Santa brought me 2 new items to me, Wolfgang Polish Enhancer & Deep Gloss Paint Sealant.
I want to be sure & use them both right, so here I am.
Is there a spot where you've already covered this? please point me that direction as to not repeat too much the same story again & again.
The Wolfgang Polish Enhancer is a light paint cleaner. It is for lightly cleaning the surface of paint in good condition. It will remove light surface staining, oxidation, and all types of surface impurities that build up on the surface of paint over time.
It will not remove swirls and scratches. For this you want products that contain high quality abrasives like the Wolfgang Uber Compound, Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover and Wolfgang Finishing Glaze. The Wolfgang Paint Polish Enhancer is non-abrasive.
See my article here on how to use a hand applied paint cleaner.
How to use a hand applied abrasive polish or paint cleaner by hand
Above all, when working by hand always make sure you're working clean. This means clean car, clean hands, clean applicator pads and clean microfiber towel.
In my how-to book,
The Complete Guide to a Show Car Shine I also encourage,
- A clean shop
- A clean place or space to place your tools.
For example you don't want to lay a stack of clean microfiber towels down on a dirty work bench with steel particles left over from drilling out an alternator bracket.
Se my article here on the Wolfgang compounds and polishes.
The Wolfgang Four
See my article here on why you need to polish paint once in a while
Here's why you need to polish paint...
This is going on a 2001 Corvette, Magnetic Red Metallic II, which is a base coat/clear coat/tint coat. I have worked the paint with M205 & 105(with a 7424xp) to date & finish coat with #26.
Beautiful color and I think it's the color of the Corvette we used in the below video. The below video is actually JAM PACKED with TONS of Tips and Techniques as I walk the owner of the Vette through the process of detailing his car.
I sometimes forget about this video...
How to buff out a car
[video=youtube_share;3xJH_MGgbLw&hd=1"]How to buff out a car[/video]
This how-to video also covers,
- RIDS - Random Isolated Deeper Scratches
- Removing watches and any jewelery
- Using a DA Polisher without the handle
- Placing cord over shoulder
- Priming the pad on a DA Polisher
- Speed settings for removing isolated defects
- Downward pressure needed for removing isolated defects
- How to clean a pad on the fly
- Where and why to mark your backing plate with a black mark
- Rotating the body of the tool to keep the pad flat to a panel
- Why to allow the pad to stop spinning before lifting the pad off the paint
- How to swap backing plates from a 3.5" to a 5"
- Machine waxing using 5.5" Hydro-Tech Crimson Finishing pads with Menzerna Power Lock
- The "Kissing the Finish" Technique
- How to do the Swipe Test to check if a wax or paint sealant is dry
- How to remove dried paint sealant using a microfiber bonnet on a dry pad on a DA Polisher
- How to clean a microfiber bonnet on the fly with your fingernails
- How to apply a paste wax by machine - Souveran Paste Wax
- How to carefully wipe a WOWO wax off by hand using Microfiber Gloves and plush Microfiber Towels
- How and why to fold a microfiber towel 4-ways to wipe wax off
- How to break-open a coat of wax and then creep out to carefully wipe off a coating of wax
- How to do the "Final Wipe"
Screenshots
On Autogeek.net
Porter Cable 7424XP Dual Action Polisher
Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish
Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover
Lake Country 5.5" Hydro-Tech Pads
Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax
4" CCS Spot Repair Pads
Indigo Microfiber Bonnets
Microfiber Gloves
Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light
Menzerna Power Lock
4" Hydro-Tech Pads
3" Hydro-Tech Pads
The 205 & 105 really brought the paint clarity up a bunch, with the what looked to be subsurface water marks are now gone.
But can more be had?
Please any advise & help is appreciated!
M105 and the M205 use very good abrasive technology. The M205 tends to finish out better more consistently on harder paints than softer paints but factory paint on Corvettes tends to be on the hard side of the hard/soft paint spectrum.
As for gloss? You're on the right track. I always tell people gloss starts with a smooth finish and that means mechanically decontaminating the paint.
My favorite method to get contaminated paint smooth is using a Nanoskin Medium Grade 6" Autoscrub Pad on the Flex 3401.
I share this in my newest how-to book and show pictures of what I mean in this article.
How to use the Flex 3401 for Show Car Detailing
This is glossy looking paint....
You can also use the same Nanoskin pad on a Porter Cable. You can use the Nanosking towels and wash mitts by hand and of course you can also use detailing clay.
Big picture is this...
Gloss starts with a smooth surface. This means removing above surface contaminants.
Clarity, depth, reflectivity, D.O.I. and richness of color are all obtained by removing as many of the below surface defects as possible AFTER first removing the above surface defects.
Then a quality wax, paint sealant or paint coating to take all your prep steps to a higher level, like this,
How to detail a 2014 Corvette Stingray
Sorry for the delay in getting to your questions.... been busy with offline projects.
