Pictures & Comments from July 9th, 2011 Saturday Detailing 101

[Meghan]

Pictures & Comments from July 9th, 2011 Saturday Detailing 101

Well all the guys are here and in the class learning about the great top of detailing!! Nick has been nice enough to bring me out some photos of the first hour of class. So here they are so you can see what Mike is up to in the garage!
You might even spot a forum member or two in there!

Here they are getting started!

Mike explaining the car they will be working on today!

A quick inspection of the paint surface.

Always good to understand what you are dealing with before you tackle the job.

Sometimes you just need to feel the paint, and this is some fresh paint!

Some of the guys do their own inspection.

Time to Clay the paint, amazing how many people are afraid to clay till they try it out.

This paint needed some help.

A little hands on training, as you can see Mike has protected the top from splatter.

The baggie test.

Explaining the Porter Cable and DA polishers.

Flex and the differences in DA vs Rotary

and then there is the Cyclo!

Mike explains the difference in all the machines and the benefits of each.

Applying Polish to the Pads

Coating the pad with the polish

A spare hood always serves as a great testing spot.

Stay tuned for more photos from the class today!

 

[Meghan]

After a little lunch break and it's back to business!

Showing everyone the pad washer on the great new Grit Guard Cart.

Cleaning pads on the fly!

Mike getting ready to tape off an area on the hood.

This is the area you don't want to run the polisher over!

A little Pinnacle Polish to bring that paint back to life!

Important to do a test spot before attacking the whole car!

 

[Meghan]

Mike talking about working with the polisher and proper way to move it across the paint.

Showing some technique

Keep that chord over the shoulder!

Let's inspect the paint with our Brinkman, see how that test spots looks.

Now let's give the Cyclo a try at it....

Mike explaining the Dual Heads

This is the newer model of the Cyclo

One of our own here working the Flex, Bill from the forums!

Bill getting a little instruction from Mike

Time to move on to the next Flex Polisher

That paint is starting to look like a lake, full of reflection!

Explaining some of the features on the Flex.

Everyone is ready now to give it a try on this sweet ride!

 

[Meghan]

Trying out the Meguairs Polisher on the back.

Looks like Meguiars vs Flex here! Nick is read with towel in hand for any polish to fly!

Applying some Pinnacle to the Flex...

Safe first, chord over the shoulder

and now its the battle of three polishers, I can see why Mike picked this car, there is a lot of paint to work with...

Mike giving a little one on one with how to attack the side panels.

Nice to see everyone helping each other out.

Sergio removing some residue.... another forum member! (he drove a long way to hang out with us)

I love this show makes me think of children on Christmas morning crowding around the Christmas tree. Everyone was very exciting to get a change to try out the polishers on this car.

I believe they were practicing picking up a bead here...

This is where a KreepStool will save your back!

 

[James K]

Great pics! I can't beleive the cars they got to work on this time!!! Amazing!!

 

[Meghan]

Great pics! I can't beleive the cars they got to work on this time!!! Amazing!!

James this weekend we have amazing cars, but the guys attending the class are also great. Always fun when it's a great group to work with...

 

[James K]

That is very true!!!! Good folks can easily take work and turn it in to nothing more then fun!

 

[dchristo]

that look like alot of fun, I wish I was there

 

[Meghan]

And now to clean some pads...

Griots Polisher with the Grit Guard Pad Washer

And this is what your pad looks like after a good cleaning!

 

[Meghan]

Now everyone knows how to dirty the pads AND clean them!
If you don't have a Grit Guard Pad Washer you need one! They are awesome.

Night and Day difference already

Sergio likes the 3 inch Griots, great for those tight areas you need to polish

 

[Meghan]

Mike showing everyone how to properly "Jewl" the paint using Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish, Flex PE14-2-150 Rotary Polisher and a Lake Country Gold 6.5" CCS Pad.

 

[CrownKote]

I would love to come down there and learn from the best!

 

[Brace1]

I would love to come down there and learn from the best!

You gotta do it next time :buffing:

Was an amazing experience, learned a TON from Mike. Having the hands-on with the tools and feedback from the "sensei" on technique were priceless. The turnaround of that '62 Cadillac (super-swirl model :laughing: ) gave me a lot of confidence to tackle my vehicles. I realized I wasn't working the product long enough to get the results I wanted on my previous lame attempts at "paint corrections". Watching videos until you're blue in the face or reading relentlessly doesn't come close to again getting that realtime feedback Mike gave.

Everyone at Autogeek are always such gracious hosts as well. Max gave us a tour of the warehouse and discussed their order fulfillment process, soup to nuts.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Super fun class today and you guys did a great job! The Cadillac looks absolutely fabulous. :xyxthumbs:

I hope you all had just as much fun as I had and learned a few things you can put to use the next time your working on a detailing project.


For those of you attending tomorrow's class... before I left I did a test section on the GTO. Sanded a section with Unigrit #1500 Unigrit Sanding disc on PC speed setting 6 and then re-sanded using #3000 Unigrit Finishing disc and then removed sanding marks using Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover with a wool pad at around 1400 RPM using 7.5" Lake Country Wool Pad.

Paint sanded and buffed easy, came out looking real clear and glossy...


Taken with iphone camera, will get some better with Canon tomorrow.
Before

After

 

[Scarelane]

Very cool! I really would like to come down to FL and attend a class some day!

 

[Meghan]

Max always has some time to give the grand tour of the facility! Everyone got some history of Autogeek, behind the scenes tour and a little explanation from Max on how we operate.

Max even invited everyone to come into his office, this is always a cool part of the tour!

See the guy behind Max, he is peaking in my office at my beautiful FatHead of Tom Brady!

Now back to work, we have to get this baby waxed!

Mike is showing everyone how to use the Indigo Bonnets for wax removal.

This paint looks totally different then when we started!

Looking nice!

It's a beauty!

A pool of nice shiny paint...

Mike gives it one last inspection.

 

[Robert8194]

Thanks Mike for a great class. In addition to having a lot of fun and making some new friends, we learned a lot. The instruction you offer is great and your presentation is always the best. But, there is no substitution for having the hands on training. Not just getting to try all of the machines but having you watch our technique and make corrections. I recommend this class to anyone who has a car and wants to know how to maintain it. All of the AG folks are great. The trip from Birmingham was well worth it.

 

[Elite Pro]

Thanks to Meghan, Nick@Autogeek, Yancy, Max & Mike Phillips for informative, fun classes and a wonderful weekend. :dblthumb2:

I learned how to properly damp sand and refined my rotary technique. I got to polish 2 beautiful cars with a great group of guys with a passion for perfect paint. Well worth the trip and recommended to anyone on the fence.

We also got to see behind the scenes at Autogeek and all the hard work that goes into filling and packing orders.....the warehouse is a detailer's dream or at least it is to a product junkie like me:buffing:

 

[609speed6]

Im so mad I could not make it when is the next one

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Snapped a few parting shots before leaving Autogeek today, these are camera pictures but I'll post some better photos next week...

1962 Cadillac after the Extreme Makeover

Here's the GTO from Sunday's Class...