the improvement. This color paint, in the poor lighting we had, wouldn't really reveal the improvement to the camera, but in person the difference was striking and everyone present was impressed with the progress made. The G110v2 outperformed the DAPS, as you might expect, but the DAPS would easily out perform hand application on this car, and with far less effort.


Time to let our attendees get to know the buffers, starting with Chris, the car owner.


Two different approaches to defect removal.





Hands on instruction is a big help as new users often struggle to keep the pad flat, maintain proper pressure and arm speed. All of these variables must be executed properly in order to obtain maximum result.


Cleaning the pad "on the fly"


Work continues to bring improvements to the paint, and to get some experience with the tools.


A final coat of wax to finish off the hood and close out the day.
]]> Pictures from Saturday Classes Michael Stoops http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?58700-Pictures-from-April-13-Saturday-Open-Class http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?57819-Pictures-from-February-9-2013-Saturday-Open-Class&goto=newpost Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:10:35 GMT After Friday's rain we had a sunny morning on Saturday, although at 38F it wasn't exactly SoCal warm, but no matter - we still had a group of enthusiastic detailing fanatics on hand to improve their skill set and learn how to maximize the appearance of their vehicle's paint.

Our demo car this time around was a 1998 BMW Z3 with original paint. While it was loaded with swirls and water spots, underneath all that the paint looked like it was pretty healthy with no serious problems.





Oh yes, there was the odd scuff here and there in the paint as well.


As per usual, following the classroom instruction we headed to the garage to put everything to the test. A quick assessment of the paint indicated that claying was called for. The owner of the car, Brian, had only acquired this vehicle a month or so ago and hadn't had much chance to do anything to it thus far.


One small section of the hood revealed this level of contamination. It was actually noisy when we ran a hand over the paint before claying, but nice and quiet and smooth after the fact.


We did some hand application of Ultimate Compound, Polish and Wax to demonstrate proper technique with this process.


We then used the same three products on the G110v2 buffer. The piece of masking tape you see on the backing plate is there to give a better visual indicator that the pad is still rotating. Again, proper technique is critical here, and if you tilt the buffer so that an edge of pad lifts off the paint, it will stop rotating and you'll diminish your result.


There's a foam pad behind that towel - we're demonstrating how to clean a pad on the fly while buffing. Doing so removes excess product and that small amount of paint you're removed, and let's you buff cleanly and efficiently with less dust and product build up.


There was a lot of interest in the Microfiber Correction System so we did a demo with it, as well. Here we're priming the cutting disc with D300 before we start working on the paint.


Firm but even pressure and the same sort of overlapping side to side strokes used with foam will maximize the results when using the DA Microfiber System.


And the payoff - clear, glossy, defect free paint in our test spots. We found both Ultimate Compound/Foam pads and D300/DMC5 microfiber pads to be very effective, but there was no doubt that on this slightly hard paint the DAMF system worked faster.


Here is a major group of scuff marks on the trunk lid that the owner was concerned about.


A good solid pass with the DA Microfiber Correction System totally obliterated the scuffs, and the paint is once again a deep, rich shade of red.


Time to turn the students loose on the hood and get the job done.


Both traditional foam with UC and the newer tech microfiber system were used so everyone could experience the differences.


Dueling buffers yield clear, glossy paint. Just as it should be!


As always, a big thank you to everyone who came out to spend a beautiful Saturday in Meguiar's Garage!! ]]> Pictures from Saturday Classes Michael Stoops http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?57819-Pictures-from-February-9-2013-Saturday-Open-Class http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?57663-Pictures-from-January-26-2013-Open-Class&goto=newpost Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:27:33 GMT Our first class of the new year and..... it was raining. We normally cancel classes when rain is forecast, and we knew it was going to be raining all weekend, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to cancel the first class of the year. Good thing we didn't because we had a full house, with over 30 people in attendance!


A good bit of rain and we see that someone is keeping a nice coat of wax on their car!


Our demo vehicle, however, was a different story. It's a 2011 that experienced some collision damage and a subsequent respray on the front end. But that respray was in desperate need of some TLC. We started, as usual, with clay.


This is from just a very small area on the hood - it definitely needed to be clayed.


Once the surface contaminants were removed, the swirls, scratches and water spots were even more evident.


We put our new DA Power System to good use as a starter, here with the foam cutting pad and Ultimate Compound.


Next step was Ultimate Polish on the polishing pad. Smiles all around - yes, this is as fun as it looks!


A quick application of Ultimate Wax to finish it off.


Next up, the G110v2 DA buffer. We stayed with Ultimate Compound for the defect removal step.


There were a few really deep RIDS so we attacked them a bit more aggressively. When doing this it is important to stop every now and then and check for heat build up.


We polished and waxed with Ultimate Polish and Ultimate Wax, each with its own finishing pad.


The DA Microfiber System came up in discussion so we pulled it out for a demo of what it can do for the RIDS. It worked great on the RIDS but it also caused a slight amount of hazing on this respray.






A quick look with the swirl finder light shows a huge improvement in the finish - the swirls are almost totally gone other than a few really deep marks, but the increase in clarity is remarkable. Look at the reflection of the overhead lights in the upper left corner compared to the lower right corner.


Time to let the students take a crack at the buffer. It's important to keep pressure directly over the pad so the pad stays flat against the paint.


UC and foam versus D300 and Microfiber!




Pressure directly down on the pad!


A quick application of Finishing Wax to top it all off.


Now that's more like it! Crisp, clean reflections instead of water spots, swirls and lifeless paint.



Thanks to everyone who came out on a rainy Saturday morning and helped us start 2013 off right! ]]> Pictures from Saturday Classes Michael Stoops http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?57663-Pictures-from-January-26-2013-Open-Class http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?56668-Pictures-from-October-20-2012-Saturday-Open-Class&goto=newpost Mon, 22 Oct 2012 22:34:53 GMT Plenty of (unexpected) rain overnight didn't dampen the spirits of the crowd of enthusiastic detailers who came out Saturday for some fun in our training garage!

Lucky for use, we had use of a black rental car for our demos, and rental cars always have hammered paint! Unfortunately, the sun never did come out from behind the clouds so it was a bit tricky to get some good side by side pics of our results, but that's the way the buffer spins some times!

As always, following the classroom portion of the program we went into the garage and got to work. This car needed a quick clay treatment before we could start on the below surface defects.


Yep, it definitely needed to be clayed!


Starting out with a hand application demo, we use Ultimate Compound as our first step.


Applying Ultimate Compound by hand.


Same product, machine applied.


Cleaning the polishing pad with a pad brush.....


.....and with a towel. Either option works, just make sure you do it regularly when working on a car.


First pass with the DA and you can see a dramatic difference in the paint finish. These straight line scratches were really bad so another pass is needed to really finish them off.


A close up shot of the paint condition before we started.


Close up in the same area after using Ultimate Compound with the G110v2


Time for the students to try their hand at the buffer.




This is a classic example of NOT keeping the pad flat against the paint. You can clearly see the backing plate rising up on the right side and sitting deeply in the pad on the left. This is not flat and it will diminish results. Proper technique is critical when machine polishing paint, so keep that pad flat, move it slowly, and keep your work area small.
]]> Pictures from Saturday Classes Michael Stoops http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?56668-Pictures-from-October-20-2012-Saturday-Open-Class http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?56339-Pictures-from-September-15-2012-Saturday-Open-Class&goto=newpost Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:36:05 GMT On what turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far here in SoCal we had a great group of Car Crazy enthusiasts eager to learn proper finish care. Triple digit temperatures didn't deter this group, no sir!


Allen graciously allowed us to use his Acura as our demo car for the day. Plenty of swirls to deal with here.


After removing all the loose contaminants from the surface we evaluated for the presence of bonded contaminants. The paint felt a bit rough to the touch, indicating that a quick clay process was called for.


Claying is pretty easy to begin with, but when you have a group of people handling the task it goes really fast!


From there it was on to the hand application and DA application demos. In both cases we used the same three products: Ultimate Compound, Ultimate Polish, and Ultimate Wax.


Here we are demonstrating how NOT to apply a product by hand. See how the fingertips are pressing into the pad? That will cause "cheetah spots" in the paint, marring the surface. Notice how the pressure of the fingers is spread across the pad in the image above - that's proper technique.


Once the hand applied demo was done we moved on to proper use of the G110v2 dual action polisher.


Once the major defect correction was done with Ultimate Compound we switched to a finishing pad and Ultimate Polish, finishing with a fresh finishing pad and Ultimate Wax.


The results of our initial test spot: this is the hand applied side. This image doesn't really show it, but there are a few deeper scratches still present in this test spot. To remove them by hand would require additional applications of UC.


This is the machine applied side. No more swirls, much more clarity to the paint, and the metallic is more apparent.


With the demos done it was time to put the buffer into the student's hands and give them a go. Of course we let Allen go first since it is his car!


No, we didn't select a blue car to match Maria's nail polish!


Thanks to everyone for braving the heat and spending the day with us! ]]> Pictures from Saturday Classes Michael Stoops http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?56339-Pictures-from-September-15-2012-Saturday-Open-Class http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?56131-Pictures-from-August-25-2012-Saturday-Open-Class&goto=newpost Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:47:10 GMT An overcast morning gave way to a beautiful sunny Saturday, and we had a highly enthusiastic group for our Detailing 101 Class. Our demo car for the day was a 2012 Acura TSX with quite a few paint issues. We used the Brinkmann Dual Xenon swirl finder light to see the level of defects while in... An overcast morning gave way to a beautiful sunny Saturday, and we had a highly enthusiastic group for our Detailing 101 Class.

Our demo car for the day was a 2012 Acura TSX with quite a few paint issues. We used the Brinkmann Dual Xenon swirl finder light to see the level of defects while in the garage.


Yep, swirl city.


We cleaned the surface with Ultimate Wash & Wax Anywhere and then clayed the paint to remove above surface bonded contaminants.


After taping off the hood into a couple of sections, we demonstrate proper technique for hand application of Ultimate Compound, Ultimate Polish, and Ultimate Wax.


A properly applied coat of wax is very easy to wipe off..... so we let one of our students handle the wipe off to prove the point.


Next up, the same three products used via hand application, but now with the G110v2 buffer.


On the left is the hand applied side, on the right is the G110v2 applied side. You can see a couple of deeper scratches still present on the hand applied side, so those would need some repeated applications to fully remove. But the swirls are completely gone on both sides.


Here's the G110v2 side, with heavy swirls visible on the upper section above our tape line. There is some fine pitting in the paint caused by impact from fine road debris, and under this sort of extreme lighting they will show up, but the swirls and scratches are completely gone


Again, hand applied side on the left, G110v2 on the right, untouched on the upper half of the image.


Time to let our students get familiar with the buffer, but we always keep a watchful eye to make sure their technique is good.






Technique here is good, but look at all that product!!!! A little bit goes a long way, and this is overkill!


While her son works the buffer, mom takes a picture.... we couldn't resist this shot!
]]> Pictures from Saturday Classes Michael Stoops http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?56131-Pictures-from-August-25-2012-Saturday-Open-Class http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?55818-Pictures-from-July-28-2012-Saturday-Open-Class&goto=newpost Mon, 30 Jul 2012 17:02:30 GMT Another jam packed day in Meguiar's Garage! We had a class full of highly enthusiastic detailing fanatics, and quite the challenge with our demo car this time around.

Not only was the paint on this Toyota Rav4 full of swirls, but the owner's father had gone over spots with a scouring pad and left some really deep scratches.




This angle really shows the scouring pad scratches - these are much deeper than the typical swirls and as such present much more of a challenge for removal.


The paint was also just plain dirty, so we cleaned the hood first with Ultimate Wash & Wax Anywhere.


Claying was definitely needed on this car.


See what we mean?


On to our typical test spots - one area by hand, one with the G110v2 buffer. Here we're applying Ultimate Compound by hand.


Follow with Ultimate Polish and finish with Ultimate Wax.


On the G110v2 buffer test spot we start again with Ultimate Compound, here on a W8207 foam polishing pad.


Close inspection shows that the typical swirl marks are gone, but those nasty scouring pad scratches are still there. While diminished in appearance when viewed with natural light, they were still visible and really detraced from the look of the car. Multiple passes with Ultimate Compound couldn't quite do the job - every product has limitations, after all. Had it not been for these scouring pad scratches we could have done it all with UC, but in this case we had to step up to achieve full correction.


In this case, stepping up meant going with the DA Microfiber Correction System. Here we start by priming the DMC5 cutting disc with D300 Correction Compound.


With the disc on the paint we finish the priming step, then blow the disc out with compressed air.


Once blown out, the disc is fully primed and ready to start with the heavy correction needed to remove those scouring pad scratches.


3 pea sized drops of D300 is all that's needed for our first section.


Speed setting 4 (4800 opm) on the G110v2, heavy pressure, and slow passes.


Now that's more like it!


Out in the sun you can see the results of the hand application test spot (left side) and machine applied test spot (right side). Even the hand applied section is a huge improvement of the untouched area. It looks blacker and richer, and judging by all the swirls still evident in the tape line strip down the center, we did a really good job removing the typical defects by hand. The deeper marks you see in the hand applied spot are mostly the scouring pad scratches. But the machine applied side looks almost brand spanking new!


Closer up you can see the results even more clearly. That's the hand applied section in the bottom of the picture, machine applied at the top. In the middle, where the tape line was, you can clearly see not just the swirls but the scouring pad scratches, too.


So now that we have a process lined up, it's time to put the G110v2 into the hands of our students and let them get a feel for it. As always, we offer hands on (literally) training to ensure that their technique is spot on. Of course we had to let the car owner go first!


Hands on - keep the pressure constant, keep the pad flat, keep the buffer moving.


Teamwork!








Thanks to everyone for coming out and spending a big chunk of a beautiful Saturday with us, and to Ann for letting us use her car for our demo, and to Greg for being our photographer during the demo. ]]> Pictures from Saturday Classes Michael Stoops http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?55818-Pictures-from-July-28-2012-Saturday-Open-Class