South Orange County Rods & Customs at Meguiar's

[Mike Phillips]

South Orange County Rods & Customs at Meguiar's


Meguiar's is proud to host our Detailing 101 Class for the members of the South Orange County Rods & Customs!

[FlaresideLariat]

What kinda cars are those?

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by FlaresideLariat
What kinda cars are those?

The red one is a 1937 Ford Coupe, the one with the blue pinstripe flames is a 1932 Ford Vicky, and the aquamarine one is a 1957 Chevy. I think the other older coupe is a 1934 5 window Ford Coupe. All choice street rods.

I'll be posting more pictures of these car and Saturday's event tomorrow.



Mike

[BIG TUNA]

Mike,

All those cars are nice BUT that red '37 Ford coupe is just outstanding. Awesome detail job.

[Tim Lingor]

Hey,

Now THOSE are my kind of cars!!!!


Tim

[HotRodGuy]

how in the world did I miss this day!!!


that red 37 is


better yet, how do I join this club!

[OrangeRcode]

Beautiful cars! Truly rolling works of art

[Mike Phillips]

Members of the South Orange County Rods & Customs car club brought a good mix of cars... Here's an excellent example of a couple of old school hot rods,

1932 Ford 5 window coupe





Jim's 1957 Chevrolet Belair



And here are some examples of some modern hotrods...

[Mike Phillips]

From this view, the finish on this 1937 looks pretty good...



But from a different angle after the sun poked his head out it starts to look a little different when you know how to inspect the finish in bright light,



Here's a close-up with the sun in the same area as in the above photo. Here you can better see the swirls and also a random, isolated, deeper scratch, (RIDS).



So into Meguiar's Garage it goes to use as a demonstration vehicle for how to remove swirls.

[Mike Phillips]

Before working you the finish of this 1937 Ford we went ahead and wiped it down using a Meguiar's microfiber Ultimate Wipe with some Meguiar's Quik Detailer to remove any loose dust or light contaminants from the finish.

[Mike Phillips]

After wiping the entire finish down, we inspected for above surface bonded contaminants, we didn't find any and the owner told us that he had just recently clayed his car's finish.

Next up, following Meguiar's Philosophy of,

"Always use the least aggressive product to get the job done"

We chose Meguiar's #80 Speed Glaze to use with Meguiar's W-8006 foam polishing pad on Meguiar's G-100a on the 4.5 setting.



Here's the owner Rich, trying his hand with the dual action polisher on his car's finish while his friends look on...







We didn't get any good after shots and it's hard to get them this time of year as the sun is lower in the sky, but everyone there agreed the finish had improved but would require more time polishing with the #80 Speed Glaze, or perhaps substitute a more aggressive product such as the #83 Dual Action Polisher.

[Mike Phillips]

Next up...

We chose a PT Cruiser to learn claying and hand techniques. First we wiped it down with Quik Detailer and some Ultimate Wipes to remove all of the loose dirt and air-borne contaminants.



We chose this PT Cruiser because the owner stated that the car has spent the last 2-years parked outside exposed to the environment. We knew this would make for an excellent learning vehicle for removing above surface contaminants using Meguiar's Quik Clay System



After claying, we learned hand techniques for applying Meguiar's ScratchX .



We used the same techniques outlined in this how-to for using ScratchX by hand. How to remove a defect by hand with ScratchX



Afterwards, we applied one thin coat of Deep Crystal Polish, followed by one thin coat of NXT Generation Tech Wax






After we hand applied all of these products, the owner backed his PT Cruiser out into the sun and members inspected the results,



The sun was so low we couldn't capture the dramatic before and after difference in the finish but the side we polished out by hand in direct sunlight was absolutely crystal clear and swirl-free. As you can see from the above picture, everyone took their turn and checking out the results because they were truly dramatic.

[FlaresideLariat]

That pic is priceless! See the look on that guy's face...

Are all those people from MOL?

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by FlaresideLariat
Are all those people from MOL?

Nope, all but 3-4 of the people at this class are members of the South Orange County Rods & Customs car club.

I wish I could have captured the before and after these guys were looking at, it even shocked me when I looked. Once side was a haze of massive swirls and the other side was crystal clear and completely swirl-free.

We did this with 3 hand applications of ScratchX worked in well, using a foam wax applicator pad.

ScratchX, it works great if you work it.

Mike

[FlaresideLariat]

Originally posted by Mike Phillips

We did this with 3 hand applications of ScratchX worked in well, using a foam wax applicator pad.

ScratchX, it works great if you work it.

Mike

I have got to try ScratchX on my car. I'd wash it first, right? If I wanted to add a polish and a wax to it, would I apply ScratchX before or after the polish? Before or after the wax?