Junior

Sorry Brad, I wasn't trying to push you away or show a biased opinion. I've used many detailing products in the past before trying out Adam's. I simply could not get the results I achieve with half as much effort that I get with Adam's Polishes. Most of the big name brand polishes that I used prior to Adam's, one has a 3 in the name and the other has an M and rhymes with pliers just to name two, were difficult to use, difficult to remove the residue of the polish, and created lots of dusting. I tried Adam's and switched over every detailing product i have back in 2006. I've detailed close to 50 vehicles as a side job and hobby - for friends, family, neighbors, and other customers - and every single one of them have been 100% satisfied at the results.
 
I apologize if I dissuaded you from using this forum or made you want to go to other detailing enthusiast forums. I see that you made a separate thread about swirl marks that has some great inputs and recommendations, so hopefully you stick around to see that we have a truly great community here
 
Respectfully,
Dan Tyger

As Beemer said, the simple answer - yes - our 2 step system with a DA would knock out swirl marks, thats what its designed to do, but I'd need more info on the paint condition and your familiarity with the rotary you're using to make a solid recommendation you proceed with our products on the tool you currently use.
 
 
Are you familiar/comfortable working with a rotary polisher? Any reason you're using rotary over a DA to knock down swirls? For most people thats like using a backhoe to plant a couple of daises. Swirls rarely require the power of a rotary unless they're really severe.
 
As for the foam pad - any specifics on that? Brand? Color? SIze?
 
Not familiar with the Norton line outside of the fact its a body shop line, but a quick search only showed compound and extra cut compound. Either of those, combined with a rotary, and virtually any foam pad is going to be a pretty heavy cutting combo. What you are likely seeing isn't swirls but holograms introduced by that combo.
 
 
The likely reality is they were always there, holograms are usually not easily spotted without LOTS of light... a focused LED might not have shown you the full story. Swirls are usually easy to spot in specific areas with a spotlight though.
 
 
Yes, assuming you adjust technique and possibly application method (tool) to suit the objective. Our system can be used via rotary, but for knocking down swirls, especially if you're not super familiar with the process, a DA or RO polisher is going to be a much better choice.

First off Welcome Brad......All of the folks on here are die hard Adam's users, for a good reason they are the best products.
The reason we don't want to discuss competitors products here is because Adam pays for this forum.
Thanks for understanding!

Welcome Brad!  Great questions!
 
The DeWalt machine that you got, I'm assuming it is a rotary buffer if it's running at that speed? If so, you will want to be very careful with that if you are new to polishing, as the heat it can generate can go straight through the clear down to the base coat of paint. Not all DA machines are "junk" as he said. The Cyclo Polisher offered here is an excellent dual head oscillating polisher that gives outstanding results. The Flex also offered here is another great option with slightly more correcting power than the Cyclo, but not as much versatility and more vibration. I personally own and use both. The Cyclo is perfectly balanced and does not fatigue my fingers or forearms like other DA polishers. There are a few other less costly options out there that can give results almost as good as these too.
 
As for polish, Adam's offers a very simple and effective two stage polish system. Orange Paint Correcting Polish with orange microfiber or orange foam pads will serve as the swirl and scratch remover. Then the white Paint Finishing Polish with white microfiber or white foam pads serves as the final stage polish to make the finish perfect and remove any tiny micro marring that the orange Paint Correcting Polish may leave on some clear coats with certain machines/pads. On some vehicles, you may not even need to go to the second step with the white PFP, or alternatively, if the finish isn't badly damaged in the first place, the white PFP may be enough to make it perfect and not need to use the more powerful Paint Correcting Polish. I hope that all makes sense.
 
Special waxes for black paint are mainly gimmicky marketing. Polishing with the correct type of polish and pad is what is going to remove scratches, swirl marks, and oxidation, and help bring back the deep, dark, black color of the paint, since you are smoothing out imperfections in the clear coat to bring back the true color.  
 
The wax part of the equation will offer protection and more depth to the finish after it has been polished...polishing does not offer any type of protection to the paint. Synthetic sealants and waxes like Adam's Liquid Paint Sealant and Buttery Wax can also be used in place of your typical carnuba-based wax, like the Americana and Patriot Wax offered by Adam's. Patriot Wax is more for your 'show car' finish on something that is garaged and maybe not driven every day.  It still lasts a while, but it won't have the longevity of something like Americana or Liquid Paint Sealant. LPS is going to offer the longest and most durable amount of protection that Adam's offers right now. Some people are seeing upwards of 6 months of water beading with it depending on the conditions you drive in. For the $100 vs. $70 between Patriot and Americana, the main difference is that the Patriot Wax is the finest wax Adam's has ever offered.  It's a concourse level wax, that goes on and off incredibly easy, even more so than Americana. It smells amazing, and offers incredible color and depth to the paint finish in my personal opinion. There's also a flash sale going on right now where the Patriot is only $74.99 plus another 15% off of that with the "15YEARS" discount coupon, but there's only 11 left on this deal as I'm typing this!
 
http://adamspolishes.com/shop/specials/flash-sale.html
 
Myself and many others on here like to do a full paint correction with this general process: Wash the vehicle with a good ph-neutral car shampoo and two-bucket wash method with grit guards in the buckets (all also offered here) to help prevent swirls while washing. The vehicle will most likely need claying with a clay bar and detail spray as a lubricant for the clay if it has not been properly polished in a while.  I believe Adam says the rule of thumb is to clay the vehicle twice a year. This will pull the layer of wax off, along with all of the little imperfections like tar, rail dust, bug guts, bird droppings, etc out of the clear coat, to have a perfectly clean, smooth surface to begin the polishing process. Some people like to wipe the vehicle down with isopropyl alcohol after claying, but it's not 100% necessary.
 
Then you would begin the polishing process, starting in a small test area with the white Paint Finishing Polish. If it gives the desired results you are looking for, then you can continue doing the rest of the vehicle in 2'x2' sections. If it does not give the desired results, then you re-do the area with the stronger orange Paint Correcting Polish, and then again with the white PFP. Since all 3 of your vehicles are black, and it's very difficult to keep black vehicles swirl-free, you might find that you need to go straight to the orange PCP. After the paint is corrected, that is when you want to put on the protective coat. Some will just throw on a coat of Liquid Paint Sealant and be done. Others that want the ultimate shine will do a layer of Liquid Paint Sealant, followed by a layer of Brilliant Glaze (the glaze just helps to slightly fill in any imperfections that may not come out with the machine polishing and is only a temporary product), and then finally a layer of Americana or Patriot Wax to help seal in the Brilliant Glaze and give the finish that eye-scorching POP!
 
I know I typed a lot, and it is a lot to take in, but hopefully that helps answer some or all of your questions.  If I've made anything too confusing, just let me know, but I'm sure Dylan and others will chime in with expert advice too!
 
Edit: Adam also offers a full series of videos covering nearly every aspect of detailing a vehicle.  Very informative and thorough video series!  http://adamspolishes.com/video

I disagree to a large extent with costs being incurred by a feature of a Website. This aint rocket science. We arent saying hey Adams please revamp the site or install artificial intelligence or predictive capability. Pretty sure the benefit they could gain from slaes is worth what little effort it takes to implement. Really?!?

Nothing we sell 'attracts' dust... detail spray or brilliant glaze... it doesn't do anything to repel it either though. If you are experiencing a high amount of dust on a vehicle it has more to do with a static charge on the paint from rubbing it than it does the chemicals you're using.
 
You can fix this by grounding the vehicle - using a copper wire and a couple of metal clips (like a jumper cable) clip to your frame or a pinch weld on the lower rockers, attach the other end to a piece of rebar staked into the ground. That grounds the vehicle, releases the charge and reduces the dust accumulation by a good amount.
 
I have a piece of rebar tied into the foundation of my garage that I clip the C-10 to to keep the dust down. Makes a huge difference.

I, for one, greatly prefer Liquid Paint Sealant over Quick Sealant except for the following purposes:
 
Wheels
Extra protection on nose
 
I have had MUCH better success with LPS for overall paint protection.  QS tends to streak on my red paint while LPS goes on like BUTTA!
 
Long story short: you'll probably want BOTH.

What email address did you send the issue to? Highly unusual to not get a response from anyone.
 
You can always email me direct and I'll help you out : dylan@adamspolishes.com

Yep, update your address in your profile.  Enter all the address info again and save it.  Also make sure you fill in the "Country" field.
 
When they switched websites, some of the address info did not transfer right.

If the zip code in your address book starts with a zero it gets truncated and causes the shipping options to not show up. Happened to me earlier today, just gotta enter it in manually until the problem gets fixed.

haha yea... I'm just glad the sealant works now . I love Adams glass cleaner now I can finally enjoy the glass sealant . but too bad the rain stopped here in CA dang Sun!! haha thanks everyone for the help

These guys have you pretty well covered, but I'll add a little something:
 
To expect absolutely to have your program perfect and dialed in on your first go is unrealistic. The videos give you a great guide and our products are certainly easy to work with, but I usually tell people to expect to get it about mostly right the first time. The rest of the correction comes in when you learn and get more comfortable with the process and working with a machine.
 
No one has it all figured out on their very first go... if it were that easy you wouldn't need us! LOL

I don't have a Cyclo but theres a ton of factors when speaking of correction.
 
-Power/throw of machine
-Pressure on pad
-Speed of machine used
-pad type and size used
-Cutting ability of product
 
In your situation and with any non-metallic black paint correction I 95% of the time finding myself going straight to MF cutting pads and a correcting polish, and sometimes multiple passes depending on how old the vehicle is.  On brand new cars off the lot sometimes I can get by with orange foam but most of the time even that needs the extra oomph of the MF pads in certain areas.

Hey all!
 
So, last night I got home from work and decided it was finally time to see how the cyclo works. I've had it since Christmas, but never really had the opportunity to do a correct on anything. This was also the first time for me to use ANY sort of machine device. Eep!
 
My car: Pitch Black 2015 Challenger. Yea, pitch black. The car is fairly new, but there was a lot of post-factory scratches and spiderwebs in the paint.
 
I took what I've learned and started with the least aggressive pads and polish (white and paint finishing) and noticed it really didn't do too much. Although, on my first pass I managed to get too excited and scuff the clear coat. I tried to take a pic of it, but couldn't really get it to show.
 
Anyways, great, working backwards, I've put a scuff and only barely touched the spiderwebs. Moved on to orange foam pads and correcting. It helped a bit on the spiderwebs, but that scuff was still chilling. It was only on the top coat, so I knew I could get to it.
 
Lastly, I tried the white microfiber pad with finishing polish and it fixed it up the scuff, but it's still there.. but barely. I didn't go to orange microfiber, as I felt the problem was more operator error and not the cyclo.
 
Am I doing too much, or just need to hone in my skills? I'm wondering what my expectations for true correcting power of the cyclo should be. I'm working on a black car, so obviously I'm seeing EVERYTHING and when I see any scratches I feel like it's not good enough. Is a flex better for the OCD folks that want 100% correction?
 
Any thoughts/advice? Here's a few pretty crappy pics I was able to snap. Notice the line above the sticker that I had to see if I was making any sort of progress. Looks like I did, but still... not perfect.
 
Scuff above the flash.. the bottom scuff lookin piece was removable with a towel

 
Pretty Obvious Correcting Line (above the vinyl sticker, obviously)

Not bad work, you still have a hair of spiderwebbing though.  I'd make another pass with Paint correcting and orange foam and it should get rid of it. 
 
Chasing 100% correction is a fool's errand, get it as close as you can to 95% or so with a few passes of the polisher.  You'll spend a few days chasing 100%, especially on that black.

for more info visit adamspolishes.com/origins

You say things like that you'll be really unpopular around these parts.

Beginning today the warehouse is throwing a sticker into most orders (lets face it, you order one block sponge and nothing else we're not giving you a sticker) and will continue to do so until they're gone. Our team here has committed to designing and printing new stickers all the time so when these are gone a new style will start being included.

They might be logos, something funny, cool, or any number of designs, but we will continue to produce them as long as you enjoy getting them, even if they're just stuck to your tool chest. What do we want in return for all these free stickers? Show us where you 'stick your shine'!

Take a picture of your Adam's sticker where you stuck it and post it here, share it on our facebook page, or upload it to instagram with the hasthag 'adamspolishes'. Those that share their pics with us are highly likely to receive additional swag, prizes, and other cool stuff.
 
Want more than one? No problem - we'll add additional ones to your order for just $1 each. Click here

Glass cleaner makes me want to add tequilla to it and drink it.

I can't believe the Japanese air fresheners labeled as "Squash" scent isn't listed here. That's my #1 choice, and I'm sure it would be others as well if they have smelled it before. Second on my list would be the "New Car" smell though.

How about foaming sprayers?

Let me know if you need help with the R&D.  I would be glad to spray my kids with a few and see if it helps with the odors.

I'll reiterate a few things that some people seem to be missing:
 
There is currently no plan to travel to each of your houses and hold you at gunpoint until you buy an air freshener against your will. We don't have the budget for it and I'm not trying to force this on anyone that doesn't want it, but it seems some of you think this might happen based on the reactions. This isn't just an air freshener concept, its a deodorizer. Many "professional" lines sell similar products - they kill odors and leave behind a scent. This isn't a concept where we'll be adding scent just to add scent. If you never encounter a need for a product like this FANTASTIC! Count yourself fortunate. I unfortunately have kids, live in a snowy/wet climate, and there are occasions where the interior could use a product to kill kid/food/damp odors. At last count I have about 20 products in various stages of testing - which is about typical for me. Somehow I manage to test more than one and work on its development given my 50+ hour a week commitment to it. I think I'll be able to manage this and still test other things, despite the lack of confidence some have in that ability.

It smells like strippers - a combination of baby powder, oils, and body glitter... not that I'd know what that smells like.
 
Admittedly genius marketing on their part for their type of branding and the clients they tend to cater to, but not exactly in line with our branding or company ideology. We'll leave that kind of thing to them as its not our style.
 
 
Just because it should be stated again - STOP SMOKING IN THE CAR!!

I did buy the stripper scent and a few others... Wife didnt like it so much    I didnt like any of them.
I am too old for my car to smell like a strip club, the scent of being broke and drunk isnt a good one.