Finish Kare Paint Decontamination System

Subscribing. Can you use this in place of a clay bar on any paint, or should it only be used on paint that's in poor condition?
 
What I've gathered is that clay removes the above surface contaminants but if the contaminants have embedded themselves into the paint, then you are only removing what is above the surface and not getting to the core of the problem and thus it will continue to come back. This system supposedly removes the whole contaminant, what is above and below the surface, and prevents further contamination with the use of a quality sealant. I would like to get some feedback from those who have used this system.
 
What I've gathered is that clay removes the above surface contaminants but if the contaminants have embedded themselves into the paint, then you are only removing what is above the surface and not getting to the core of the problem and thus it will continue to come back. This system supposedly removes the whole contaminant, what is above and below the surface, and prevents further contamination with the use of a quality sealant. I would like to get some feedback from those who have used this system.
Wow, that sounds really great! Can't wait to hear some feedback. :xyxthumbs:
 
So basically, nothing can replace claying?

I wouldn't pick one or the other. Claying is always a staple regardless. If you have a rust issue from industrial fallout or what have you, then the FK1 system works well, but I still recommend claying as well.
 
I talked to a few guys that have used the decon kits and they swear by them. I spent 6hrs last fall claying the rail dust off a white C6 so if it were to save me some time I'd try it. ;)


I'll admit I'm skeptical that something can be safe for the paint yet strong enough to dissolve iron particles...
 
I offered to use it on the C6 but the customer didn't like the idea of it and was worried about the paint
For FK to say it's OEM approved, they better sure as heck be able to back that up!
 
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It seems that not many people on the forums have used this system for what it is supposed to be used for, removing rail dust and other contaminants that can corrode in your paint. Maybe Mike can find a white car with such problems and try it out in the AG Show Car Garage and construct one of his awesome write ups. :poke:
 
I have used another companys, and I have no issues at all. Its really good at deep cleaning the paint.
 
Well, I washed my black car outside yesterday, it was breezy and mid 60's here and sunny. I would normally wash it in the shade but the yard is still to soft to pull the car into it so I thought I would be okay since I have a CR Spotless filter system. Well, it was drying really fast and either the water hadn't changed over from the house water in the hose or my filters need changed, but I I have some light spotting all over the car. I ordered the Decontamination kit earlier this week and it's supposed to be here on Friday, so I will give it a wash over the weekend and post my conclusions. I will see if I can get some pics as well.

Tom
 
Heads up everyone thinking about this system, I had it backfire on some single stage red paint. The paint color lightened a little bit and kind of has a pink tint to it. I know that the red pigment in paint is made from an iron complex but I don't know if that is why i had a problem. It could have been a fluke, but its definitely something to be careful of. It worked amazingly well on a black mercedes I worked on. I did the usual wash and clay then did the whole system and it seemed to make the paint a little deeper and polishing seemed a little easier.
 
I recently received the 3 step process from Valugard. Will use it this weekend as I have a ton of water spots. Will let you know it goes.

Howard
 
I recently received the 3 step process from Valugard. Will use it this weekend as I have a ton of water spots. Will let you know it goes.

Howard
Please do! This is supposed to be a great system. :xyxthumbs:
 
For those of you planning to use the decon kit for water spots I think this post by Mike needs to be reinforced....





I've personally never used this system so I can't really comment on from first hand experience. I've seen it used by a very experienced and trusted pro detailer and in the example that we used it on I didn't see any benefit but I don't think it was the right product for the job as we we're working on an oxidized, single stage paint.


I haven't read up on the ABC system for a year or so but my guess is that it's a product designed to clean fleets of cars that become contaminated in transit from the manufacturing location to the dealerships and all the stops in-between.

I've seen cars that have traveled across the ocean on large ships that have water spots and all kinds of air-borne contaminants and pollution bonded to the exterior and it could be this contamination system is best suited for these type of applications.

As far as bonded contaminants go a multiple step chemical bath or stripping process would probably remove a majority of the contaminants off the surface as long as the type of bond these contaminant have is within the scope of the chemicals being used to remove them. What that range would be I don't know but I'm sure the Finish Kare people do and a phone call or some research on their website should address this topic.

Water Spots

I posted the below on Autopia recently so instead of retyping what I've already written I'm just going to copy and paste it here,


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Years ago I wrote an article for MOL and just arbitrarily gave the two different types of water spots names as I needed a way to discuss them and differentiate them from one another. I don't know if there some other term previously used in the professional industry to differentiate mineral deposits from water spot etchings? If there is then I've never read or heard about it and feel free correct me and also to use those terms or make up your own.

Here's how I described them,

Type I Water Spots are mineral deposits sitting on top of the surface.
Type II Water Spots are actually holes or etchings that are in the paint.

Type I Water Spots, or mineral deposits bonded to the surface can be removed using detailing clay while Type II Water Spots, or etchings which are below the surface must be removed using a compound or polish because you have to remove a little paint surrounding the etching to level the surface.



Before washing
detail-50.jpg

detail-51.jpg



After washing
detail-85.jpg

detail-86.jpg


After claying
detail-83.jpg


Most of the water spots in these pictures were mineral deposits on the paint and glass of this Lexus I buffed out but in a few sections the water had actually etched into the paint so we removed them by machine buffing.

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IF you're working on paint with Type II Water Spots then the only way to remove the spots will be to level the surface and by this I mean you're going to have to remove a little paint surrounding the etchings or craters in the paint till the surface is uniformly level.

This would be the job of a compound or paint cleaner, something that's abrasive, not a car wash or decontamination system unless the car wash or decontamination system has the ability to remove paint in a controlled manner.


If you have Type II Water Spots, from a horizontal point of view they are going to look like this,

water-spots-art.jpg



So I'm not sure how a washing system is going to remove the paint surrounding the hole or crater?




Just to note, even Type I Water Spots usually require some polishing in order to 100% remove any tale-tale signs.


:)
 
When using the finish kare system, is it safe to leave the exterior plastic trim/rubber seals exposed? (edges of my doors have rubber seal) If its not safe, how would these areas be protected? All I can think of is 3m tape however that would be very time consuming and I dont know how effective that would be.

Common sense leads me to believe that the system is safe on plastic/rubber since that would make the system almost unusable. There's no mention of trim/rubber areas on autogeeks product description or finish kare's site. Just posing a question since I have a white car and plan on trying the system out if i determine its safe to use
 
OK. I used the Finish Kare Paint Decontamination system yesterday. The victim was a new white 2010 Kia Forte Sedan. It had massive protective film adhesive residue, rail dust, all kinds of paint contamination. I started with step one, it is a white liquid, mix it 4:1, I found that adding the 64 oz bottle to 2 gallons of water worked best. It has a mild solvent smell, best used outside. You sponge it on and let it dwell for 5 or so minutes. Being careful not to let it dry. Looking at the rinse water coming off, you'd think the car was black. Next up, step 2. It is a yellow'ish liquid and obviously acid-based. USE GLOVES! This is applied full strength to a couple panels at a time, again... DOT NOT LET IT DRY. It did require some agitation in a few spots where the rail dust was concentrated, but you could actually see the little orange spots slowly disappear. Let this dwell for 5 or so minutes. Then, wash with step 3. It is supposed to neutralize step 2 and remove any additional grease, wax or whatever. For those of you who are worried about plastic and rubber trim... Don't. It had NO effects AT ALL on any of my trim, even chrome plated plastic.

Does this replace claying.... NO. Does it significantly reduce the time spent claying... YES. I took an additional 30 minutes or so spot-claying some difficult areas.

Overall... definitely worth it. The paint was smooth as glass on 90% of the paint surface after the 3-step system alone.

Anybody have any ?'s on anything I missed.... lemme know.

EDIT: I think that Meguiar's body solvent would do the same as step one, but at a greater value.
 
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