Horrified and Totally Disheartened - Is Adams Worth It?

[Agbull]

The week before thanksgiving I did a full detail, as follows:

 

Wash, clay, swirl remover, polish, seal and Glaze - All Adam's products.  Regularly watch the videos and have also watched Junkman videos.  Something isn't right here.

 

Nothing has ever touched my car other than Adam's products.  I have all the cleaners, all the pads, everything (although I don't have the newest version of the pads since they seem to change them about every year).

 

What? - 2011 B8 S4 Audi, Phantom Black Peal Effect.

 

I spent three days doing the detail.  Nice.  Between then and now we have had some rain.  Nothing other than the rain touched the car until I decided to wash today.  Backed it out and no problem until the sun hit my car on the rear end.  Photos are attached.  To be honest, I don't feel that cotton clothes and turtlewax could have made it worse.  Again, the only products that have ever touched my baby are Adams.

 

I now have the shiniest car with hair-line scratches in Tennessee!  Yippee!  Going back to the title.....horrified and totally disheartened.

 

Now that I think about it, I am going to add a photo of the Adams products that I have so that everyone knows that I am not talking smack.  I can also send photos of the pads that I have it you like.

 

Please help because I LOVE my car.

 

Thanks..

[Agbull]

Just checking to see if this was posted.

[BluedogGMC]

You keep saying that only Adams products have touched it. What towels are you using? I would think you had something in your towel that caused all of this. Was it all smooth after you polished? Did you check it out real good with a light or in the sun after you polished. To me it just looks like when you (or someone else) wiped the car down there was a foreign mater in your towel.

[stripesace]

I don't see a single product doing that to paint. I see something contaminated, like a pad or towel maybe.

[Feets31]

What polisher and only one polish?  The car had been perfect since 2011 and this just happened?  How did you check each panel as you went to make sure it was swirl free?

 

My guess the car had scratches before you started and while you did polish it, you did not get the swirls out. When the car saw sun light the swirls came to light.  I have an orange car and it looks great or you can see small straight swirls in it when the light hits it just right. 

 

If none of the above applies, I would agree on a towel with contamination on it or a pad with dried polish in it. 

[Kingsford]

Something was contaminated like others said or its the technique.

 

-What towels are you using?

-How old are the towels?

-What wash pad/mitt?

-How old is the pad/mitt?

-Grit Guard? Yes or No.

-How many buckets did you use?

-How often did you rinse the pad?

-Did you work top to bottom?

-Was the pad/mitt only used on Paint?

-Did you use a sealant after polishing?

 

So many variables and questions.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Kingsford

[PlainOleS5]

That is some seriously swirling and scratching, sucks to see.

 

I have a B8 S5 Phantom Black and feel your pain!  My vehicle already had swirls and scratchs from a previous owner and I plan on polishing them out this spring.

 

However, since April when I got this car, I've used only Adams products and haven't experienced ANYTHING like that.  I check almost every wash for bad swirls just so I can keep tabs on problem areas and haven't noticed any getting worse or to the point you are showing.

 

When you say swirl remover in your post...are you refering to using a DA polisher? or by hand?  Something that pervasive would make me think it was a dirty towel or contaminated pads.

Edited December 6, 2015 by PlainOleS5

[Guest washemup]

When you do paint correction, this is why you need a swirl finder light. What looks good in the garage may not look as good in direct sunlight.

 

Audi paint in my experience with it is very hard. A light/medium foam cutting pad probably doesn't have enough cut to remove the swirls. I'd use a microfiber cutting pad. The last Audi I did, I used a medium cut pad to finish with, it was an Audi TT.

 

What causes swirls to start with?

 

Improper wash/drying technique.

 

For washing, I use the 2 bucket method with a foam gun.

Begin by inspecting the car for dirt/road film. Rinse all the dirt you can off to start. Then use the foam gun. This doesn't actually clean the surface, but adds a layer of lubrication to minimize/prevent swirls.

 

Next dip your mitt/wash pad into your soap bucket. You should inspect your mitt/pad after every pass. When you see dirt on it, rinse in the rinse bucket rubbing it against the grit guard. DO NOT PUT IT BACK INTO THE SOAP BUCKET UNLESS IT IS 100% CLEAN! You should be WIPING the surface to remove dirt/road film, not scrubbing. For a car that is really dirty, use 1 mitt/pad for the top half, and a different for the bottom. You should inspect your/mitt pad before using it to make sure it's clean and soft.

 

To aid in drying, after you rinse all the soap off, do a pooling/sheeting rinse. If you have a good coat of sealant or wax on the car, this will remove 80-90% of the water, leaving you very little to dry.

 

Mist each panel with 1 spray of Detail Spray. With your drying towel, LIGHTLY and SLOWLY wipe the remaining water off.

 

Following this procedure, I only need to 1 step with finishing polish every 6-8 months, and my car is an un-garaged daily driver.

Edited December 6, 2015 by washemup

[Tim]

I'd bet a towel did that. I just had that happen to me and had to pull out the PC for a few minutes.

[Chris@Adams]

Yea you need to inspect your pads & MF towels. If either one are in question get new. Once you determine that your pads are ok to use do a 2x2 test spot and don't move on until you have it corrected. Then you will know what it takes to make your paint perfect. BTW make sure you are putting enough pressure on your machine and go slow.....

What machine are you using?

[marquez93]

I agree that the swirls were probably never removed completely. It would take a pretty dirty towel to do that to a previously swirl free finish. There were pads mentioned, but nothing specifically about using a machine polisher. What did you use exactly to remove the swirls?

[GXPaycheck]

Tell us exactly how you did your correction, what machine, pads, towels, polishes, etc, and in what order. Then folks can help you figure it out.

[BluedogGMC]

One other major question.... Did you drop your clay bar on the ground????

[Dwhite0960]

I would think either your wash mit or whatever you use to wash with was either trashed with dirt or your microfiber had some dirt trapped inside the threads. Do you use the 2 bucket method with the grit guards? Do you rinse your mit immediately after hitting a heavily soiled area? I swirled my tailgate real bad once due to getting clay mud on my mit and not rinsing it out before I finished the entire tailgate. Washing the car that is filthy in the lovely tn area takes some time. When you clayed the car did you have a new bar or did you drop it at any point. Once you drop a bar it is trashed you can not just work the trash into the middle like typical claying process. Also how often do you work your clay when you are doing the car, I typically work the clay every panel if it is dirty or not and if it is really dirty paint I will work it multiple times per panel if needed, bottom half of car sees more working of the clay bar in my experience. And last thing to add here. When you polished the car did you use a machine or hand application. If you do it by hand it might be you need to swap applicators more often. Same thing for machine on swapping out pads as needed but they seem to go further to me. Do you wash your towels and pads every time they are used and how do you store them. Maybe the towels or pads got dust and grime from sitting in a garage for a extended period of time. Im sure adams products can get the car back to beautiful with some hard work though. Take care.

[Dan@Adams]

Hi Jeff, I'm very sorry you were not satisfied with the products or results on your S4. From the picture you've attached, I see our old green Severe Swirl Remover, our orange Swirl & Haze Remover, our white Fine Machine Polish, and the gray Machine Super Sealant. All of these products have either been discontinued or reformulated for at least 3 years and sometimes longer, so I would question the shelf life of all of these 4 products, especially first they have not been in a temperature controlled environment or if they were not throughly shook up before polishing. Are the pads you used just as old and are they in good condition and cleaned of all polish residue before use? If the products were temperature controlled and the pads are ok, then the polishes themselves would not have caused these swirl marks.

 

Nearly all swirl marks come from improper washing and drying. A polish will not introduce them but the severe swirl remover or Swirl & Haze Could cause fine micro scratching that the Fine Machine Polish would take care of. Has the car ever been washed at a dealership during a maintenance checkup, or at any other automatic brush washes? Either of those would be the most likely situation for the swirl marks. If you did machine polish, did you do a test 2'x2' section and then inspect with several different light sources for a perfect finish prior to polishing the rest of the car? Are the swirl marks all over the car or only in that rear area?

 

Are you sure the microfiber towels you are removing the polish with are soft enough and not contaminated? As a test, take the microfiber towels you were using and wipe them on the blank data side of a blank CDR you do not mind ruining. If the towels scratch the CD, odds are they will scratch/swirl your clearcoat. Proper microfiber care is imperative in not reintroducing swirl marks into the finish of your vehicle. We have a writeup dedicated to proper cleaning of microfiber that I will link in my next post.

 

We want to make this up to you for being dissatisfied with the products, so I would like to replace those old outdated products for you free of charge. Please give our Customer Service number a call after 830am MST this week. 866.965.0400.

 

Respectfully,

Dan

[Dwhite0960]

Hi Jeff, I'm very sorry you were not satisfied with the products or results on your S4. From the picture you've attached, I see our old green Severe Swirl Remover, our orange Swirl & Haze Remover, our white Fine Machine Polish, and the gray Machine Super Sealant. All of these products have either been discontinued or reformulated for at least 3 years and sometimes longer, so I would question the shelf life of all of these 4 products, especially first they have not been in a temperature controlled environment or if they were not throughly shook up before polishing. Are the pads you used just as old and are they in good condition and cleaned of all polish residue before use? If the products were temperature controlled and the pads are ok, then the polishes themselves would not have caused these swirl marks.

Nearly all swirl marks come from improper washing and drying. A polish will not introduce them but the severe swirl remover or Swirl & Haze Could cause fine micro scratching that the Fine Machine Polish would take care of. Has the car ever been washed at a dealership during a maintenance checkup, or at any other automatic brush washes? Either of those would be the most likely situation for the swirl marks. If you did machine polish, did you do a test 2'x2' section and then inspect with several different light sources for a perfect finish prior to polishing the rest of the car? Are the swirl marks all over the car or only in that rear area?

Are you sure the microfiber towels you are removing the polish with are soft enough and not contaminated? As a test, take the microfiber towels you were using and wipe them on the blank data side of a blank CDR you do not mind ruining. If the towels scratch the CD, odds are they will scratch/swirl your clearcoat. Proper microfiber care is imperative in not reintroducing swirl marks into the finish of your vehicle. We have a writeup dedicated to proper cleaning of microfiber that I will link in my next post.

We want to make this up to you for being dissatisfied with the products, so I would like to replace those old outdated products for you free of charge. Please give our Customer Service number a call after 830am MST this week. 866.965.0400.

Respectfully,

Dan

Now this is class a customer service. Willing to replace products that are 3+ years old to make sure you and your car are happy. This makes me happy to see and just confirms I have made the right choice for my car care products. Class act by Dan and team Adams!

[Junior]

Lots of good responses and obviously Adams team has stepped up once again. I am right there with you Daniel.

[Junior]

Another thing migh be relevant here. Sometimes the LSP can leave high spots that sort of look like this. Might be worth doing an IPA wipe down in one spot after washing the car to see if that is the case. I have seen that before on my car when using certain LSPs. So now I buff with the MF towel and go back over a final wipe down with separate towels.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Junior

[BluedogGMC]

Hi Jeff, I'm very sorry you were not satisfied with the products or results on your S4. From the picture you've attached, I see our old green Severe Swirl Remover, our orange Swirl & Haze Remover, our white Fine Machine Polish, and the gray Machine Super Sealant. All of these products have either been discontinued or reformulated for at least 3 years and sometimes longer, so I would question the shelf life of all of these 4 products, especially first they have not been in a temperature controlled environment or if they were not throughly shook up before polishing. Are the pads you used just as old and are they in good condition and cleaned of all polish residue before use? If the products were temperature controlled and the pads are ok, then the polishes themselves would not have caused these swirl marks.

 

Nearly all swirl marks come from improper washing and drying. A polish will not introduce them but the severe swirl remover or Swirl & Haze Could cause fine micro scratching that the Fine Machine Polish would take care of. Has the car ever been washed at a dealership during a maintenance checkup, or at any other automatic brush washes? Either of those would be the most likely situation for the swirl marks. If you did machine polish, did you do a test 2'x2' section and then inspect with several different light sources for a perfect finish prior to polishing the rest of the car? Are the swirl marks all over the car or only in that rear area?

 

Are you sure the microfiber towels you are removing the polish with are soft enough and not contaminated? As a test, take the microfiber towels you were using and wipe them on the blank data side of a blank CDR you do not mind ruining. If the towels scratch the CD, odds are they will scratch/swirl your clearcoat. Proper microfiber care is imperative in not reintroducing swirl marks into the finish of your vehicle. We have a writeup dedicated to proper cleaning of microfiber that I will link in my next post.

 

We want to make this up to you for being dissatisfied with the products, so I would like to replace those old outdated products for you free of charge. Please give our Customer Service number a call after 830am MST this week. 866.965.0400.

 

Respectfully,

Dan

 

Customer Service is SECOND TO NONE!!!

Even thou Jeff has not even responded to the post since he posted it and still get's GREAT customer service. Three cheers for Dan and the Adams crew.

Edited December 6, 2015 by BluedogGMC

[stripesace]

Have we heard from the OP since the initial post?

[Guest washemup]

I know how the OP feels, after performing a full correction on my Camaro, I got a speedy prep towel a few months later to prep and apply better protection then what I initially used.

 

Unfortunately, I used it incorrectly, applied pressure, and had light marring, on the hills of the factory orange peel, all over the entire car! I was absolutely sick!

 

In hindsight, it was a blessing in disguise, I ended up trying a different pad with a finishing polish I'd never used before, and the results blew me away.

 

It can always be worse, take a look at what this chauffer did to this priceless paint job on this Rolls Royce! It was still able to be fixed! Your Audi can be fixed as well.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2Xu7psOies

[Agbull]

You keep saying that only Adams products have touched it. What towels are you using? I would think you had something in your towel that caused all of this. Was it all smooth after you polished? Did you check it out real good with a light or in the sun after you polished. To me it just looks like when you (or someone else) wiped the car down there was a foreign mater in your towel.

Been on the road for work for just catching-up and the was the first return post that I see.  Thanks in advance to all that have replied.  With regard to this one, I used the double softs to wipe after the full detail. I keep all of my towels and pads in sealed plastic containers so not sure how anything would have been on the towel.  Used only natural light in the garage (can't polish, etc. in the sun), so not sure if it was like this or not immediately following the detail.  I was the one that wiped it and nobody touches the car other than me.  When taken to the dealer I even place a sign on the dash telling them not to wash.

[Agbull]

What polisher and only one polish?  The car had been perfect since 2011 and this just happened?  How did you check each panel as you went to make sure it was swirl free?

 

My guess the car had scratches before you started and while you did polish it, you did not get the swirls out. When the car saw sun light the swirls came to light.  I have an orange car and it looks great or you can see small straight swirls in it when the light hits it just right. 

 

If none of the above applies, I would agree on a towel with contamination on it or a pad with dried polish in it. 

Definitely was not this bad before I started.  Use a PC, orange pad and swirl and haze remover.  Leave the Swirl and haze remover on and then use the white pads with machine polish, then wipe the double softs.  Followed with Super Sealant, wipe with clean double soft and then Brilliant Glaze, again wipe with a clean double soft.

[Agbull]

Something was contaminated like others said or its the technique.

 

-What towels are you using?

-How old are the towels?

-What wash pad/mitt?

-How old is the pad/mitt?

-Grit Guard? Yes or No.

-How many buckets did you use?

-How often did you rinse the pad?

-Did you work top to bottom?

-Was the pad/mitt only used on Paint?

-Did you use a sealant after polishing?

 

So many variables and questions.

I use a great white towel to dray after a typical wash and then follow with the microfiber with the black edge. Towels are of various ages, but all appear to be clean and I wash after every use.  The pad is one of the standard Adam's, think 10"?  The pad is about 1 1/2 years old.  Yes on grit guard and always have used two buckets.  Rinse the pad probably 5-6 times during a typical wash.  Always work top to bottom (roof, windows, hood, trunk, lower 2/3s of doors, back of car, front of car and then lower 1/3 of sides.  Pad/mitt used on paint, glass and trim.  I did use super sealant and followed with brilliant glaze.

[Agbull]

That is some seriously swirling and scratching, sucks to see.

 

I have a B8 S5 Phantom Black and feel your pain!  My vehicle already had swirls and scratchs from a previous owner and I plan on polishing them out this spring.

 

However, since April when I got this car, I've used only Adams products and haven't experienced ANYTHING like that.  I check almost every wash for bad swirls just so I can keep tabs on problem areas and haven't noticed any getting worse or to the point you are showing.

 

When you say swirl remover in your post...are you refering to using a DA polisher? or by hand?  Something that pervasive would make me think it was a dirty towel or contaminated pads.

You know it!  Yeah, Adam's had a 3 stage polishing process (severe swirl and haze remover, swirl and haze remover and then machine polish).  That is the set-up that I have.  I see a lot of responses about contaminated towels or pads, but I am meticulous.  As a result, not sure how this would have happened.  Not good. Also, as recently replied to a post, using Adam's pads and a PC, not hand polishing.