Kamakaz1961
New member
- Aug 23, 2013
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Lake Country White Polishing pads are what I use....way cool! I must be doing something right!....LOL
Good rule of thumb when using an AIO - stick with foam polishing pads by Mike Phillips
- Thread starter Mike Phillips
- Start date
LEDetailing
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- Jan 5, 2016
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HD Speed, LC CCS orange light cutting foam, on a Rupes 15 MKII. 2014 Honda CRV, Black pearl
I wanted the paint glossy, clean, defect removal wasn’t high on the list.
Medium/fast arm speed. Total time polishing was 5 hrs.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I wanted the paint glossy, clean, defect removal wasn’t high on the list.
Medium/fast arm speed. Total time polishing was 5 hrs.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
rlmccarty2000
New member
- Dec 23, 2013
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Glad someone (Dan) brought up the Megs system. I love it and recommend it often on forums. My favorite is a Megs microfiber pad and CarPro Essence. CarPro suggests the use of microfiber pads to aid in the curing of Essence. I think Mike thinks about the Flex 3401 first when making recommendations and the Flex 3401 doesn’t work well with microfiber pads.
Dan Tran
New member
- Sep 10, 2015
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Well...now that it was mentioned, I will chime in again. Lol.
My most favorite combination to use lately is Meguiar’s Finishing Disc + CarPro Essence
Personally, it has when working well for me thus far despite paint sensitivity. As a matter of fact, CarPro recommends “For finicky and soft paints use microfiber pad”. Just to say the very least.
Dan Tran
Car Care Specialist
The Buffing Moose Detailing: High-Quality Car Detailing
LEDetailing
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- Jan 5, 2016
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I will have to give Essence a try on my never used, still in the package Meguiar’s MF pads. How is defect removal with Essence and Meguiar’s MF?
I wonder how the long throw polisher improves the finish of HD Speed when combined with microfiber and light cutting pads. Is it the heat and friction changing the abrasive qualities of the LC light cutting pads?
I notice when washing pads that my CCS orange pads really change texture/softness when transitioning from hot to cold water.
Mike-
How many section passes do you usually make with this method? I reread your posts a few times and didn't see that so apologies in advance if you already stated that somewhere. Thanks again for a great post. Very informative.
Cruzscarwash
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- Oct 16, 2015
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Just looking through boards, on YouTube and even I'm IG feeds I see the Meg's pads get used more then any other brand as far as MF goes.
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
Dan Tran
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- Sep 10, 2015
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Honestly, the biggest difference I found with Lake Country’s Microfiber pads is the fact that it doesn’t mat down fast at all.
I guess I still prefer the Meguiar’s ones because I used them first and just have gotten used to them.
But in comparison, they both do excellent!
Dan Tran
Car Care Specialist
The Buffing Moose Detailing: High-Quality Car Detailing
Calendyr
New member
- Jun 9, 2013
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Mike, have you seen the video where Joe suggests using a wool pad on a DA to do a one step on a seriously damaged panel?
Here it is: YouTube
I think his approach is very good. In case you get a client that doesn't want to pay for a full correction but has a paint in horrible condition, this approach beats doing a normal 1 step for me.
I have ordered a wool pad since seeing this video but have not had a situation like this yet.
Here it is: YouTube
I think his approach is very good. In case you get a client that doesn't want to pay for a full correction but has a paint in horrible condition, this approach beats doing a normal 1 step for me.
I have ordered a wool pad since seeing this video but have not had a situation like this yet.
Dan Tran
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- Sep 10, 2015
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Does anyone here recognize these photos? I posted in a different thread about how to remove decal removal (ghosting).
Well the day before I detailed this, my first order of CarPro Essence arrived. So I said, why not.
Here is what CarPro Essence + Meguiar’s Cutting Disc (hood) and Meguiar’s Finishing Disc are capable of:
Dan Tran
Car Care Specialist
High-Quality Car Detailing in Maine and NH
MattPersman
New member
- Apr 27, 2013
- 1,266
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Does anyone here recognize these photos? I posted in a different thread about how to remove decal removal (ghosting).
Well the day before I detailed this, my first order of CarPro Essence arrived. So I said, why not.
Here is what CarPro Essence + Meguiar’s Cutting Disc (hood) and Meguiar’s Finishing Disc are capable of:
Dan Tran
Car Care Specialist
High-Quality Car Detailing in Maine and NH
Nice work. Looks good. I like essence. When it first came out lots were using it with MF pads IIRC. Did it help on the ghosting of the decals at all? Or have you not gotten that far yet
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Dan Tran
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I neglected to take a close up of the door. If it matters, the driver side door you see in one of the pictures (whole car) is the door with the primary ghosting. For the record, it removed it completely.
It blew me away; never mind my client.
That weekend he bought CarPro products to keep up with his truck.
Dan Tran
Car Care Specialist
High-Quality Car Detailing in Maine and NH
Cruzscarwash
New member
- Oct 16, 2015
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Dan Tran
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- Sep 10, 2015
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This was done yesterday
GG6 with 6 inch vented plate
Meg's MF finishing pad (might be my new favorite)
Essence
3-4 passes
YouTube
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
I also hope you took an appropriate time to admire your own work after.
Splendid work my friend.
Dan Tran
Car Care Specialist
High-Quality Car Detailing in Maine and NH
Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 7
- Thread starter
- #38
Buff and Shine makes great pads. Historically we've used mostly Lake Country pads in the garage because as the Autogeek business has gone through an evolution over the last 9 years that I've been here we've had a LOT of changes. One change is that we use to NOT carry Buff and Shine pads, so that's a really easy to understand reason why we mostly have LC pads in the garage.
Another reason is since I came to work we have not added any more storage to the garage. The cabinets and racks and carts are all overflowing, so it's hard to bring any mass quantity of anything into the garage without either getting rid of something or adding more storage. These are GREAT problems to have but back to my point, Buff and Shine does make very high quality products and I'll have to get more of their pads into the garage as I consider myself an equal opportunity exploiter.
That's a great example of,
Under promise and over deliver.
Thank you sir.
I'm a huge fan of helping others to succeed. I've done this for decades by sharing how-to information on the mechanics of detailing. I now have permission to do this on the business side of detailing and that includes sharing my detail work via leading by example.
The "issue" is old guys and even most people don't understand how long it takes to do each step. I would also say the masses don't know that at least for the "Correction Step" you CANNOT move the polisher fast. You must move the polisher slowly over the surface as in a SLOW ARM SPEED. Knowing this, then sizing up a car it begins to make sense that in order to just COMPOUND a car from start to finish will take a minimum of 4 hours and for many this will go to 6 hours and longer. This doesn't include washing, claying, prepping for the correction step, (taping off ect), then sealing the paint via a wax, a sealatnt or in the case of a coating, chemically stripping the paint and the applying the coating. We're talking HOURS of intense and FOCUSED labor.
And people don't understand this time factor. So when you tell them how much you charge it sticker shocks them.... In my car and boat detailing classes I teach the class that the only way you can get your prices up is to educate your customer about these time "facts" and the learn that some people you encounter will appreciate quality work and will pay a higher price and some people are "price shoppers" and will not become your customer. The important take-away from this is
Customers that can be educated and appreciate quality work will stick with you and refer you to their friends.
People that are price shoppers will never be profitable and will dump you as soon as they find someone cheaper.
This above is what I shared in Renny Doyle's book when Renny asked me so contribute on a few topics, I wrote an article about this topic here,
The learned skill of turning detailing work down by Mike Phillips
No problem.... I'm a speed typist so it's easy to type out detail, something I never see in the fb world.
I'd like to set the price at $595.00 but I think that's a price point that the demographic of person that owns cool cars just have a hard time swallowing for the type of car they own and what they're getting.
I talked with a guy recently that purchased a brand new Dodge of some sort, I forget exactly what model it was but he said he paid over $100,000.00 for it or that it was worth over $100,000.00 - when asked what it would cost to apply a ceramic coating, I told him $1,200.00 on average depending on the condition of the paint. He pretty much choked. Now he can rationalize spending big bucks to BUY the car but he couldn't rationalize $1,200.00 to have the paint on the car professionally and correctly prepped and coated. (I fed his ego on what a great car he has and then ended the conversation and walked away).
Just a good rule of thumb and for most paint, a safe bet. I detailed a car on Saturday and the LC Orange cutting pad scratched the hell out of the paint, I ended up using the LC white Force Hybrid pad and even it was iffy on the custom paint on the old 2-door Ford I worked on.
That sounds good. The Honda CRV is considered a medium sized SUV, at least compared to SUVs like the Honda Pilot or the Chevy Tahoe, but even so, that's a lot of real-estate to tackle in 5 hours but if you have your process dialed-in and stay off your phone it's complete doable.
I'll have to re-visit the newer version of CarPro Essence. The first version was a tick on the sticky side to wipe-off if you over used the product.
Something to keep in mind - anytime you're using a one-step cleaner/wax or an AIO or a hybrid product like CarPro Essence, the product is purposefully filling as you use it. Nothing wrong with this in fact, it MUST leave itself behind and thus by default fill if the product actually works. The thing about this is if your pad is micro-marring the paint or leaving behind pad haze, you might not see it.
Think deep about this issue and then remember the title and topic of this article was that a foam polishing pads is a good-rule-of-thumb, not a must-do choice.
Mmmm.... not really. I make orbital polisher recommendations that take into consideration all orbital polishers.
As far as using microfiber pads with the FLEX 3401 you are correct, microfiber pads do not buff well with this tool. The term I coined for how the FLEX 3401 feels when buffing with a microfiber pad is,
grabby
You can find that term in this write-up from December 4th, 2012
2012 Dodge Challenger + Menzerna Color Lock Makeover
If you read Post #31, I highlighted the word grabby in red, bold text.
Note: At the time we buffed out this car and I wrote the article, the pads being tested were the THIN and THICK versions of early Lake Country Microfiber pads. These pads have come and gone and the thick foam core pad is no longer available. The THICK foam core microfiber pads did "somewhat" work on the gear-driven FLEX 3401 but never as smooth as a foam pad. It's just the characteristic of a 8mm gear-driven orbital polishers.
Hmm.... next time I have a soft or finicky paint, I'll give this a try. It's hard to conceive how a fiber pads on soft pait is going to work well and NOT leave micro-marring in the paint. Been there done that with other products and the fibers tend to scratch the paint.
It's usually the normal 8 section passes. I counted this last Saturday as I was doing a one-step production detail and also thinking about this thread.
And just to note, the car I detailed this last Saturday is a classic muscle car with a custom paint job. The paint was completely swirled out. I'm not sure what happened to it but it had the type of scouring I've seen where a CAR COVER had beat against the paint for some length of time. It also looked like it could have been machine sanding marks not fully removed. I have some pictures.
As BAD as the scouring was, the paint was INCREDILBLY SOFT and scratched easily. A microfiber pad on an orbital polisher would have micro-marred the heck out this paint.
Nope, have not seen it. After you included the link I tried to watch it but his hair got in the way. :laughing:
I completely understand the concept of doing a one-step for "clients" that don't want to pay for a full correction, this is why in my classes I teach both one-step and multiple step detailing or production and show car detailing.
The point of this article is that as a RULE OF THUMB - NOT are hard fact, that for most cars, when doing a one-step buffing procedure, a foam "polishing" pad will be a safe bet. A foam cutting pad or any fiber pads can leave micro-marring or pad haze. These more aggressive pads might and might not leave micro-marring and/or pad haze but you won't know until you do a TEST SPOT. This is also WHY you do a test spot, that is to find out if the paint is hard or soft and then dial-in your process from there.
Joe is a very good detailer and also a good writer, he'll go far in this industry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good discussion all the way through this thread....
The most important take-away from the topic of this thread is that your goal when doing a one-step process to a car, (your car or a customer's car), is to actually only do ONE step and as such, make sure the pad you choose is not leaving it's own defect in the paint.
I'm assuming anyone reading this is already using GREAT abrasive technology. Thus if the product is NOT causing micro-marring the next culprit would be the pad. Sure you can get away with a foam cutting pad or a microfiber pad on SOME paint but not all paint and the only way to know for sure is to do some testing and if you really want to be sure then chemically strip your test spot and inspect with a good swirl finder light.
Cruzscarwash
New member
- Oct 16, 2015
- 2,425
- 0
Buff and Shine makes great pads. Historically we've used mostly Lake Country pads in the garage because as the Autogeek business has gone through an evolution over the last 9 years that I've been here we've had a LOT of changes. One change is that we use to NOT carry Buff and Shine pads, so that's a really easy to understand reason why we mostly have LC pads in the garage.
Another reason is since I came to work we have not added any more storage to the garage. The cabinets and racks and carts are all overflowing, so it's hard to bring any mass quantity of anything into the garage without either getting rid of something or adding more storage. These are GREAT problems to have but back to my point, Buff and Shine does make very high quality products and I'll have to get more of their pads into the garage as I consider myself an equal opportunity exploiter.
That's a great example of,
Under promise and over deliver.
Thank you sir.
I'm a huge fan of helping others to succeed. I've done this for decades by sharing how-to information on the mechanics of detailing. I now have permission to do this on the business side of detailing and that includes sharing my detail work via leading by example.
The "issue" is old guys and even most people don't understand how long it takes to do each step. I would also say the masses don't know that at least for the "Correction Step" you CANNOT move the polisher fast. You must move the polisher slowly over the surface as in a SLOW ARM SPEED. Knowing this, then sizing up a car it begins to make sense that in order to just COMPOUND a car from start to finish will take a minimum of 4 hours and for many this will go to 6 hours and longer. This doesn't include washing, claying, prepping for the correction step, (taping off ect), then sealing the paint via a wax, a sealatnt or in the case of a coating, chemically stripping the paint and the applying the coating. We're talking HOURS of intense and FOCUSED labor.
And people don't understand this time factor. So when you tell them how much you charge it sticker shocks them.... In my car and boat detailing classes I teach the class that the only way you can get your prices up is to educate your customer about these time "facts" and the learn that some people you encounter will appreciate quality work and will pay a higher price and some people are "price shoppers" and will not become your customer. The important take-away from this is
Customers that can be educated and appreciate quality work will stick with you and refer you to their friends.
People that are price shoppers will never be profitable and will dump you as soon as they find someone cheaper.
This above is what I shared in Renny Doyle's book when Renny asked me so contribute on a few topics, I wrote an article about this topic here,
The learned skill of turning detailing work down by Mike Phillips
No problem.... I'm a speed typist so it's easy to type out detail, something I never see in the fb world.
I'd like to set the price at $595.00 but I think that's a price point that the demographic of person that owns cool cars just have a hard time swallowing for the type of car they own and what they're getting.
I talked with a guy recently that purchased a brand new Dodge of some sort, I forget exactly what model it was but he said he paid over $100,000.00 for it or that it was worth over $100,000.00 - when asked what it would cost to apply a ceramic coating, I told him $1,200.00 on average depending on the condition of the paint. He pretty much choked. Now he can rationalize spending big bucks to BUY the car but he couldn't rationalize $1,200.00 to have the paint on the car professionally and correctly prepped and coated. (I fed his ego on what a great car he has and then ended the conversation and walked away).
Just a good rule of thumb and for most paint, a safe bet. I detailed a car on Saturday and the LC Orange cutting pad scratched the hell out of the paint, I ended up using the LC white Force Hybrid pad and even it was iffy on the custom paint on the old 2-door Ford I worked on.
That sounds good. The Honda CRV is considered a medium sized SUV, at least compared to SUVs like the Honda Pilot or the Chevy Tahoe, but even so, that's a lot of real-estate to tackle in 5 hours but if you have your process dialed-in and stay off your phone it's complete doable.
I'll have to re-visit the newer version of CarPro Essence. The first version was a tick on the sticky side to wipe-off if you over used the product.
Something to keep in mind - anytime you're using a one-step cleaner/wax or an AIO or a hybrid product like CarPro Essence, the product is purposefully filling as you use it. Nothing wrong with this in fact, it MUST leave itself behind and thus by default fill if the product actually works. The thing about this is if your pad is micro-marring the paint or leaving behind pad haze, you might not see it.
Think deep about this issue and then remember the title and topic of this article was that a foam polishing pads is a good-rule-of-thumb, not a must-do choice.
Mmmm.... not really. I make orbital polisher recommendations that take into consideration all orbital polishers.
As far as using microfiber pads with the FLEX 3401 you are correct, microfiber pads do not buff well with this tool. The term I coined for how the FLEX 3401 feels when buffing with a microfiber pad is,
grabby
You can find that term in this write-up from December 4th, 2012
2012 Dodge Challenger + Menzerna Color Lock Makeover
If you read Post #31, I highlighted the word grabby in red, bold text.
Note: At the time we buffed out this car and I wrote the article, the pads being tested were the THIN and THICK versions of early Lake Country Microfiber pads. These pads have come and gone and the thick foam core pad is no longer available. The THICK foam core microfiber pads did "somewhat" work on the gear-driven FLEX 3401 but never as smooth as a foam pad. It's just the characteristic of a 8mm gear-driven orbital polishers.
Hmm.... next time I have a soft or finicky paint, I'll give this a try. It's hard to conceive how a fiber pads on soft pait is going to work well and NOT leave micro-marring in the paint. Been there done that with other products and the fibers tend to scratch the paint.
It's usually the normal 8 section passes. I counted this last Saturday as I was doing a one-step production detail and also thinking about this thread.
And just to note, the car I detailed this last Saturday is a classic muscle car with a custom paint job. The paint was completely swirled out. I'm not sure what happened to it but it had the type of scouring I've seen where a CAR COVER had beat against the paint for some length of time. It also looked like it could have been machine sanding marks not fully removed. I have some pictures.
As BAD as the scouring was, the paint was INCREDILBLY SOFT and scratched easily. A microfiber pad on an orbital polisher would have micro-marred the heck out this paint.
Nope, have not seen it. After you included the link I tried to watch it but his hair got in the way. :laughing:
I completely understand the concept of doing a one-step for "clients" that don't want to pay for a full correction, this is why in my classes I teach both one-step and multiple step detailing or production and show car detailing.
The point of this article is that as a RULE OF THUMB - NOT are hard fact, that for most cars, when doing a one-step buffing procedure, a foam "polishing" pad will be a safe bet. A foam cutting pad or any fiber pads can leave micro-marring or pad haze. These more aggressive pads might and might not leave micro-marring and/or pad haze but you won't know until you do a TEST SPOT. This is also WHY you do a test spot, that is to find out if the paint is hard or soft and then dial-in your process from there.
Joe is a very good detailer and also a good writer, he'll go far in this industry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good discussion all the way through this thread....
The most important take-away from the topic of this thread is that your goal when doing a one-step process to a car, (your car or a customer's car), is to actually only do ONE step and as such, make sure the pad you choose is not leaving it's own defect in the paint.
I'm assuming anyone reading this is already using GREAT abrasive technology. Thus if the product is NOT causing micro-marring the next culprit would be the pad. Sure you can get away with a foam cutting pad or a microfiber pad on SOME paint but not all paint and the only way to know for sure is to do some testing and if you really want to be sure then chemically strip your test spot and inspect with a good swirl finder light.
i 100% agree Mike, when i first started out a was a dollar chaser and id go after every penny i could, and i destroyed my body and my wallet barely grew from the after math. no i fully understand and have no issues with the power of saying NO or turning away a job, even high paying jobs if i dont get a good feeling about the customer after talking with them about a potental job. i think thats definaelty a lesson those looking to make this a businesses need to learn and accept in teh early stages for sure.
Cruzscarwash
New member
- Oct 16, 2015
- 2,425
- 0
Buff and Shine makes great pads. Historically we've used mostly Lake Country pads in the garage because as the Autogeek business has gone through an evolution over the last 9 years that I've been here we've had a LOT of changes. One change is that we use to NOT carry Buff and Shine pads, so that's a really easy to understand reason why we mostly have LC pads in the garage.
Another reason is since I came to work we have not added any more storage to the garage. The cabinets and racks and carts are all overflowing, so it's hard to bring any mass quantity of anything into the garage without either getting rid of something or adding more storage. These are GREAT problems to have but back to my point, Buff and Shine does make very high quality products and I'll have to get more of their pads into the garage as I consider myself an equal opportunity exploiter.
That's a great example of,
Under promise and over deliver.
Thank you sir.
I'm a huge fan of helping others to succeed. I've done this for decades by sharing how-to information on the mechanics of detailing. I now have permission to do this on the business side of detailing and that includes sharing my detail work via leading by example.
The "issue" is old guys and even most people don't understand how long it takes to do each step. I would also say the masses don't know that at least for the "Correction Step" you CANNOT move the polisher fast. You must move the polisher slowly over the surface as in a SLOW ARM SPEED. Knowing this, then sizing up a car it begins to make sense that in order to just COMPOUND a car from start to finish will take a minimum of 4 hours and for many this will go to 6 hours and longer. This doesn't include washing, claying, prepping for the correction step, (taping off ect), then sealing the paint via a wax, a sealatnt or in the case of a coating, chemically stripping the paint and the applying the coating. We're talking HOURS of intense and FOCUSED labor.
And people don't understand this time factor. So when you tell them how much you charge it sticker shocks them.... In my car and boat detailing classes I teach the class that the only way you can get your prices up is to educate your customer about these time "facts" and the learn that some people you encounter will appreciate quality work and will pay a higher price and some people are "price shoppers" and will not become your customer. The important take-away from this is
Customers that can be educated and appreciate quality work will stick with you and refer you to their friends.
People that are price shoppers will never be profitable and will dump you as soon as they find someone cheaper.
This above is what I shared in Renny Doyle's book when Renny asked me so contribute on a few topics, I wrote an article about this topic here,
The learned skill of turning detailing work down by Mike Phillips
No problem.... I'm a speed typist so it's easy to type out detail, something I never see in the fb world.
I'd like to set the price at $595.00 but I think that's a price point that the demographic of person that owns cool cars just have a hard time swallowing for the type of car they own and what they're getting.
I talked with a guy recently that purchased a brand new Dodge of some sort, I forget exactly what model it was but he said he paid over $100,000.00 for it or that it was worth over $100,000.00 - when asked what it would cost to apply a ceramic coating, I told him $1,200.00 on average depending on the condition of the paint. He pretty much choked. Now he can rationalize spending big bucks to BUY the car but he couldn't rationalize $1,200.00 to have the paint on the car professionally and correctly prepped and coated. (I fed his ego on what a great car he has and then ended the conversation and walked away).
Just a good rule of thumb and for most paint, a safe bet. I detailed a car on Saturday and the LC Orange cutting pad scratched the hell out of the paint, I ended up using the LC white Force Hybrid pad and even it was iffy on the custom paint on the old 2-door Ford I worked on.
That sounds good. The Honda CRV is considered a medium sized SUV, at least compared to SUVs like the Honda Pilot or the Chevy Tahoe, but even so, that's a lot of real-estate to tackle in 5 hours but if you have your process dialed-in and stay off your phone it's complete doable.
I'll have to re-visit the newer version of CarPro Essence. The first version was a tick on the sticky side to wipe-off if you over used the product.
Something to keep in mind - anytime you're using a one-step cleaner/wax or an AIO or a hybrid product like CarPro Essence, the product is purposefully filling as you use it. Nothing wrong with this in fact, it MUST leave itself behind and thus by default fill if the product actually works. The thing about this is if your pad is micro-marring the paint or leaving behind pad haze, you might not see it.
Think deep about this issue and then remember the title and topic of this article was that a foam polishing pads is a good-rule-of-thumb, not a must-do choice.
Mmmm.... not really. I make orbital polisher recommendations that take into consideration all orbital polishers.
As far as using microfiber pads with the FLEX 3401 you are correct, microfiber pads do not buff well with this tool. The term I coined for how the FLEX 3401 feels when buffing with a microfiber pad is,
grabby
You can find that term in this write-up from December 4th, 2012
2012 Dodge Challenger + Menzerna Color Lock Makeover
If you read Post #31, I highlighted the word grabby in red, bold text.
Note: At the time we buffed out this car and I wrote the article, the pads being tested were the THIN and THICK versions of early Lake Country Microfiber pads. These pads have come and gone and the thick foam core pad is no longer available. The THICK foam core microfiber pads did "somewhat" work on the gear-driven FLEX 3401 but never as smooth as a foam pad. It's just the characteristic of a 8mm gear-driven orbital polishers.
Hmm.... next time I have a soft or finicky paint, I'll give this a try. It's hard to conceive how a fiber pads on soft pait is going to work well and NOT leave micro-marring in the paint. Been there done that with other products and the fibers tend to scratch the paint.
It's usually the normal 8 section passes. I counted this last Saturday as I was doing a one-step production detail and also thinking about this thread.
And just to note, the car I detailed this last Saturday is a classic muscle car with a custom paint job. The paint was completely swirled out. I'm not sure what happened to it but it had the type of scouring I've seen where a CAR COVER had beat against the paint for some length of time. It also looked like it could have been machine sanding marks not fully removed. I have some pictures.
As BAD as the scouring was, the paint was INCREDILBLY SOFT and scratched easily. A microfiber pad on an orbital polisher would have micro-marred the heck out this paint.
Nope, have not seen it. After you included the link I tried to watch it but his hair got in the way. :laughing:
I completely understand the concept of doing a one-step for "clients" that don't want to pay for a full correction, this is why in my classes I teach both one-step and multiple step detailing or production and show car detailing.
The point of this article is that as a RULE OF THUMB - NOT are hard fact, that for most cars, when doing a one-step buffing procedure, a foam "polishing" pad will be a safe bet. A foam cutting pad or any fiber pads can leave micro-marring or pad haze. These more aggressive pads might and might not leave micro-marring and/or pad haze but you won't know until you do a TEST SPOT. This is also WHY you do a test spot, that is to find out if the paint is hard or soft and then dial-in your process from there.
Joe is a very good detailer and also a good writer, he'll go far in this industry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good discussion all the way through this thread....
The most important take-away from the topic of this thread is that your goal when doing a one-step process to a car, (your car or a customer's car), is to actually only do ONE step and as such, make sure the pad you choose is not leaving it's own defect in the paint.
I'm assuming anyone reading this is already using GREAT abrasive technology. Thus if the product is NOT causing micro-marring the next culprit would be the pad. Sure you can get away with a foam cutting pad or a microfiber pad on SOME paint but not all paint and the only way to know for sure is to do some testing and if you really want to be sure then chemically strip your test spot and inspect with a good swirl finder light.
i 100% agree Mike, when i first started out a was a dollar chaser and id go after every penny i could, and i destroyed my body and my wallet barely grew from the after math. no i fully understand and have no issues with the power of saying NO or turning away a job, even high paying jobs if i dont get a good feeling about the customer after talking with them about a potental job. i think thats definaelty a lesson those looking to make this a businesses need to learn and accept in teh early stages for sure.