Mike Phillips
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How long does the battery last? 40 minutes - Cordless FLEX XC 3401 aka the CBEAST
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Cruzscarwash
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Mike, how is the application of PNS via machine over by hand? Most always mention the "grabby feel" so is that noticable with machine? Do you think you use more or less with this method? And lastly is it faster with the machine?More....
How to machine scrub tires using the Cordless FLEX PE14
When I teach my car and boat detailing classes, I do my best to include comedy. One of the long-time jokes I use is that I try to show as many things as possible by MACHINE and the reason why is....
Here at Autogeek... we don't sell hands... :laughing:
But seriously, I am part machine and I work like a machine and I try to do everything by machine. Love the Cordless FLEX PE14 because it does a dramatically better job of cleaning tires than a human could ever do working by hand. And because it's cordless there is no SHOCK risk and I've been shocked before, so speaking from first hand experience, I prefer cordless over plug-in when working in a wet environment.
Wheels and tires first
Ever since I started detailing cars, that would be before the Internet, I figured out right away the correct order to do clean and wash each area of a car. For me, after doing the 3 messy things, (I teach this in my car classes), the next thing is to do the OPPOSITE of what the major car wax companies tell you to do and instead, I start at the bottom not the top. That is, start with wheel and tires. The order you wash a car is relative - that is it doesn't really matter to the car what you do first, so work smarter instead of harder and after the 3 things that get a car messy start with wheels and tires.
Iconic tires on a classic muscle car but they look kind of dull and boring.
The cordless FLEX PE15 with a 5 AMP battery fully charged and ready to tear into the tires.
Wheel Woolies Black Boar's Hair Wheel Face Brush - if you don't have one, get one and thank me later. Coolest, handiest brush for all kinds of job.
The art of photography....
Holding the camera in one hand while squeezing the spray with the other hand and timing the exact moment to get this type of "action shot".
Yeah buddy....
Have to admit, normally I would hold the FLEX with both hands but in this moment the other hand was manning the camera.
The most awesome wheel face brush...
I teach a lot of classes and one of the things I remind people of is out of all the "things" you do to your car... washing is the most common and most repeated thing you do. So it only makes sense to have GREAT car washing tools and products to make a job I really don't like doing as fast as possible while keeping my results professional quality consistently. Make sense?
Ready to rinse...
Now that's a clean tire.
Final results...
Here's everything I used....
Sorry - no pictures of me machine applying the SONAX Polymer Net Shield but this is what I applied to the tires after machine scrubbing.
On Autogeek.com
Heavy-Duty DA Carpet Brush – Short Bristles
Wheel Woolies Boar’s Hair Wheel Brush
TUF SHINE Tire Cleaner 22 ounce
SONAX Wheel Cleaner Full Effect
FLEX PE-150 Cordless Rotary Polisher
SONAX Polymer Net Shield 340 ml
Mighty Mini Cordless Polisher
2 Pack Cyclo Polisher Grey Ultra Soft Upholstery Brush
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Mike Phillips
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Machine application of anything trumps hand application for speed and effectiveness.
Just to note - I stopped using PNS for a tire dressing. Just doesn’t last. Of course it’s not supposed to last - it’s not a tire dressing. I was just trying it as a tire dressing because it works so great for just about everything else plus I’m naturally laze.
I love the new PBL Tire Clear Coat. Amazing product when you have clean tires.
Mike Phillips
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Cruzscarwash
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What's the watts and amps of the charger?
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Mike Phillips
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Off hand, I'm not sure but I'll check?
Whatever it is - it's what the engineers determined would be needed to recharge the rechargeable batteries.
But I'll find out.
Continued.....
When a company asks me to test out a tool, be it a prototype or production unit, I tend to like to use a car in horrible condition but also a car that would classify as eye candy, at least eye candy to a car guy. All you have to do is watch ANY of the car guy TV shows and you know what I mean. 99.9% of the TV shows about cars the hosts and crew, like Dave Kindig, etc. are working on cool cars, not new cars and I'm the same way.
So I reached out to my buddy Dave to see if his orange 1969 GTO is back on the road yet and sorry to say, it's still in the shop. So I called my buddy Luc to see what he has that could use an extreme makeover and as luck would have it he has a very cool Mopar, the kind Chris Jacobs from Overhaulin and Mark Worman from Graveyard Carz love. And better yet, it needs help.
Here's the car outside in the sun....
And here she is inside Autogeek's Show Car Garage...
Note how the paint in the background actually looks pretty good with just the overhead florescent lights shining on it? Just goes to show how important having a GREAT handheld light sources is when it comes to inspecting paint but also documenting your work for posterity.
TEST SPOT
I always do a test spot, sometimes a few test spots for any car I've never worked on in the past. It's by doing a test spot, (or 2 or 3), that you find out if the paint is hard or soft or somewhere in the middle. It's also the Test Spot that will help you dial-in the process to buff out the entire car. I did a Test Spot using some foam polishing pads and a swirl remover but there were still too many deeper swirls and scratches in the paint so I then tested a true compound and a foam cutting pad and this worked to create a finish that met my expectations for this car. I will say however, there are still deeper scratches, at least in the hood that I didn't feel comfortable trying to sand or compound out knowing the hood is going to be repainted. So I chose to compound the entire car and then to ensure maximum gloss, clarity and shine and while leaving the paint protected at the same time I machine polished the paint after the compounding step using Pinnacle Jeweling Wax. The jeweling was will ensure there's no pad haze left by the heavy compounding step and also leave behind a layer of wax protection.
Hi Mike,
Long time lurker but only registered recently. I'm thinking of getting the CBEAST or Supa Beast, but wanted to get some idea on the batteries. From your write up, would it be fair to say one would need approximately 6-8 batteries to do a complete 2 steps polish? This came to mind because as a mobile detailer, some places does not have access to power point to recharge and inverter/generator is not an option either.
Mike Phillips
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Yes.
For others that read this into the future,
Loading up all your supplies and driving to an off-site location to machine correct and polish an average sized car with NO POWER avaialbe - ONLY the batteries you bring with you. If you figure a minimum of 3 to 4 batteries for the compounding step or "correction step" and 3-4 batteries for the polishing step, this would be 6-8 batteries.
Two comments.
1: Normally, you will use more battery power doing the correction step, especially if you're pushing hard. The first step is when you're doing the GRUNT WORK and this is more taxing on the batteries. If you do the correction step right - the polishing step will go much faster and require less batteries.
NOTE: Just as important as the battery power is also to use GREAT ABRASIVE technology. If you're using great abrasive technology for the first step - then the second step will INDEED go faster.
2: How long a batter will last for the correction step is strongly influenced by how hard you must push down on the tool. How hard you push down comes down to,
A: Hardness of paint.
B: Depth of defects.
The harder the paint and the deeper the swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation - the harder you will press on the polisher and the longer you will buff. If the paint is medium to soft and the defects are not too deep - then the correction step is less taxing on batteries.
I don't know what you're doing - but if you're not installing ceramic coatings, my recommendation would be to use BLACKFIRE One Step. I use it as a compound with aggressive pads and follow with it as a polish.
Why?
Because it uses great abrasive technology and it wipes off so easy.
And again - I don't know what type of work you're doing, but if this is production detailing for daily drivers, not show work on show cars - you shouldn't be doing 2 step. Get the BF One Step and cut your time down dramatically.
Mike Phillips
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- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 7
- Thread starter
- #29
Welcome to AutogeekOnline! :welcome:
This forum will be the best tool in your tool arsenal.
Welcome to AutogeekOnline! :welcome:
This forum will be the best tool in your tool arsenal.
Thanks for the welcome, always love Autogeek since I found it 8 years ago but hasn't been a forum kind of guy. Will try to be more active around here
Yes.
For others that read this into the future,
Loading up all your supplies and driving to an off-site location to machine correct and polish an average sized car with NO POWER avaialbe - ONLY the batteries you bring with you. If you figure a minimum of 3 to 4 batteries for the compounding step or "correction step" and 3-4 batteries for the polishing step, this would be 6-8 batteries.
Two comments.
1: Normally, you will use more battery power doing the correction step, especially if you're pushing hard. The first step is when you're doing the GRUNT WORK and this is more taxing on the batteries. If you do the correction step right - the polishing step will go much faster and require less batteries.
NOTE: Just as important as the battery power is also to use GREAT ABRASIVE technology. If you're using great abrasive technology for the first step - then the second step will INDEED go faster.
2: How long a batter will last for the correction step is strongly influenced by how hard you must push down on the tool. How hard you push down comes down to,
A: Hardness of paint.
B: Depth of defects.
The harder the paint and the deeper the swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation - the harder you will press on the polisher and the longer you will buff. If the paint is medium to soft and the defects are not too deep - then the correction step is less taxing on batteries.
I don't know what you're doing - but if you're not installing ceramic coatings, my recommendation would be to use BLACKFIRE One Step. I use it as a compound with aggressive pads and follow with it as a polish.
Why?
Because it uses great abrasive technology and it wipes off so easy.
And again - I don't know what type of work you're doing, but if this is production detailing for daily drivers, not show work on show cars - you shouldn't be doing 2 step. Get the BF One Step and cut your time down dramatically.
Thanks for your feedback, really appreciate it!
I'll be installing ceramic coatings, I've been doing detailing as my hobby maintaining my own and family's car. I've lost my job due to COVID recently, and hence; planning to do mobile detailing as part time for some of the car groups here. For my own car I've always been doing 2 steps + primer for coating, but because I'm an anal on my personal car and obsessed with reflection
I really need to change my mindset for production detailing for daily drivers and focus on 1 step as you suggested.I've read a lot of your posts and review, they are very informative! I understand the importance of abrasive technology from some of your posts, which is why I'll be using the new Rupes D-A compounds and pads with the Flex Supa Beast/Cbeast after seeing your recent review on it. I guess that could be done in one step as well, but I was thinking about primer application like CarPro Essence and that may push it to 6 batteries or so.