demo shine

[oiltrell]

Hi Folks:
My local Harley dealer just brought a burgundy front fender off of a 2004 road king to my shop. He wants me to mask off half and polish and protect the other half for them to put up in there service dept. as a demo of how nice the customers paint can look. this way they have another service to offer and will sublet to me to do it.
This fender is in great condition with no more than natural sunfading on a vehicle with 10,000 km on it. So, this may be hard to make a real noticable difference, but i will try.
My thought is to wash it, high speed buff with a foam finishing pad and "Show Car Glaze #7" then hand buff with "Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner" then hand apply "#26 Yellow Wax" liquid or paste (i have both) and then pull off the masking and inspect.
Any thoughts?

[Ash Erickson]

Re: demo shine

That sounds like a good system if the paint is in somewhat good condition. The only thing though, you would always want to do your Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner or any paint cleaner first. Then follow with your polish/glaze and finally your wax.

[BlueZero]

Re: demo shine

Wipe the whole thing down with a dirty rag. Make sure to get it good and swirled. Then fix half. Just to show what can be done. Just an idea.

[cnfowler]

Re: demo shine

Wipe the whole thing down with a dirty rag. Make sure to get it good and swirled. Then fix half. Just to show what can be done. Just an idea.

That's a good one.


Don't forget to post before and after pics.

[oiltrell]

Re: demo shine

thanks Ash
BlueZero, i was really hoping to do a realitic demo, I already know how to make something ugly look good, now I want to make something that looks typical of a proud Harley owner look even better. thanks for the humor!

[Murr1525]

Re: demo shine

Have to make the advertising work for you... even buy them a spot light to be able to shine on the swirls.

[Detaillab]

Re: demo shine

I like the idea of messing it up first but I personally would

1. Wash
2. Clay
3. either DC Paint cleaner, or #80
4. #21 two coats

I think even without swirling it up first you would see a noticible difference in that kind of color.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: demo shine

Kind of playing off the previously suggested idea of wiping the paint down with a dirty rag,

Wipe the panel down with a 50/50 mix of Isopropyl Alcohol to water mix, do this a couple of times to completely strip any previously applied products, next wash the panel thoroughly with a strong detergent wash like Dawn to continue to clean and also dull the paint, building on the results of the Isopropyl Alcohol wipe-down. The idea is to get the paint thoroughly clean without improving the appearance.

This will show your customers what the paint looks like in it's natural, un-polished, un-waxed state.

Next, tape off one half of the fender, either across it, or down the middle of it, if you tape it in half, people will have to be in the right position to see the difference, if you tape it down the middle, then no matter what "their" height, if you mount the fender in just the right way, anyone will be able to see the difference in the before and after.

Does that make sense? Without a fender in front of me to take a picture it's kind of hard to explain, but hopefully you'll get the idea.

Next, don't machine or even hand prep the after side with a pure polish like #7 Show Car Glaze, or Deep Crystal Polish as both of these are non-abrasive pure polishes and will not do anything to remove any defects.

Instead, machine clean the after side using something like our M83 or M80 to completely remove any below surface defects like swirls, scratches, oxidation and other imperfections.

If neither of these are aggressive enough then use some M84 with a foam cutting pad for your initial cut and follow with a cleaner/polish like the M83 or the M80

After cleaning and prepping the paint to a state of flawlessness, next apply two coats of the NXT Tech Wax, allow each coat to fully dry before removing.

after wiping all the wax off, carefully remove your tape and then very carefully wipe off the residue around the tape-line on the paint in a way that you don't move the residue onto the before side and potentially improving this area of paint and all the while wiping so carefully that you don't instill any fine scratches in the process.

Maybe give the after side one more soft, gentle wipe to insure a totally streak-free, smudge-free flawless finish and now place the fend on display with a note that state,

"Please don't touch"

"You can look but please don't touch"

When people want to see what you can do with paint show them the before and after side, perhaps have a Xeon Flashlight handy to reveal the swirls, scratches and dullness even better to their eyes while they're inspecting both sides. (Better make sure your side is flawless under this light first and be sure your work is flawless or you'll look bad).

Then while they're looking at the paint, "Educate" them on the value of having an experienced professional who knows what they are doing work on their car. Explain the 5-Step Paint Care Cycle, that is you're going to...

• Wash the car
• Evaluate the finish
• Clay the car if your evaluation revealed that the paint has aboves surface bonded contaminants
• Clean the car using the appropriate compound, paint cleaner, cleaner/polish to remove below surface defects
• Polish the paint to maximize gloss and clarity will creating a deep, wet shine.
• Protect the paint with one or two applications of a quality paint protectant

Also place a chart and a flyer next to the fender that explains this and make sure to always have flyers stocked up that people can take with them with your name, phone number, detailing packages and prices.

If you have a website make sure it's printed on the flyer. If you are savvy enough, take a picture of the fender showing the before and after differences and place it on the flyer.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: demo shine

BlueZero, i was really hoping to do a realistic demo, I already know how to make something ugly look good, now I want to make something that looks typical of a proud Harley owner look even better. thanks for the humor!

If you want a realist demo, then tape off a section, and do what you would normally do to a car with the same condition of paint.

Simple and straightforward.

[KTruck]

Re: demo shine

Hi:

A lot will depend on the type of paint.

I would consider using #82 or #9 with a DA depending on paint, SS or BC/CC.

This should add clarity to the paint.

Steps to consider.

1.Wash
2. Clay
3. #80 (remove swirls)
4. #82
5. #7 (optional)
6. LSP (#26, #21, NXT)

Regards,

KTruck

[Mike Phillips]

Re: demo shine

A motorcycle fender is just a little small to "Showcase" your skills. If you want to do something like a "Before & After", then get a hood and do something like this,

Before


After



Unless you're just going after the motorcycle market.

[oiltrell]

Re: demo shine

Thanks for all your help everyone, i will keep you posted as to the results

[perkoz]

Re: demo shine

Wipe the whole thing down with a dirty rag. Make sure to get it good and swirled. Then fix half. Just to show what can be done. Just an idea.

LOL Thought it was a detailing forum

[BlueZero]

Re: demo shine

LOL Thought it was a detailing forum

Sometimes I break things just so I can fix them...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: demo shine

Thanks for all your help everyone, i will keep you posted as to the results

And?

How did everything work out?