Re: 2008 Lexus IS 250 - Pinnacle Detail
I see your point, although I wasn't thinking of a hands-on demo. I was thinking more of a training demo by an AG Staff member done safely several times over the 2 days and left available for inspection.
Washing my wifes Trailblazer is a chore to me, Seeing you use the Boar's hair brush in this thread put me on the fence about buying BHB.
Mike
I think if you touch a flawless finish with anything enough times it won't get better and better...
What's the opposite of better and better?
Sooner or later though, you have to 'touch' the paint with something and that's when you have to find a tool that works best for you.
That's why in my first reply to you I said,
I think if you did that to any car with any material
Switch out the world material out for what ever you like to use or are interested in,
Grout Sponge
Schmidt
Wookie
Real Lambswool
Synthetic Lambswool
Microfiber
Brushes of all kind
Terry Cloth Towel
And so on and so on... and then look at things in
EXTREMES, which is what many online enthusiasts do, (not saying you do but
I always have to type for the most EXTREME AR Enthusiast),
Here's an example,
If you buff out a car and then wax it and it has a flawless finish. Now if you wash it one time with a high quality car wash, a high quality wash mitt and use PERFECT technique.
Will you remove any wax?
Note, the car wash is non-detergent and the wash mitt is very gentle and you use a gentle touch, then you dry it by blotting the water off the finish.
The answer is... how AR do you want to get? Do you want to go down to the molecular level?
Then think about it like this,
If you're not ADDING wax during the washing process....
what's the opposite of adding?
Do you see what I mean?
Everyone wants the perfect tool or product. Everyone wants a wax that lasts for ever, everyone wants a car wash that cleans without removing wax, everyone wants a way to 'touch' the paint without doing ANYTHING at all that's evasive or even remotely negative or harmful to the wax coating and these are all great ideas but they're not reality.
Part of the reason they are unreal is because clear coat finishes are hard to take care of, they tend to be harder than old fashioned single stage paints yet they scratch very easily.
So when interacting with questions on the forum I have to take into consideration that a lot of people have unreal expectations and then type out replies and articles that take this into consideration.
How about this one...
Car Sales people have been know to tell people that a car with a "Clear Coat Finish" never needs to be waxed. Especially in the 1980's when the industry started switching over to clear coat technology.
As though somehow a coating without pigment will remain swirl and scratch free solely because it has no pigment. Reality is clear paint is still paint and it will go downhill just like pigmented paint and if the car is a daily driver then it MUST be maintained and that means doing something to it on a regular basis.
Sad thing is a lot of people believe this but if it were true than all cars would look great forever but a casual walk through any parking lot will show that this just isn't true. You need to take care of a clear coat finish just like any other paint.
So your idea for a test is setting everyone up to be let down not because a Boar's Hair Car Wash Brush is a bad tool, but because the expectation that you can wash a clear coat paint forever without ever causing the quality of the finish to diminish is unreal.
Make sense?
Sooner or later you have to 'touch' the paint, and by this I mean you have wash it, wipe it, clay it, clean it, polish and wax it and the best you can do is use high quality products with good technique and while this will go a long way towards maintaining a show room new finish, fact is clear coats scratch easily, even if you are careful.
Of course there is the option of creating a flawless finish on a car then parking it in a garage, cover it with a soft car cover and then closing the garage door and leaving it there un-driven. That's one way to make sure nothing bad ever happens to the paint but it kind of takes the fun out of driving the car.
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