Drive XR7

Can't wait to see pics when mounted. I have contemplated some CCW Classics for my Sonic Blue Cobra. Saving my pennies.

Mine is your typical story, just like the ones you've heard hundreds of times. It was a crisp October Saturday night four years ago and I was getting ready to meet a few friends when I got a message from one of their husbands. I thought Barry was playing a joke on me, so I didn't call back and headed out. Right after I got to the restaurant (ok, it was a bar and I'm trying to make it look better) I got a second call, but this time I answered.

 

Oh Barry was there again, but this time he wasn't on the phone alone - Mike was on with him. (Full disclosure, I don't really remember "Mike's" name, but I needed a name, so...). Mike was the Grand Poobah of the local Knights of Columbus. He along with Barry spent the next five minutes trying to convince me that I actually had won their raffle they drew earlier that night. The grand prize - a 1984 Corvette.

 

A few days later I picked up my prize, a previously unseen black corvette with just under 60k on the clock. Imagine what a 27 year old car that hasn't really been pampered looked like. I decided that if I was going to have a Corvette, it should look nice, not at all how it looked back then. I spent some quality time with Google and researching the results, watching videos and learning all I could.

 

By now it was November and if you've ever been to the Cleveland area, you know you aren't in a hurry to detail in Cleveland in November, so I had time. But then, I met someone that would quickly become the arch nemesis of my wallet - Dylan and his sales. First it was Black Friday, then Christmas and New Years. Presidents Day, St. Patrick's Day, even March 30th!

 

I was spiraling out of control! What is this thing happening at Grabiak in April? I had to attend! Junkman, Lynn and Adam were all there as were Rich, Rich, Scott, Dan and countless others. I had an addiction and I found a support group!

 

Oh, so I guess that was a long winded way of saying I found Adams through a Google search.

Cleveland represent!

Gave you great results, does it normally have a satin finish or is that just the pic doing that? 

 

Also btw you shouldnt stack 20 pounders like that, one could fall and knock the valve off and cause a big boom. 

Yes the tips are not chrome, they're a satin finish.

Ha, yeah the tanks are empty. I have since gotten rid of them.

Here's what the tailpipes looked like on my '13 Edge EcoBoost.

I tried All-purpose cleaner, deep wheel cleaner, claybar, and enough elbow grease to burn up my arms. Bar Keepers Friend was able to clean it up with almost no effort and in record time. It's the best stuff ever.

I've always had great success with this over the years.

This. Best stuff ever. Cleans dirty exhaust tips off with no problem.

I got take out from my favorite Indian restaurant, and noticed later that some of the curry leaked out of the bag and stained my seat. This is on my old DD so it could be worse, but I'm still not thrilled. I tried Leather and Interior Cleaner, but it made no difference. Any other products or techniques I should try?

Also for garage lighting, I have 4 LED strips mounted to the ceiling. They put out bright clean light with no warm up in colder weather. A definite upgrade over florescent or a handful of incandescents.

I took Adam's advice yesterday about cleaning out the sprayer and shaking the HGG really well. And it worked so much better. I was able to get a very fine mist for the first time with this product.

Yep I followed the advice over the weekend also. At times I still had globs of it spray out but not nearly as bad. I found it to be less streaky as well.

I like the finer mist because I don't consume as much, and it appears to be less streaky and easier to apply.

I have a hard time with the sprayer too. It comes out in globs and doesn't spray evenly. I will try some of the tips here before I switch to my Kwazar sprayer.

I do:

I'll sometimes get streaks showing on darker colors after the H2O Guard & Gloss application (put it on too heavy, I believe). By following up with a DS wipe down I'll remove most all of the streaks.

Yep this is what I do. G&G is streaky.

I only have Waterless. I don't use it if the car has been in the rain.

Try Barkeepers Friend! $2 from Target. Cleans my old tailpipes right up. Then throw a coat of sealant on it to keep it from getting rusty again.

Wow! Nice car!

I bought three 4' LED sets and wired them together. Lights my garage up like nothing else did. I'll love them in the winter time when it's cold. No more warm up.

I'm starting to warm up to it. I used it recently when washing my Edge before a roadtrip where I knew I'd be pelted with bug guts. It makes for easy cleanup when I got home.

My only complaint is that I use ALOT of it. Maybe I'm misusing it, but I will probably get 4 or 5 cars out of a bottle. It's also quite an adjustment for my dry routine. I've been sheet rinsing + electric leaf blower dry + quick wipe for years and am trying to figure out how to add this product to that routine.

Yeah my routine is roughly the same, except I end with a detail spray wipe. My pressure washer is a huge 4000psi washer and it's hard to move around, so I just use a hose and foam gun instead of a foam cannon. I love the idea of a foam cannon though, but it still seems a bit gimmicky.

I've tried to figure out a way to integrate G&G into my routine, but the car tends to dry quickly before I can walk around the car and apply it.

I have a PC, but would trade it for a Flex if I had to choose. Less expensive too. I'm not detailing for money though. If I polish 2 cars in the same day, my hands start to get a bit numb from all the vibration from the PC. So there's that to consider.

I'll have to order a gallon, burned through half a bottle on 2 cars.

I went to get the APC out of the closet and saw it was leaking. I now have much less than I thought. I moved it to another container. I hope to try it this week

I had a similar problem, all my APC leaked out of a hairline crack in the bottom of the APC container. Call Adams, they will replace it for you. I ended up replacing mine with a Kwazar sprayer.

I really wanted to like the merino wool mitt, but it disintegrated and tangled too fast. It was a constant struggle to keep tangle free. I ended up demoting them to tailpipe duty.

Not sure if any of this clears up anything, but here it goes...

 

 

Pic 1: Here's what it looked like at 6:17pm. The rubbing/smearing you see if from me slightly rubbing it this morning (it was still a tad wet in high spots). At the time of taking this pic it was all dry and pretty sticky. (think dried on soda)

 

Pretty hard to pick up on camera, but at certain angles you could see it. (transparent)

 

 

Pic 2: From different angle

 

 

 

Pic 3: Rubbing it pretty hard with short nap microfiber towel.

 

Pic 4: A finishing polish (Reflect) easily removed it. (by hand)

 

 

Here is where it looks most like the pic provided by the OP. This is the over spray part (next 4 pics). I tested it in a spot not pictured and it was not coming off with vigorous rubbing. A finishing polish (as expected) made quick work of it done by hand with a short nap microfiber towel. Obviously I way over applied it, so in reality my situation shouldn't happen at all.

 

Next four pictures show my attempt at removing it with IPA mixed with a rinse-less wash product...

 

Didn't completely remove the dripping, so it seems that a finishing polish is the best option (no surprise there). Was hard to get it pictured.

 

 

Not sure if this helps the OP as it was already stated that a finishing polish would clear it up, but even after way over applying it I didn't seem to quite get the exact results as the OP (but maybe I did). 

 

*Pictures taken with phone. I am not a photographer. My apologies.

Great write-up. Thanks for taking the time to attempt to replicate it. This shows the quality of character of most of the members here.

Nice! Welcome to the SVT family.

I've always dried with no heat. Usually a few cycles, then I hang them out to dry the rest of the way. I've heard that high heat damages the microfiber.

I'm amazed by how far sealants have come. I remember spending all day to apply 3 coats of Zaino and burning up my arm trying to buff it off. Then you could apply with a machine and have to wait 24 hours for it to cure, then you could apply by machine and easily wipe it off right away, now you have this.

Curious how the durability compares to Paint Sealant or Machine Super Sealant. Sounds like H2OG can be used as a sealant booster so I don't have to drag out the polisher and pads every 6 months to apply a new coat of Paint Sealant.

I even used this on my Cobra's tailpipe tips and it removed a bunch of dirt buildup that I had previously not even noticed. They were bling blinging in the sunlight!