Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
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Review: Dr. Beasley’s Matte Paint Coating by Mike Phillips
Dr. Beasley’s Matte Paint Coating
A while back ago Autogeek.com brought in a new product line from Jim Lafeber, the President of Dr. Beasley's Products. I had heard great things about their new matte paint coating and was both curious and excited to try it out. Now I don't get excited about things like upholstery cleaners, sure they're an important part of detailing cars but come on.... exciting?
When it comes to paint polishing though, or any part of the car that makes up the outside of the car and thus how the car looks, then yes, I get excited. And of course I've been telling people I'm a perpetual student for years now because the ONLY way to stay up with all the new technology being introduced at break-neck speed is to,
It takes both of the above plus... a natural curiosity about these kinds of things because heck, this is what we do... take diamonds in the rough and turn them into glistening gemstones. Except in this case, I don't want to turn the matte finish hood on this iconic muscle car to glisten. No - what I want is to find a product that will create what is called a
Deep dark sheen
And that's kind of tricky when working on matte finishes. So yeah... I'm curios to see if Jim's product works and if it does, how well it works.
Let's go back in time to May of 2017, just a few months ago. I had a new production tool to test out and review before the rest of the world would get their hands on it, the Makita PO5000C orbital polisher. I had tested the prototype about 2 years previously and like with Jim's product I was curious to see of the production version worked as good and even better than the prototype.
For these types of projects I always get something really cool to work on. Sure I could bet a silver metallic 4-door Honda Accord or a beige 2-door Camry simply by going out into the parking lot and borrowing a co-workers' car. But that's not how I roll. I like body lines that endure the test of time and outside a of a few new performance cars being made today, (Corvette, Mustang, Camaro), most new cars all look the same except for the badge on the grill and the deck lid.
My very good friend Pall Grasso at Grasso Garage told me he had a 1971 Plymouth Duster in Lemon Drop Yellow with a 340 engine with a 4-speed and the very iconic Pistol Grip shifter. IF you know what I'm talking about then you know how cool these cars are. If you don't then watch Graveyard Carz with Mark Worman for a few seasons and he'll bring you up to speed.
Here's the car after I detailed her....
But she didn't look like this when she arrived. Not only as the paint hammered but the incredibly cool matte black hood and aggressive alpha-male hood scoop looked horrible.
Here's the swirls in the paint....
Which were everywhere....
And the paint had some type of mottling in it too....
So the paint on this car was a wreck!
Hard to say what the owner did for car care but whatever it was - it wasn't doing this car any justice. (or they bought it that way?)
The hood
Now follow me.... just like the paint was a wreck on this car.... so was everything else and that includes the matte finish hood and hood scoop. I'm so glad I took these before pictures....
BEFORE
Here's how the hood looked when the car arrived....
I used this car to showcase the SCANGRIP Matchpen light and below is a picture of the Matchpen light lighting up the matte finish and for those so inclined, I've included the link to my review for the SCANGRIP Matchpen light below the picture.
Review: SCANGRIP Matchpen Swirl Finder Light - Intense Swirl Exposer in a compact size by Mike Phillips
And again, from this angle shot, you can see the matt finish on this muscle car is dull and lifeless. While a cool feature, especially with the hood scoop and even better, the engine under the hood and hood scoop, fact is the matte finish was just plain UGLY.
Here's some before pictures showing what a dull, lifeless matte finish looks like... (pay no never mind to the swirl finder light)
Here's the hood scoop before....
In this shot I'm lighting up the matte finish using the SCANGRIP Matchpen to show how dull and faded looking it is.
So the above documents where I started from, an ugly looking matte finish on a really cool iconic muscle car. I know there are a lot of people in the same situation, that is they have a car that has matte surfaces on it but they simply don't know what to do when it comes to working on and maintaining these types of finishes.
Coming up next.... the amazing transformation!
Dr. Beasley’s Matte Paint Coating
A while back ago Autogeek.com brought in a new product line from Jim Lafeber, the President of Dr. Beasley's Products. I had heard great things about their new matte paint coating and was both curious and excited to try it out. Now I don't get excited about things like upholstery cleaners, sure they're an important part of detailing cars but come on.... exciting?
When it comes to paint polishing though, or any part of the car that makes up the outside of the car and thus how the car looks, then yes, I get excited. And of course I've been telling people I'm a perpetual student for years now because the ONLY way to stay up with all the new technology being introduced at break-neck speed is to,
A: Have an open mind to new products or new technology.
B: Be connected online to a forum like AutogeekOnline.net
B: Be connected online to a forum like AutogeekOnline.net
It takes both of the above plus... a natural curiosity about these kinds of things because heck, this is what we do... take diamonds in the rough and turn them into glistening gemstones. Except in this case, I don't want to turn the matte finish hood on this iconic muscle car to glisten. No - what I want is to find a product that will create what is called a
Deep dark sheen
And that's kind of tricky when working on matte finishes. So yeah... I'm curios to see if Jim's product works and if it does, how well it works.
Let's go back in time to May of 2017, just a few months ago. I had a new production tool to test out and review before the rest of the world would get their hands on it, the Makita PO5000C orbital polisher. I had tested the prototype about 2 years previously and like with Jim's product I was curious to see of the production version worked as good and even better than the prototype.
For these types of projects I always get something really cool to work on. Sure I could bet a silver metallic 4-door Honda Accord or a beige 2-door Camry simply by going out into the parking lot and borrowing a co-workers' car. But that's not how I roll. I like body lines that endure the test of time and outside a of a few new performance cars being made today, (Corvette, Mustang, Camaro), most new cars all look the same except for the badge on the grill and the deck lid.
My very good friend Pall Grasso at Grasso Garage told me he had a 1971 Plymouth Duster in Lemon Drop Yellow with a 340 engine with a 4-speed and the very iconic Pistol Grip shifter. IF you know what I'm talking about then you know how cool these cars are. If you don't then watch Graveyard Carz with Mark Worman for a few seasons and he'll bring you up to speed.
Here's the car after I detailed her....
But she didn't look like this when she arrived. Not only as the paint hammered but the incredibly cool matte black hood and aggressive alpha-male hood scoop looked horrible.
Here's the swirls in the paint....
Which were everywhere....
And the paint had some type of mottling in it too....
So the paint on this car was a wreck!
Hard to say what the owner did for car care but whatever it was - it wasn't doing this car any justice. (or they bought it that way?)
The hood
Now follow me.... just like the paint was a wreck on this car.... so was everything else and that includes the matte finish hood and hood scoop. I'm so glad I took these before pictures....
BEFORE
Here's how the hood looked when the car arrived....
I used this car to showcase the SCANGRIP Matchpen light and below is a picture of the Matchpen light lighting up the matte finish and for those so inclined, I've included the link to my review for the SCANGRIP Matchpen light below the picture.
Review: SCANGRIP Matchpen Swirl Finder Light - Intense Swirl Exposer in a compact size by Mike Phillips
And again, from this angle shot, you can see the matt finish on this muscle car is dull and lifeless. While a cool feature, especially with the hood scoop and even better, the engine under the hood and hood scoop, fact is the matte finish was just plain UGLY.
Here's some before pictures showing what a dull, lifeless matte finish looks like... (pay no never mind to the swirl finder light)
Here's the hood scoop before....
In this shot I'm lighting up the matte finish using the SCANGRIP Matchpen to show how dull and faded looking it is.
So the above documents where I started from, an ugly looking matte finish on a really cool iconic muscle car. I know there are a lot of people in the same situation, that is they have a car that has matte surfaces on it but they simply don't know what to do when it comes to working on and maintaining these types of finishes.
Coming up next.... the amazing transformation!
