Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 6
[URL="http://tinyurl.com/y9qfns7j"]Review: - LC HDO Foam Pads - Makita PO5000C - Supercharged Dodge Yellow Jacket[/URL]
Supercharged 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 Hemi Yellow Jacket
A friend of mine wanted to sell his Supercharged 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 Hemi Yellow Jacket with only 8,000 miles on it. He asked me if I could help him prep it for pictures. He was in luck because I needed a car with the "wow" factor to test out the SONAX CC36 Ceramic Paint Coating.
At the same time, I wanted to test out the new Lake Country 5.5 Inch HDO Foam Pads on the new Makita PO5000C 5” Dual Action Random Orbit Polisher.
First here's what makes this car super cool besides being #262 of 1,316 built, and that's the Whipple Supercharger!
Here's the actual car before I started...
Paint Condition
Tactile Inspection
The word tactical means to touch. So a tactile inspection of your car's paint means to touch your car's paint.
Don't confuse the word tactile with the word tactical as they are very close in spelling. The word tactical of course means of or relating to tactics, especially military or naval tactics or more general, actions that are planned.
When Vince arrived with the car he had just washed and dried the car. At 10 feet away the paint looked good. It was shiny but I could tell there was some missing shine that needed to be restored.
I asked Vince if he had ever used the Baggie Test to inspect paint? He said 'no'. I always do the baggie test so I know myself the true condition of the paint and I used this as a teaching moment for Vince. We felt the paint and sure as the sun rises in the East, there were little bumps all over the paint.
How often do you need to clay your car's paint?
This is a very common question and a general answer is, once or twice a year. But the technically correct answer is,
Question: How often do you need to clay your car's paint?
Answer: As needed.
So how do you now if you need to clay your car's paint? By feeling the paint after washing and drying or after wiping or washing using spray detailers, waterless washes and/or rinseless washes. The BIG PICTURE being that how often you need to clay your car's paint depends on WHAT'S IN THE AIR AROUND YOUR CAR. And because you can never really know what's in the air around your car the only way to know if you need to clay is to feel the paint with your clean bare hand and also with the baggie test.
So the paint on this Yellow Jacket failed the tactile inspection.
Visual Inspection
While the paint looked good under the florescent lights in the garage, that don't mean squat. We put the SCANGRIP Sunmatch light on the paint and while not bad there were light swirls and scratches throughout the finish.
So the paint on this Yellow Jacket failed the visual inspection
Using ceramic paint coatings
YES you can apply a ceramic paint coating over paint with swirls and scratches. You'll see the swirls and scratches but you can solace knowing they are protect.
No you cannot apply a ceramic paint coating over paint that has above surface bonded contaminants. The fact is, if you can feel little bumps on the paint and you can see swirls and scratches, chances are very good the paint also have a film build of surface impurities like oxidation, road film and other sources of chemical contamination.
Diagnosis
Before applying the SONAX CC36 Ceramic Paint Coating the paint on this car will need to be both mechanically decontaminated to remove the above surface contaminants followed by compounding and polishing to remove the below surface defects like swirls and scratches.
Process
Step 1: Remove contaminants using the SONAX Claydisc on the Makita PO5000C using the SONAX Glass Cleaner as a lubricant.
Step 2: Remove swirls, scratches, oxidation and other defects using SONAX CutMax with a Lake Country HDO Blue Foam Heavy Cutting Pad on the Makita PO5000C 5” Dual Action Random Orbit Polisher.
Step 3: Refine the results created by the SONAX CutMax by re-polishing to maximize glass and clarity using the SONAX EX 04-06 with the 5.5 inch Lake Country HDO Orange Foam Polishing Pads on the Makita PO5000C 5” Dual Action Random Orbit Polisher.
Step 4: Chemically strip off any residual polishing oils off the surface of the paint using BLACKFIRE Crystal Coat Paint Prep
Step 5: Apply the SONAX Basecoat (step 1 of a 2-part coating system), to the paint. Work one panel at a time wiping off any high spots approximately 1 minute after application to the panel.
Step 6: Allow the basecoat to cure for approximately 1 hour.
Step 7: Apply the SONAX GlossCoat (step 2 of a 2-part coating system). Work one panel at a time wiping off any high spots immediately after application to the panel.
Here's the final results....
Amazing gloss!
Supercharged 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 Hemi Yellow Jacket
A friend of mine wanted to sell his Supercharged 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 Hemi Yellow Jacket with only 8,000 miles on it. He asked me if I could help him prep it for pictures. He was in luck because I needed a car with the "wow" factor to test out the SONAX CC36 Ceramic Paint Coating.
At the same time, I wanted to test out the new Lake Country 5.5 Inch HDO Foam Pads on the new Makita PO5000C 5” Dual Action Random Orbit Polisher.
First here's what makes this car super cool besides being #262 of 1,316 built, and that's the Whipple Supercharger!
Here's the actual car before I started...
Paint Condition
Tactile Inspection
The word tactical means to touch. So a tactile inspection of your car's paint means to touch your car's paint.
Don't confuse the word tactile with the word tactical as they are very close in spelling. The word tactical of course means of or relating to tactics, especially military or naval tactics or more general, actions that are planned.
When Vince arrived with the car he had just washed and dried the car. At 10 feet away the paint looked good. It was shiny but I could tell there was some missing shine that needed to be restored.
I asked Vince if he had ever used the Baggie Test to inspect paint? He said 'no'. I always do the baggie test so I know myself the true condition of the paint and I used this as a teaching moment for Vince. We felt the paint and sure as the sun rises in the East, there were little bumps all over the paint.
How often do you need to clay your car's paint?
This is a very common question and a general answer is, once or twice a year. But the technically correct answer is,
Question: How often do you need to clay your car's paint?
Answer: As needed.
So how do you now if you need to clay your car's paint? By feeling the paint after washing and drying or after wiping or washing using spray detailers, waterless washes and/or rinseless washes. The BIG PICTURE being that how often you need to clay your car's paint depends on WHAT'S IN THE AIR AROUND YOUR CAR. And because you can never really know what's in the air around your car the only way to know if you need to clay is to feel the paint with your clean bare hand and also with the baggie test.
So the paint on this Yellow Jacket failed the tactile inspection.
Visual Inspection
While the paint looked good under the florescent lights in the garage, that don't mean squat. We put the SCANGRIP Sunmatch light on the paint and while not bad there were light swirls and scratches throughout the finish.
So the paint on this Yellow Jacket failed the visual inspection
Using ceramic paint coatings
YES you can apply a ceramic paint coating over paint with swirls and scratches. You'll see the swirls and scratches but you can solace knowing they are protect.
No you cannot apply a ceramic paint coating over paint that has above surface bonded contaminants. The fact is, if you can feel little bumps on the paint and you can see swirls and scratches, chances are very good the paint also have a film build of surface impurities like oxidation, road film and other sources of chemical contamination.
Diagnosis
Before applying the SONAX CC36 Ceramic Paint Coating the paint on this car will need to be both mechanically decontaminated to remove the above surface contaminants followed by compounding and polishing to remove the below surface defects like swirls and scratches.
Process
Step 1: Remove contaminants using the SONAX Claydisc on the Makita PO5000C using the SONAX Glass Cleaner as a lubricant.
Step 2: Remove swirls, scratches, oxidation and other defects using SONAX CutMax with a Lake Country HDO Blue Foam Heavy Cutting Pad on the Makita PO5000C 5” Dual Action Random Orbit Polisher.
Step 3: Refine the results created by the SONAX CutMax by re-polishing to maximize glass and clarity using the SONAX EX 04-06 with the 5.5 inch Lake Country HDO Orange Foam Polishing Pads on the Makita PO5000C 5” Dual Action Random Orbit Polisher.
Step 4: Chemically strip off any residual polishing oils off the surface of the paint using BLACKFIRE Crystal Coat Paint Prep
Step 5: Apply the SONAX Basecoat (step 1 of a 2-part coating system), to the paint. Work one panel at a time wiping off any high spots approximately 1 minute after application to the panel.
Step 6: Allow the basecoat to cure for approximately 1 hour.
Step 7: Apply the SONAX GlossCoat (step 2 of a 2-part coating system). Work one panel at a time wiping off any high spots immediately after application to the panel.
Here's the final results....
Amazing gloss!
