New Paint Job HELP

[Murr1525]

It seems much more convenient to have something that will just stick on the end of the hose, without buying to buy a pump, etc.

Plus, half the things you see are just soap/water mixers, like for on the lawn, not true foam guns. This sounds like it does a good job for the price. Is that web site where you got yours from? They sell to the public?

Have you only used the #62, or dont the Nxt/Gold Class,Detailer Line washes work as well? Do you notice you are going through a large amount of soap for washing?

Thanks for all the answers

[Accumulator]

Murr1525- What I do is take the gun apart at the central quick-disconnect. Toss the pistol grip. Put a shut-off valve then a brass female quick-disconnect on the hose. Use the male quick-disconnect on the gun and get another male one for your regular hose nozzle. You can get the shut-off and the brass quick-disconnects most anywhere (all brass quick-disconnects seem to work together).

I don't think the soap consumption is all that different, but I do use more since I also use the two-bucket method (so the soap used by the gun is additional). Some people I know only use the gun (no wash bucket, just a rinse one) and they say they don't use much soap. I mix up a jug and then fill the gun from that. Five oz. per gallon of water in the jug. You might use one bottle full of shampoo in the gun (that would be about a quart so only one-two oz. of shampoo if you mix it the way I do).

I prefer #62 over the others because of its apparently greater lubricity, which I consider very important.

I got my foamguns (I have a few of them ) from other sources and I dunno if that link I posted will sell direct. I posted that link because a) it was handy and b) it shows a good pic of the gun.

I got mine from a janitorial supply place in, IIRC, North Carolina (sheesh, sorry, I can't find the receipt or a link...) and from Messner, Inc. messnerinc.com/index but the Messner website shows the wrong model these days.

[edited for commercial link and phone number. Please refer to MOL Forum Rules. Thanks; 2hotford]

The gun is made by Gimour and branded under a few different names; Butcher's (small bottle) and Simple Green (bigger bottle)are the two most common ones. The thing to look for is a sliding brass mixing valve that lets you adjust the dilution.

I paid about $76 for mine shipped but I hear people find them much cheaper. Even at the higher price it's well worth it IMO. A little searching oughta turn one up at a decent price.

[Elk]

Great info Guys!

Accumulator -- I totally get your point. I will have to read your post a couple of times to fully digest and visualize that. Thanks so much. Swirl prevention has got to be worth mastering.

But as Murr1525 pointed out in an eariler post, there may already be swirls right from the painter. The El Camino is in a garage without enought light for an adequate inspection at this point and I have my fingers crossed for the Saturday inspection.

Thanks again Guys. Amazing info on this site!

Don

[Accumulator]

Originally posted by Elk
.. there may already be swirls right from the painter. The El Camino is in a garage without enought light for an adequate inspection at this point and I have my fingers crossed for the Saturday inspection..

Sadly, that wouldn't surprise me any. But you should have plenty of clear to work with so fix it once and then just keep it nice

[Elk]

Originally posted by Accumulator
Sadly, that wouldn't surprise me any. But you should have plenty of clear to work with so fix it once and then just keep it nice

Well, I'm done with my first detailing experience and it went well. I WAS, however, surprised to see swirls already in the paint after pulling it out into the sunlight. I suppose I shouldn’t have been because of Murr1525, Mike Phillips and Accumulator’s previous posts. Still, I couldn’t imagine swirls in fresh paint. They appear to be very light swirls but they’re visible nonetheless. Don’t get me wrong; this is not a bad paint job. The doors and tailgate were all removed and all surfaces well painted. They replaced one rocker panel because it had rust, and all the mechanisms inside the doors were renewed. I have to admit I don’t fully understand all that goes into repainting a vehicle, and since this truck is not a show vehicle, I’m not really bummed it didn’t end up looking like Boyd Coddington or Chip Foose painted it. After detailing it today, it does look really nice though.
I was a little bummed after seeing the swirls but mainly because I wasn’t prepared to perform “step 2” of the 5 step process. I hadn’t expected those swirls to be there. Anyway, I completed my first wash using the 2 bucket method and grit guard. I have to say it was one of the most “painful” wash jobs I ever went through! I kept Accumulator’s advice in mind the whole time but I felt like I was swirling the heck out my new paint! I could almost hear the scratching in my mind! LOL!! I think mainly because I couldn’t really put together a rig like Accumulator described in time for this first wash job. BTW, one of you guys should design something like that setup and sell it! I know I’d buy it. After drying it off with Water Magnet toweling, I set up the G100a to polish the paint with #7. Actually, my painter told me to apply #7 and take it off three times in a row. I hadn’t seen any advice like that on the forum here but what do I know, I’m not a painter, so I did that. I’m glad I did because this was my first time using the G100 and using a pure polish was probably a safe thing for me to learn on. I for sure used too much product during the first polishing. I say that because removing it pretty much loaded up my first microfiber polishing cloth with product. The next two applications I used far less product on the pad and the very fine glaze the DA left on the paint as I applied the polish just looked right. Also, removal was much easier. One new microfiber cloth was plenty for removing the polish from the next two applications.
WOW what a beautiful rich look all that polishing provided. My wife even helped with removing the polish! She (a.k.a. the “gadget gal”) was VERY interested in the G100 and wants to use the Meguiar’s system on her PT Cruiser… we have another convert I think.
My painter had instructed me to use Carnauba wax after polishing so I changed the pad on the G100 and used Hi-Tech yellow wax #26. I used the technique I learned during polishing and used minimal product. Waxing with the G100 is a dream and I was done with the application process in no time. When it was ready I removed the wax by hand with a clean microfiber polishing cloth. What a thing of beauty when I was done.

So I have a new question. Applying #26 with the G100 left a VERY THIN coat of wax. I’m wondering if such a thin coat is enough to protect the paint? In my previous experiences with applying wax to a vehicle (by hand of course) there was a lot more wax to be removed, giving the impression there was plenty of protection left behind.

[Tim Lingor]

Just to chime in here with a quick reminder....the posting of commercial links and/or phone numbers is not allowed on Meguiar's Online. Please refer to the MOL Forum Rules , specifically:

9. No commercial messages will be allowed. This includes web site links, phone numbers and email addresses. Commercial messages will be deleted.

Thank you

Tim

[Accumulator]

2HotFord- Oops, sorry to make you get out your moderator paddle- my bad. No harm/spam/etc. intended, I just got careless and for that I apologize. Your forum/your rules works great for me.

Now if Meguiar's would just join the companies that have the foamgun branded with their logos I could link to that

Elk- I'm not surprised that you found a little marring, actually I'd be more surprised if you hadn't. A little polishing with something like #80/#82/#9 oughta clear it right up.

It's pretty incredible how little LSP you need for adequate protection. You can always just layer on more but each individual application oughta be *very* thin. If you put on more than it takes to cover the paint, any excess just gets wiped off anyhow. Somebody once explained it to me as "wax bonds at the molecular level; 99.9% of what you put on gets buffed off". That's probably an exaggeration, but I keep it in mind anyhow.

[Murr1525]

The G-100 will apply thinner coats of wax than you get by hand. This is a good thing, since it saves you product, and money.

Whether you apply by hand or machine, the same amount of paint surface is there for the wax to adhere to, so you are applying the same protection either way. All of the white build up you are wiping off is just wasted product.

[Elk]

Thanks to Accumulator and Murr1525 for such good replies. Quality feedback to the beginning detailer is worth more to us than you veterans know.

Elk