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Articles by Mike Phillips
I added about 20 new articles last week and have a couple more dozen to add still...
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The only problem with the above is that the person doing the wiping must be very careful PLUS use premium quality wiping cloths so as not to re-introduce marring back into the paint as some chemical stripping products are not also GREAT lubricants.
I point this out in detail here with pictures using black paint to make the point...
Hologram Free with a Rotary Buffer
Wiped very thoroughly with Mineral Spirits
Any marring you see now is not "holograms" but marring from wiping. Keep in mind, clear coats are "Scratch-Sensitive" and when working on BLACK paint even the lightest defects show up, that's why I always test on black paint.
I think it's pretty obvious that there are zero holograms or rotary buffer swirls in the paint...
Next I wiped the panel down with IPA at 12.5%. Note when I wiped the panel down both with MS and IPA I dragged the panel into the shade first.
Now you can see some light marring, but that's because IPA isn't a very good lubricant, in fact it's a
horrible lubricant. I think of all the people that have been told by others to wipe their car down with IPA before going to the next step and it's pretty easy to understand that when they did this they likely marred their car's paint and this is called
working backwards. It's also likely that if the people taking this advice were working on light to medium colored cars they never saw the marring.
At a minimum, it can't possibly do any harm to work within a system approach when using a reputable brand of products. For example, after polishing or using a pre-wax paint cleaner from Brand X, follow that with an LSP from Brand X.
What do you have to lose?
And then we're back to here... this article I wrote in 1994...
"Find something you like and use it often"
And here's what the above quote means...
If you like a product, that usually means you like the experience of using it which includes application, that is you like how the product applies. It also tends to mean you like how the product removes, that is you like how the product wipes-off. It can also mean you like how fast or slow it dries or the fact that it doesn't have to dry at all and you can wipe it off immediately.
And usually and most important, it means you like how it makes the paint on your car look and that's a huge part of the big picture of owning and enjoying your car, truck or s.u.v. or special interest car.
You can't really know which product you like best until you've used a variety of products so finding something you like and using it often means you have to do some research and at some point make some purchases and then go out into your garage and do some testing to gain real world knowledge and experience.
At some point you will find a product you like and if you use it often then your car's paint will always look good because it's only when you neglect your car's paint that it goes downhill.
Just the simple act of applying and working-in and over the paint a smooth, creamy product, (that is formulated to make paint look good), has a polishing-effect and if done on a regular basis will preserve and maintain a clear, glossy finish and isn't that the primary goal of those that consider them serious car enthusiasts?
How often you have to repeat this process to maintain your car's finish to a quality level you expect for your car's appearance depends upon how the car is used and where it's parked when not in use.
A daily driver that is parked outside most of the time, either at work or at home, will need to be maintained more regularly than a Garage Queen that is only driven on sunny days. So adjust your car maintenance schedule to fit your lifestyle and the way you use your car.
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