Saturday, August 20, 2011 was another fun and eventful class at Meguiar's. A special thanks to those who came and participated!
At Saturday detail clinics, we generally choose one car and perform a demonstration of our key consumer products with hand and DA applications. This week, we actually chose two different black cars to illustrate the difference between working on different paints and to illustrate the importance of choosing the right products for the right job. One car was an extremely neglected 2000 Camaro which had just been purchased two months prior. The other was a carefully cared for Audi with a few scratches that seemed shallow but turned out to be rather difficult to remove. Otherwise, the Audi was in fairly good condition.
After a short lunch break over some pizza,
We quickly wiped down the Audi to remove lose contaminants and clayed an area to remove any possible bonded contaminants. It felt just a tiny bit gritty.
Soon after, we tested SwirlX by hand, which removed some of the light scratches, but definitely left some deeper ones. On another panel, we tested Ultimate Compound by hand and checked out the difference. The Ultimate Compound removed far more scratches, but still left some deeper ones behind.
After attempting to correct the finish with Ultimate Compound and a DA, we finally resorted to some M105 a W8207 and a DA set at speed 5 to eliminate persistent scratches in the clear. This left a beautifully glossy finish which we topped off with Ultimate Polish and a little NXT Paste Wax for an awesome finish.
We soon turned our attention to the Camaro. Some in the class were impressed with the results of the Audi, but hesitant to believe that similar results could be achieved on a black 2000 Camaro with paint in terrible condition. To their surprise, the results were even more extraordinary.
After claying to remove the many bonded contaminants, the paint went from sand paper to mirror smooth. We then used Ultimate Compound, a W8207, and a DA set at 5 to remove the defect and the changes were incredible. We soon topped off the hood with Ultimate Polish and NXT Paste Wax. The hood looked as though it didn't belong on the car.
We also took the opportunity to correct the headlights on the Camaro which were very yellowed using the Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit.
Summary: The Audi had super hard paint and not all paint finishes are the same. It turned out that the seemingly minor few scratches on the Audi hood were far more difficult to remove than the incredibly hazed and swirled hood of the Camaro. Ultimate Compound easily corrected the Camaro and vastly improved the finish, yet was not the perfect tool for the Audi. M105 turned out to be a far better tool for the Audi. Both cars benefited from clay and the Ultimate Polish deeply enhanced the shine of both.
Thanks to all who participated! Hopefully we will see you here again on a Thursday night!
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