I'm about to use this on a brand new car that has PPF on half the car. The rest of the car will be clean and ready for the Wolfgang kit.
My questions are:
Hi Adam,
You ask some great questions, let me take a stab at them...
1. Can I do the car in sections over a few days? Say I do the roof, hood and trunk, completely, then the next day do the vertical surfaces? And next week do glass?
As long as all these surfaces stay surgically clean in-between the time you made the final prep wipe to the time you apply the coating then the answer is "yes".
Me? I'd find a way to block out the time to do it all at once and avoid the risk of dust contamination if the car is stored inside the ENTIRE time it is being coated from prep wipe to final coating application. If you put the car into service in-between applying coating to various sections then the answer is "no".
2. Related to above, this product's instructions call for applying product to the sponge applicator directly workout a suede cloth.
I think you could apply it with either approach, the foam block is more "simple" and this tends to make application easier. Most coatings I've used do NOT spread out easy like an old fashioned wax so take your time and be patient when applying any coating with any applicator.
Does that applicator get hard?
To be honest, I don't remember. I can use this product as a test and let you know.
Can it be reused the next day? Next year?
If the coating material hardens the foam then the answer is "no". I throw these blocks in the washing machine after a class, envision up to 20 of the being used at one time), and they seem to wash and dry just fine. This saves money. If you're all about saving money on a block that costs $5.00 then immediately after use wash the block. If the cost of a $5.00 block compared to a the cost of the car and the peace of mind for top quality protection isn't an issue, then simply get a new block for the next time you coat a car.
And finally, the starter kit only came with 2 towels. I guess that's not enough assuming an already contaminated car?
Thanks!
Adam
Nope. Here at Autogeek we sell thousands of kits. The kits contain enough product to get you started. If we put everything in a kit that actually needed the price of the kits would be so high sales would fall like a rock.
For example - when you purchase a "Polisher Kit", it often times comes with,
One foam cutting pad
One foam polishing pad
One foam waxing pad
I can't count how many times I shared with people that you need more than ONE foam cutting pad to compound an entire car. In fact, if you really want to do your best work you use one pad per panel. For a 2 door car that would be 9 pads. You don't need as many polishing pads since the WORK is done in the first step but still, 3, 4, maybe 5 polishing pads to do the job right and then one pad to machine apply a wax or sealant. That's a total of 15 pads. We're not putting 15 pads in a kit and then a wash mitt and some car wash soap, a few drying towels, all the towels you need to wipe off the compound, all the towels you need to wipe off the polish and all the towels you need to wipe off the wax.
So yeah.... anytime you buy a kit ANYWHERE in the world for any type of hobby, it's not going to come with all the necessary components to do the complete job whatever the job might be. It's how our world works, we didn't set it up this way, I'm guessing our world kind of evolved this way.
As a professional practice, ANYTIME I share a detail car detailing project, if you look at the picture closely I ALWAYS show the tool, the NUMBER OF PADS and sometimes all the towels and complimentary product used. For example, in post #2 of this thread I shared via a picture how many towels I used to chemically strip the paint.
Mike Phillips said:
Very Important
Have plenty of clean, soft microfiber towels on hand for the prep step to avoid cross-contamination.
Recently I buffed out a 1965 Cadillac, in this picture I show how many pads I used - I count 10 pads
1965 Cadillac - Original Single Stage Paint - Slam job by Mike Phillips
Here's the best way to share what it takes to buff out a car...
How to use Griot's Garage to detail your car - A detail job Richard Griot would be proud of!
You'll find this in post #9
List of all products used...
On Autogeek.com
Griot's Spray-On Car Wash
Griots Garage 6 Inch Random Orbital Polisher
Griots Garage 6 Inch Heavy Duty Random Orbital Polisher
Griots Garage 5 Inch Vented Orbital Backing Plate
Griots Garage 3 inch HD Backing Plate
Griots Garage 5.5 inch Orange Foam Correcting Pad
Griots Garage 5.5 inch Black Foam Finishing Pad
Griots Garage 5.5 inch Red Foam Waxing Pad
Griots Garage 6 inch Surface Prep Pad
Griots Garage Brilliant Finish Synthetic Clay
Griots Garage Speed Shine Detailer 35 oz
Griot's BOSS 3.5" buffing pads
Griot's Pneumatic Micro Rotary Buffer
Griots Garage Complete Compound 16 oz
Griots Garage Complete Polish 16 oz
Griots Garage Best of Show Wax 16 oz -
New Formula!
Griot’s Garage Spray-On Car Wash Cloths – 3 Pack
Griots Garage Micro Fiber Polish Removal Cloths - 3 Pack
Griots Garage Black Shine Tire Gel
Griots Garage Target Tire Dressing Kit - 2 foam tire gel applicators and one handle
Pictures of products used...
It takes more time to share everything I use for a car detailing project, can't actually think of anyone that does this? I do it for sales for the AG store (of course), but for those that can not be so cynical, they know I also do it to help do the job right the first time. That's how I roll.
I'll test the product today on the foam applicator pad and let you know if it hardens on the foam.
I'll also test to see if you can apply using the suede patch of cloth on a foam block and let you now how this goes.
