Pictures: Free Ceramic Coating Class - Wednesday, December 11th, 2019

[Mike Phillips]

Pictures: Free Ceramic Coating Class - Wednesday, December 11th, 2019



We started at 5:00pm and finished at 8:30pm, that's 3 1/2 hours to take neglected to respected.

5-Step Process

1. Waterless wash using SONAX Glass Cleaner.
2. Mechanical Decontamination using BLACKFIRE Clay Lube and Speed Master Clay Towels.
3. Machine Polish using BLACKFIRE Polish.
4. Chemically strip using BLACKFIRE Paint Prep.
5. Install BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating.

Test Spot on the 1972 Chevelle

BEFORE condition - the side with the swirls.

AFTER condition = the test spot - the side without swirls.

RIDS = GONE!

The hood on the Chevelle had the normal shallow or light swirls and scratches throughout the finish and also much deeper random straight-line scratches or Random Isolated Deeper Scratches also called RIDS, where it looks like someone tried to rub something off the paint.

Using just the BLACKFIRE Polish everything is GONE! I would say from experience, the paint on this Chevelle is on the medium to soft side of the Paint Hardness Scale.

With a crystal clear clearcoat you can easily se the metallic flake in the basecoat.

This 1972 Chevelle besides looking great on the outside looks great on the inside with a custom interior.

Here's everything used on the Chevelle

Test Spot on the 1949 Mercury

BEFORE condition - the side with the swirls.

AFTER condition = the test spot - the side without swirls.

After results...

In case you've never seen the inside of a 1949 Mercury, he's what she looks like....

Here's everything used on the Mercury...

Both cars were coated with the BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Paint Coating

My comments....

We had a lot of new people at this ceramic coating class and even a few people that had never used a machine to polish paint before this class. The focus was to keep the class simple yet fun and of course educational. At least half of the class had never installed a ceramic coating before so this class was a real EYE OPENER because they found out first-hand, how easy it is as long as you do the proper prep work and have a great hand-held light to inspect the vertical panels for High Spots after the final wipe.

As the class worked through each of the 5 steps, they were able to get to know one another and then gel or work-together towards the goal. And the goal was a show car finish on two real-world examples of show cars.

Great job everyone!


You can get these same results on your 1949 Mercury or 1970 Chevelle or whatever it is you drive, be it a Ford or a Honda. The links to everything we used are below except the tools. I brought out 25 different tools and let each person choose and use whichever tool they were most interested in.



On Autogeek.com


SONAX Glass Cleaner

Speed Master Clay Towel

BLACKFIRE Clay Lubricant 32 ounce

BLACKFIRE Paint Prep 32 ounce

BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating Kit


We used LOTS of these to wipe off the polish residue and to give the coated paint a final buff.

Cobra Forrest Green Edgeless Polishing Cloth


We used the GYEON Bald Wipes 16" x 16" with the BLACKFIRE Prep Spray to chemically strip the paint before installing the coating. These towels use a flat weave and are a tick more stout than most microfiber towels making them perfect for use with a Panel Wipe or solvent.

GYEON Bald Wipe Microfiber Towel - 16" x 16"



Ready for the next car show!

VIDEO

My co-worker Meghan did however capture video footage and create this Hyperlapse Video


>CLICK the Picture to watch the Video<

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=746674425819108

And here's the team that made the magic happen!

 

[Aaryn NZ]

Hot Damn!!! rops:

Awesome work team, they both look fantastic but holy cow, the finish on that Chevelle is incredible!!! :wow:

Super cool, I bet this wa fun to be a part of. :buffing:


Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:

 

[Mike Phillips]

More...


Here's my take on tonight's class

Off hand I don't remember how many people were here but tomorrow when Meghan sends me the group shot picture, I can easily get a head count. My guess is around 13 people.

1: A few of these people I would consider Pro Detailers - These guys know what they are doing.

2: A few people had never used a polisher or had very little experience with a polisher.

3: The majority had "some" experience, usually with one tool, most of the tools they identified were either Porter Cable or Harbor Freight.

​

So here's the deal,

13 people, all for the most part strangers to one another, the majority with little to no experience machine polishing paint OR detailing cars in the context of the 5 steps or procedures I outlined above, came together, gelled and then worked as a team. This team of people took two diamonds in the rough and turned them into glistening gemstones.

That's both cool and exceptional.


My other take on this class is,

There's no other place where these types of classes take place on Planet Earth, either paid or free. No other place.

And these types of classes have been the NORM here at Autogeek since July of 2009. rops:


To everyone that attended tonight's class, thank you for your hard work and attention to the task at hand. The results are nothing short of phenomenal.


:dblthumb2:

 

[Mike Phillips]

Class info....



Below are the dates for our normal boat and car detailing classes here at Autogeek.



February – 2-day Boat Detailing Class

Saturday, February 8th
Sunday, February 9th

Click here to sign-up for this class




February - 3-Day [COLOR="#FF000"]Car[/COLOR] Detailing Bootcamp Class at Autogeek

Friday, February 21st
Saturday, February 22nd
Sunday, February 23rd

Click here to sign-up for this class




May - 3-Day [COLOR="#FF000"]Car[/COLOR] Detailing Bootcamp Class here at Autogeek

Friday, May 1st
Saturday, May 2nd
Sunday, May 3rd

Click here to sign-up for this class




September - 3-Day [COLOR="#FF000"]Car[/COLOR] Detailing Bootcamp Class at Autogeek

Friday, September 25th
Saturday the 26th
Sunday the 27th

Click here to sign-up for this class




NOTE: We normally hold the first 3-day car detailing Bootcamp class the last weekend of January but because we'll be at Mobile Tech Expo we've moved it to February after the boat detailing class.



Questions? Need help getting signed-up?


Call Andre at,

1-800-869-3011 x1244

 

[Thomkirby]

Mike,

For these aftershots, can you tell us the pads used and a photo of the BF products?

That Chevelle is the car my friends had in High School... and they never looked that good!

Great job to all that attended the event!

 

[Mike Phillips]

More....


Here's a little tighter shot of the people that made the magic happen!

This was a really good group of people and besides amazing results- everyone including myself had a really great time.

One bad thing that happened was sometime before 3:00pm, while setting up the garage for the class I hurt my lower back. Right after it happened I took 4 Advil’s and powered through the class. I’m not sure what’s wrong but I’m going to the Jupiter Walk-in this morning to see a Dr. I stayed home from work yesterday and laid flat in bed all day taking Advil hoping to get better but so far no improvement. It’s incredibly difficult and painful to walk. It’s also very painful to get off the bed or get up from the couch. The act of wearing an artificial leg also creates pain. I might pick up a set of crutches this morning and see if they help to walk. I hope it’s just a strained muscle and some form of medicine can decrease the pain. Never experienced anything like this before.

:dunno:

 

[Aaryn NZ]

Awh geeze Mike.

That’s not good news at all. I’ve suffered from back pain before & it’s so damn debilitating & I’m pretty sure mine wasn’t as bad as yours.

Get well soon Mike. rops:


Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:

 

[Mike Phillips]

Get well soon Mike. rops:

Aaryn NZ.

Thanks Aaryn,

Just got home from the Doctor's office, he loaded me up on 3 different medications to take away the pain.


Behind the scenes I've been working with a couple of boat buddies to get 2 boats here for the upcoming boat class. There's tens of thousands of boats here in Florida and all I need are 2 in really bad condition.

I expect to be back to work on Monday. The owners of both cars are leaving the cars here until Monday as the weather has been wet and raining and these are both Garage Queens. When I return Monday, I'll take a picture of the product used to create the absolutely flawless show car results.


As far as tools go....

I let the folks that attended use ANY brand and type of tool they were interested in and interestingly enough, a very wide variety of tools were chosen. One thing in common though, no matter what the tool that was used, the results are all the same. To me, this just vindicates what I say about polishing paint and that is,


The most important factor when it comes to polishing paint is the abrasive technology -Mike Phillips

 

[Thomkirby]

Hope the meds work well! It sounds like a pinched nerve which means you did some lifting and twisting. Happens to the best of both young and older guys.

If those drugs do not kick in some relief it might be time for Chiropractor

&#55357;&#56424;#

 

[vcz28]

Thank you Mike for your time and patience and most importantly, sharing what you've learned over the years.

 

[Dick Hoffman]

Mike;

Sorry to hear about your back and I know you don't want to hear is but rest is one of the best medicines.

BTW used the lessons you taught on polishing the 1957 T-Bird. It has never looked so great! Now it has a very deep black finish with no swirls.

Running the machine at full power does make the difference.

 

[Dano shine]

Hey Mike, sorry to hear that your back is getting worse. I hope you get some Relief.

The class was a lot of fun and thank you for sharing all your knowledge.

 

[Mike Phillips]

BTW used the lessons you taught on polishing the 1957 T-Bird. It has never looked so great! Now it has a very deep black finish with no swirls.

Running the machine at full power does make the difference.

Good to here Dick! While you were here getting some supplies I took a look at your 1957 Ford Thunderbird and I think you did an amazing job! The finish looks great! You do better work than a lot of detailers and certainly much better work than most car dealerships.


I took these pictures while you were in the lobby.

A couple of sun shots...

Even though there were some clouds in the sky, it's still easy to see your T-Bird has a swirl-free, show car finish!

Nice work buddy! :dblthumb2:

 

[Mike Phillips]

Mike,

For these after shots, can you tell us the pads used and a photo of the BF products?

Here's all the products used on both cars. I like to practice making car detailing simple, not rocket science.

As for the pads, they were almost all foam polishing pads. I did my Test Spot using the CBEAST and Lake Country SDO polishing pads. When I turned the class loose, I let them choose and use any of the 25 polishers I laid out for this class. As each person would pick a tool, I would walk over to the Pad Cabinet and get them the correct foam "polishing" pad for their tool. I shot a little video of all the tools before the class started and shared on my Facebook page.


If you >click< the picture below it will launch the video I tool.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1240223656170304

 

[Aaryn NZ]

Good to here Dick! While you were here getting some supplies I took a look at your 1957 Ford Thunderbird and I think you did an amazing job! The finish looks great! You do better work than a lot of detailers and certainly much better work than most car dealerships.


I took these pictures while you were in the lobby.

A couple of sun shots...

Even though there were some clouds in the sky, it's still easy to see your T-Bird has a swirl-free, show car finish!

Nice work buddy! :dblthumb2:

Wow! :wow:

Well isn’t that a pretty picture! An absolutely stunning machine & looks like you have done an incredible job detailing it Dick Hoffman. rops: Hopefully you will bring it out for the Open House Detail Day at Autogeek - Saturday, January 4th, 2020 so as this Kiwi guy can check it out in person.


Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:

 

[Mike Phillips]

Wow! :wow:

Well isn’t that a pretty picture! An absolutely stunning machine & looks like you have done an incredible job detailing it Dick Hoffman. rops: Hopefully you will bring it out for the Open House Detail Day at Autogeek - Saturday, January 4th, 2020 so as this Kiwi guy can check it out in person.


Aaryn NZ. :dblthumb2:

He did a great job polishing the paint on the T-Bird.


I'm pretty sure he'll be here on January 4th for the Open House Detailing Day.