Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 6
New Product Testing - Monster 4x4 1957 Chevy Bel Air
Nick came to my office recently with some new product to test. I knew that in order to really put the collection of new products to a real test I would need something large in order to spend hours buffing not just a few minutes buffing out a fender or two. So I contacted my friend Billy and asked him when the last time he had his old 2-door Chevy detailed and he said it had been over a year. Since this car doesn't fit inside his garage it's parked outside 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. When there's not another project in the middle of the build he does have a carport that's tall enough to park under so it does get some protection from the sun's rays and full-on South Florida weather.
Here's Billy's car. It's a Monster 4x4 1957 Chevy Bel Air. Yes, I asked, it's a real Bel Air not just a 1957 Chevy with the Bel Air Trim package. And if you're wondering how big those tires are, it's sitting on 46" Micky Thompson Baja Claws!
The paint is a modern urethane single stage metallic, both the pearl white and the green sections. Over the last year the paint has oxidized and become stained. It also has a lot of contamination as Billy does a lot of metal fab work and painting at his shop.
If you look closely, you can see lines in the paint in the next three pictures running from top to bottom, these are the stains in the paint following the path of gravity.
Waterless wash
First thing I need to get it clean and since it's as large as an RV I used McKee's RV Wash & Wax on the Go to wipe her down. This waterless wash work great to clean both neglected paint and paint in excellent condition. It's available by the 32 ounce bottle and also by the gallon. You can also purchase it as a concentrate and mix your own ready to use waterless wash yourself.
Nanoskin pads
If you've read my book, How to use the FLEX 3401 for both Show Car Detailing and Production Detailing then you know I think the Nanoskin Autoscrub pads are the bet way to get contaminated paint perfectly clean and smooth. So for this Monster 4x4 that's what I used to remove the above surface bonded contaminants only instead of the FLEX 3401 I used the new FLEX XFE 7 - 15mm Free spinning, long stroke orbital polisher.
McKee's 37
For the testing I'm going to use the vertical panels because I can reach them while standing on my two feet. So for the higher, horizontal panels, I knocked these out using a one-step product called McKee's 37 Jewelling Wax with an Autogeek's 6.5" ThinPro White Foam Polishing pad. This product cleaned, polished and left the paint on the roof, hood and trunklid protected in one step. Now I can return the JLG Hydraulic Lift back to the warehouse.
Nick came to my office recently with some new product to test. I knew that in order to really put the collection of new products to a real test I would need something large in order to spend hours buffing not just a few minutes buffing out a fender or two. So I contacted my friend Billy and asked him when the last time he had his old 2-door Chevy detailed and he said it had been over a year. Since this car doesn't fit inside his garage it's parked outside 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. When there's not another project in the middle of the build he does have a carport that's tall enough to park under so it does get some protection from the sun's rays and full-on South Florida weather.
Here's Billy's car. It's a Monster 4x4 1957 Chevy Bel Air. Yes, I asked, it's a real Bel Air not just a 1957 Chevy with the Bel Air Trim package. And if you're wondering how big those tires are, it's sitting on 46" Micky Thompson Baja Claws!
The paint is a modern urethane single stage metallic, both the pearl white and the green sections. Over the last year the paint has oxidized and become stained. It also has a lot of contamination as Billy does a lot of metal fab work and painting at his shop.
If you look closely, you can see lines in the paint in the next three pictures running from top to bottom, these are the stains in the paint following the path of gravity.
Waterless wash
First thing I need to get it clean and since it's as large as an RV I used McKee's RV Wash & Wax on the Go to wipe her down. This waterless wash work great to clean both neglected paint and paint in excellent condition. It's available by the 32 ounce bottle and also by the gallon. You can also purchase it as a concentrate and mix your own ready to use waterless wash yourself.
Nanoskin pads
If you've read my book, How to use the FLEX 3401 for both Show Car Detailing and Production Detailing then you know I think the Nanoskin Autoscrub pads are the bet way to get contaminated paint perfectly clean and smooth. So for this Monster 4x4 that's what I used to remove the above surface bonded contaminants only instead of the FLEX 3401 I used the new FLEX XFE 7 - 15mm Free spinning, long stroke orbital polisher.
McKee's 37
For the testing I'm going to use the vertical panels because I can reach them while standing on my two feet. So for the higher, horizontal panels, I knocked these out using a one-step product called McKee's 37 Jewelling Wax with an Autogeek's 6.5" ThinPro White Foam Polishing pad. This product cleaned, polished and left the paint on the roof, hood and trunklid protected in one step. Now I can return the JLG Hydraulic Lift back to the warehouse.
