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Friends, thank you. Thank you for caring enough to post your thoughts, and taking time from your life to do so. Thank you for making your feelings known, and I can appreciate that you feel we have drifted from our core. Thank you for continuing to care about our company and brand, even though it's not the company and brand that you supported initially. The reality: I understand your point. We have become a much larger enterprise. At the same time, our customer base has changed as well. Over 60% of our customers are under 30 today! We have a fantastic marketing department that turns out limited edition promotional products and Adam's branded apparel. While I certainly appreciate the sales, it's not something I had in mind when we started. Nor would I ever have thought old or limited edition products would sell for hundreds of dollars on eBay. Never in a million years, and our marketing team has created tremendous brand equity, and demand. I started this business to offer great detailing chemicals, matched with premium application and removal tools, and easy to understand instructions. (Eventually, videos, to help the DIY enthusiast achieve incredible results at home, with ease.) Above all, I want our customers to be impressed with the quality, ease of use, and results achieved with everything that comes from Adam's. The reality: The promotional stuff sells, and the new majority of our customers are young. I now have partners, a bank expecting us to meet goals, etc. It's not just me and my small team, boot strapping to make payroll, and kick out a few new products each year. Adam's Polishes has grown exponentially, and as a result, it has changed. While the changes at Adam's are good for some, they are not appreciated by all. Especially the original customers, those who remember us small, with nearly all American made products. Those who have supported our brand for a decade or even two. As some of you are aware, our ownership group acquired our chemical manufacturer last year, and now have access to truly amazing chemistry. We have invested heavily in the business, updated the lab, and are now making products that are more advanced than the big players in our industry. Crazy enough, we now have 150 employees, plus another 25 part time show champions. While I'm humbled that we have established a much larger company, and are roughly 10X the size we were just a few years ago, I also miss the old days. I miss the days of taking our entire staff out to lunch daily. Miss indoor parking and a cross-fit gym at the HQ. I even miss the days of whacking payroll on a credit card, and living in my first warehouse. While those days were tough, doing whatever it took to survive was invigorating, exciting! It's hard to do things like that as a large company. You asked about DVK? Dylan VonKleist is incredible at identifying and developing new products. He knows detailing as well or possibly better than I do, and has his thumb on the pulse of the detailing community. He was instrumental in starting this very forum! I also miss Ashley Wilson. She worked with us since high school, with her fantastic dad, Mike, one of our original team members. Ashley was amazing with our resellers, and everyone she came in contact with. When we moved the business to Colorado, she was unable to move with us, understood. We had an outstanding controller, Patti. She started with us in 2009, and helped us get through many, many hurdles. Her positivity and influence on both me, and the staff was awesome! She eventually moved on to work with a non-profit, which helps children. Understood, and she is missed by all of our employees that knew her, and was replaced by a super capable CFO and eventually, an accounting team of five that are much needed to keep this enterprise afloat. Great people, certainly needed, but a big company team is different feel than a small few person team. Realize, those people who are gone have moved up, and as our business grew, we had to make changes. We are friendly with each person that moved on, no bridges were burned in the making of Adam's Polishes! I introduced Dylan to Cody, then the owner of Cyclo Tools, and he was hired there. Then, Cyclo was acquired by Rupes, which is how Dylan landed there. It was a good fit for him, the right move at the time. Truth: Dylan is one of the smartest, most OCD, focused detailers I've ever known. His focus on detailing products made our line better, and makes Rupes a better company today. We never replaced Dylan, and are still looking today. (If you know someone, please shoot me an email with a resume: Adam@AdamsPolishes.com.) Today: Our customer service team is awesome. Our marketing team, led by Matt Butcher, is amazing. Our chemicals are outstanding, and our ceramic program is world class. Our towels and accessories are very good as well. As I always say, "VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLARS!" We are one of the only companies on earth that honors a 110% Satisfaction guarantee. Pleas, return any product you are dissatisfied with. Whining about products online doesn't solve a problem. Remember, you get 110% refund on products you are unimpressed with. Please, no whining, just contact us so we can make it right! I gave 200% to Adam's Polishes for decades. (Gave 200% to detailing for the previous two decades as well. Been detailing for nearly 40 years now!) Today, I've shifted priorities, to a family man, and business man. In that order. I used to come home after work and get on AdamsForums, and on other social media platforms. Today, when I'm home, I'm a Dad, and husband. Today, I don't always get to the HQ, rather, I travel all over for business. I'm on a plane at least 4X a week, and while my United Airlines status is rocking, my absence is noted at home. God has been incredibly good to me, and our business. I'm so blessed to have had the opportunity to start and grow this business from zero. Blessed with an incredible and dedicated team. Blessed to have met my wife, and blessed with our three healthy children. Blessed to live and work in Colorado. Blessed to have incredible customers who care enough to report your feelings on our direction! Finally, I encourage everyone to VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLARS! Focus on the high quality products that keep your car shining, and your shine therapy soothing. I'm still detailing something every week, sometimes daily. It's my therapy. It's always been my therapy. Detailing is how I unwind and find clarity in this complicated world. I'm here as the Chief Detailer, and Founder of Adam's Polishes. I'm not the CEO, not the marketing director, just the Chief Detailer. If you don't like a product, please, contact our customer service team, and we will make it right. (orders@adamspolishes.com, or 866-965-0400.) When I tune in to listen to people complain about our business, it certainly hits a nerve. If you have a product that has not impressed you, please contact us! Vote with your dollars, and you will see more products that you love from Adam's Polishes. Thank you very, very much for your loyalty, and for your business. Humbly, Adam

Friends: We started this shine-therapy forum over a decade ago! Time sure does fly....doesn't it? Thank you for being here, and participating in this shine-crazy community. Thank you for your business, and for voting for products you like and don't like with your dollars. Thank you for helping us create better solutions. Thank you for calling attention to areas or products we can improve. Thank you for helping us grow this business exponentially, I'm humbled beyond words! Please, SMILE while you type.... Thank you for not using this forum as a place to air negativity. Thank you for always being respectful of other members, and our employees. Thank you for using detailing, your therapist, or exercise, or meditation to work through your issues, when you feel like life is tough. Thank you for making AdamsForums a positive and pleasant place to hang out! In 2008, when we started this forum, we had 6 employees, and a few thousand customers. Today, we have 125 employees, and over 300,000 customers. One thing we have learned, for absolute certain: WE ARE NOT PERFECT! There was exactly one person who ever walked earth, who was perfect. We are not Him. We are not even close. If you are feeling perfect, like your finish is 100% swirl free, and never needs cleaning or polishing, if you feel like your poop doesn't stink, like you walk on water, and are comfortable coming here to blast members or the company who pays to maintain this community, please, don't. Need to get some negativity off your chest? Find a dirty or swirled up car to detail. Find a therapist, let out a primal scream, go for a run or hike, a mountain bike ride, go ski or snowboard if that's your winter kick, like it is mine! There are many ways people like to get negative energy out. Blasting other members, or this enthusiast forum sponsor probably won't help you turn your frown upside down. Please come, hang out, be kind, give and get detailing help, and understand: We want to earn your business, but more importantly, we want your kindness. Vote for the products you like with your dollars. Don't buy stuff you don't like, but please, don't bash them. If you cannot understand the marketing team's decision to bring on a particular product, you are probably not the target customer! I have never watched TV, don't buy soda or potato chips, and don't follow sports. Do I hang out bashing Coke, Ruffles, or slamming the Super Bowl? Absolutely not, it's just not worth the negative energy! (Plus, my kids, wife, and employees need me to be a positive influence.) So friends, I've instructed our incredible Forum Leadership Team to permanently remove AF members who regularly post negativity. Threads that are overrun with negativity are also going to be deleted, unless they offer detailing solutions or help to members searching. As the only AdamsForums sponsor, we want people to feel great about being here. Thanks for your business, and your smile, and here is my Primal Scream, after getting this off my chest!

I heard he evaporated in a crazy car crash...... Racing through the Swiss Alps in a LaFerrari, and launched off a cliff, doing well over 200 mph. He was racing a Bugatti Veyron, and winning, when he swerved to avoid a mud puddle, he didn't want to dirty the freshly detailed supercar.....the beautiful car took flight, and exploded into smithereens.....big insurance claim! Hahahahaha! Well, hello friends! Seems as our little business grows, the days are long, the travel frequent, and the downtime is fleeting. As our little family grows, my 'off time,' when I used to hang on the Forum, is now filled with soccer or basketball, homework, etc. ( The Forum is where I went to chill out, not so much to work.) Crazy to think, when we started Adam's Forums in 2008, we had 0 kids, 3 employees, and plenty of free time! Now, a decade later, were are blessed with 41 employees, 3 kids, and a pretty dang busy business. We now attend over 40 shows each year, and I see many of you around the country! It's good to be here on AF, and I feel our guys, Dan Tyger, Chris Toth, and Dan Wolf, are handling this forum responsibility well. I'm humbled to have you reading my words, and using our goods. ADD has the best of me, so I try to keep communication to a few mediums, emails, in person, and phone calls. If you want to connect with me on any matters that cannot be resolved here on AF: Adam@AdamsPolishes.com Office: 720-473-7100 Or, find me at the most of the shows scheduled on our Event Calendar! Thanks friends, and here is a snapshot of who I am hanging with at every possible second:

Thanks Mike and each of you who responded to this thread. I absolutely care. This business is my baby. I lived on Top Ramen and canned tuna with ranch dressing in a 950 sq ft warehouse on the railroad track,s next to the 405 freeway for three years while starting this business. I'm not up to see Adam's be gimmicky, or low quality. Stand by, we will continue to develop and launch new, quality products, and I certainly hope to continue to earn your trust, and your business. Realize, I'm no longer the only person launching new products, and if I was, I'd have 5 hours of things to focus on for each hour of the day. Tough for a detailer with OCD and ADD to do! I've leaned on our entire team, as has our CEO, to bring excellent, high quality detailing products and accessories to the market. Forgot to include a photo of our young family, this one from last week in McCall, Idaho, heaven on earth. Celebrating my wife, Melissa's birthday. Towel wrapped Luca, 11, Cristiano, 9, and Enzo, 6 with a LaCroix on his head:

Hi All, After seeing a need for some flowcharts and more "processes" for overall detailing, especially Ceramic Coating and maintenance, I've developed the roadmap to Ceramic Paint Coating! Let me know what you think and how this can help you-- Also, If there are any processes you are confused by, list them here and I'll consider them for future flow charts!

As we’ve been talking about hosting our first clinic, it got me thinking about all aspects of detailing and business ownership. I frequently see people here who are thinking of opening their own business and it inspired me to share some thoughts and lessons from our first official year in business. First though, a little back history. I believe to understand where you’re going, you need to understand where you’ve been. So to understand Detailed Reflections and our story, the history becomes important. I have a successful career as a firefighter/paramedic. Detailing for me has never been the way to “pay the bills.” What my career provided for me though was a means to explore something that I’d always wanted to do with minimal risk...owning a business. Like many, I started detailing my own cars. Once friends found out that I did that, and could do it well they started asking for “help” detailing their cars. In other words, they asked me to detail their cars. As I went along, I learned all the time. Suddenly I found myself finally feeling confident I could do this and charge money for it. Not to mention, I got tired of giving away time frequently. Like many, I have a family and activities I enjoy. Next thing I knew, I was collecting cash for detailing cars here and there. I realized how much time and money I kept reinvesting. New product, tools, etc. At that point the idea was hatched that I would go out on a limb and open my own business. I’ve use the “I” a lot so far, and there’s a reason for that. When I talked to my wife about opening a business, she suggested I partner with the husband of someone she works with. He was working as a detailer at a small shop that did production detailing. Think more car wash than true detailing. I was a little apprehensive about bringing someone else into the mix. Little did I know it would be one of the best things I could do and the strength of a friendship born through a common interest and business venture. After some conversation over dinner, “I” became “we.” He didn’t have the financial means to invest in everything needed to take on business ownership, but he brought an incredible work ethic with him and has grown tremendously in our time working together. I still hold ownership (for now) but he’s every bit of a partner a business owner could ask for. This was lesson one. Don’t be afraid to take a chance. It might not work, but it just might lead to the best decision you’ve ever made. To watch Marquis grow in his craft has made it worthwhile. His knowledge of the business side is growing and his worth ethic is among the best I’ve seen. Now that we had a legal LLC, it became a game of constantly navigating new tasks. Paying sales tax, tracking EVERY expense, scheduling, acquiring clients, ordering product, shopping for price. The list goes on. Which brings us to lesson two. Track EVERYTHING. Literally, save every receipt. Track mileage. Be diligent in recording expenses. You want to know where every dollar is going. You’re not spending, you’re investing. Most of the money we take in goes back to the business. Advertising, product, etc. You also want to know if you’re profitable. Lesson three...it takes time to be profitable. You’re going to make ordering mistakes. You’re going to need to grow your equipment to set yourself apart. You’ll need to try different products to see what you like and what you don’t like. You need to set yourself apart from the competition. Lesson four...don’t sell on price. You can easily get sucked into a low cost bidding war. Some people will walk because they can “get it cheaper elsewhere.” Let them go. The price customer isn’t likely to become a client, and they usually expect the most for the least. If you don’t value your time, product and knowledge who else will? That being said, don’t gouge people because you can. It’s poor practice and will bite you. Lesson five...clients and customers are different people. A customer is a one time transaction. A client is multiple times. They come back. They talk to people. They engage with you. These are who you want to be your clients. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Customers are still good revenue, but don’t provide the continued returns that a client does. Lesson six...know your costs. This is a cost of operating. And it’s how you establish an hourly rate to estimate pricing. How much is your time worth? How much do you pay your employees/partners? How much is your product? How much does your business need to make to grow? How much are your expenses (rent/insurance/phone/etc)? Once that’s done, work it backwards. You should have an hourly rate you try to achieve on every job. Lesson seven...sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. In the end, make the client happy. There’s jobs we’ve misquoted and done for little to nothing at the end of the day. There’s jobs we’ve made more than we thought. Keep the client happy. It’s how they return. Don’t sweat the small things. A job that doesn’t make money is simply a mistake. Learn from it. Lesson eight...be honest with customers and clients. Under promise and over deliver. It’s better to wow a client with more than they expected than to disappoint them by promising something you couldn’t deliver. An unhappy client will tell everyone. Lesson nine...don’t give clients what they didn’t pay for. Does this mean never throw someone a bone? Not at all. If someone pays for a one step polish, that’s what you need to give them. You can’t do a two step for the price of one. You’re not doing your business any favors. That being said, if a small spot needs more attention, just do it. The customer will thank you and it’s a few minutes. Lesson ten...buy smart. Research products. Reach out to vendors to see what they can offer you. Reducing costs is a good way to improve profit margin without increasing costs to clients and customers. You owe it to yourself, your business and your clients. It’s how you offer a fair product at a fair price. Lesson eleven...you’ll make mistakes. Own them. Fix them. Learn from them. Move past them. That’s all there is about that. Lesson twelve...growth takes time. Experiment. It’s not easy to acquire clients as the new guy around. Word of mouth is the best advertising. Incentivize people to send business your way. Try new things. Network. You never know what great connections you’ll make. Talking to people is the best way. And thirteen...have fun. If you’re not enjoying it, it’s not for you. The friendships you’ll make are invaluable and don’t have a price on them. And on trying new things, we are working on a clinic! All of the topics here will be in play. Well, except price. The clinic is free. But the networking, sharing knowledge, etc. All will be on display. If you’re thinking about owning a business...do it. There’s enough work to go around and it’s rewarding. Even if you weren’t successful, you will have done something few people dare to do! Anyway, just some rambling thoughts from a first year business owner. Hopefully you guys will be putting up with me for a while!

From someone currently serving to all who have, are, and someday will, Thank You! I salute you. What is a Veteran? Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking. He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel. He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel. They are the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang. He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL. He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs. He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand. He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by. He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep. He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come. He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known. So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded. Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU". "It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag." Father Denis Edward O'Brien/USMC

Recently while helping a client select a polisher for their needs, it got me thinking that it's not an uncommon question of "what size polisher do I need or want?" I figured since I have some time today, I'd try to write a little bit about the different polishers and their pros and cons since we are fortunate enough to have some experience with various sizes. We've worked through what we thought versus what it really is...sometimes these were the same. Other times...we were way off the mark. So without more intro and babbling, let's get into it. Hopefully the folks at Adam's and the admins don't mind a post like this...If you do, feel free to take it down! There's quite a few options out there for polishers. Rotary, dual action (DA), 12mm, 15mm, 21mm, micro...the list goes on and on. As you're considering making the leap into polishing it can be a bit overwhelming. Everyone who's picked up a polisher for the first time has had multiple thoughts of "can I do this?" or "am I going to ruin my paint?" The good news is that the DA polishers are safer for paint than the rotary polishers. Rotary polishers have unparalleled power, but getting them to finish without noticeable trails is difficult or next to impossible without vast experience. Add in the sizes, and you can't help but question if you're giving yourself a recipe for disaster. We use Rupes polishers in our business with the exception of a single Cyclo we have set up as a powered carpet brush. Actually, Cyclo is now part of Rupes, so you could say we are Rupes exclusive seemingly. The Adam's Polishers are great and VERY similar to the Rupes. For most users, they're a great way to save a few dollars or to even get a second polisher to really round out your abilities. Let's take our polishers (sizes) in the order we use them from most to least... So which polisher do we actually use the most? Our absolute "go-to" polisher when we start a project. It's actually not out biggest and most powerful polisher. Both of us will grab the Rupes 15mkII as our initial tool. The 15mm throw has the absolute best blend of correcting power and maneuverability. The 5.5" pads cover good surface area while not having such a large rigid spot due to the backing plate that we can still work curves and edges with them. The 15 is generally more then enough polisher in terms of power and is very versatile with the types of pads and polishes/compounds. Use a compound on a wool pad and you have some serious cutting horsepower at your fingertips. We constantly play with pad/polish/speed combos based on our goals and what's going to work in terms of time/effort/budget for our clients. If we could have only one single polisher, without a doubt we would pick the 15 every single time. It really is that good. We aren't going to get into speed recommendations as it's largely variable based on the polish/compound/pad/polisher. The variables are endless and an entirely different conversation. Does the next polisher we grab go up or down in size? Surprisingly, it goes down. We grab our Rupes Mini with a 4" pad. This little guy has considerable power for a little machine. You can work the polisher with one hand if you need to, and the small size makes it the great bumper getter. Swirly A-post? No problem. The mini will tackle it with it's correcting power without having a pad that's significantly oversize for the work area. Mirrors are another great spot for the mini, and even inside door sills for those who need to get everything perfect! The smaller machine is more maneuverable and has far better than pushing a bigger polisher with a longer throw and a larger backing plate around where it can find body parts to bang off of potentially causing damage to the vehicle. We have a Rupes Nano in our selection, which brings us to number three. We LOVE our nano since it can be configured a million ways. Soft boars hair brush as a rotary to clean embroidery? Got ya covered. Small DA to a quick spot correction? Say no more. It supports a 1-2" pad. When configured on the 3mm throw with a 1" pad, it's VERY easy to stall the action of the polisher. It's almost not powerful enough to correct in that situation. We do use it for light spot corrections on a scratch removal or similar though with the longer throw and it has adequate power. It won't correct like a full size machine, but we've managed to take out wet sanding marks with ours. Which is another useful component, We will configure it with the 3mm throw and have little 2000/3000 grit sanding disks that stick to a backing plate and we will use to spot wet sand. The DA pattern makes the marks easy to remove, but it's easy to take significant clear coat off. I wouldn't suggest this without a paint thickness gauge. Actually, I'd be hesitant to take sandpaper to any vehicle without it. The Rupes Nano also has a stiff bristle brush for the quick stubborn spot you're trying to scrub. Couple the brush with some cleaners and/or steam, and you'll be surprised at what you can pull out. So how does our Rupes 21mkII end up at the bottom of the list? Well, it's powerful which is great. But it's large. So large it doesn't work curves that well. It's fantastic for larger doors without body lines, hoods, roofs. But bumpers? Might as well put it down and swap your equipment out. It has it's place for correcting large flatter surfaces quickly...but after using it, it's not an ideal polisher by itself. The 21mm throw with a 6.5" pad means you're generating some real power in the correcting area of the polisher. It also means you have a huge backing plate to bump off of body panels and lines and the way it rolls over edges isn't ideal. It's a great tool, but we'd consider this an additional tool rather than primary. We will commonly use it when we are correcting together. One of us on the 21 doing the big flat areas, the other on the 15/Mini hitting the details. It has a place though. So the last polisher...the Cyclo. The Cyclo was actually where I got my start right here through Adam's. I still have that polisher and it's since been converted to a powered carpet brush for floor mats and such. It works great as a correcting tool. You can change the orientation to change the covered surface area and make it versatile. Unfortunately, the body of the tool is still large and you have two pads to maintain and keep up with. It's a great tool, but in favor of some other offerings available now...it's become used less and less as a correcting tool. So what's the ideal setup? A pick two? It really is the 15/mini combo. Between those two polishers you can really do a lot and achieve fantastic results. I'm a firm believer that the weekend detailer can achieve the same results as the pro. The biggest difference between the two is that the pro is usually trying to meet a time deadline (for a client and/or profitability), so the pro generally has more tools at their disposal that would be less likely for a weekend detailer to invest in. Our garage is setup with multiple polishers, a car lift, MBR, sidekick, air compressor, shop-vac, hot water extractor, steamer, etc. The other difference is that a pro does enough work generally to have a pretty set process and order of events for how things go. I'm consistently blown away by the work represented on this forum. Hopefully this thread will help someone make some decisions and take the leap into polishing themselves. If this thread is well received, I'll consider continuing to write about different topics as they strike me or people ask. Enjoy and happy detailing!

Lately it seems that there’s been a bunch of questions on the forums with regard to what products go with what. It can be a confusing world of products especially as new “better” releases come about. The first thing to consider is that just because something new comes along, it doesn’t mean the old product is obsolete. Change can come about for a million different reasons. It could be development, supply availability, changes in production...and the list goes on. New products also don’t mean they fit in your detailing supply cabinet. We all have different needs based on our tastes, what we used and continue to use and where we want our detailing to go. There’s always a temptation to try new products (and we try a bunch), but it doesn’t always mean it’s a good fit. The point I’m trying to make is to not force a product to fit because it’s the “latest and greatest.” The “ceramic” line of products is a great example. The ceramic boost, wax, coatings are great products. They aren’t the ideal application for every user. Much in the same way that a regular wax isn’t ideal for a ceramic user. You can mix and match products as you go, but it may not be the best match. Think of it like mixing ingredients in the kitchen. Sure, it might go and not be bad. But it also won’t be the “wow” that makes you want to come back to it time and time again. When evaluating which products you want to use, consider what your goals are and define them. How long do you want the product to last? How much maintenance do you want to do? How much work do you want to put in for the project in the beginning? Where is the vehicle kept? How is it driven? Is it a daily? Or a garage queen? What tools do you have or are willing to invest in? What’s your budget look like? Once you know some of those answers (and possibly more), you can put together your product list. If you like the process of waxing your car often, ceramic based products may not be up your alley. You can still achieve a great finish without ceramics. Sealant, glaze and wax provides great durability and finish while allowing you to scratch the itch of needing to wax your ride. If you want more durability, maybe a coating is right for you. You need to be patient in its prep and application. I’ve mentioned before that great prep equals a great finish. The same is also true. If you cut corners, there’s a good chance it will show in the finish. Keep in mind though that coatings are NOT maintenance free, regardless of advertising hype. A weekend detailer can often produce the same results as a professional detailer. There’s plenty of access to some great products out there. We use many of the same products available to everyone in our work. Sure, there’s some that are “pro only,” but those tend to be more high end coatings then routine products to use. The biggest differences between the pro and the weekend guy/girl are that pros usually have a deeper arsenal of products, an understanding of products along with their nuances and pros often have a larger selection of tools to get the job done efficiently. The big thing is to evaluate each product, see how it fits in your scope of practice and to understand when and why to use something. More importantly, know when not to use something because it doesn’t fit in your vision. It can be difficult to resist temptation of the latest and greatest sometimes, but like they say “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” When in doubt ask questions, experiment and see what works for you. Just test in small doses so you don’t create a bunch of work for yourself fixing something you have done. - No idea why the font carried over like that when I wrote it and copied it over. Oh well!

Generally I agree with your sentiment 100%. I’ve openly disagreed on things Adam’s has done in the past on this forum, as well as directly to Adam himself of various representatives of the company. Admittedly, I can be pretty critical. That being said in this case I feel your sentiment is misguided, despite being well intentioned. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” That’s the saying anyway. We are currently experiencing a pandemic on a world scale that is unlike anything we have ever seen. Economies are crippled. Death tolls continue. Infection rates rise. Resources are drained. This is something that has an impact on nearly every town, county, state, nation and continent. Everything is a fluid situation in a constant state of flux where needs change daily, or even by the minute. Not only do I own Detailed Reflections, but my true career (the one that really pays the bills) is being a firefighter in a community of 50,000 people. We have seen the feelings change from “we have plenty of gear” to “one to one replacement” so we don’t run out. So far to date, my community has over 200 cases of Covid-19. We have transported approximately seventy of these patients. I myself (and my crew) have had four direct contacts with Covid-19 positive patients to date that we know of. With every contact comes the need for more products to decontaminate ourselves and our equipment. This has created a shift where smaller local businesses have shifted their production to support their communities instead of the bottom line. We have an adhesive company a couple towns over that made hand sanitizer for every member of our department. This allowed them to keep their employees working, and helps the community. It’s the proverbial “win-win.” Everyone now is being divided (right or wrong) into essential and non-essential. Non essential businesses are sometimes able to sustain themselves by offering something they don’t always. The need for general sanitization products versus car care products is clear currently. I can state that as the owner of a business that relies on car care products and the availability of them to keep going. Adam’s is putting their community before the needs of it’s existing “customers.” If our communities fail, the businesses fail. And companies disappear completely. You’re going to see a few crisis’ arise thanks to Covid-19 outside of healthcare. You will see a financial crisis, unemployment crisis, mental health crisis, potential housing crisis (credit will be trashed, savings wiped out, mortgages in default). It’s going to take time to climb out way out of this. The way we do that is by understanding that the needs of everyone have shifted significantly during this time. If you live in a lesser affected area, it doesn’t mean the companies in your area aren’t supporting those in areas of impact. For the greater good of society, and to end this as quickly as possible Adam’s has done the right thing. They should be applauded, not reminded that they need to get back to car care products and customers. I mean no disrespect to your thoughts, just sharing the views from the other side of the fence. I don’t want to bring Covid-19 home to my family because I couldn’t get what I needed to remain safe. And I don’t want to have to change how I interact with members of the community I serve out of fear or lack of proper supplies. Right now we all need to support each other. For the greater good.

The daily driver/charity road rally machine: The project truck: And my other blue car, the GTO I've been working on since 2006:

This is a shot of 'Old no. 2' the 1912 race car I get to work on. The owner started with the radiator, the engine, and the frame, and it took 14 years to get from collecting parts to completion. His idea was to build a car like you could have had in the day, if money was no object, and to allow you jump in it and drive across the country (it has plug in for headlights, and between the seats are plugs for heated motorcycle suits) . I call it a 1912 Indy spec custom hot rod, as it is like a Kindigit car, with no exposed wires or bolts, and lots of summitry (the holes in the hand brake and gear shift align perfectly). Oh, and the engine - a 10 liter/600 cu. in. 4 cylinder (the 'formula' for the Indy race that year). It will idle at 90 RPM - kind of like a 110 MPH tractor! It is a lot of fun to show, and even more fun to drive!

Adam has also posted the "vote with your dollar" advice on this forum, but it was specifically in regards to the expansion into some of the branded merchandise, like shirts, hats, socks, etc. His comment meant that if these other products do not interest you, then vote with your dollar and not buy them. This comment was not meant to be applied to the company as a whole, only specific products. Again, all these other products, including the swag products and the expansion into different equipment lines, have not in any way come at the cost of the constant development and refinement of the core chemical products. Other than the "Made in USA" issue on some of the equipment, I just don't understand why offering any of these other products means that the company is no longer meeting its goal of providing the best quality detailing products, with unmatched support in this industry, to make it easier for customers to get the results they want, and to ENJOY the process! Another general discussion topic not specifically directed to @ramflava: The entire "re-branded" argument, when it comes to equipment, does not make any sense. Adam's Polishes, just like the vast majority of detailing product companies, do not manufacture equipment. Equipment is manufactured by...EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS. These manufacturers design and build equipment, either as a standard item, or in many cases, to the specifications of the buyer or client. For example, Adam's tells the manufacturing company what they want for specifications in a particular product, and then prototypes are built and tested, and then the final product is tested, then released. In other cases, the main component of the product is already part of that manufactures product line, so Adam's might just make a few minor changes. And since I know it will be brought up, there is also one major and well known EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER that also sells some detailing chemicals. Simply put, Adam's Polishes manufactures detailing chemicals, and uses equipment manufacturers to build the equipment. Just like they have textile manufacturers make the towels to their specifications, the brush manufacturers make the brushes, etc. Yes, some products are off-the-shelf (buckets, some brushes, spray bottles), and some have only maybe color or other cosmetic changes, but they do not manufacture any of it, so why would people expect them to be manufacturing something as complicated as a piece of power equipment. Contrary to what the uninformed masses (that spend too much time trolling FB and IG) might think, just because a specific piece of equipment might appear similar to another, it does not mean that company made it, and Adam's just slapped a sticker on it. What is more accurate is that the same equipment manufacturer made variations of the different products, so some appearances are the same. A good example is when the pressure washer was released. People on IG and this forum were so quick to proclaim that it is just a re-branded Sun Joe, and some said Arksen, and yet more said Realm, and so on. And none of those were the correct manufacturer. Kyle stated that Apex makes the Adam's version. So that likely means that Apex also makes some or all of those other "re-branded" pressure washers that look similar.

Copied from the announcement on our Facebook Community: Friends and Customers of Adam’s Polishes- We recently learned of posts on social media raising concerns about potential credit card issues in connection with transactions on the Adam’s Polishes web site. We place huge value on our relationship with our customers, and we are writing this post in an effort to respond to those concerns. First let me clarify, Adam’s never stores or holds credit card information. When our customer types in a credit card number during the online purchasing process, the information is first encrypted in the browser before it is sent directly to our credit card company. Adam’s employees do not have access to credit card information at any point of the process. We take security and privacy very seriously and we have been working proactively and diligently to address any potential issue. When we learned of these concerns, we engaged expert security professionals to review the concerns raised by our customers, our security and our website. All of the scans have come up clean, and thus far we have not been able to identify any issues with our website or service providers. Adam’s is not trying to minimize or avoid the fact that people have and are experiencing credit card fraud. We are just trying to understand it and react to what is a very complex issue. At the end of the day if customers have an issue, we have an issue – we fully understand that. As part of our ongoing effort to improve service and security and in addition to our ongoing software upgrades, we are changing our server hosting provider this week as part of commitment to improving the customer experience and security. We appreciate your loyalty and hope you will be patient with us as we go through this difficult and time consuming process. Of course, if you have concerns about the Adam’s site, you can use Amazon, PayPal or contact your local dealer. If you do feel like you have had a security issue as a result of ordering through the Adam’s site, please contact us directly at IT@adamspolishes.com. We will update this post on Friday, March 15th with any new information. Thank you.

I have been on this forum from the beginning and have always felt honored to be asked to be a moderator and help keep the forum running. It's been a long time, many years. So with this being my 15,000th post, it's one of two things. I'm either good at being a moderator..............or I got old!! My money's on the last one.

In twelve minutes it will be Thanksgiving. A day for us all to spend with our family and friends and to give thought and thanks for what’s important in our lives. As my family is asleep, it got me thinking of the past year and how thankful I am. First, I’m thankful for the health and happiness of my family. They really don’t get the credit they deserve for all they do and for putting up with me. I’m thankful for my career and the events I get to be a part of. Detailing is not my full time profession. I’m actually a full time firefighter and paramedic. For once, I get to spend the holidays with my family at home this year and not my work one in the firehouse. There will be no wonder for my family this year about what I’m doing while they’re all together. It doesn’t happen every year to say the least. Which finally brings me to how this all ties into a detailing forum. Back at the start of the year I made the decision to take my hobby from detailing for myself and a few friends to being a legal business. I’m lucky enough to have good people who have offered their support and guidance along the way to help give me the best shot at success. I’m beyond fortunate to have a great friend I work with as we detail cars and grow the business. It’s been a long road, but it’s gaining starting to gain some traction and is starting to seem like it could be a viable venture. Luckily the mistakes I’ve made along the way haven’t been significant or irreparable. I’m sure I have many more to make as I navigate the ups and downs of small business ownership. So thank you to family, friends and clients who have supported us and utilized our services. I’m also thankful for having a great forum here where we can share information, knowledge and ideas. It’s a place where you can ask for and receive candid feedback (which is seemingly rare these days). I’ve tried to share my knowledge freely and openly here with everything from how to do things, to how I run my business. I’ve received compliments and constructive feedback that hopefully I’ve been able to make improvements with. Thank you for being a part of that process. Those are just a few rambling thoughts as the clock is about to turn midnight. Tomorrow remember those less fortunate, enjoy the time with your family and friends and put aside the less important things in life. And lastly, if I can ever help any of you please don’t hesitate to ask. It doesn’t matter if it’s a question, if you live in my area and want to get together and learn from each other or anything else. It’s the least I can do for the help and support freely offered here. Happy Thanksgiving, Shane Detailed Reflections

My 2013 Torch Red 427 Convertible and my 2003 Millenium Yellow Corvette coupe

Here's my Truck

Obviously you didn't read the fine print:

OK so I was being totally OCD. The car is probably about 95% perfect. Those LED lights definitely show more than natural light does. Anyways, here are some pics of the final products. Sorry for the pressure washer and master blaster in the pics. I was just super excited on how great it turned out and wanted pics right away.

Ok, this is one of my favorite beading pics I've taken, it is from this past winter on the glass top of the wife's Veloster.

https://adamspolishes.com/collections/ceramic-paint-coating-9h Just finished up this nice GMC, washed,clayed, paint correction & Ceramic UV Coating. Check out before & after pics.

Alright, let me set the stage for this one. First off, I am by no means a professional detailer. Prior to the last 5 months or so, I did not know anything about Adams products nor did I have any "arsenal" of products or materials. I got started with Adams off of a post that a friend of mine liked on Instagram. The videos intrigued me. So I started lurking on the forums and watching videos and dipped my toe in with a mystery bucket. That was all it took. Now here I am, showing you what this stuff can do, and if I can do it, anyone can do it. I don't have any polishers or any special machines, I just took a great deal of time and enjoyed working this project with my truck. So here we go. Oh and here is a before picture of my truck just before I started to work on it. I have already posted another thread on my Interior detail and engine bay cleaning. I started by completing those first. For the exterior cleaning I started with the Wheels, Tires, Wheel wells and Exhaust Tips. Products and Materials Used: Wheel Cleaner Tire and Rubber Cleaner ECO APC Car Shampoo Tire Brush Fender Brush Wheel Woolie Wheel Brush Lug Nut Brush Bucket of Clean Water w/ Grit Guard Tote of microfiber towels (I used the edgeless utility for any wipedown) I started by getting my bucket half full of clean water and I added a bit of CS to it. Here is where I kept all my brushes to be used. I worked each wheel entirely before moving on to the next wheel. On each wheel I would start by completely hosing down the wheel and well, removing as much dirt and grime as I could with water alone. Then I started with the Wheel well, spraying it down with the ECO APC and using my Fender Brush that was soaking in the sudsy CS water, I would shake the excess in the bucket, then spray the brush with ECO APC and work the whole Wheel Well. I then moved on to the tire and sprayed it down with the TRC and repeated the same steps with the Tire brush by shaking off the excess CS water and spraying the brush with a plug or 2 of TRC and working that tire. Then lastly I used what I considered to be the most agressive product in the Wheel Cleaner and sprayed the barrels of the wheel and face really well, using the wheel woolie I scrubbed the barrels, man this is a tool that I would definitely suggest having, NO SCRAPED UP KNUCKLES! Then I used the Wheel brush to clean off the remaining face of the wheel and finally I used the lug nut brush to clean all the spots that were hard to reach. Now, the lug nut brush also in my opinion is crucial here. There were spots inside the rim that did not scrub clean with the woolie that I was able to get with the lug nut brush and the same on the face of the wheel. Highly recommended to have this guy handy. I then sprayed down each wheel completely with water and inspected. If there was a spot to be revisited, I did that at this time. Now, as I used each of these tools I would give them a quick spray with the hose then scrub them on the grit guard in my bucket and let them sit there until the next wheel. After all 4 wheels were complete I cleaned the exhaust tips with a spray or 2 of ECO APC and the wheel woolie and lug nut brush. After completing all the wheels and exhaust tips, I knew I was about to wash the whole exterior, so I took this time to use the TRC and Utility Microfiber towels and clean all the oxidation I could from the rubber trim and other trim around my truck. I would just spray into a spot on the towel and work each trim piece until that part of the towel was soiled, then rotate the spot on the towel and repeat. Next I moved on to the first wash in my decontamination process. First I prepped the area by cleaning out my wheel bucket, spraying out those tools and hanging them to dry and setting all those chemicals aside. Next I gathered all the materials and tools for the First Strip Wash: 2 clean buckets w/ 2 clean grit guards 2 wash pads 1 microfiber Wash Mitt ( in case the pad was not aggressive enough) Adams Step Ladder Bug Remover Strip Wash Foam Cannon Pressure Washer Iron Remover I started here by prepping all my chemicals and tools. I mixed about 4oz of Strip wash in my Foam Cannon and set it aside. I then followed the prep for the 2 bucket wash by filling a bucket with clean water and Grit Guard and my wash bucket with Clean water, a bit of Strip Wash and my wash pads with a squirt of Strip wash on each of them and foamed them up. Now that I'm ready I used my pressure washer on a very mild pressure and went over the whole vehicle blasting off any bugs or obvious stuck on grime and junk. Next I followed the method Adam used in his presentation video for the bug remover and sprayed down the grill, mirrors and windshield with the bug remover and let it sit while I hooked up my foam cannon to the pressure washer. Here is the link to the product page which is the only place I have found this video. https://adamspolishes.com/collections/car-washing-products-best-car-shampoo/products/adams-bug-remover I started from the back and foamed the whole truck leaving the areas where I had bug remover soaking for the very last bit of foaming, this way they got the most exposure to the bug remover and now have a mix of bug remover and strip wash on them! TAKE THAT BUGS!!! The hardest part of washing this truck for me is reaching every spot adequately, so I used my long Adams Step ladder and started from the roof and again followed around the vehicle leaving the Grill windshield and mirrors for last. I'm gonna tell ya, it was pretty easy removing those bugs, and there were a lot on there. I wish I had taken a better close up shot before and after. I'm sold on this one. Bug Remover will stay in my Arsenal! Plus it smells good! Now that the washing is done I Rinse from here. Now, I did my rinse with my regular hose that has a multi-sprayer on it so I could control and switch from a shower spray to a stream spray if necessary. I just personally find that easier to accomplish what I'm trying to do. After a complete rinse, I did not dry, I worked around the vehicle with the Iron Remover panel or 2 at a time, spraying the panels, letting it sit for a couple minutes and then hosing off. I worked in smaller sections because the wind was mildly blowing and I didn't want the stuff to dry on the truck as there are multiple warnings about letting it dry. Now, my truck is black, so it was really hard for me to see anything happening until I actually washed it off and I could see a purple haze to the water coming off. I pretty much used the entire bottle of this stuff on my truck, there was a little left but not enough to complete another vehicle, probably a 4th of the bottle left or less. Next up was the Clay Decontamination. For this step I had personally gone back and forth on how I wanted to complete this step. Originally, I was going to mix up a bottle of CS diluted down and use that as my clay lube. My thoughts were to have a lubricant that would not leave behind any protective properties since I was actively stripping that off. Then, I had some discussion with @Yo-Yo Ma's Cousin off forum about potentially just foaming each section of the vehicle that i was going to clay ensuring that I would have the lubricity there. All in all, with the mild wind coupled with the hassle of grabbing my pressure washer each time I wanted to clay a new section, I abandoned that thought all together and just used Detail Spray. I was able to control that and work at a steady pace and also work indoors in my garage. Shout out to @Yo-Yo Ma's Cousin for all the great detailing conversation on and off the forum! Much appreciated! Here are the tools I used for the Clay Decontamination: Visco Clay Kit 1 Refill Visco Clay in case I dropped the one I was using 2 Bottles of Detail Spray Step Ladder This part of the process was brand new to me altogether. I have never clayed a vehicle before and let me tell you, it was easier than I anticipated and very satisfying! It is very hard to describe the feel of the process but you can "feel" what you need to clay a little more and what is done. I really like the visco clay bar kit. The Geo-Impression tool not only helps to mold the clay so it will pick up the contamination better, but it acts as a handle kind of and it feels good in your hands and it is very easy to hold on to. I worked 1 panel at a time here in the garage spraying the panel with DS and then 1 shot of DS on my clay each time I started a new section or anytime it seemed like it wasn't slick and again, you can feel that. I honestly thought I wouldn't see much on my truck because its in pretty good shape and stays in the garage when I'm not driving it, but man, there was a good bit on there and I used up the entire clay bar on the whole vehicle. The way I approached this was kind of how I did washing the vehicle. I did the panels that I thought were the least soiled first and left my grill and wheels for last, that way if I was picking up big bits of bug remnants or anything I was not doing that first, but rather towards the end of the clay procedure. I made it a point also to feel the panel with my hand before and after claying. Next I did a Clean Up Wash: 2 clean buckets w/ 2 clean grit guards 2 wash pads Adams Step Ladder Strip Wash Foam Cannon Pressure Washer Great White Drying Towel Accessory Drying Towel This was pretty straight forward. Before Starting I made sure my 2 previous wash buckets were emptied and cleaned out and sprayed out with the hose as well as the wash pads thoroughly cleaned up. I still had about a half a bottle of the strip wash from the first wash so that is what I used to foam the vehicle. I foamed the truck and washed it top down and then rinsed with the hose thoroughly. Since I was not going any further at the time I chose to go ahead and dry off the vehicle. So once it was rinsed I pulled in the garage and used my GW Drying Towel to get all the big panels and then the Accessory Drying Towel for spot checking and cleaning up drips. I did not use any form of compressed air. In the future I will probably invest in the sidekick and this step would have probably been way easier. Next step I took was to Polish the Truck: Venom Gloves Revive Hand Polish Blue Hex Grip Applicator Single Soft Microfiber Towels Step Ladder Respirator I'll be honest. I was not going to do this step when I first started buying the tools for Ceramic Coating. I don't own a polisher, really didn't want to make that investment right now, and have zero experience with polishing. However, I am so glad that I took this step. I used the least possible aggressive method by hand polishing and using Revive, but I'm telling you, it made a great deal of difference in the shine of my Clear/Paint. I started this step with much skepticism, and ended thinking about buying a polisher and learning how to do it better. This step took me the better half of a day to complete. I really took my time and really focused on what I was doing and tried not to make it a chore. I put a couple JRE podcasts on to listen to and took many breaks throughout the process. I made sure I had comfortable seating (That Adams Rolling Detail Chair is in my future BTW ), I took the globes off the lights in my garage to ensure I had the maximum amount of lighting and I had several LED Flashlights at my disposal to check the paint and polishing. It took me a good bit to get the amount of polish right, there were a couple times I put too much, and in that case I just polished a bigger section and primed the pad with DS for the next bit until the polish got thin before I put more on. After finishing this step I went ahead and cleaned up this pad with some APC and set it aside to dry. Just polishing made a noticeable difference. And here we are folks....I did all that for this moment! It was pretty dadgum exciting! Now is the time for the Surface Prep and Ceramic Spray Coating: Venom Gloves Respirator Adams Surface Prep Spray Single Soft Microfiber Towels Step Ladder Microfiber Applicators Suede Removal Towels A couple things I want to mention. The Gloves are a must for both polishing and coating. There is no way not to get any of this on your hands. I had originally purchased a pair of gloves off the Adams site, but I found these Venom Gloves at Lowe's when I got my cool flow disposable respirators and I really like them. They are very comfortable and my hands didn't sweat in them like they normally do in gloves. I went through about 12 pairs in this whole process because I would throw them out anytime I stopped and took a break or moved to a different process. I also highly recommend the Adams Surface Prep Spray. I know you can mix your own but this spray was easy to use and cleaned the area well. I could see in the Single Soft Towels where it was blue when I prepped some panels because I had not completely removed all the polish. To my naked eye it looked as if I had, but the prep spray saw it differently . I only took a portion of a panel at a time to complete this process. I wanted to make sure that I was cleaning, coating and removing all before moving on. I would prep the entire panel first and then I would coat a section around 2 x 2, let it flash, then use the suede removal towels to buff off the oils. These suede towels are another thing that I was NOT going to use originally but I'm so glad I did. They really made removal and buffing of the CSC easy. I coated the entire vehicle including the wheels. I took the advice of @falcaineer and I did not level any of the CSC that I put on the plastic trim. Speaking of the trim, I used the small suede applicators that come in the CSC kit to apply it to my trim and wheels, all of the other areas I used the microfiber applicators. I used 5 of the microfiber applicators in total in the process, I found that after using them for a couple panels they would start to leave a fuzz behind, so I just threw that one away and picked up a fresh one. When removing the excess oils, ANGLES, ANGLES, ANGLES! Although I had great lighting at my disposal, I would look at the panel from 3 different directions and usually I would find at least 1 spot I missed somehow. Once I was completely finished, I then let it sit about 12 to 16 hours in the garage before moving on to the final steps. Ceramic Boost, Undercarriage Spray and Tire Dressing: Ceramic Boost Double soft Microfiber towels Single Soft Microfiber Towels Microfiber Utility Towel Undercarriage Spray Tire Shine Black Hex Grip Applicator Block Applicator Cardboard cut to fit around wheels Venom Gloves This was the final steps in the whole process for me. I addressed the undercarriage and Tires first so that I could clean up any overspray or dripping before boosting the wheels. I took old Adams boxes (I saved them for this purpose) and deconstructed them to fit all the way around each tire. I then worked each tire and wheel well like I would on the cleaning process one at a time, outside in. I sprayed the undercarriage spray in the wheel well, then I used a piece of cardboard flexed into an arc (pic below) and sprayed the tire shine into the tread block all the way around the tire. I used the hex grip applicator to level out the shine all around the tire. My tires have the small grooves all the way around the tire and the hex grip applicator does good at helping to get the TS in all of those grooves. Instead of wiping in a circle I would wipe from the rim outward to the tread block, then last wipe would be circular around the tire. I let all of this set while I moved on to the ceramic boosting. I changed my gloves and started from the top again and applied the Ceramic Boost sprayed directly on the panel and wiped down with a Double Soft Towel. This is actually the only time that I use the premium towel during the Ceramic stages. All other applicators/removal tools were the suede towels or microfiber applicators that got tossed away after use. I'm not sure how to tell if the Boost I have is the 2.0 or not but it sure did seem to wipe up well. I tried to find any indication on the bottle and I couldn't, but it is in the new Grey label style bottle so I'm assuming it is the 2.0. I boosted the entire vehicle top to bottom. I then addressed the wheels and tires again. I changed my gloves and using a block applicator knocked down any streaking on the undercarriage spray, using Edgeless utility towel I cleaned up any overspray or dripping on the wheel itself. I changed my gloves again and applied Ceramic boost to the rims. At this point I stepped back and really admired how far this truck had come from what it was. I really thought it looked good before, but now it looks outstanding! I would encourage anyone even thinking about doing this to try it. Don't be stingy though and don't cut corners and listen to the advice of the professionals that are on this forum and those who have done it over and over. They certainly helped me and that advice modified what I ended up doing by about 10 or 12 times! I wouldn't omit anything that I did at this point, only add steps. I hope this was enjoyable to read and I hope this helps someone else and I can give back to this community the way it has given to me! Thanks for reading!

Here are my entries, hope you enjoy the show.

My 2018 Corvette Z06 and the wife's 2018 Camaro SS 1LE

Here's mine.

Went on a road trip to the mountains of NC...car was trashed after almost 900 miles! Thank goodness for my Adam’s detail bag stocked with goodies I bring as well as my bucket that I keep loaded with products too!

This morning I was on one of the other truck forums that I participate on and it reminded me of how fortunate we are to have such good moderators on this forum. The moderators usually have a thankless position, but I am here to say Thank You to all the moderators of this forum. Moderators voluntarily give up their time to help others and keep the forum running smooth and when necessary step in to ensure the forum governance is followed. This means they have to read a lot of posts that may be of no interest to them and move posts to the appropriate location, educate users on the forum and participate in corrective action or testing. Sometimes they have be the one to tell someone no and do so in a respectful manner and hope the other party does the same and have thick skin if not. Your caring, professionalism, educational contributions and courtesy are noticed and appreciated.

Our friend Chris Fell has been a big contributor to the forum for years, generously donating his time and expertise to help other forum members get the most out of detailing. Please join me in thanking Chris for all his effort, and congratulating him on becoming a Moderator!

Thanks for the opportunity, @TheWolf, @Dan@Adams @Adam @Matt@Adams and Derek! I look forward to continuing to help and learn all about Adam's!!!

59 entries, I put them into a spreadsheet chronologically. Google's random number generator chose... drumroll... #52 - Tim! Please PM me with your current mailing address and I'll get it sent on the way! Thank you everyone that entered. We'll do one of these again soon

Since my business is run out of my home, and with the recent family additions we outgrew our garage which doubled as a family garage and workspace. The way our land is laid out, we can’t have a poured foundation due to the zoning setbacks. So we had to go with a premanufactured garage. We ended up settling on a 14’ x 32’ garage style “shed.” We have used the back half for storage for equipment and I’ve started making the front half a film and coating studio. The front and back half will be separated by a canvas curtain enabling me to easily get in and out of for the storage component. Up front, I’ve installed eighteen 4,800 lumen LED shop lights on the wall and ceiling. That’s 86,400 lumens of light for coating and film to catch everything. We started hanging banners and have power partially run. The rest will be done soon. Eventually I’d like to RaceDeck the flooring. But all in good time. And I’ll insulate it before winter. In the meantime here’s some progress photos.

We have much to be thankful for here at Adam's Polishes! For me personally, the past two years that I have worked here full-time have gone by like a breeze, and it truly is amazing to see how things are growing! We would not be here without each and every one of you, so we are extremely thankful for your support. Enjoy the day with your family, friends, and loved ones. I'm very thankful that I will get to spend this afternoon and evening with some of my loved ones. And for all of the men and women in our military that are spending Thanksgiving away from home, know that we are thinking about you too! From all of us at Adam's Polishes, Happy Thanksgiving!

Wash, clay, revive hand polish, surface prep, paint sealant,...couple days later, wash and h2o GG !!! Ready for the Fall, or what we call it in Michigan, Winter.

20 min CS3 wipe down after the rains! So quick, so easy!

Winter Mods, well service and repairs done, I now needed to get my 2006 Pontiac GTO ready for the upcoming show season. Stuck at home, with nothing but time was my opportunity. I began Friday morning with a Rinseless Wash. 2oz of Rinseless Wash in the bucket with 2 gallons of water and nine Plush Waffle Microfiber Towels. I liberally spray one panel at a time with a mixture of 1oz Rinseless Wash and 15oz Reverse Osmosis filtered water, then wipe clean with one of the Plush Waffle Microfibers soaking in the bucket. To dry, I use the Mini Plush Drying Towels. This Garage Queen isn't driven much, no inclement weather, and lately only to shows and cruise ins. It is parked outside while I work on clients cars in the garage, and the paint and clear wrap material was feeling a bit rough with the baggie test. Next step Clay The rough feel to the paint and clear bra material wasn't bad, the Fine Grade Clay quickly took care of whatever was on the car's surface. Before I began to run any machines over the paint, I taped off all the trim that might get touched. There was minimal marring to the paint, very few RIDS, just slight straight line marks from the car being wiped down since its last polishing. Anymore I'll usually just polish sections that need it, not doing the entire car all at once, as the entire thing rarely needs it. This time I decided to hit all the paint using the Adam's SK Pro 15mm Machine, a 5.5" White Foam Pad and the new Polish. Where sections got tight, or to cut in panels I used the SK 12mm Mini, or my Rupes Nano with the same pad material and polish combo. Friday ended with just the two doors and the Side Skirts remaining to need polishing. I took care of those areas first thing Saturday morning. I believe the Brazen Orange Metallic GM paint came out looking fantastic! On to protection I had InShane Designs of Lemoyne, PA wrap the entire front clip last June. He also took care of a few other high impact areas; leading edges of the mirrors, and Side Skirts over the Rocker Panels, all four fender lips, and low behind the rear wheels. November of 2018 I had some paint and body work done by Andy Arter, owner of Kesse's Body Shop in Hanover, PA. He took care to the Hood, Side Skirts, and Rear Spoiler. All the Clear Wrap material and re-sprayed areas were wiped down with Surface Prep to remove any remaining Detail Spray from claying, or polish residue. These sections were Ceramic Coated with the 9H Ceramic Paint Coating including the UV Tracer. The tail lights and door handles had been painted years ago, they were Ceramic Coated too. I love how the UV Flashlight helps me find any thin sections, or spots I may have missed, allowing complete coverage! And yes, there were some thinner than I'd like sections and a few spots I'd missed. A second coat was laid down there. Saturday ended... Sunday morning... All the unwrapped areas of the car still wearing its original paint were protected with a layer of Brilliant Glaze topped with two coats of Patriot Paste Wax. I waited roughly 20 hours between coats of Patriot. Second coat applied Monday morning. I pulled the car out into the sun to look her over Sunday late morning. Hmm... High spots on the Clear Wrap material everywhere I'd laid the second coat. There were probably three to four hours between those two coats, and in the garage light everything looked just right. I laid down a coat of Brilliant Glaze to the entire hood and a few other high spots, let it haze over and wiped it off, no more high spots, nice. This was done 24 hours after I'd completed the Ceramic Coating. I'd often wondered if the Brilliant Glaze, used to level the Ceramic Coating, was actually removing the coating. I looked over the car again with the UV Flashlight, and the UV Tracer was still everywhere I'd applied the Brilliant Glaze. Here's the results Sunday afternoon after the first coat of Patriot, enjoy: Oh, in case you were curious, I'd hand polished the wheels last fall, off the car, with Metal Polish #2 and coated them with the Ceramic Spray Coating. Before I pulled the car out to take the above pictures I wiped them down with CS3.

I don't believe I have ever shared this photos, so here goes. My client had this car for about 10 years, but was busy working on Old No 2, so it sat - the chassis in his garage and the remaining parts in a storage unit. He purchased the project from the Outer Banks of Virginia - the parts were in mayo jars, and the body was resting against a wall in a barn. Once he finished Old No 2, he needed something else to do, so he started playing this car. It is an 1913 Peugeot Bebe (Type BP1), designed by Ettore Bugatti (yes that Bugatti), in fact if you own one of these you can join the Bugatti's Owner Club (OK, so there is no longer an auto ownership requirement, but it sounds better!). He designed the car (a cycle car) for the German brand Wanderer, and was licensed for the French market by Peugeot. It was shown at the 1912 Paris Auto Show, and put into production the following year. It has a straight 4 cylinder, 10 hp engine, with a top speed of 37 mph. About 3000 were produced, with about 300 remaining. Most are in museums, which is where one this lives now. The chassis: Getting ready to put the body back on after many years apart: This a shot of the floor board with handwritten serial number. To the right of the pic are the slots for the pedals. And an interior shots (note the missing floor board). It had been treated several times with Adam's Leather Conditioner. Due to the small size, the door was only on the passenger side. The 'box' under the dash is the oil reservior. After assembling the car, there was only ONE piece missing - a felt washer, and a wooden windshield frame piece had to be remade. Not bad for 105+ years! And finally a period photo.

Here you go...….

If the company had never changed, people would complain. If they went back to the way it was 10 years ago, people would complain. If they grow and change, people will complain. The detailing industry is changing every day. We can change with it, or not. My only complaint is that I still have too much of the old products and I can’t justify upgrading yet. Third world problems, I know. I will stick with folks that I know personally even if it costs a bit more. Adams is one of those companies. Just my two cents

Let’s follow up with a whole bunch more information about what paint correction is, and when it should (and shouldn’t be applied). Paint correction is not a magic bullet. It’s not something that can be done unlimited times. Paint correction works by removing clear coat in order to remove defects in your paint. Most of the UV protection of your paint comes in the first 1/3 of the clearcoat. Knowing that, we don’t want to remove more than that over the LIFETIME of the vehicle. Once you reduce the UV protection you accelerate clearcoat failure requiring a repaint. Paint correction also serves to level the clearcoat on a vehicle increasing the glossy look of the finish. This is why even brand new vehicles benefit from polishing. Modern paint systems are a three part system. They consist of a primer, base coat (color) and clear coat. Older paints may be single stage in nature mixing the clear and paint layers. On top of your paint sits a variety of contamination and defects typically. Contamination on the paint is generally tackled with washing, iron remover and clay. When we talk about defects, there’s spider webs which are microscratches, deep scratches which may or not be able to be taken care of without repainting and other forms of defects as illustrated below. When paint correcting we are only working with the clear coat. So as you can see, the deep scratches can’t be fixed. And some that are just in the clear coat shouldn’t be fixed for fear of striking through or removing too much clear accelerating failure. So you get a car, and you paint correct it. You’ve removed a little clear coat. You use good technique in washing and over time you develop damage (it happens no matter what we do). You polish again. But because you’ve used good technique along the way, you only need a finish polish to take a little clear coat off. Using this methodology you can get a long time with out of your paint and great looks. The other scenario is you perform a paint correction and you take it through the automatic car wash. You damage your finish over time. You then need a full correction to repair the damage which takes off more of the clear coat. When approached this way, you’re going to burn through more clear coat or get less corrections. So the ultimate answer to your question is to correct as infrequently as possible to preserve the clear coat. We use a paint thickness gauge to know what we are doing to a clients paint (or what they’ve done to it already). We are not opposed to using a fine polish a couple times a year. It leaves a satisfactory finish for most clients without significantly shortening the life of the paint. We will sometimes use a compound in isolated spots to handle concentrated damage as opposed to going all in everywhere. Hope this is helpful.

You guys are kidding right? Are we so far gone into PC la-la land that we can't suggest a woman would be the most likely gender to own and operate a sewing machine? My mom, grandmother, or mother-in-law would not be the least bit offended by that comment. They would be flattered that I assumed they were capable. Futhermore, I've never met a man in my life that owned a sewing machine. This new world is insane and I am only 36 years old.

Thought you all would enjoy this! I decided to steer away from a normal gingerbread house and make it into a shop! I went a little crazy and made some cabinets and a bench in there as well as some racedeck flooring like my actual garage 😂 had to add the final touch and throw a Adams sticker in there as a banner lol. Enjoy and merry Christmas everyone! 26 years old and I had way too much fun doing this haha.

Yesterday, fully detailed this beauty. 2013 Porsche Panamera Turbo. May do a write up another day, but I'm still sore. My hat's off to all you black car owners. LSP: Ceramic Paste Wax (only). Great stuff. And finally..... Pure reflection!! ?

How about a limited edition release honoring the Forums? If so, consider taking inputs for the scents and label artwork from forum members, and then we all vote on here. Products created by and on behalf of all of us!

Back in March, I purchase my first Classic Car in 20 years. A 1959 Morris Minor 1000 Traveller. Now that I am retired I had more time to spend working on and detailing the car. My neighbor recommended Adam's products and I took the plunge. Well, needless to say, I quickly became addicted. I want to thank everyone on this forum for their advice when it came to the steps I took. It had been 20 years since I really did any serious detailing and boy have things changed (for the better IMHO). The car got Strip wash, Clayed, Correcting Polish, Finishing Polish, Paint Sealant, Brilliant Glaze and Buttery Wax on the first go 'round. Also, Leather & Interior Cleaner, as well as Leather Conditioner on the interior and Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner on the Carpets. The windows got the full treatment and the chrome gets Brilliant glaze. I have also tried wusing H2O G&G and Ceramic Boost after washing (Love the ceramic Boost). I take Maggie to at least one show each week (weather permitting) and as you can tell by the picture, she has done quite well. 14 Trophies since the first show on April 20. Very proud of the car and the shine as I let everyone know it because of the Adam's products. Now, if they would just come out with a product to handle the woood....

I placed a decent size order during the last mystery bucket sale which included the Detail Boy shirts and a few detail boy/girl stickers. One shirt was for me and one was for my son. While the package was inbound, the day of the delivery, FedEx marked the package as damaged, not deliverable. I called Adam's and spoke to one of their sales reps, Chandler. He said typically they wait until the damaged package is returned, see what product(s) are damaged, replaced those, re-box and then ship back out. He saw that I had some of the Detail Boy shirts in there which sparked the conversation of hoping they were ok because he knew inventory was running low on them. I said to him, I'd hate for you all to get the box back and see that the shirts were messed up and then not have inventory to replace it. He said you're right, I'll deal with FedEx and getting the damaged package back but in the meantime I'll make sure a new box is sent out to you ASAP so that you don't miss out on the Detail Boy shirts! 24 hours later I had a new order in my account and a tracking number in my email! Thanks Chandler and Adam's!

I just wanted to give members a brief review of several Adam’s products ive purchased and used. In February of this year I discovered Adam’s. After reading the forums I formulated a plan for my DD. Ive always been careful being a weekend detailer but these forums took me to a new level and made me realize i was doing it all wrong! I decided i needed to do full corrections and then was going to CC both my cars. (13’ Acura Tl 6speed manual,white and 17’ MDX sport black). Both stay garaged as often as possible. I also realized my black MdX had a pretty decent amount of swirls and was in need of correcting. I first purchased the 15mm SK kit. I patiently waited for winter to pass and attempted my first full correction. Before: After: Ive had zero experience with any type of polisher so I was extremely nervous to introduce swirls into the paint. For those hesitant—make the purchase!! Its a great product. Basically this SK was pretty much idiot proof and worked great. All you have to do is take ur time, moving the SK slowly across the paint. I was hesitant to use the blue pad w Hc, but hit a few spots quickly; before taking my time and using the orange pad w/ CP. then finsihed with FP. I actaully had to do this process twice because the first time i went too quickly and didnt let the product do the work. There were still some swirls visible after the first attempt. Others have said this but lighting is key!! Soo true. I had every LeD light I owned in my garage, looked great. Pulled it out of garage and the sunlight showed some swirls. After another round, i was content. It wasnt perfect but near perfect. I could only see some swirls if i was leaning at a 75 degree angle and the sun was reflecting perfectly off the panel!! I figure thats about as good as im gonna get!!! I then ordered the new CC kit. I prepped car as directed and attempted the Cc on my white TL first. I was extremely nervous about attmepting CC. I had read about “high spots” and the coating being tacky and difficult to work with. I applied as directed (and as Adam did in the video). I was able to see the Cc flash pretty quickly. I waited around a minute and then wiped off excess. The white paint made it pretty difficult to see any high spots. I found that the Cc was somewhat slick and not tacky like other members said of the older 7H CC. I completed the whole car and let sit about 3 hrs. I then applied the CB. I used a few sprays per panel and found it easy to apply. After CC and CB I waited a week to see if I could find any high spots or streaking. So far nothing!! Surpised myself!! Somehow i havent been able to test the hydrophobic properties yet because it hasn’t rained!!!!!! Unreal. This week i completed the CC on my black MdX. The CC was still easy to apply. you definitely have to be more careful with the dark paints. It was much easier to see the Cc flash. I waited about a minute to wipe off. You can actually see where the Cc was applied; it left the paint looking deeper and darker. I did feel like I used the Cc a little more liberally this time around. The high spots were visible and inwas able to take them down right away by wiping with Mf. I pulled the car out into the sunlight and did not notice any high spots. I let the car sit for 24 hrs and applied the CB. Im not sure if it was the dark paint or me using a little more CB then i did on my white car but the CB was a little more difficult to use...but not bad at all. I did notice some streaking from the CB but just took my time to work it in with a MF. Here are the finished products: And thanks to you forum members my Adam’s collection has quickly grown..of course i needed every product thats made. I hope this is helpful to members either thinking about CC or full correction their vehicle. I was very worried about screwing up both my cars. But im very OcD about my cars and Im actaully very satisfied with the results. ????Sk and CC kit well worth it and easy to use!! Good luck

@pirahnah3 was nice enough to let us do some work on his new Challenger after the clinic we hosted. So while the car is in, one request was that we ceramic coat his wheels. In the past, I’ve mentioned that we spray our wheel coatings as opposed to hand application. A few people were curious about how we do it...so here it is finally! The first things I’ll get into are the reasons why we spray our wheel coatings versus hand application. By spraying a coating, we are able to get a more complete coverage and apply our coatings quicker. This comes at a trade off of more material used. For us where our time in a job matters, it’s a simple decision. First, here’s the wheels on the car. We have the luxury of a lift so we can pull all four wheels at once. Once the wheels are off, we spray them down with wheel cleaner. We still use the old bottle that we’ve filled a million times. It’s the new formula in it though. Once they’re rinsed and cleaned to our satisfaction, we spray them with Tire & Rubber Cleaner and scrub with the tire brush. Once this process is done, we actually steam clean the wheels and calipers to get everything from all the little sticky spots. The supplies to do the job...gloves, a mask, an airbrush, coating, a suede towel and a microfiber towel. I can’t stress the importance of gloves and a mask enough. You’re aerosolizing a liquid that turns to crystal form. Don’t take chances inhaling it. We use a Harbor Freight airbrush. It’s $10 and if we trash one, we don’t care really. We always clean it out with paint thinner when we are done. Load up your bottle with some ceramic coating, test to make sure you’re happy with the spray pattern and you’re ready to go. Spray evenly. If you spray a little heavy it’s not a big deal since you’ll buff off later. Let the coating cure for the required time based on the coating used and then buff it off with the suede towel. The suede will remove the majority of the coating. Give it a final buff with the microfiber towel. Repeat the process for the barrels of the wheel. Make sure you didn’t overspray to the front. So give a final buff with both towels one more time and let the wheels cure for a bit before reinstalling. Next we steamed the calipers and cleaned them with Eco APC. Once they were cleaned up to our satisfaction, we reloaded our airbrush and sprayed the calipers. Overspray isn’t a big issue. Buff it off with the suede and follow with the microfiber. Allow the wheels to cure. And then mount them up and apply tire dressing of your choice. Toss your suede in the garbage and wash your microfiber immediately (the ceramic it picks up is negligible if you buff correctly). You can use this technique with trim coating and grills if you’re careful in doing so and spray evenly. Runs are harder to take care of in a grill. Thanks for reading!

Hey guys, Kyle here. I'm in charge of product development at HQ and I can assure you that project is still in the premature stages. It was originally conceptualized to be a tablet style with "glass Boost" application but the alcohol content in the Boost has been pesky for perfect results. We have some goodies coming for ya!