Southern California MG Club at Meguiar's!

[Mike Phillips]

After everyone had a chance to closely inspect the finish in bright light, Steve drove his Volvo back into the garage so we could begin wiping it down using Quik Detailer and Speed Detailer to remove any light dust or other contaminants from the car before we begin working on it.







After thoroughly wiping down the entire car, it was time to inspect the finish with our sense of touch to check for above surface bonded contaminants




Although this car had spend the last 20 years in an enclosed garage, the finish had a textured feel to it and it was not smooth as brand new glass, so we broke out Meguiar's Quik Clay System and everyone joined in to clay both the paint and even the exterior window glass.

Misting Quik Detailer onto the paint before claying



Rubbing the clay bar over the surface to remove bonded contaminants








Claying Glass

[Mike Phillips]

After wiping down and claying the finish, the next thing we did was to mark out two sections, one to work by hand and one to work by machine

For the hand section we used,

• High-Tech Applicator Pad
  ScratchX
  Deep Crystal Polish
  NEW NXT Generation Tech Wax Paste

We applied everything by hand all the way up to the Tech Wax Paste.






For the machine section we used,

• #80 Speed Glaze
  Meguiar's W-8006 Foam Polishing Pad
  NXT Generation Tech Wax
  Meguiar's W-9006 foam finishing pad

M80 Speed Glaze applied with a W-8006 foam polishing pad on the G100 Speed Setting 5.0




Applying NXT Tech Wax Liquid to our W-9006 Finishing Pad

[Mike Phillips]

After we allowed both waxes to swipe clear we asked for two volunteers from the club to remove the wax to show how easy a thin coat of wax is to remove.

First we talked a little bit about wiping techniques and how to keep you microfibers folded 4-ways to give you plenty of cushion between your hand and the finish.






Removing the paste wax





Removing the liquid wax

[Mike Phillips]

After wipe-off, we used the Swirl Finder to inspect both sides for swirls...

[Mike Phillips]

Time to back the Volvo out of the garage and inspect the results...

Gather around everyone...




Inspecting...




Inspecting...





Inspecting...





Inspecting...





Inspecting...





And inspecting...




What are they looking at?

[Mike Phillips]

Before




After - ScratchX Side
While not perfect, it is a dramatic improvement and these results were obtained using nothing but our hands!



The above results were after 3 applications of ScratchX. What you're seeing are the remaining deeper swirls as the shallow swirls were all removed. If a person would like to remove even more or all of these swirls by hand, all they would have to do is apply ScratchX a few more times.

[Mike Phillips]

Before




After - G100/M80/W-8006 Side




The above results were obtained after a single application of M80 Speed Glaze using Meguiar's G100 Dual Action polisher with a W-8006 foam polishing pad on the 5.0 setting.

As you can see more swirls were removed by machine than by hand. The swirls that are remaining are the deeper swirls as the shallow swirls were all removed. In order to remove the remaining swirls, all a person would have to do is to machine clean the finish again using a fresh application of the M80 Speed Glaze.

[Mike Phillips]

Just above the two areas we worked on...





The sun positioned right on top of the tape-line...

[Setec Astronomy]

Mike,

I'm presuming that the Volvo, although sitting in storage for 20 years, is really 30+ years old. I think you have mentioned before that paint of that vintage is significantly softer than today's clearcoat finishes? Seems to me that a current finish with that level of defects would not be able to be corrected by hand or with something as mild as #80, is that correct?

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Setec Astronomy
Mike,

I'm presuming that the Volvo, although sitting in storage for 20 years, is really 30+ years old. I think you have mentioned before that paint of that vintage is significantly softer than today's clearcoat finishes?

Except for single stage white paint the above is usually true.

Seems to me that a current finish with that level of defects would not be able to be corrected by hand or with something as mild as #80, is that correct?

No it's incorrect as we do it all the time, it would usually take longer or require more applications. Some of the before and after pictures we've posted show flawless finishes after the same process outlined in this thread, while some of the before and after pictures I've posted show less than flawless results.

The products and the process remain the same, often times the person doing the work is constant, so if the products the process and the person remain the same, yet we get different results, the most likely difference comes down to paint type and paint hardness.

Defects can be removed out of harder paints, it usually just takes longer with more effort and energy expended. We also always educate people to this point at our Saturday classes, we make sure they understand that if all the defects don't come out after applying ScratchX 2-3 times, or after machine cleaning with a cleaner/polish like M80 Speed Glaze, that this doesn't mean they won't come out, it just means you may have to repeat the process or use a more aggressive product.

Of course there are also times when you have to learn to live with the defect as we are all limited to what we can do as far as removing defects out of paint by the working film-build, or paint thickness.


"Sometimes you can improve a defect, but not always remove a defects"

[Steve_S]

Just a note about one of your earlier posts (backing the car out)... it was Tom's Volvo, not mine!

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Steve_S
Just a note about one of your earlier posts (backing the car out)... it was Tom's Volvo, not mine!

Thanks Steve, another case of typing to fast and thinking too slow...

By the way, I still have some more pictures to upload!

[Mike Phillips]

The question often comes up,

"How large of an area should I work?

The below photos kind of give you an idea of how large of an area we worked by hand and machine on this paint. The drivers side is the side we did by hand with ScratchX and the Passenger's side is the side we use the G100.






The ScratchX are is about a foot square area, if the paint had been harder and more difficult to work with, we would have shrunk both areas down in side for the defect removal process.

[Mike Phillips]

After everyone had a chance to inspect the finish and see for themselves the difference in before and after it was time for the hands-on portion of the class were we drive the car back into the garage and everyone is invited and encouraged to join in and put into practice the things they learned today!

Applying ScratchX by hand






Applying ScratchX by hand and trying out the G100





Hey you in the white t-shirt... get to work!

[Mike Phillips]

Usually after watching how to remove swirls by hand and then how to remove swirls using the G100 most people are very interested in moving up to machine polishing. This is one of the best features of our hands-on Detailing classes in that you can try not only the G100 dual action polisher out before buying one, but you can try all of the Meguiar's products out!









Here's Tom the owner trying out the G100 polisher himself!