mc2hill

My grandkids. Halloween, 2014.
 
Not a costume. Kid's jacked.  <grin>
 
 

Got my new clock! I really like it!
 

Great thread...wife snapped these of me and our little one helping out...she loves the wheel brushing. They are never too young and it's always nice to have help. Of course after a few minutes she thought she was boss...I like the initiative.

im literately amazed at the way this preforms, i have been using this for about a year or so now. i always try to get people to touch the tires on either my truck or wife's car to demonstrate the dry characteristics of this and how it is not "greasy" and does not sling on the vehicle due to being a lotion. any who i bought a new boat last October long story short, i dont really have to room to keep it in my garage so the boat stays outdoors under a cover. well  i dont have covers over the wheels of the trailer so upon doing so i figure why not apply some Super Vrt to the tires to help protecting from the elements. i applied one coat a year ago and have used it several times and just put a second coating after cleaning the tires, and wow no cracking, dry rotting they look brand new still, this is truly a revolutionary product.

Wife calls me after dropping girls off at school. She's in traffic behind a Subaru WRX STi and loving what she's seeing and hearing.
 
Mrs. Captain Slow: "Why don't you trade the Dart in on that?"
Captain Slow: "They're $40k and manual transmission only."
Mrs. Captain Slow: "What colors does it come in. That blue I'm looking at is real sharp!"

Captain Slow: (Not believing what he's hearing)    "Every time I left you'd hear vrooooooooom psshhhh, vrooooooooom psshhhh, vrooooooooom psshhhh,vrooooooooom psshhhh"
Mrs. Captain Slow: "And?"
Captain Slow: "Vrooooooooom psshhhh. How about I buy the G8 back and drop a Maggie on it for under 30k."
Mrs. Captain Slow: "NO!"
Captain Slow: "So close!"
Mrs. Captain Slow: "Nope, not even close."
Captain Slow: CENSORED
 
 
 
 
Should have quit while I was ahead...

This light worked like a charm! Very easy to move it to where I need it. But I was most thankful for the cooler operating temperature. It was cloudy here yesterday, but still hot.

Hard to say if specific vehicles have 'hard' or 'soft' paint without prior experience.  Someone here may have corrected one.
 
The terms 'hard' or 'soft' refer to how easy the paint is to mar and how quickly it corrects.  'Soft' paint will mar easily, but will correct quickly.  'Hard' paint will be harder to damage, but will also take more work to correct.  
 
The paint on my black Frontier can be damaged with a hard look, but it does not take too much to get smooth again - foam pads and PCP/PFP.
My son's pewter colored Civic could not be corrected with the most aggressive foam pads.  Once I had MF pads I was able to correct it easily.

This is a pic from earlier this month.  I forgot I had it!
 
My youngest insisted she help me wash the Jeep.  She likes the lug nut brush so she was in charge of the lug nuts and all of the honeycomb areas on the SRT!
 
She did a great job!  I had to pay her with Cold Stone ice cream.

One of my good customers/friends and NCRS member is organizing a show that he hopes will become an annual event.  It is in the Northern Virginia region very close to Dulles Airport at a venue known as the Sully Historic Plantation.  For those of you close enough for a day trip, there should be some great cars on display.  Here is the flyer:
 

Round two turned out a little better. After a strip wash and clay, I hit it with my old rotary buffer and some aggressive stuff. Wouldn't even tough some of the scratches. This paint is impressively hard! I even laid the buffer on an edge and only made it shinier. Gotta be Centari or Imron. But the surface is smoother than before.
 
I followed with Adam's Paint Correcting Polish and a new Orange Pad, followed by Adam's Finishing Polish while enjoying using my Rupes LHR 15 ES for the first time. What a wonderful machine!
 
I ended the day applying some older Machine Super Sealant. Today, I applied Adam's Brilliant Glaze and topped with Americana. Some of the chrome received Adam's Metal Polish.
 
The finish is certainly smoother, but the top surfaces have suffered wear over the years. I guess it is what it is.

Welcome Marc, and nice rides!  Not sure it would be a good thing for me to live within biking distance to HQ...

Dude! That is fantastic! Thank you so much!
 
I'm actually considering the Scangrip colormatch LED light kit if I can stomach the price, but that is an awesome setup you have there that would work great for me

There are more LED light choices out there now, but check out this DIY LED light build.  Much more comfortable to work with compared to a halogen light!  

We have learned proper lighting is important when chasing swirls. I have been using a pair of 500w halogen lamps on a stand for several years. These work great, and are nice to be around in the winter, but they are brutal in the warmer months. I have seen the LED work lights (pic below) with a similar setup. They are much cooler to work around, but the light is not as bright as the halogens and do not show imperfections as well.

 
I have seen a few different DIY LED light stand builds on other forums, and after seeing Sizzle Chest’s setup I decided to give it a try. Most of the parts are fairly inexpensive, using lightweight photography equipment, but the bulbs are pricey!
 
I started with a stand that included a carrying bag - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008DYHRH4?
psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

 
This stand has a minimum height of 53”, and a maximum of 100”. It works great for hoods, roofs, and trunks, but just OK for sides. For that reason I am looking at 2 other stands:
 
This one that has a minimum of 33”, max of 80” - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003PEUA30/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2W8PMFWAIX1V2&coliid=I2S0K4VP91Z62V&psc=1

 
 
Or this one that is much shorter – Min 17”, max 40”
http://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Collapsible-Aluminium-Photography-Portrait/dp/B00X5GCG12/ref=sr_1_5?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1433004584&sr=1-5

 
 
The second stand includes a ‘stud’ that is attached to the lower leg to allow a second light head to be attached. The downside is the stud must be removed to collapse the stand. There are clamps available to allow you to mount a light head almost anywhere and if I go with the first stand I would add one of these – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00355GFMO/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2W8PMFWAIX1V2&coliid=IB3IMSHH6UKOR

 
 
The light ‘head’ is the simple part. It is a double mount bracket, with an on/off switch for each lamp, and a short 9’ cord. This just slides over the top of the stand and is tightened down. There are other fiddly bits on the bracket, but as I am not a photographer, I have no idea what they are for.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HZUVX8G/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2W8PMFWAIX1V2&coliid=I1UB3VZ74Z4A4V

 
 
So far so good, less than $30 (light head $10.99 + stand $15.99).
 
Now about the light bulbs: There are lots and lots of different types of LED light bulbs out there but to replicate the sun you need a daylight bulb – somewhere around 5000 kelvin on the color temp scale.
 

 
I was able to find my bulb at Lowe’s, but it seems to be an item they are discontinuing –
http://www.lowes.com/pd_150661-75774-LPAR3814005KLEDG5___?productId=50107550&pl=1&Ntt=led+par38+daylight
 

 
It is a size PAR38, 23W (120W equivalent), 5000K, Daylight, Dimmable floodlight bulb. The only store in my area that carried them was the near my house and I picked up 4. Even on ‘closeout’ they were $25.99 EACH! The upside to these bulbs is they have a life of 25,000 hours, so unless you break them, they should last a long, long time.
 
Speaking of breaking them, this setup is very top heavy. The first time I used it I had the stand set at about 6’, bumped into it, and it fell on to the trunk of the A8 I was polishing! After a few choice words, my stomach dropped when I saw white marks on the paint! The heat fins from the bulb had marked the paint. Luckily it was just paint transfer and was quickly removed with the polisher, with no further damage to the car or the lights. After that I decided to look for a simple fix and found it at a local thrift store:
Discarded ankle weights!
 

 
I paid $3 for one at the thrift store, but they are about $17 new (I bought a pair when I got tired of driving around to the Goodwill’s).  This is one I found (they only had one), and it easily fits over the upright part of the stand, and provides just enough weight to offset the bulbs. I removed 2 of the weight packs, so it is probably at 4 pounds. The plus with these is they wrap around the light stand when it is folded. 

 
 
So now we are up to $80
Stand          $15.99
Light head    10.99
2 LED bulbs  50.00
Weights           3.00
Not too bad and much cheaper than a pair of the LED work lights with a stand.
Here is what you get:

 
 
So how well do they work?
A shot of both lights on full: The halogen mounting bracket puts them farther apart than the LED bracket, but that is not really an issue:

 
LED:


 
Halogen:


 
 
Why are they better then Halogens?
Front of lights

 
vs.

 
Now the temp at the back:

 
vs.

 
Other options:
You could add a boom to put the light over a flat surface (hood, roof, etc.)  
 

 
 
Conclusions:
I really enjoy working with the LED lights. They are more comfortable to work around, and I prefer the whiter light they produce.  I think they show more defects too.
They also draw less power, so no more worry about tripping a fuse when using the lights and the polisher.
 
 
Please feel free to ask questions or suggest improvements. I am not a photographer, nor an electrical engineer, so there are probably better ways to do this!
 

I have not used the new blue Car Wash, but I do not believe the dilution ratio has changed.  Hopefully someone that is more familiar with new version will respond.

I just used your VRT. It is fantastic. It took faded vinyl and turned it to look brand new. I'm telling everyone about this product. I should charge my neighbors to fix their vinyl trim. It looks that good.

For a daily driver I'd recommend the Paint Sealant and the HGG, both are easy to use and the Paint Sealant will give you the most protection of any Adams LSP. Use the HGG every couple months to boost your protection.
 
When you figure out which products you use the most, Detail spray and APC are common as Mc2Hill stated, buy the gallons. Be sure to use "shineon" code when your making a purchase when no specials are running, you'll still get 10% off.
 
Welcome to the forum! Ain't no shine like an Adams shine!

Because of time constraints, (the car was going to a local Lotus Club event tomorrow), I wasn't able to get pics outside in the sun, but here are some "after" photos.  There were many stains and light oxidation on the bare aluminum and plenty of swirls on the painted parts.  The owner was very happy even though I couldn't dedicate more time to it.  He will bring it back over the winter months to remove wheels, disassemble things and give it a proper cleaning!
 

 

 
I was kinda surprised that the painted parts were single stage!
 

 
The headers and exhaust heat shield cleaned up very nice....
 

 
The engine cover came out very nice.
 

 
Here is the rear in progress, prior to Metal #1
 

 
And the result.....
 

 
And one final parting shot:
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Congrats Dan!
 
Now get yourself back down here to under-represented FLA (formerly the Sunshine State...currently #wearegonnaneedanark).

Sometimes it's the little things...
 
Our youngest daughter owns a 2012 Camaro LT1
 
A $10.00 can of Black Plasti Dip

and a little time!
 
Gold insert in the bow tie?

 
Came out easy enough

 
Snapped back in

Much better!
 
On to the rear

Gold bow tie insert and chrome tail light bezels?
Me no likey!
 

Ahh much better!
 
Out with the chrome tail light bezels

 
Whoops, broke a tab, dang it!

 
Cleaned, taped and five coats applied

 
I think they came out really nice

 
Back in and buttoned up

 

One of my Lotus customers just picked up a Caterham 7.  I'm guessing the previous owner wasn't aware that you could polish the bare metal.  Pretty sure this thing is gonna hurt your eyes after I get done with it.......
 
Here are a couple of before shots:
 

 

 

 
 

Adam's should make a modified wash wedge with a place to mount a long pole for using on trucks/suv roofs and RVs. It would also give a different option for washing in the cold. No more cold, wet hands!
 
What do y'all think?
 
"Adam's Pole Wedge"
 

Nice set up Dan!