Cleb1021

GAUGE CLUSTER POLISHING
 
Not really sure why I waited so long to fix the scratches on the gauge cluster cover.  Most of them were there when the truck was new, and a few were added when I made the mistake of vacuuming the sand off with a less-than-soft brush attachment.
 

 
 
Tools for the task: Paint Finishing Polish, Brilliant Glaze, Single Soft Towels, blue painter’s tape.
 

 
 
Started by taping off the adjacent plastic, to keep the polish from getting on it.  Taping was easy since you can slide the tape behind the edge of the plastic, then wrap it around the front.
 

 
 
Put a small amount of Paint Finishing Polish on the Single Soft Towel.
 

 
 
Then polished by hand with just the portion of the towel that has polish on it.  I wrapped the rest of the towel around my hand to keep it from catching on the tape.
 

 
 
After polishing for about 15 minutes, I wiped the residue off with a clean portion of the towel, then checked with a strong light to make sure all the major scratches were gone.
 

 
 
I did see some minor scratches on the back of the cluster cover, but they are not that noticeable.
 
Next up was some Brilliant Glaze applied with a clean Single Soft Towel.  The Brilliant Glaze contains fillers, so it will help hide any scratches that did not come out with the hand polishing.
 

 

 
 
After the glaze hazed up, wiped the residue with a clean portion of the towel.
 
A significant improvement!
 

 

I know we talk a lot about paint correction and things of that nature.  What isn't discussed as frequently is how to know when you're safe to correct and when you're not, or how aggressive you can be in doing so.  For those purposes, a paint thickness gauge is invaluable.  There's a number of gauges out there that range in price from a little over $100 to thousands of dollars.  The one we use is a mid level gauge.  Before we take a polisher to any vehicle, we want to determine how aggressive we can be and if it will stand up to polishing.
The way we commonly do this is to measure the paint in multiple areas.  We then measure an area that won't have as thick of a clear coat on it (door jambs are a good one) and subtract it to get a feel for roughly what thickness of clear coat we are working with.  We can also discover quickly if a vehicle has had any paint work done on it.  Body shops will commonly lay down a much thicker clear coat than the factory.  
 
Here you can see a paint reading of 100 microns on an Infiniti G35 we recently did some work on.  This is a pretty common reading among paint that hasn't been touched.

In taking more readings, we came across a few panels that had much thicker readings.

This let us identity that those panels had been repainted.  While working with this vehicle, we found an isolated deep scratch that we wanted to pull out.

We took a quick reading and found the paint was VERY thick in this area thanks to the repaint.

Yup, 297 microns.  That's some thick paint to work with.  We went to work with some compound (that wasn't Adam's as we wanted a super quick cut and had something more aggressive on the shelf).  We followed it up with some correcting polish and finally a finishing polish.
In that photo, there was plenty more to be done on the vehicle, we were just working that one isolated spot.  A quick final reading shows we actually removed a significant amount of clear coat to remove the defect.

Through the use of a paint thickness gauge, we were able to determine how aggressive we could (or couldn't be) and could work confidently while choosing a product that would offer fast results.  Every vehicle has a story to tell.  And before we write our chapter on it with polishes, correction and general awesomeness in detailing we should take a moment to understand what's really going on.  On a vehicle with a much thinner coat of clear, I don't know as though we would have been quite so aggressive.  
Paint thickness gauges are an invaluable tool for anyone who's doing paint correction on a regular basis or where you're working on vehicles you don't really know the history of.
Just thought I'd share an experience with an area of detailing that is often not talked about much here.  
Enjoy and have a great weekend.

I wash mine with my normal laundry after every use. Every few months or so I brush it out with a dog brush.

A little off topic, but I am reminded of a trip to my grandfathers cabin many years ago. Grandpa served lunch and I noticed the plate wasn't spotless. I made a comment and grandpa said "that's as clean as Coldwater can get them."
Well, this was the mountain cabin so I accepted it.
At dinner I noticed the plate wasn't very clean again. Grandpa saw me looking and repeated "That's as clean as Coldwater can get them."
Well we finished dinner and as grandpa stood up he said "Time to feed the dog, Coldwater, dinner time" and his faithful dog Coldwater came running.
I now return you back to the forum, and useful information about detailing.

Take your grit guard, put the mitt/pad on top of it, then spray it off with the hose, wring out, and then I let it dry in the bucket.

Don't have VRT and BG sitting side by side. You might try to apply VRT to your vehicle....

Haha. Clear!!!

Hopefully one day Ill pony up the cash for Forces, when there done right and kept clean theres no better look   Awesome looking truck 

Great feedback friends!  Certainly, this conversation and effort is not to maximize profit, or sales.  Losing a product would hurt both.
 
Reading here, that many of you didn't like the dusting that the Paint Correcting Polish caused, we started tweaking.  The formula was not so massively different, that we chose to do an email blast, and make a big deal about it.  Rather, we improved it, quietly, and while the new formula cost us a few bucks more, we kept the price the same.
 
Suppose I was merely wanting to give our customers the fastest way to a great finish.  After all, my entire childhood and young-adulthood was spent detailing cars for money, and time is money!
 
Now, when I was polishing 10X more than normal for 6 straight days, I wanted to share that the Paint Correcting Polish seemed to do the trick, and I followed with Glaze, Sealant, Wax, or a combination of those.
 
If I was looking to try and sell more product, maybe this post wouldn't have ever showed up!
 
I really appreciate the great feedback here, and thanks for taking time to respond.
 
Thank You!
 
 

I made the mistake and asked my wife that one time.....never again.  Now I just use these instances as an excuse to buy more tools and supplies.  

i stopped asking that question lol

Boy, am I feeling the LOVE here today! Thanks friends.

How about a little competition in the bug/tar remover category? Rural missouri is a nightmare when it comes to both.