Pictures & Comments from September 18th, 2010 Saturday Detailing 101

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Pictures & Comments from September 18th, 2010 Saturday Detailing 101


Here's a few pictures from today's class, more on Monday next week...

And here is a couple of Shane....

Shane is standing behind Mike in the black t-shirt.

Here is Sully and Shane in front of the classroom.

Shane getting some time in with the Flex!

:xyxthumbs:

 

[Paulie12ATT]

Had a great time as always today. This is my third trip up to Autogeek and i will never miss an event in the future. For all that couldn't make it should try really hard in the future to come. Mike is one of the best teacher's i have ever taken a class with! (including college). His knowledge of paint and the overall detailing process is incredible. I love teachers who love what they do in the real world, it gives the student so much more to learn. Dwayne was awesome as usual, and i got a chance to meet Meghan, and she was just like the rest of their family, super nice. See you guys tomorrow for part 2. O, Shane was i think in shock, a little quiet, but i think he had an awesome time as well. Max also popped in to say Hello.
Thank you for everything Autogeek, glad i found your site.
Paul

 

[bowlwise300]

I'll be there tomorrow!

:cruisin:

 

[scrib13]

To all the guys & gals at Autogeek, thank you very much, had a great time and learned a bunch. It was great to meet Mike, Dwayne, Sully (screen name) and Megan, what a great group of people, everyone seems to love what they do and it is much appreciated!! Even the main man Max made an appearance, great company, great products and great class, thanks Scott

 

[jd56]

Mike your the best, you will be seeing me again. I do Motorcycles here in Miami, by hand. Using the Orbital yesterday, and the rotary today was the first time I ever picked up a machine. I cant wait to practice some more and get to work. I just might take both classes again. Also thanks for getting that mark off the saddle bag yesterday. I cant wait to do the whole bike. And God Bless everyone at autogeek Jeff A.

 

[SATracker]

Great weekend! It is so cool sitting down and listening to Mike tell detailing stories and then to sit through his classes...awesome. It was especially nice to try the various tools & products. Great job Mike, it was well worth the trip.

 

[Scoutnhunt]

This class was absolutely fantastic & a truck load of fun to boot. Mike, Dwayne, Meghan, & staff put on the best BANG for the training dollar I have ever had the pleasure of attending. And they did it with style, poise, & finesse.

Let me first say that I am not, nor have I ever been what would be considered a car buff or car fanatic. But after attending Detailing 101 & 102 this past weekend I'm not afraid to tackle nearly any detailing job.

The truth is, I took the class solely to learn how to run a high speed rotary so I could compound the boat we bought a few weeks ago and bring back the shine to the hull and top deck.

I had no idea how much knowledge and opportunity for learning was going to be imparted on me! Now I can't wait to purchase a DA tool with all the goodies and have at my prettier half's Lexus and my truck in a detailing frenzy.

I will say that Mike Phillips is a consummate professional & a gentlemen without a doubt. Meghan & Dwayne were right there to answer questions & give advice on tool & product choices.

The cost of these two days is way more than a bargain IMO - It Is A Steal!

I'm not sure I could place a monetary value on all of the information & techniques learned in class. Not to say I'm a pro by any means, but the brand new Makita 9227 high speed rotary machine is going to meet some gelcoat on the boat this coming week to combat it's biggest nemesis - oxidation.

And I'm putting in an order for a PC DA tool, pads, & product to jump on our autos with. We're going to be cruising around Palm Beach Gardens & Jupiter with a showroom shine on the boat & autos from now on!!!

Again, I consider the classes this weekend a HUGE BARGAIN and sincerely hope Max continues to allow Mike and the entire AG Team to host these classes and perhaps even expand the offerings. I'll be monitoring the forum (reading all of the juicy how to stuff) with my fingers crossed looking for the next class offerings at AG.

Can't think of a better way to educate both the enthusiast & help the professionals out while allowing all of us to try different tools, techniques, & products that we otherwise wouldn't come in contact with.

And part of the result of attending the classes was me coming home Saturday with a big box full of goodies purchased from AG and another order going in tomorrow morning ....... that's gotta make the boss happy.

Thanks to Mike, Dwayne, Heghan, & all the AG Team for a great weekend of classes delivered in a fun & professional atmosphere.

SNH

 

[Shane731]

First time I have ever had the opportunity, or rather privilege, to attend one of Mike Phillips. He is one of a kind. Very knowledgeable, very passionate about what he does. I'm sure he gets a little cheesed sometimes working with newbies, but he is a very patient person, always answers every question asked him, and he does it in such a way that anybody can understand it. If you've been thinking about taking a class with Mike, definitely go for it. You'll get so much more out of it than you put in, I guarantee it.

 

[theamcguy]

Had an absolute great time. Mike and the staff from Auto Geek are excellent hosts and made us feel welcome all weekend. The class features lots of hands on instruction and the opportunity to have Mike critique your technique and help you to become a better detailer. If you are thinking about buying a PC but do not which model to choose, the class offers you the opportunity to try all of the machines Auto Geek sells and choose the model that feels the best to you . If you are having trouble getting the desired results with your PC, the class allows Mike to see what your doing and suggest ways to improve your technique so you get the desired results in the least amount of time. In short the class is well worth your time. Sure you can learn a lot from the forum, but there is nothing like hands on training from an expert to help you be the best detailer you can be. If you are thinking about attending, stop thinking and sign-up for the next class, you will be glad you did.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

A big thank you to everyone that attended and special thanks to to,

Shawn aka sullysdetailing for lending a hand at that class helping to make sure everyone had what they needed when machine polishing and showing correct technique with the different machines, products and pads and also for helping to take pictures.


Without further ado, here some pictures from Saturday's class...


Full class and everyone's ready to have some fun!

Richard let us use his car for our demo car, it had plenty of above surface bonded contaminants and swirls to remove.

Here's a great example of Cobweb Swirls

The Baggie Test to check for Above Surface Bonded Contaminant

The Baggie Test - How to inspect for above surface bonded contaminants

When there are above surface bonded contaminants present you can also "hear" them by rubbing your hand over the finish...

To enable people to feel the difference between before and after claying, I only clayed a thin long section down the middle of the hood and then everyone could run their hand over the clayed section and the un-clayed section and feel and hear the difference.

There were a number of people that had never used detailing clay before so in Detailing 101 everyone has a chance to learn how to properly use detailing clay.

Using the Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light to show how to inspect for swirls...

Showing how to use the PC Wrench to hold the Free Rotating Spindle Assembly to attach a backing plate.

Attach your foam pad so that it's centered on the backing plate

To demonstrated how safe the DA style polishers are I turned the Porter Cable 7424XP on the 5.0 speed setting and pressed it against the back of my hand as hard as I could.... results... no pain... no problems...

Using the least aggressive product approach we used Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish for our Test Spot to see if it would be aggressive enough to remove the swirls, scratches and water spots.

"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"

Applying Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax to the face of a foam waxing pad to apply a paste wax by machine.

How you apply your choice of wax or paint sealant is up to you, at our classes we like to share different techniques and let everyone decide which way works best for them...

After we did our test spot and dialed in a process that removed the defects and restored a show car finish, everyone was encouraged to pick a polisher and start machine polishing.

:xyxthumbs:

 

[Rob T]

I wish we had access to one of these workshops out here on the west coast.

 

[sullysdetailing]

I had a great time helping out Mike.

:dblthumb2:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Continued...

Whoops!

Here's what happens when you lift a polisher off the paint before allowing the pad to slow down and stop spinning...

Antonio using the Cyclo

Having fun at Autogeek's Show Car Garage!

Look at that shine!

Here's Bill aka the theamcguy testing out the Cyclo Polisher, Bill said this is one of the few machine polishers he doesn't have in his tool collection and after the class decided to get one for his arsenal.

This is Andrew, the owner of the car testing out the Flex 3401

Focus on what you're doing... don't pay any attention to the cameraman...

Astrid tests out the Porter Cable 7424XP

Here's Astrid with the PC and Jeff running the Griot's Garage DA Polisher

Here's Cory testing out the Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher

After showing the proper techniques for using DA Polishers the room was a buzz with activity as everyone tested out the different polishers and section by section we transformed the paint on Andrews Honda back to show room new condition.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Continued...


Here's Paul aka Paulie12ATT running the Cyclo Polisher...

Here's Andris testing out the Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher with a 6.5" CCS Polishing Pad

For most people, it actually helps to remove the stick handle off a Porter Cable DA Polisher as it allows them to apply pressure directly to the head of the polisher which results in keeping the pad flat to the surface for maximum pad rotation.

Jeff really got into it and I think I saw him testing out every polisher on all the different panels on our demo car...

Here's Bill aka theamcguy putting the Cyclo to the test...

Using the Griot's Garage Polisher with a 5.5" Cyan Foam Cutting pad with an Indigo Bonnet to remove Pinnacle Liquid Souveran

At the end of each class Certificates of Participation are signed and awarded to students...

And in-between the clouds we actually obtained some "Sun Shots" of the end results...

A swirl-free, show car finish! Nice work class!

And after the class was over Jeff brought in his Harley Davidson and we removed a small scratch off the saddle bag...

Nice ride...

Again, thank you to everyone that spent their Saturday at Autogeek's Show Car Garage for our Detailing 101 Class, I hope you all had as much fun as we did...


:dblthumb2:

 

[Rick434]

I wish we had access to one of these workshops out here on the west coast.

meguiars teaches a class similar to this on the west coast

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

meguiars teaches a class similar to this on the west coast

This is correct, In 2002 I started their Detailing 101 Class coordinated through discussion forums and in 2008 we added the Advanced Class for Wetsanding and using a Rotary Buffer. They've been highly successfully and since I left Meguiar's in 2009, Mike Stoops and Mike Pennington continue to hold these classes.



:xyxthumbs:

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

This is correct, In 2002 I started their Detailing 101 Class coordinated through discussion forums and in 2008 we added the Advanced Class for Wetsanding and using a Rotary Buffer. They've been highly successfully and since I left Meguiar's in 2009, Mike Stoops and Mike Pennington continue to hold these classes.



:xyxthumbs:

And of course, that's really why you left Meguiar's, right? That company was (is?) way over their quota for employees named "Mike" :laughing:

 

[Rob T]

This is correct, In 2002 I started their Detailing 101 Class coordinated through discussion forums and in 2008 we added the Advanced Class for Wetsanding and using a Rotary Buffer. They've been highly successfully and since I left Meguiar's in 2009, Mike Stoops and Mike Pennington continue to hold these classes.



:xyxthumbs:

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

There's a separate thread for comments and pictures for the Detailing 102 Class which you can get to by clicking the link below...

Pictures & Comments from September 19th Detailing 102 Class



:dblthumb2:

 

[Scoutnhunt]

Hey Mike, the black Honda we worked on in Saturday's 101 class actually belongs to Richard, not Andrew.

Hope this helps!