This is a friends Mini, its 5 years old...garage parked but during work hours, parked under trees. It is really pretty well kept actually. That said, the entire surface covered with road grime and sap. It was all marred pretty well and some good scratches but other than that..its in great shape.

Much to my surprise the paint was harder than I anticipated...I did the hood with the Megs MF step one compound but as I went on I decided it was taking too long. So I broke out the new stuff.

I used Menzerna FG400 with a yellow Megs first try, nope, not enough. Then tried white Lake VC...nope not enough...busted out the Lake PFW pad...bingo. The Megs yellow would have been fine with a rotary but I didn't want to get that out so I used the Flex...

I have to say the Menz FG400 is pretty impressive....no dust, long working time and finishes very nicely.

I followed with a pass using Menzerna SuperFine4500 using a Black Lake pad.


I then did an ISP wipe down then let it sit for the night...woke up and hit the paint with Opti-Coat 2.0.

Dressed all the mini trim with BlackWow.

Owner is very pleased.

Process: (car was delivered washed)
APC+ wheels (no wells to be cleaned, carpet insulated)
2 Bucket method ONR
Blue Megs Clay using Megs#34
Menzerna FG400 Lake PFW pad using on Flex
Menzerna SF4500 Black Lake pad, on Flex
Opti-Coat 2.0
BlackWow on all exterior black trim
Megs HD applies by hand on engine bay.
Stoners glass clearer on exterior and interior
PB NLD on all interior plastics and "pleather"
Folex spot cleaned on mats and under mats

It was raining all day so I followed owner home after reveal and did a follow up ONR and redressed areas as needed.







Lots of marring and junk in paint






No this is not a scratch is a reflection of my hand and phone






[IMG]http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/07/ebe2e7e5.jpg[/IMG

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This is a great example of how BlackWow works on faded black...this was "grey" before I treated with one coat of BW.







Compliments of The Cafe

 

Bravo! Can't do that with Walmart specials

Great work as always Jason. I hope to eventually start playing with pad selection more. Crazy how much of a difference that choice can make in the outcome.

 

Thanks John...pads do change things for sure.

Cheers

JP

 

That thing looks great! I'd love for you to do my truck Not sure I'd want to pay for your level of expertise, but it'd look much better.

What do you consider the Opti-coat 2.0 to be? I know it's a protectant, but it seems like they suggest that it's permanent somehow? Saw folks on a Ram forum say to coat wheels in it and have been wondering what it actually is and/or how it works. You using it pretty much assures me that it's a solid product.

 

Hey KMAC...it is considered a permanent product as it is a resin based protectant that bonds to the clear. It does get harder as it dehydrates over time and while it is advertised as permanent, I would polish it off every 1.5 years and reapply after correction etc. I have had the orginal OC on several cars and they are approaching 2 years...water still beads and sheets as if it was the day I put it on. So you will have to be the judge.

I know many apply it to plastics, wheels, wells etc...I only use on the paint. That said, i am open to try it on other areas like the aforementioned.

the most important part of using this type of product is proper prep...if your paint isn't corrected, then you just put a coating over crappy paint....

Hope this helps.

RR

 

That helps a bunch. More or less confirms the claims, but I didn't necessarily believe them before. Thanks

 

RR, so the Mini paint is pretty hard? Some time in the near future I am going to do my son in law's black Mini. I was afraid that the paint would be very soft judging by the swirls he has. This will be my first black car, so I am just a little scared about it, but his looks so bad now that #1000 sand paper might be an improvement!

I may come crying to you guys later for some advise as I'm a rookie, but really admire the fine work you guys put out.

 

Just use the right products and take your time...you can knock it out with the Megs MF system but it will take several passes on each step, thus that will tell you how hard the paint is. What types of products, machines, pads do you have now?

If you tell me that I could plot a course of action to try as to maximize or rather limit the amount of time you spend testing on what works based on what you have in your arsenal.

RR

 

Thanks RR.

Basic rookie with a Groits D.A.

Products I have are Meg's 105 & 205, Ultimate compound and Ultimate polish. Also have some Meg's Glaze (not that impressed with that though) I think it's#7 and I'm probably not using that right!

Pad wise I have
Megs -purple (the coarsest I own)
Unknown Orange-Medium cut is my guess (open cell like the Meg's pad)
Orange closed cell-LC IIRC
Blue Closed cell-also LC
White Closed cell-LC
And a couple of Black Closed cell from the local parts store I bought to experiment. These seem to be the softest I have.

My goal isn't ending up with something equal to your level (my skills are limited). But to get a better than the average Joe Blow driving around with an ugly scratchy looking finish. I am a hobby guy at this, but you guys have ruined me with all your nice pictures of the work you have done. In other words I won't be putting you of Merlin out of work!

I prefer to keep my supplies down to over the counter products because they are easier for me to get.

Wax wise I have Meg's Carnuba and some 2.0. Haven't played with the Carnuba yet, was going to test it out on my work truck some day.

If it matters My truck is Dark Shadow Gray, Wifie's Expy is Silver, and the Mini Cooper I am thinking about doing is Black.

Thanks for the offer of advise
Jim

 

Jim...to quote RockPick...."This isn't rocket science, this is patience".

You have great products...the 105 and 205 are great and assuming that is a Purple Foam Pad, you have a great combo. The 205 should work down great.

I know you said you like over the counter products...but if it were me...I would go for the 32oz Megs MF kit....get the 32oz Compound and the 32oz Finish Wax then get a couple of sets of pads and be done with it.

The 105 is a GREAT product, non diminishing product meaning that as long as it is on the pad and on the surface it is cutting. The down side, dust...

With Griots machine, you should consider spending the 100 bucks or so that will last you more than a year or 2 on your personal cars with products that desgined for the DA. Pushing 105 to work with a DA is still a push no matter what is written on the bottle.

Save your Blue and Black pads for burnish steps or LSP applications.

You mention to "our" level, my level is the same as you can produce..there are just some tricks and tips that go along with it...again, its not making a rocket get to space...you can totally do the same as the elders here. Everyone can, thus the reason the care and detail section exists here. There are other sites that get in to more detail to give you more confidence (shameless plug for the cafe) but the folks here can say they got their start here at F150 OL....I can. I started here learning from the elders. I got the bug bad...but that was YEARS ago

The advantage some of the elders have is simply experience...not only on surface but products. There are countless ways to skin a cat...lots of varaibales. That is the "secret sauce" ....AKA Trail and Error.

Not taking anything away from F150OL but other sites do offer more specific hands on help.

 

Thank you RR.

I am freaked out about doing something wrong on my paint, so I go light and easy with the polisher. You are absolutely right about experience, each time I get out the buffer I learn a bit more. It is truly a deep and dark rabbit hole, but interesting.

On the Meg,s 105, are you saying that the DA doesn't have enough power for this product? I know when I first started using the 105 I didn't feel like I was getting enough cut out of it. That's why I got the Meg's purple pad and the results were much better.

Again thanks for the insight.

 

The DA has plenty of power, but going to the MF system will give the DA a tad more umphf. With a DA you can limit yourself on products and pad combos...how much patience do you have? 105 on a DA will take x amount of time longer than Megs MF on a DA with the right size pad.

I have 3 DA's...use them often. I prefer the Flex but now the MF system, the DA is much better suited for it.

Again, my opinion, get the MF system...you don't use anything else unless you step up to a Flex, or a Rotary. Then it's a different ball game and worm hole.

RR

 

I'm pretty patient when I do any kind of work on my cars, it's like therapy for me. But the MF system sounds interesting.

What kind of life can you expect out of the MF pads?

Sorry about the thread jacking RR, that Mini Cooper does look nice though.

 

+1 on the Meg's MF kit. I have a 7424XP DA polisher. I worked exclusively with Foam pads on the DA till last summer when I picked up the MF kit and now it is often what I use for the cutting step. I still prefer the foam pads (often a white Lake country CCS) for finer polishing with products like M205. With your DA, if you go for the MF kit, get the 5" kit. the 5" kit will be easier for your DA to spin and you will get a more effective cut as a result.

I now also use Optimum MF pads with Meg's 105 and Ultimate compound with great results. It just depends on the paint that I am working with on which pad/product combo I use.

A little thing I learned was to cut the M105 with Ultimate Compound about a 70/30 mix and my dusting as really, really dropped without hardly any noticable drop in cutting ability.

Thanks to RR and others on here and the cafe, I have learned and progressed a lot over the last 4 years since really getting into it. I Even now enjoy it so much that I just pulled the trigger on a Rupes LHR15 polisher that isn't exactly cheap. It just showed up today and I am really looking forward to trying it out.

Great work on the Mini RR!

 

Am I really quotable? I mean, really??