Zone 8 Porsche Club at Meguiar's

[Mike Phillips]

Zone 8 Porsche Club at Meguiar's

Meguiar's was proud to host a detailing clinic for members of the Zone 8 Porsche club! There was a wide range of Porsche's on display showcasing the different body styles over the years. Everyone arrived early and had a chance to talk shop before the class started.











Like most clinics, there's usually a little variety in the mix, in this case we had a couple of Corvettes, and a Lexus,



And a BMW and a Harley Davidson!



With over 45 people in attendance, it was our largest class to date!







Our Power Point Presentation covers the basics of detailing every inch of your car.





Hey look, it's Meguiar's Online! We like to show people where the forum is and a little bit about how how to become a member and join in the fun!

[Mike Phillips]

As you can see by the pictures above, the day started out a little cloudy and overcast. But by the time the classroom presentation was over, the sun poked it's head out and enabled us to walk around and evaluate the condition of many of the cars that were on hand.



The number one consumer complaint as it relates to the finish on a car is Swirls

Most of the cars we inspected had swirls to one degree or another such as this Boxter,





The goal of the class is to cover a wide spectrum of car care including interior, wheel and tire care, and of course paint care. Besides showing people how to remove unsightly swirls, Meguiar's focuses peoples attention on how to prevent swirls.

Mike

[Mike Phillips]

After the classroom portion of the clinic, we moved out to Meguiar's Garage for some hands-on training and experimenting.

First up, Allen volunteers his Porsche for exterior makeover. Allen's car has a beautiful paint color, but it was filled with hundreds of thousands of car wash scratches throughout the finish, plus a few deeper ones here and there.

First we wiped the light dust off using Meguiar's Meguiar's Quik Detailer.

While in the classroom, I asked everyone to show with the raising of their hand, who had and who had not used a clay bar before. About 2/3 of the people in class had not used a clay bar. So one of the priorities for this class was to get Meguiar's new clay bar available in Meguiar's Quik Clay System into as many hands as possible!

Here you can see everyone getting with the program!







Here's a shot of Allen, the owner, claying the thin areas between the door and the roof.





Usually, only the horizontal surfaces accumulate bonded contaminants, however because Allen's car is driven often and parked outside at times, and also to give everyone a chance to use a clay bar, we went ahead and clayed the vertical panels also.




We also clayed the window glass. Don't forget, contaminants are not picky, they will land and bond to just about any surface.

[Mike Phillips]

After claying the entire finish, the next procedure it to clean the paint and remove below surface defects such as swirls, scratches, etchings, scuffs and mars.

One of the primary goals of the detailing clinics at Meguiar's is to teach people techniques for getting good results with hand applied products. Not everyone owns a Dual Action Polisher, an Orbital Buffer, or a Rotary Buffer, but almost everyone owns a pare of hands!

Using the techniques outlined in the class and also referred to in this how to article, How to remove a defect by hand with ScratchX, members of the Zone 8 Porsche Club enthusiastically dove right in and began massaging the defects out of the finish of Allen's Porsche!







With a team of people, it only took a matter of minutes to completely go over the entire finish with the ScratchX.

[Mike Phillips]

As we learned in the classroom, paint cleaners like ScratchX don't have to dry before you remove them, so after applying the ScratchX and then removing it, we went to the next step in Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle , applying a pure polish.

For this step we chose Meguiar's Deep Crystal Polish, Deep Crystal Polish is easy to use and really adds a lot of gloss and depth to medium to dark colored cars. Deep Crystal Polish is also easy to find at most auto parts stores.

Like a paint cleaner, Meguiar's polishes don't need to dry before you remove them. You basically apply a thin coating, working the product in well, and then remove with either a microfiber polishing cloth or a 100% cotton terry cloth towel. In today's clinic, we used Meguiar's premium quality microfiber polishing cloths, the Ultimate Wipe.

Here's Allen starting the process by applying some Deep Crystal Polish to a clean, Meguiar's foam applicator pad.





As you can see the ScratchX has already restored a lot of gloss to the car's finish, each step of the Meguiar's paint polishing process takes your car's finish to a higher level. With Meguiar's paint polishing process, you are always moving forward toward the goal of a show car shine!

[Mike Phillips]

After applying and removing the Deep Crystal Polish, next up was the application of Meguiar's new NXT Generation Tech Wax.

One guy eager to get things stated,



And then everyone jumps in to help out!

[Mike Phillips]

On the other side of the Garage we were learning how to use Meguiar's G-100a to remove swirls, apply polish and then apply wax. Because we removed all of these products by hand using Meguiar's Ultimate Wipe, we decided to test out Meguiar's microfiber Ultimate Bonnet on a clean, W-8006 foam polishing pad to remove the wax on Allen's Porsche.

The Ultimate Bonnet on the Porter Cable Dual Action polisher not only takes all the work out of removing wax, most people there would agree it left a Super High Gloss finish on Allen's Porsche!





Just check out the crystal clear reflections and deep, dark wet-look shine the finish on Allen's Porsche has where this young lady has already removed the NXT Tech Wax!





Here's Allen showing how easy this tool is to use, even on the vertical panels...



Everyone wants to try their hand at removing wax with the G-100,

[Mike Phillips]

And here are the finished results!

A super high gloss finish with a deep, dark, wet-look shine! In both artificial lights...



and out in direct sunlight!



Allen commented that his car has never looked so good, not even when he first bought it!

Products used,

Quik Clay System
ScratchX
Deep Crystal Polish
Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax
Ultimate Wipe
W-8006 foam polishing pad
Ultimate Bonnet
G-100a

[Desertdawg]

WOW! The sun sure brings out the beautiful color in that Porsche.

[Mike Phillips]

I forget the name of the color, but it's a very beautiful color that seems to really fit that body style. In person, the metallic flake Jumps Out at you!

Mike

[Tim Lingor]

Hey,

That is one beautiful looking Porsche!!! I just love that color!!!


Tim

[Mike Phillips]

Whoops, almost forgot this one of Allen dressing his tires to finish the makeover,



Mike

[Mike Phillips]

Next up, Tim has volunteered his black Porsche to let us demonstrate how remove swirls by hand and with the G-100 Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher.



First we taped his hood off right down the middle with some painters tape. The first demonstration was to show how to apply Meguiar's ScratchX by hand to remove light swirls and scratches, followed by Deep Crystal Polish, to restore gloss and richness, followed by two thin applications of NXT Tech Wax.

After the last application of Tech Wax had cured, one of the members for the Zone 8 Porsche Club volunteered to help remove it using Meguiar's microfiber polishing cloth,





Mike

[Mike Phillips]

Then we backed the car out into the sun for everyone to see the results,






Get in there close so you can get an accurate look!


Mike

[Mike Phillips]

And here's what they saw,









Remember, these results were all achieved by hand using,

Hi-Tech Applicator Pad
ScratchX
Deep Crystal Polish
Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax
Ultimate Wipe

Mike