shane@detailedreflections

For those times that even the Rupes Nano is too big, we have just received the AutoTriz nano polisher. This kit goes down to the size of a tube of chap stick. It’s going to be perfect for around emblems, interior panels that need some love. You essentially hold it like a pen while it’s connected to a rotary polisher. We don’t want super high speed, but our DeWalt rotary has a nice speed setting on it. We figured this was the best use of that old polisher while we wait for our Rupes Rotary to ship. Anyway, check it out! I’ll post some more once we put it to use. And don’t be afraid to ask questions! We are going next level!

Maintaining a coating is pretty easy. Once or twice a year depending on enviorent and how much it’s driven, you’ll want to wash (you can strip wash if you want), iron remove and clay the vehicle. This will pull any contaminants out of the paint. Once that’s done, you can maintain with ceramic boost or whatever top coat there is from your coating manufacturer. They’re pretty simple to do.

You’re safe. Just don’t take a polisher and paint polish to any of it and you’re good to go. Enjoy!

You know we do it all! We don’t discriminate. And we did get mine done. Still need to work hers into the calendar. But paying jobs have to come first I suppose. Such is our life! Feast or famine. Hoping to keep momentum into winter. When we do get to put yours on the calendar?

You’re good to go. Polished are abrasive products usually put on a vehicle to improve the finish or eliminate paint defects. This is usually (should be always) done before you install a ceramic coating. Think of polishes as liquid sandpapers of differing grits. We have stuff that will leave your car matte. And we have stuff that will restore its gloss back to its glory. All are in effort to remove some clearcoat (or a lot) in order to level the paint and leave it looking perfect. Nothing you’ve mentioned will harm a properly installed coating.

Strip wash will NOT remove a coating. Coatings are not removed through chemical process, but abrasive ones. Take polish to it, it’ll be gone. Wash all you want with strip wash.

It might have been...oops. But we saved it! I was trying to get it done and wasn’t thinking while messing with the air suspension lockout. I always wear mechanics gloves while removing and installing wheels and just didn’t think of them when I was working.

Yup. After removing and installing wheels on a clients car, don’t take your gloves off to do something inside the car quickly (like start it) and set the gloves on their cream leather seats. Oops. Luckily it came right off with leather cleaner.

Well...we finally finished the Bentley and it went home. Not a true "exotic" in terms of sports cars, but what a cool car to work on. The details in the car are amazing. You guys have seen the inside, now it's time to see the exterior in all of it's paint corrected and ceramic coated glossy glory!!! And up next after we dropped this off is this Ford Mustang Shelby GT350...It might look fresh now, but under the lights is swirl city despite only have 2200 miles on her. We have solutions luckily!

You ask some interesting questions. I’m not sure how we feel about them all yet since they were just announced. On the surface, it makes sense to have film specific coatings rather than just using paint coating on it. Paint and film have two different properties and different hardheaded. Film is flexible but once installed it becomes hard as it’s backed by the vehicles body. My biggest question in the whole thing is how they interact with other coatings. By this, do you apply the film coating to just the film and paint coating everywhere else. Then the topcoat goes over it all? We are an accredited installer for another brand, I’m just waiting for all the details to come out. I wish we went to SEMA since then I’d have answers. Oh well, next year! We will bring in the film coating because as a business and accredited installer, I feel we should have it to perform work in an ideal fashion and deliver the highest tier of service to our clients. Is the film coating something I think everyone needs or should consider? I’m not sold on that aspect yet. We’ve seen no negative results of using paint coatings on film to date. Food for thought and discussion.

Can you be more specific in what you want suggestions for? The ultimate would be to paint correct it and install full interior and exterior coatings and protection on the soft top. If we know what your goals/budget/tools look like, we might be able to help more.

Trading is up to you and your needs. Wish I had a better answer for you. Clay is always useful. And it can be used with and without the impression tool. If you don’t have any, it’s worth keeping. If you have another means to decontaminate your ride, swap it out.

There is a variety of things to do actually. Plenty of food and restaurants to eat your way through. There are two casinos about 30 minutes from us if you want a show or gambling. And another about an hour away that just opened. Connecticut and New England in general has a pretty awesome winery scene. About two miles from us is Connecticut’s only solar power vineyard. But there a ton of others on the Connecticut Wine Trail. There’s the Bushnell Theatre in Hartford to catch a live show, or if you like a more intimate setting there’s the historical Goodspeed Theatre right on the Connecticut river. A good day excursion is the Essex Riverboat and Steam Train. I don’t know if the train runs year round or not, it may. I’d have to look. That’s about 15-20 minutes from us. So we aren’t a tourist hotbed by any means, there are somethings worth indulging in. And for dinner the night before, I was thinking our favorite restaurant. They change the menu every six to eight weeks to a different part of the world. They have a menu that ch few seasonally for local fresh. And then their staple items. It’s on the slightly more expensive side, but worth it. Check it here...their menu should be on open table. http://www.caferoutier.com

I know it’s WAY early, but we are tossing ideas out as we come up with them. I know some people are considering traveling from considerable distances (which is quite humbling to say the least). Would there be interest in us getting a reservation and doing dinner as a group the night before the clinic? We can get a reservation for however many we need and go out to a nice dinner and make new friends!

It’s fine without it. Our tool ended up in the garbage quite honestly. More hassle than value.

Treat it like paint. Wax it, seal it or ceramic over it. This year at SEMA the latest trend is coatings dedicated to PPF. We are waiting for ours to come in to see what it’s about. It should essentially be a bit more flexible than paint coatings. But historically paint coatings have been fine over films.

You’re welcome. And it should have said Fabric Guard and not leather. I fixed it! And thank you for the compliment.

Man. What a mess of a situation. Hopefully they’ll do right by you. They have the chance to make a client for life or lose one forever based on how they handle this one situation.

Thanks man! The Bentley was just something different from what we usually work on. I’m not the biggest fan of luxury cars, but to actually be inside one was pretty awesome to see the litter finer points of it. It’s actually a pretty cool car up close. Oh yeah, and twin turbos don’t hurt it any either. I’d still love to get a McLaren in. That’s my dream car...both to own and work on. Maybe someday. The top of the Bentley is a soft top that has a hard frame on it. So it’s treated like fabric. We clean them through normal washing and then cleaning with a boars hair brush and carpet and upholstery cleaner. To protect the fabric when it’s all done, we use either GTechniq Fabric Guard AB or Cquartz fabric. 303 and RaggTop both also make great products for convertible tops. I usually don’t openly recommend products in the open forum other than Adams but since they don’t make a product for this application yet, it should be allowed. The fabric protection really should be reapplied approximately every six months to maintain it.

Thanks so much. We are always trying to improve. Ordered the Rupes rotary for faster corrections and the auto triz nano polisher for even smaller than our Rupes nano. Going to set up an old rarely used DeWalt with the micro polisher. Going to the next level!!! In the on deck circle we have a Ford Mustang GT350 followed by a C7 Corvette Grand Sport. Also have a Mazda 3 coming in for our entry level coating. Then an F150 with full painted front. And lastly a C7 Z06 with Z07 package. All in for coatings...and the last Vette some ppf work. The F150 might get some film done as well... No shortage of work going on here!

We've been at it pretty good this week on the Bentley. The inside is done. It received a two step paint correction (three in some spots) and it has one of three layers of ceramic down on it. So no finished shots yet, just teasers. You guys can check out the interior of this car though. Definitely the highest end car we've had the privilege of working on. The thing is, the process doesn't change regardless of what we are working on. We treat them all the same.

I agree that you're in compound territory looking at those. Or a very patient polishing area. Compound would make pretty quick work with a good polisher. Since it's black, I'd follow up with correcting polish and finishing polish to really bring the finish to life. I wouldn't get the 21 if it's your only polisher. I'd go with a 15. It's far more versatile. We have all the sizes in our shop and adding a rotary. The 15 is so heavily used that we wore out a backing plate and are considering adding the new Rupes 15mk3 that was just announced to the collection so more than one guy can work with a 15 at once.

I agree with you that it's a great option. We have a commercial steamer and use it heavily on nearly every job we do. I commonly suggest them, but also need a "plan B" since it's out of the range of most people. Or perceived to be anyway. The McColluch MC1385 Deluxe is a great steamer that can be had for under $200 that will make you life in your car and around the house much easier. Worth the investment all day long.

Im a huge fan of steam cleaning. Unfortunately not everyone has access to one. We do use our steamer all the time.

You guys are always welcome! And I don’t have a personal Facebook other than a dummy account so I can have a business one which seems essential these days! You can email me atshane@detailedreflectionsct.com. Or even shoot me a text at 860-539-7464. Photo submissions can be sent the same way!