What Level Of Finish Can I Get With the LC Orange CCS Light Cutting Pads And BF One Step

Jacob Harrod AUTOCLEAN

Jacob Harrod AUTOCLEAN

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Coming up soon I will be performing a one step polish package on my good friend's Black Chevrolet Suburban. Of course I won't know for certain until I can perform a test spot, but I strongly suspect that I may need to resort to my light cutting pads and BF One step as the paint looks pretty swirled out to me. I'll post some pics up here soon.

My question is, do you think I'll need to follow up with a polishing pad or will this combo finish out nicely without the need for follow up steps? The orange CCS pads have a cut level of 6 and a finish level of 6.

Perhaps if I roll with this combo I can use lighter pressure and finish out a little nicer?
 
Good luck Jacob. It's a Suburban (lots of real estate) and BLACK.
 
•I personally don’t ever plan to follow-up a
one-step/AIO with any other polishing step(s).
-That would be, IMO, “working backwards”.

-However, as we all know to be true: “the best
laid plans of mice and men often go awry”.

•Stay in good cheer...
-A “Test Spot” will tell the tale-of-the-tape.


Bob
 
An orange pad with an AIO will produce an acceptable finish on most paints but a softer pad will produce a slightly better finish.
 
Jacob Harrod AUTOCLEAN said:
Coming up soon I will be performing a one step polish package on my good friend's Black Chevrolet Suburban. Of course I won't know for certain until I can perform a test spot, but I strongly suspect that I may need to resort to my light cutting pads and BF One step as the paint looks pretty swirled out to me. I'll post some pics up here soon.

My question is, do you think I'll need to follow up with a polishing pad or will this combo finish out nicely without the need for follow up steps? The orange CCS pads have a cut level of 6 and a finish level of 6.

Perhaps if I roll with this combo I can use lighter pressure and finish out a little nicer?
Click to expand...

What DA are you using? Forced Oscillation or is it a regular DA? The former will be easier and likely yield better correction quicker as you can apply more pressure but the latter will work so long as you focus on keeping the pad spinning. Anyway, you can probably get 50% correction pretty easily which on a daily driver SUV like that should be solid. The paint isn't soft but rather the harder side of medium. It will finish out great with those pads. Just change them out every other panel or more depending on how bad it is.
 
I’ve used BF One Step with LC Orange pads on my black Acura TLX and had great success with no need to follow up with anything else, keep in mind Acura’s/Honda’s have fairly soft paint.

I’ve also used it on my wife’s white X3 and had very good success but not as good as the Acura since the X3 has harder paint.

Last year I did my buddies black Audi S4, I did a test spot with BF One Step and Pinnacle Compound and Polish, Pinnacle cut just slightly better so I used it...and I kicked myself in the @ss after about 8-10 hours into it (compound and polish)...I should’ve used BF One Step!!!

Good luck
Jay

4c73d9551f4ee5adc174d8c6ebacae1c.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline
 
TTQ B4U said:
What DA are you using? Forced Oscillation or is it a regular DA? The former will be easier and likely yield better correction quicker as you can apply more pressure but the latter will work so long as you focus on keeping the pad spinning. Anyway, you can probably get 50% correction pretty easily which on a daily driver SUV like that should be solid. The paint isn't soft but rather the harder side of medium. It will finish out great with those pads. Just change them out every other panel or more depending on how bad it is.
Click to expand...

Ok, So I won't be using a forced rotation tool like the Flex BEAST, or SUPA BEAST. The day I FINALLY have one will be a GLORIOUS DAY!!!

Seriously my birthday is coming up! ha ha ha!!!

Any ways I have a non AG free spinning battery operated DA. It's actually been pretty good to me thus far and I have the Flex PiXiE as well.

TTQ B4U said:
The paint isn't soft but rather the harder side of medium.
Click to expand...

Okie dokie. Also I have 12 of the LC CCS Orange pads so changing out often shouldn't be a problem. I don't have that many for the Flex, I think 4 or 5 but I plan on stopping mid way through and cleaning pads and throwing them on the pad dryer.

Just out of curiosity what do you do when you accidentally drop a pad on the floor. I dropped two last time I polished a Lexus and I regretfully just threw them away as I could see that the face of the pads were totally embedded with contaminants. :(
 
A few comments:

A one step is just that. A ONE STEP! You don’t follow up a one step. If you do it’s more money and called a multi step.

You can get generalizations of what pad may work on the forum but really a TEST SPOT is needed.

I find that sometimes an orange pad may leave micro marring behind. Other times they finish acceptable. Again let the test spot be your guide, not the forums!

When doing a one step, choose the abrasive, pad and machine that remove the most swirls while still leaving behind high gloss. A one step customer will care more about gloss than swirls. Yes a one step will/may leave some swirls remaining. If the customer wants them removed, they must pay for a 2 step.

Honestly a Suburban is a lot of area as mentioned above. I don’t care what brand cordless you have, it’s going to be a chore with that type of tool. It’s worth the money for the Beast just for the time you will save on this job alone. Sounds like you get enough work to justify buying it. You will be blown away with the speed and results when you get it!

Lastly, Good luck!
 
I one stepped a straight black Tahoe with BF one step and orange hybrid pads with a 3401 and it worked as designed. It didn’t make the car a show car, but took out a lot of swirls and left a nice gloss. I was afraid to go with the orange pad, but my test spot showed me it was the way to go.


Sent from my iPhone using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
Rsurfer said:
Good luck Jacob. It's a Suburban (lots of real estate) and BLACK.
Click to expand...

Well, it will be some hard work but I'm looking forward to making it shine! This lady is one of my biggest supporters so I'm really looking forward to getting her taken care of!
 
FUNX650 said:
•I personally don’t ever plan to follow-up a
one-step/AIO with any other polishing step(s).
-That would be, IMO, “working backwards”.

-However, as we all know to be true: “the best
laid plans of mice and men often go awry”.

•Stay in good cheer...
-A “Test Spot” will tell the tale-of-the-tape.


Bob
Click to expand...

I hear you on that. I don't want to be working backwards. Well we'll see how the test spot goes. Probably surprising. BF One Step is always surprising me!
 
Jayfro said:
I’ve used BF One Step with LC Orange pads on my black Acura TLX and had great success with no need to follow up with anything else, keep in mind Acura’s/Honda’s have fairly soft paint.

I’ve also used it on my wife’s white X3 and had very good success but not as good as the Acura since the X3 has harder paint.

Last year I did my buddies black Audi S4, I did a test spot with BF One Step and Pinnacle Compound and Polish, Pinnacle cut just slightly better so I used it...and I kicked myself in the @ss after about 8-10 hours into it (compound and polish)...I should’ve used BF One Step!!!

Good luck
Jay

4c73d9551f4ee5adc174d8c6ebacae1c.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences with us! How many hours did you spend total on the S4?
 
Dr Oldz said:
A few comments:

A one step is just that. A ONE STEP! You don’t follow up a one step. If you do it’s more money and called a multi step.


You can get generalizations of what pad may work on the forum but really a TEST SPOT is needed.
Click to expand...

Roger that. I'll start off with a test spot then and roll with the combo that yields the best results while keeping it only one step.

Dr Oldz said:
I find that sometimes an orange pad may leave micro marring behind. Other times they finish acceptable. Again let the test spot be your guide, not the forums!
Click to expand...

Okie dokie, and thank you for sharing your experiences with us!

Dr Oldz said:
When doing a one step, choose the abrasive, pad and machine that remove the most swirls while still leaving behind high gloss. A one step customer will care more about gloss than swirls. Yes a one step will/may leave some swirls remaining. If the customer wants them removed, they must pay for a 2 step.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the golden nuggets of information! It is much appreciated!!!

Dr Oldz said:
Honestly a Suburban is a lot of area as mentioned above. I don’t care what brand cordless you have, it’s going to be a chore with that type of tool. It’s worth the money for the Beast just for the time you will save on this job alone. Sounds like you get enough work to justify buying it. You will be blown away with the speed and results when you get it!

Lastly, Good luck!
Click to expand...

Yea, I'm kicking myself over here every time I polish out a vehicle because I didn't get The BEAST first! At any rate at least I started with some form of free spinning DA. I plan to get a couple of Griot's DA polishers as well. I don't know when I'll be able to buy another polisher again but mark my words when I do it will be The BEAST, CBEAST, or SUPA BEAST!

Thank you brother!
 
JT Moto said:
I one stepped a straight black Tahoe with BF one step and orange hybrid pads with a 3401 and it worked as designed. It didn’t make the car a show car, but took out a lot of swirls and left a nice gloss. I was afraid to go with the orange pad, but my test spot showed me it was the way to go.


Sent from my iPhone using Autogeekonline mobile app
Click to expand...

Awesome brother! I can't wait to report my experiences here as well!
 
Jacob Harrod AUTOCLEAN said:
Just out of curiosity what do you do when you accidentally drop a pad on the floor. I dropped two last time I polished a Lexus and I regretfully just threw them away as I could see that the face of the pads were totally embedded with contaminants. :(
Click to expand...

It's very rare but if they had lots of dirt on them I'd likely toss them too. In the few cases mine have fallen they were fine. Vacuum then wash. But I keep my floor pretty dust free.
 
This is real simple,

Do a Test Spot - see how the orange pads are finishing out on the paint. If you see micro-marring from the pad then you have two choices,


1: Do a 2-step, start with cutting pad and BF One Step, go over Sub a second time with polishing pads to remove the micro-marring. This kind of defeats the purpose of calling it a one-step. Also - if you're charging then you're losing money.


2: IF the foam cutting pads are micro-marring then just use foam polishing pad.



The really BIG PICTURE is this, if you sold this customer a ONE STEP Production Detail - you should NOT have promised to remove all the swirls and scratches. That's 2 or 3 steps and you're happy to do it if htey are happy to pay.

If they don't want to pay - then YOU educate your customer and explain you're going around the Suburban ONCE and only using a foam polishing pad. You'll get what you get.



Make sense?

When I get on Facebook and read comments from detailers in similar situations - they don't understand the when doing one-step production detailing you're NOT supposed to promise show car results. That's a different package at a higher price point.


:)
 
TTQ B4U said:
It's very rare but if they had lots of dirt on them I'd likely toss them too. In the few cases mine have fallen they were fine. Vacuum then wash. But I keep my floor pretty dust free.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm afraid I'll have to be more careful about not dropping my pads!
 
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