2013 VW GOLF Sportline - 'Revival' + Pinnacle Black Label Coatings

[Tato]

I don't post very often, although I'm always here reading and learning, and detailing cars is my profession.
I had the pleasure and honor to meet Rafael personally, and the quality of his work is amazing. He is a world-class detailer, he could be working with it in any country. His passion and knowledge is impressive, and his humbleness, down to earth kind of personality is unparalleled.
He doesn't keep his findings to himself, as his posts can show, he is always sharing, advicing, and his technique is heavily influenced by the masters Mike Philips and Mike "Smack" (my opinion, anyway, and also I am).
We worked in a car together from 8 in the morning to 11 at night, and it was like taking a rollercoaster ride. It was not work, it was like two kids playing ball in a sunny afternoon. Wish all my working days were like that!
And instead of being overhyped, like a lot of folks around here, full of bs and dubious/amateur techniques, he is underhyped (if there is such a word).
Rafael reminds me an old song "the future is so bright, I gotta wear my shades". :xyxthumbs:

Thank you for kind words, it was my pleasure working with you that day and I'm looking forward doing that again!

:buffing:

Best Wishes!

 

[AZ Mike]

Beautiful job. I appreciate the detail that you put into your write ups. They are always fun to read I learn something every time. Thank you for sharing.

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Your work is incredible. You really put the "detail" in detailing :xyxthumbs:

Couldn't have said it better. Also, this amount of work will REALLY test your patients. Looks as though Rafael passed with flying colors. MAGNIFICENT JOB, Rafael!! :dblthumb2: rops:

 

[Tato]

Beautiful job. I appreciate the detail that you put into your write ups. They are always fun to read I learn something every time. Thank you for sharing.

You're kind. The greatness of sharing work on a detailing forum is exactly this, I learn at least one new thing everyday. It's always funny when you enjoy what you're doing!, right? hahahah :buffing:Im the MAN

Couldn't have said it better. Also, this amount of work will REALLY test your patients. Looks as though Rafael passed with flying colors. MAGNIFICENT JOB, Rafael!! :dblthumb2: rops:

Good seeing you around Mark, your comment is always appreciated.

Kind Regards.

 

[DaveT435]

Incredible work. Amazing transformation. A lot of hours.

 

[FocusSTguy]

Tato, Always find your posts informative and this thread is no different! I though I was doing good getting the water spots off the underside of my hood and door jambs and here you are polishing them :wow:. The car looks great, awesome job!

 

[RobertJ34]

Amazing work. Talk about attention to detail!

 

[Swift]

Questions time …haha


1. Insides of the doors, were they rust marks? How did you clean them?
2. What did you use to clean door hinges? Did you lubricate them afterwards?
3. What is the best way to reach spots where even hands cannot go? How did you even manage to clean and make them shiny?
4. Which product did you use for Exhaust Pipes? They look so awesome.
5. Reason why you used Iron X paste and not spray?
6. Once you applied Correction Compound, which LSP did you use on them?
7. Is there a difference between Tar X and Mother’s R3?
8. On average, how many pads you change in a Detailing job?
9. The fender marks. Did you use Speed Compound? Technical question, does compound hide marks or corrects them?
10. Front LOGO grills, were they already Glossy or become glossy after detailing?
11. You use coating on all the cars or just use it when doing full detail?

Love your work on this one. Car has a nice wet look to it. Your attention to detail is overwhelming. Paint looks smooth and new. Amazing work, mate.

 

[Tato]

Incredible work. Amazing transformation. A lot of hours.

Hi Dave! Reminds a song from Ramones, 'Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated' hehhe Thank you for watching.

Tato, Always find your posts informative and this thread is no different! I though I was doing good getting the water spots off the underside of my hood and door jambs and here you are polishing them :wow:. The car looks great, awesome job!

Well, you definitively are doing a good job!, giving attention to that parts. Appreciate your kindness, count on me.

Amazing work. Talk about attention to detail!

Thank you Robert.

Questions time …haha

1. Insides of the doors, were they rust marks? How did you clean them?
2. What did you use to clean door hinges? Did you lubricate them afterwards?
3. What is the best way to reach spots where even hands cannot go? How did you even manage to clean and make them shiny?
4. Which product did you use for Exhaust Pipes? They look so awesome.
5. Reason why you used Iron X paste and not spray?
6. Once you applied Correction Compound, which LSP did you use on them?
7. Is there a difference between Tar X and Mother’s R3?
8. On average, how many pads you change in a Detailing job?
9. The fender marks. Did you use Speed Compound? Technical question, does compound hide marks or corrects them?
10. Front LOGO grills, were they already Glossy or become glossy after detailing?
11. You use coating on all the cars or just use it when doing full detail?

Love your work on this one. Car has a nice wet look to it. Your attention to detail is overwhelming. Paint looks smooth and new. Amazing work, mate.

Hi, lots of (good!) questions you have in there!

1, 2, 3: From what I could observe this car has a wide gap exposing jambs and hinges which allows general exterior contamination (from tree sap / dust / and even road tar / etc) to get there easily. The above parts showed a 'kind of tree / flower glue' contamination, it's not easy to explain how this happen, but long time neglecting and exposed to sun, rain, those things ends up like a 'resin'. Those parts now detailed, must be 'washed within every wash'(!) to maintain it's better shape.

Dealing with it:

I recommend you to wash work area first (with water or even waterless), then examine. You decide how you'll tackle it from there. Get your favorite tar remover and test a place before going crazy.

You can polish directly and it'll generally work but in my opinion it's somewhat 'dirt work'. Those are painted metal parts like any other part in the car, you can clay, polish, use a paint cleaner, protect... got it? It'll always depend on what kind of contaminants each part exhibits.

For REACHing, you may get some artisans wood / plastic spatula in different shapes (generally thinner and narrow are the best to reach). I avoid using 'metal and pointed tools, but everything has it's use, you just need to choose the proper tool for the job.

Now that you have your spatula, grab a Microfiber towel (generally more plush is better) and cover the spatula with it, then you get your spatula microfiber tip and gently work hard to reach areas.

Round tips are better, and microfiber must have a 'nap' so you don't scrub surface with your spatula tip.

I mean, this is one way, if you fold a Microfiber towel over a credit card you may reach areas in a car your hands alone won't...

Simply as it sounds, you must beware and have technique otherwise you may damage the finish using wrong practices. Good sense, always!

You have to work 'Microfiber Towel Nap' onto surface, not the spatula tip, got it?

Lubing things I may do whenever I feel the need, but not in this case.

4. Exhaust tips I used Meguiar's NXT All metal polish, by hand, using decreasing intensity of applicators, from a white steel wool (which I would describe as 00000000!), a second shot via MF towel, and a final shot using a soft foam applicator. Same product in all. Finished with a wipe down, cleansing polish and coated with Pinnacle Black label Wheel Coating.

5. 'Reason why you used Iron X paste and not spray' because I liked paste more and sticked with it, not buying spray version anymore. Personal taste, only.

6. Once you applied Correction Compound, I did finishing steps via foam pads. LSP (Last Step Product) which adds protection to the finish used in this case is described in thread's title, Pinnacle Black Label Coatings.

7. Is there a difference between Tar X and Mother’s R3?
Mother's R3 is great and definitively removes tar, however I see it's more gentle on tar than Tar-x or any other tar remover I've used. R3 is cheaper, but IMO one product won't fully substitute the other. Being 'gentler' doesn't means it won't work.

8. how many pads in a Detailing job?
I switch pads several times to avoid over stressing one single pad. This practice (to help pad longevity ($$)) indirectly leads to better outcome since when pad saturates with spent product and removed residues (including paint itself) it will impact in polishing performance. I also do clean the pad after each section polished.

A number, maybe 15-18 summing up all pads used from the cut to the finish.

9. The fender marks. Did you use Speed Compound? Technical question, does compound hide marks or corrects them?

Speed compound by hand at first in order to concentrate efforts on that area, 'simulating' a 'feather sanding' technique, however using the compound (I call it #8000 grit sanding ). After that, while working nearby sections I may do a slightly intensive polish in the area until I decide it's enough, based on how many passes I'm doing on the surroundings.

Pro speed compound removes 1200 grit on fresh paint, sorry, you cannot fill 1200# sanding marks!

10. Glossy is a very general word. Car being new, some surfaces still holds the gloss potential, even without proper care, until reaching (someday) the point of no return. Potentially glossy surfaces after proper detailing and coating is likely the full gloss to be restored.

11. You use coating on all the cars or just use it when doing full detail?

Ultimately I'm relying basically on coatings for the cars I work on, which generally involves a more intensive detailing.

Hope that helps,

Kind Regards.

 

[Swift]

Question 6 was about wheels (sorry I didn't write that question down properly), so I'm guess LSP used was Pinnacle Black label Wheel Coating?

>>
>> 'simulating' a 'feather sanding' technique.
> Is it putting light hand pressure while working on the area?

>> By glossy surface of the grills I mean to say did it had smooth surface by default? Mine have rough surface and so its matte finish. Never seen front grills with glossy/smooth finish.

>> Insides of car door areas (not sure what they are called), which is more suitable Micro foam or Micro fiber pads?

Just curious, why did you start white pad and sf 4000 on a hard paint? Why not little more aggressive approach when working on hard paint?

Not sure if you have seen this...Check this out.
Menzerna Polish & Lake Country Pad Reference Guide NEW! - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums - Camaro5.com

Thank you Tato for all your help and answering my endless questions here and also offline ones. Really really appreciate your inputs.

 

[Tato]

You're welcome.

- Sure, wheel coating on wheels, but I've also used Surface coating without a problem.

-Feather

This whole feather thing came to me via a thread by Mike Phillips where he names a very interesting technique called 'Feathersanding' .

Content taken from his thread:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...ghly-specialized-technique-mike-phillips.html

The 'feather' approach is really interesting if you're after minimizing the aspect of RIDS, the random deep scratches.

Here's what he did to minimize RIDS appearance by feathersanding

What I did I may call 'Featherpolishing, which is nothing but an adaptation of Mike's technique, in my case, using a cutting polish.

The feathering will help when I polish the whole surface, 'hiding' deep scratches (which are not possible to be fully removed) much better.

When you work by hand on a small area, you're able to concentrate efforts in small area. Beware not to mess anything, a Microfiber Applicator and 'rocks in a bottle' like M100 can remove paint somewhat fast (it may also generate heat while hand polishing), please, ask whatever needed before trying any of the workarounds I'm saying to you.

*important to notice the way I describe is not the only or best way to do it, just My Way of doing it (always open for improvements).

I come from (old days) 'hand polishing a car in the dark School' ahahha, so working many parts of the car by hand is only natural for me. Definitively, reading all Mike Phillips 'Hand Polishing' threads will give you enough feedback and security to perform the task, they were a game changer for me.

This is an example of Featherpolishing I did on this Golf:
M100, MF Applicator, before

After feathering:


Further polishing will improve what remained to be improved. I'd feather many deep scratches when I feel it's something worth doing for the work I'm performing. I did that with the fender defect, for sure.

----

I prefer MF hand applicator, harder the paint, the more I like it. It also works on soft paint, but to the 'damned most soft paint' you may benefit from using a foam applicator, or following the MF with some foam passes.

-------

Test Spot:

Starting with SF4000 on what I knew was thrashed and is well known as having hard paint is my way to go. Two identical cars can offer different paint to deal with. We only really know if paint is hard/soft while testing a spot.

Using such fine approach I can see the paint finishing potential and 'how far from finishing' I am. Using this approach the paint will give you a lot of important info, and you're being gentle with it.

If I start with a lot more aggressive approach I may remove the defects, but I may get much less information from paint, also risking messing something.

On the test spot we want to meet the paint, not (only, or always) remove the defects. Be gentle with it, it'll say everything you want to know.

Do an IPA / Eraser (I like Menz. Top Inspection) wipe down to fully observe your results and decide using your experience / knowledge what more will be needed.

Hope that helps,

(Thanks for the chart, sure I've read it before!)

Kind Regards.