Lookin good Q.

 

Wheweee! If you were to crop this pic, it'd make the perfect sig. So dark and thunderous...



Hope it didn't rain shortly after?

 

Thanks y'all, but it still needs work. I'm not holding myself to RP standards, but it's still got a few blemishes in the paint that need more work. Time and (mostly) weather is conspiring against me. They said it was supposed to rain last night, but we're still in an overcast right now, sun's trying to break through the clouds.

 

Hey man... sorry for the delay... been out of town all weekend for my HS class reunion... (that was a blast -- LOL!)

As for the kits, I'd probably look pretty hard at the #2 kit. To me, that's just about everything you'd need. There is a product in there that I don't care for (Speed Detailer) but, you might love it. Either way, it's a VERY good deal on the kit IMO.

RP

 

Q,

EXCELLENT JOB!!!

Give it a little bit of time now... you've managed to get your hands dirty with this and are learning the ropes with the machine... once you've used it a few times, you're going to feel pretty spiffy with some of the results you're going to produce...

As for the #9, generally speaking, you should work it until it's almsot dry (not dry, almost dry -- never work a product until dry). Simply put, it should be slightly moist and wipe off with not a lot of effort.

#80, which is very similar to #9, will start to 'ball up' when it needs to be removed.

Again, EXCELLENT JOB!!!

RP

 

RP, thanks dood. Wasn't all just me, guidance from you and everyone else around here got me going too. As I said, it still needs more work. There's still some swirling and light scratching on the tailgate, but they're *nowhere* near as noticeable as before, which I can totally accept, but if I can make it a little better...which begs the question, should I keep trying repeatedly with #9, or should I try stepping up to #80? According to the numbers on the bottle, #9 is like a "3" and 80 is a "5." I need to order some more pads so I don't cross contaminant with different chemicals, but in the meantime, what should I do next?

Edit again - I also learned what a complete and total pain in the *** #26 is to remove if it dries. I'd imagine this applies to most any "pure" wax though. Also, after using #9, on certain sections of the truck I'd get some pretty heavy dusting. I wasn't exactly sure how to guage when to reload the pad with more product. I more or less worked in an approximate 2x2' section. I spread an X on the pad, lines maybe 1/16" wide, smeared it on the panel and fired the PC up while the pad was still on the panel. Remove from that panel, add another X-line's worth of #9, and move on to the next panel. This worked good for the tailgate and the hood, but this morning I tried doing the passenger's side rear of the A-pillars and got some pretty serious dusting coming off the pad. What did I do? I came in tonight and rinsed out that pad with a little bit of Dawn and some warm water, and I'm letting it air dry now.

 

That's a very tough call without seeing it Quintin. I'm not sure exactly what to tell you honestly.

It certainly won't hurt anything to jump up to #80 but, if you've seen a significant change based on your past performance, I'd guess that #9 might get it closer to where you want it with a few more applications... If you do go to #80, I'd recommend an extremely good cleaning on the pad that you utilized #9 with.... Potentially a new pad... IMO, going up on the scale of cut isn't that bad... going down would be a bit more cumbersome.

For example, if I had just utiled #85 Diamond Cut, I wouldn't want to use that pad with #9 but, after using #9, I would be more apt to go to #85 with little thought because of the cutting power differences. While you should always go with a clean pad, I'm offering more of an opinion than a preference. I do it both ways when going up... never when I'm going down products.

Again man, it's a tough call via the boards without seeing it...

Actually, #26 is really easy to remove. My hunch here is that you probably applied it too thick... Remember ultra-super-duper thin coats with any last step product (LSP).

Nothing.

For exactly the reason that you described, I will almost always either spin my pads out on my rotary and/or PC to remove the 'dust' and dried product that is left behind in the pad; even after washing.

To aid in this dust removal from the pad, I'll utilze a very soft nylon brush on the pad while spinning it. A soft toothbrush works REALLY well...

RP

 

Pads are cheap enough as is, and I need to order a few (okay, a bunch) more anyways, I had every full intention of dedicating pads to specific products anywho. I was genuinely impressed with the results I got out of one pass of #9 though. I didn't exactly adhere to my original plan of #9, NXT, then #26, since I was running out of shade and rain was forecast. Maybe a bit more depth and swirl camoflage can be obtained with NXT in the mix? I'm gonna go over it again next weekend, weather permitting.

That's possible, I didn't think of ultra-super-duper thin coats, I just kinda swirled the applicator around a bit in the tub and went to town. I got up this morning and still saw some residue from #26 on my hood, but a shot or three of #34 took care of that. Just seemed awful difficult to remove, especially compared to NXT.

Hm, that makes sense. Yesterday evening after my first passes with the PC, I came inside and didn't bother cleaning the pad, figuring I'd be back at it tomorrow. Hit that first panel and POOF, dust everywhere.

 

Quintin.

The "after" pictures look great! It's amazing when you compare to the original photos! 2X

 

Dedicating pads to products is a great idea but, sometimes it's tough on the wallet.

Not sure what you meant by more camo with the NXT... NXT will further darken the paint.


Yep. They're going to be very different to work with but, even then, #26 has never been 'ultra difficult' to remove.

It will, however, leave shadows if not applied evenly (darken the paint in some places and not in others) and thus, this is another reason for AT LEAST two coats. Also, like I said, NXT will further darken a little...


Try the toothbrush trick...

Keep in mind though that the PC isn't going to really give you big time 'RPMs' as it doesn't spin in a hard-fast pattern/speed. I'll typically kick it on 4 or 5, hold it out away from me and 'tap' the toothbrush/nylon brush on the pad in several areas repeatedly. You'll see the dust fly...

 

Thankee sir, but as RP, Boss and others have pointed out, a picture taken a certain way can hide a multitude of sins...we're getting there slowly though.

 

RP, I was thinking "camo" in how it says on the bottle, "fixes minor swirls and scratches." I know it's not on the scale that #9, #80, #83(I think?) and others would be, but I figure every little bit can help.

 

NXT will help in an ever-so-slight way... in fact, I'll go out on a limb here to say that you may not notice anything at all...

While it won't hurt, I don't know that you'll see it help either. The cleaners in NXT are so incredibly light that I'm still baffled that they list that on the bottle... It's really a stretch in my opinion.

 

No problem -- thanks for the response.

I'm thinking I will have to break down and get one of these things with my new truck coming in Medium Wedgewood Blue. I've never had a vehicle in this dark of a color before, and I am preparing to have an infinitely more challenging time keeping it looking the way I like.

I guess time will tell if I look back and wish I would have gone with the Oxford White instead!

 

It'll be more challenging but you can do it!