rms64
New member
- Dec 18, 2012
- 1,122
- 0
Hi everyone,
A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a new forum member (HybridInOrlando) looking for some help with taking care of some defects on his 2007 Honda hybrid. His concern was some areas of scratching, like the example below which he emailed to me. Andrew also was interested in trying out a DA for the first time.
Our schedules finally lined up this morning, so I packed up a bag full of stuff, my Griot's DA and my Flex and headed on over to his place. Coincidentally, he lives about 3 miles from me so it wasn't a very big trip.
Upon arrival, Andrew had already washed and clayed the car. :dblthumb2:
So, we took a look at his areas of concern the good news was that the car was completely swirl-free, pretty amazing for a 2007.
Now for the bad news.
There were three or four areas of the car that looked like the Cat Attack Squadron had made the car their victim on nightly recon missions. Here's an example of the tough stuff we needed to deal with:
Fortunately, a quick fingernail test revealed that the scratches at least appeared to be superficial and not too deep. There were a couple of spots where the scratches didn't pass the fingernail test, but the majority of the problem areas looked correctable.
After a few quick paint measurements with my Defelsko PTG, we determined that the paint seemed (surprisingly) a little thin, so we proceeded with caution.
After a couple of test spots, we settled on FG400 for the problem areas, which worked amazingly well. I also wanted to give Andrew a chance to try out both the Griot's and the Flex so I did the first run with the Griot's and he pretty much took it from there.
Here's Andrew using the Griot's for the first time:
He didn't need much guidance and soon was polishing like a pro - we started with the deck lid and then focused on some severe scratches on the "pillar" between the roof and the rear window.
Before:
After switching to the Flex, with FG400 and a LC hybrid orange pad:
I'd say the scratches were about 95% gone, and unless you knew they were there to begin with, you'd never notice them now. The results were excellent with this combination.
Here's Andrew using the Flex on the hood as we worked our way around the problem spots:
Best quote of the day, after Andrew had spent some time using both the Griot's and the Flex - after using the Flex on the hood: "I like this one" :dblthumb2:
You can see a bit of a 50/50 in the above shot if you look closely - the front right side of the hood had been done, and the rear right side had not - a definite improvement, and some minor scratches on the hood were removed with no problem. FG400 really works.
We spent a bit more time correcting the tough spots the best we could, to the point at which to take it any further would have been a bit aggressive.
So, I left my Griot's behind, along with a few pads, some microfibers and some Menz 4500, so that Andrew could spend some more time putting a final polish on the car. He also was going to grab some wax to put an LSP on the car when done. I'm hopeful that there will be some updates as he goes through this process!
It was really a great experience to help someone unfamiliar with the various processes and to provide some guidance - I'm not sure who enjoyed the morning more! And, I met a super-nice guy who I believe will soon have his car looking better than it has in quite awhile. We agreed to meet for a couple (+ ?) beers when I head over to pick up my stuff - win win! :cheers:
All in all, a pretty cool way to spend a Saturday morning! :xyxthumbs:
A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a new forum member (HybridInOrlando) looking for some help with taking care of some defects on his 2007 Honda hybrid. His concern was some areas of scratching, like the example below which he emailed to me. Andrew also was interested in trying out a DA for the first time.
Our schedules finally lined up this morning, so I packed up a bag full of stuff, my Griot's DA and my Flex and headed on over to his place. Coincidentally, he lives about 3 miles from me so it wasn't a very big trip.
Upon arrival, Andrew had already washed and clayed the car. :dblthumb2:
So, we took a look at his areas of concern the good news was that the car was completely swirl-free, pretty amazing for a 2007.
Now for the bad news.
There were three or four areas of the car that looked like the Cat Attack Squadron had made the car their victim on nightly recon missions. Here's an example of the tough stuff we needed to deal with:
Fortunately, a quick fingernail test revealed that the scratches at least appeared to be superficial and not too deep. There were a couple of spots where the scratches didn't pass the fingernail test, but the majority of the problem areas looked correctable.
After a few quick paint measurements with my Defelsko PTG, we determined that the paint seemed (surprisingly) a little thin, so we proceeded with caution.
After a couple of test spots, we settled on FG400 for the problem areas, which worked amazingly well. I also wanted to give Andrew a chance to try out both the Griot's and the Flex so I did the first run with the Griot's and he pretty much took it from there.
Here's Andrew using the Griot's for the first time:
He didn't need much guidance and soon was polishing like a pro - we started with the deck lid and then focused on some severe scratches on the "pillar" between the roof and the rear window.
Before:
After switching to the Flex, with FG400 and a LC hybrid orange pad:
I'd say the scratches were about 95% gone, and unless you knew they were there to begin with, you'd never notice them now. The results were excellent with this combination.
Here's Andrew using the Flex on the hood as we worked our way around the problem spots:
Best quote of the day, after Andrew had spent some time using both the Griot's and the Flex - after using the Flex on the hood: "I like this one" :dblthumb2:
You can see a bit of a 50/50 in the above shot if you look closely - the front right side of the hood had been done, and the rear right side had not - a definite improvement, and some minor scratches on the hood were removed with no problem. FG400 really works.
We spent a bit more time correcting the tough spots the best we could, to the point at which to take it any further would have been a bit aggressive.
So, I left my Griot's behind, along with a few pads, some microfibers and some Menz 4500, so that Andrew could spend some more time putting a final polish on the car. He also was going to grab some wax to put an LSP on the car when done. I'm hopeful that there will be some updates as he goes through this process!
It was really a great experience to help someone unfamiliar with the various processes and to provide some guidance - I'm not sure who enjoyed the morning more! And, I met a super-nice guy who I believe will soon have his car looking better than it has in quite awhile. We agreed to meet for a couple (+ ?) beers when I head over to pick up my stuff - win win! :cheers:
All in all, a pretty cool way to spend a Saturday morning! :xyxthumbs:
rops:
