NEW SONAX Cut & Finish - Extreme Showcar Makeover - Removing Holograms using the FLEX 3401

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

NEW SONAX Cut & Finish - Extreme Show Car Makeover - Removing Holograms using the FLEX 3401



SONAX Cut & Finish

This is the brand new CUT & FINISH compound/polish from SONAX and this is a phenomenal product!

I had a chance to test this out while I was at SONAX in Germany just a few weeks ago and it was impressive when we used it in the SONAX training garage and just as impressive when we used it for an extreme show car makeover here at Autogeek's Show Car Garage.


Here's our test car, this is a 1965 Mustang with a recent new paint job. In the below picture I've positioned the car outside to get some pictures of the holograms using the sun.


1965 Mustang Fastback

Holograms
The scratch pattern you see in the paint is called holograms. Holograms are a scratch pattern specific to rotary buffers. The single direction the pads spins tends to leave a pattern of swirls that mimic the way the buffer is moved over the paint. This is normal for most body shop work as most body shops only use rotary buffers. Here in the detailing world we use rotary buffers for doing major correction work but then switch over to dual action orbital polishers to finish out hologram-free and swirl-free.


These are holograms...

Holograms take away from the beauty of the paint job because they hide the beautiful basecoat colors, blue and white under the clearcoat.

The good news is this can be fixed and we'll show you how removing holograms can be fast and easy.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: NEW SONAX Cut & Shine - Extreme Showcar Makeover - Removing Holograms using the FLEX 3401

Cointinued....


Here we've moved the car into the garage and now we're using overhead florescent lights to show how dull and hazy the paint looks.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: NEW SONAX Cut & Shine - Extreme Showcar Makeover - Removing Holograms using the FLEX 3401

Continued...


Test Spot
Anytime you're going to buff out a car... BEFORE you buff out the entire car you FIRST want to TEST the products, pads, tools and technique you're THINKING about using over the entire car to just one small section.

The idea being to make sure you can make one small section look GREAT! Before buffing out the entire car. If you can make one small section look great then you'll have the confidence to know you can make the entire car look great. I've been detailing cars all my life and teaching others how to detail cars for going on 30 years. I'm here to tell you - you never get so good at this that you can skip the Test Spot. I always do a test spot anytime I'm working on a car that I've never worked on before. It's important. Clearcoat paints are thin, there's not a lot of room for mistakes or doing a car over a second time. So always do a test spot, dial-in your process and prove your system before buffing out the entire car.

It's also important to do a test post anytime you're using a new product like we're using tonight with the SONAX Cut & Finish. SONAX makes GREAT products but even so... it's simply a good best practice to test all new products, pads and tools as well as your technique.


How to do a test spot
First we wiped this Mustang down using McKee's 37 Waterless Wash on the Go to remove any light dust or dirt. Then we inspected the paint using the Baggie Test for above surface bonded contaminants. Since this car was just paint and the paint was just compounded, we could not detect any bumps or other surface texture so we skipped claying the paint.


Where to test?
The best place to do a test spot is on a flat horizontal surface so you can easily inspect the results by looking down on the finish. The hood and trunk lid usually work great for testing purposes.

Tape Line
In the picture below you can see a strip of painters tape on the hood. You don't have to use a tape line when doing a test spot it's personal preference. I use a test spot when teaching classes to make it VERY EASY for anyone in the class to see the before and after difference.

I also use a tape-line when I want to capture powerful before and after pictures as having a strong demarcation line showing before and after results helps me to showcase products via the AutogeekOnline.net discussion forum.

For the test spot I chose to use a Lake Country 6.5" Hybrid white foam polishing pad and making 8 Section Passes over an area about the size of a microfiber towel I removed about 98% of the holograms and other swirls and scratches.

Wiping off the SONAX Cut & Finish residue where I did the buffing.

Inspecting the results
Here we're using a FLEX Swirl Finder Light to show the before and after results. The FLEX Swirl Finder light works like the sun to reveal what's going on at the surface level.

Here's how the paint looked before...

Here's how the paint looks after using SONAX Cut & Finish with only a foam polishing pad.

The holograms have been removed and now the clearcoat layer of paint is completely clear so your eyes can now see the beautiful metallic blue and white paint under the clearcoat.

And here's the demarcation line I spoke of previously with the tape now removed...

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: NEW SONAX Cut & Shine - Extreme Showcar Makeover - Removing Holograms using the FLEX 3401

Continued.....

The first test spot using a white foam polishing worked well for me but I've been doing this for a few years and know how hard I can push down on a FLEX 3401 as well as how slow to move the polisher when doing a test spot or buffing out a car. We had some new guys at the class tonight as well as some seasoned professionals so I did a second test spot using the Lake Country Hybrid orange foam cutting pad and found it worked faster and more effectively to remove 99.9% of the holograms, swirls and scratches. So we chose this as our process for the paint on the Mustang and everyone used the orange Hybrid foam cutting pads with the new SONAX Cut & Finish.

Now it's time to get to work!

Here's Jesse, this is his first time using the FLEX 3401 but he mastered it in no time.

Mike is new to the FLEX 3401 too. He has a Griot's 6" DA and loves it but now he finds he loves the power of the gear-driven FLEX 3401. Here's one of our regulars and alumni of our Competition Ready 3-day detailing class Frank giving Mike some hands-on training and tips for machine polishing with the FLEX 3401.

Bob Jones is also a 2-time alumni of our Comp Ready classes and here he is tackling the rear fender...

Jeff Bell is a master at machine polishing and was all over this car...

Mike moving to the roof...

Jesse taking care of the trunk lid...

In this pictures you can also see Tim, Al and Craig helping out...

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: NEW SONAX Cut & Shine - Extreme Showcar Makeover - Removing Holograms using the FLEX 3401

Continued....


Time to seal the paint
The new SONAX Cut & Finish polished out so nice that we went right to sealing the paint. For those that might be new to machine polishing and car detailing, generally speaking, pro grade compounds and polishes don't contain any protection ingredients. So after use you want and need to seal the paint surface and you can do this with any product from one of these three categories,


Traditional car wax - these usually contain Carnauba but some car waxes use other waxes for their primary protection and gloss agent.

Synthetic paint sealants - these are products that use protection and shine ingredients that are man-made.

Paint coatings - these are products that create a glassy looking coating of protection over the paint.


For this project, I chose SONAX Polymer Net Shield because I tend to be a systems guy, that means I prefer to stay inside a system or inside a single brand of product when doing paint polishing. We used SONAX Polymer Net Shield on a number of cars for our TV show Competition Ready because not only does it provide up to 6 months protection it also creates a very high gloss appearance which is exactly what the paint on this Mustang needs to really set it off.



Here's Jesse and Mike using SONAX Polymer Net Shield

Here's Mike applying SONAX Polymer Net Shield to the passenger side...

SONAX Polymer Net Shield is real easy to use, after perfecting the paint, simply spray some onto a body panel and the spread out using the SONAX applicator pad.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: NEW SONAX Cut & Shine - Extreme Showcar Makeover - Removing Holograms using the FLEX 3401

Continued....

You let the SONAX Polymer Net Shield sit for about a minute and then gently remove it using clean microfiber towels.

Before wiping off the excess Polymer Net Shield it's a good idea to both visually inspect your towels for contaminants and also feel your towels because sometimes your sense of touch can detect contaminants that your eyes cannot see. This can help to prevent you from accidentally re-instilling scratches back into the paint. It's a vital step that everyone should do before using a towel.

Pizza!

After finishing the car it was time for a pizza break thanks to Jim, the owner of the Nissan Altima we detailed a few weeks ago at a Thursday night class was so kind as to spring for pizza.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: NEW SONAX Cut & Shine - Extreme Showcar Makeover - Removing Holograms using the FLEX 3401

Continued....


Here's the results....

From holograms to show car quality!

Sun shots!

The next day while the sun was shining I moved the car outside to capture the sun shots to show no more holograms...

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: NEW SONAX Cut & Shine - Extreme Showcar Makeover - Removing Holograms using the FLEX 3401

Continued....


Here's my team that made the magic happen!

Products used

On Autogeek.com

SONAX Cut & Finish

SONAX Polymer Net Shield

SONAX Applicator Pads

FLEX 3401 Gear-Driven Orbital Polisher



For removing SONAX Cut & Finish

Gold Plush Jr. Microfiber Towels 12 Pack



For removing SONAX Polymer Net Shield

Super Soft Deluxe Green Microfiber Towels with Rolled Edges - 6 Pack



Comments, questions and feedback always welcome...

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Re: NEW SONAX Cut & Shine - Extreme Showcar Makeover - Removing Holograms using the FLEX 3401

***Update***


New product announced at SEMA

 

[motion732]

Not seeing any pics on here - is that just me?

 

[osiapstndp]

Not seeing any pics on here - is that just me?

The pictures don't load for me either. I tried with Tapatalk and the mobile Chrome browser.

 

[Desertnate]

Me neither. I just thought they were being blocked by my network. Glad to know I'm not alone. I usually see all the images if they are hosted here. Other hosting sites are hit or miss.

 

[fightnews]

there's is no pics for me either. i don't want to sound disrespectful here but after reading the thread about the take over i feel like they're making you guys push sonax products. i never heard anyone talking about them before in the last 5 months being on here. i was going to pick some up but now idk. hate to be a downer but thats how i feel, hope im wrong

 

[WaxMaster1]

there's is no pics for me either. i don't want to sound disrespectful here but after reading the thread about the take over i feel like they're making you guys push sonax products. i never heard anyone talking about them before in the last 5 months being on here. i was going to pick some up but now idk. hate to be a downer but thats how i feel, hope im wrong

Well, you haven't been paying attention. Sonax Full Effect is an Awesome wheel cleaner and Polymer Net Shield is great too along with the other products in the line.

 

[Sean M at ShowShine]

Im an avid user of sonax full effect as well. I love it. Its thick so it sticks to the wheel instead of running off, has a long "dry time", and does a great job. I like to follow up with ironX to go the extra mile.

 

[57BORNTORUN]

i worked on this car and the new SONAX CUT & FINISH is a great new addition.No dusting, long work time and does what it`s designed to do.I like it...I like it a whole lot!rops::buffing:

 

[ViperGuy21]

i worked on this car and the new SONAX CUT & FINISH is a great new addition.No dusting, long work time and does what it`s designed to do.I like it...I like it a whole lot!rops::buffing:

Thanks for the added input!

This product sounds really good to me. Just wanna see some pics lol!

 

[GSKR]

NEW SONAX Cut & Finish - Extreme Show Car Makeover - Removing Holograms using the FLEX 3401



SONAX Cut & Finish

This is the brand new CUT & FINISH compound/polish from SONAX and this is a phenomenal product!

I had a chance to test this out while I was at SONAX in Germany just a few weeks ago and it was impressive when we used it in the SONAX training garage and just as impressive when we used it for an extreme show car makeover here at Autogeek's Show Car Garage.


Here's our test car, this is a 1965 Mustang with a recent new paint job. In the below picture I've positioned the car outside to get some pictures of the holograms using the sun.


1965 Mustang Fastback

Holograms
The scratch pattern you see in the paint is called holograms. Holograms are a scratch pattern specific to rotary buffers. The single direction the pads spins tends to leave a pattern of swirls that mimic the way the buffer is moved over the paint. This is normal for most body shop work as most body shops only use rotary buffers. Here in the detailing world we use rotary buffers for doing major correction work but then switch over to dual action orbital polishers to finish out hologram-free and swirl-free.


These are holograms...

Holograms take away from the beauty of the paint job because they hide the beautiful basecoat colors, blue and white under the clearcoat.

The good news is this can be fixed and we'll show you how removing holograms can be fast and easy.

simply amazing product for onestep trashed paint.No dusting no sticking and quick results and lsp ready.This is a winner.Sonax plays by there own they don't look at a competitor formula.They more focused on simplicity with quick knockout polishes that can resurrect the worst finishes in one shot.simplicity is where we need to be not 24 hr paint corrections with multiple steps followed.I was part of that project and doubted the ability of sonax fixing induced rotary swirls with additional steps.

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Not seeing any pics on here - is that just me?

I'm not seeing any either.

 

[Desertnate]

simply amazing product for onestep trashed paint.No dusting no sticking and quick results and lsp ready.This is a winner.Sonax plays by there own they don't look at a competitor formula.They more focused on simplicity with quick knockout polishes that can resurrect the worst finishes in one shot.simplicity is where we need to be not 24 hr paint corrections with multiple steps followed.I was part of that project and doubted the ability of sonax fixing induced rotary swirls with additional steps.

How hard was the paint on that vehicle? Right now I'm in the hunt for a good product that will act as a mid-grade polish/swirl remover which would allow me to one-step polish hard European paint like VW's.

I've really been impressed by other Sonax products I've encountered like PNS and BSD. The 8 oz bottle of this polish may just find it's way to my garage very soon.