What would you have done...

A

aburgeson

New member
Joined
Aug 27, 2013
Messages
111
Reaction score
0
Got brought a 2007 Nissan Sentra that a customer wanted to do a one step correction plus wax. I saw the condition of the paint and strongly recommended that she use at least 2 steps. She insisted that she wanted only one and that she did not want it perfect.

This is how it looked after a 2bm wash and clayed using nanosrub sponge.
watermark.php


The trunk
watermark.php


I had no idea where to start
watermark.php


I chose to use d151 since I had alot of that product and knew I'd need a bunch. I then used an orange lc ccs pad on the flex 3401 on speed 5. This was my test spot
watermark.php


I wasn't happy with my results but I was on a time crunch and had to stick with it. I chose to use NXT 2.0 liquid wax since it can hide some of the blemishes. I know this is not ideal but I did not know what else to do.
watermark.php


Hood with NXT 2.0
watermark.php


I know its not the best work but the customer was happy. I don't want to be stuck in this situation again so I know I need to order some different products. I was hoping for recommendations on a compound that can almost finish lsp ready. Again not looking for perfect but for a product to be used in a one step correction process only. FYI I hate dusting lol so any compounds with less dust would be awesome
 
came out looking good. IMO D151 was your best choice. For a 1 step on black i dont think you could have gotten it much better. To her it probably looked fine before it came in. She probably wouldnt have known the difference between a 1 step and a 2 step like us do.
 
FG400 finishes pretty nice. I do get some dusting but nothing compared to PG1000. Paired with a Rupes MF pad or blue coarse pad it'll finish pretty close to LSP ready. I do this as a hobby so I always finish with SF4500 or Rupes Diamond to get that extra pop. The Rupes Zephir and Quarz are exceptional products as well.
 
I have heard alot of people mention fg400 and a mf pad. I currently have some megs mf cutting discs sitting in the box. Never tried them yet since I hear you need an air compressor to clean them? Not so sure on that. I guess the left over paint/product can be blown off. I may have to try some fg400 and the mf disc on a test panel i got from the scrap yard. Are the megs mf pads good or should I invest in a different brand? On a side note does d151 also have a filler in it? I played around with m205 on the car and felt it showed the swirls more, so I cheated and kept using the d151. Hence I also used the nxt over the collonite 845 that I usually use.
 
The biggest thing I would question is why you would use D151 and follow it up with a wax? I would have also used something with more cut to it like FG400 as someone else recommended, especially since you following it up with a wax.
 
Looks good! I don't offer 1 steps anymore on my menu I'm never happy with the results.
 
I think you did a great job considering the limits you were under.

For dark colored cars and black cars I recommend offering two steps because sometimes a one-step cleaner/wax when applied with a dual action polisher can leave DA Haze that shows up as trails in the paint that mimic the path you moved the polisher. What you did was a two step only using a cleaner/wax followed by NXT Tech Wax.

In my form here,

Mike Phillips VIF or Vehicle Inspection Form


Notice the lines in the form below that read,

Service Recommended ____________________Service Accepted ___________________



This is where you would have put you recommend Package 2 but customer accepted Package 1 and then if they would have come back and said,

You didn't remove all the swirls I'm not paying.

Luckily your customer was happy though.


Not so much for the OP but others that will read this into the future, here's my article on doing production work to black and dark colored cars by doing a two-step process.


High quality production detailing by Mike Phillips


:xyxthumbs:
 
I think you did pretty well with the limits you had.

No need for compressed air with the MF pads - I actually prefer using a brush on them to air.

FG400, Meguiar's D300, or maybe an M105\M205 mix would be some options too. On a black car they won't finish down nearly as well as a two or three step would, but at least you'll knock out most of the scratches\swirls.
 
Mike said it well above, you essentially did a two step.

You probably would have been better served using a compound that finishes well. WG Uber compound is one of them, as are some of the Menzerna compounds. Then follow up with a wax or sealant.

I am not a pro, but I have done some cars for friends and I think after I am done, what are these people going to do with their cars. If the car has a chance at being cared for, something like NXT isnt a terrible choice since it has rather poor durability, but if not, Collinite 845 would be better. 845 would probably take a little longer to apply and remove though. Or you could use Hydro2, that car would have taken you 5 minutes to spray on and hose off.
 
Customers can be a handful sometime though to preserve your reputation etc I would have gave her what she asked for but would have used mezerna po 203 it finished nice while giveing you a bit more time to work the product though either way you made an incredible turn around and should be very proud
 
Wow! Great job on that one! Me personally? I most likely would have used Ultimate Compound. It's potent, and easy to use. I probably would have finished with M66. I used M66 on a 2012 Audi A7 last fall, and it did a great job on the auto wash swirls. I used it as a stand alone too, without an actual pre polish.
 
Looks great! I was in the same situation with a friends truck. The paint was just as bad and he wanted a AIO. I did a test spot with XMT360. It did add gloss it removed some defects but when you saw it in the son it was still and bad shape. The hood had every defect in the book so I hit the whole car with FG400 using a megs microfiber cutting pad via PC. Not the greatest pic but this is how it turned out.





White spots on the hood is the reflection from the clouds:xyxthumbs:
 
The biggest thing I would question is why you would use D151 and follow it up with a wax? I would have also used something with more cut to it like FG400 as someone else recommended, especially since you following it up with a wax.
Click to expand...

NXT 2.0 is a synthetic sealant with fillers. It does not contain any wax. It was the right choice for what was desired by the customer.
 
I'm confused. You said one step correction but you used an AIO. Awesome job regardless.

Maybe it's just me but I offer an AIO, then one step correction, then two step correction.
 
Sorry for the confusion, I meant the customer only wanted a one step correction. A wax/sealant was gonna be applied no matter what she chose. I was trying to convince her to let me compound followed by a polish. She insisted she only wanted to pay for one. I chose d151 because I didnt have a good compound around. I had mg ultimate compound but I dont really like using it. I know d151 has some sealant in it but because of time I decided to use it anyways. It goes on pretty fast and has some moderate correction. I'm still on the hunt for a product that doesnt dust that much but still removes a good amount of scratches/swirls
 
dlc95 said:
Wow! Great job on that one! Me personally? I most likely would have used Ultimate Compound. It's potent, and easy to use. I probably would have finished with M66. I used M66 on a 2012 Audi A7 last fall, and it did a great job on the auto wash swirls. I used it as a stand alone too, without an actual pre polish.
Click to expand...

I have would have gone (tried) Megs UC also. Finishes out nicely on soft black paint (I think Nissan black is usually on the softer side). Here's a black Honda (notoriously soft) I did last year with just UC and finished with Coll 845. I did M205 on it this spring to further refine.

I thought no way the UC was going to work and told the customer I may have to do a 2-step. Sent him this photo the next morning and he was happy with it.
 
I just did a black vw jetta with 250k on it. Almost as bad as yours and I used FG400/uber compound and I could have easily gone to lsp. I used a flex 3401 and orange lc flat pad. Impressive stuff. I usally polish anyways but I have not done a car yet that it was mandatory I polish after since switching to uber or fg400
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top