8675309'SS

I hoping for more than just another scent. 

Maybe we'll get bunnies for Easter!     
 

 
 

Came with my order today.

Came with my order today.

It is really interesting there is such a vast difference of opinion on the 2 different glass cleaning towels.
 
As for what to do with unwanted towels, I'll PM you my address!

I am a nerd... but it fits perfectly in the back seat arm rest area in my F-150...!!!

Call in your orders, I spoke to Ryan a few min ago and he said there is so much traffic its causing issues, they can process your order in the morning and still get your the discount. 

Love this little light. Totally worth its price. Clipped it on my coat collar while I was replacing the sidemarkers lights on my car. It was a perfect hands-free light. May get a second for around the house.

Love this little light. Totally worth its price. Clipped it on my coat collar while I was replacing the sidemarkers lights on my car. It was a perfect hands-free light. May get a second for around the house.

Love this little light. Totally worth its price. Clipped it on my coat collar while I was replacing the sidemarkers lights on my car. It was a perfect hands-free light. May get a second for around the house.

I know that a little flashlight isn't any big deal in anybody's book, but I ordered one and let me tell you, this thing is about the brightest, most intense light I own.  What a great idea to have something on your work bench or detail cart that you can grab and shine on your paint to see what you can't see with just your ambient light.  I'm really happy with this little thing. It makes a whole lot of difference when I think i have things perfect, but then turn on this little light and see all the spots I missed.  Super,, super bright and you definitely don't want to look directly at the light.
 
It's not expensive, just a couple of bucks, but I'm definitely considering getting a second one just to keep on hand. Might not have anything to do with the way my car looks in the way of polishes, etc. but it sure has a lot to do with the final outcome. 
 
 

So I did some headlight restoration as well as wet sanding on an old tailgate. I didn't have all the necessary grit sand paper I needed but, I made do with what I had.
 
Headlights: I started wet sanding with 800 grit. Then I went to 2000 grit and last 2500 grit. It would have been nice to have some 1500 and 3000 grit but I was out so, I made do. After I used my Rupes 15mm Mark 2 with Adams MF cutting pad and correction polish. Then I used Adams white foam pad and finishing polish. I made 5-6 passes with each step. The results were amazing!
 
Now for the tail gate: I've never wet sanded paint before. I'll be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. I wet sanded with 2000 grit making 6-8 passes maybe? Then I used 2500 grit and made probably 9-10 passes. I was going straight up and down with the sanding block. After that, I used Adams MF cutting pad with correction polish, then the orange foam pad with correction polish again. Last step was Adams white foam pad and finishing polish. I made 6-8 passes on each step. Ive noticed Adams correction and finishing polish love lower temps and humidity. In the summer this stuff burns up quick, like 2-4 passes. Today it's 50ish degrees and no humidity and the working time was way longer with the Polishes. So here are a couple pics. I took a video that really shows the difference. But YouTube kills the quality so I won't bother uploading it.
 

 

 

Wheel Polishing and Coating
 
The wheels on the Explorer needed to be protected from the winter weather with Ceramic Wheel Coating, but it is hard to get any quality time with this vehicle, since my wife takes it to work on weekends, and also keeps a busy schedule with all the kids’ activities.  But since I had the week off work between Christmas and New Year’s, I was able to convince her to be without a vehicle for a few days.
 
Since preparation is the most important step, I gave the wheels and tires a thorough cleaning.  After pressure washing to remove most of the crud, I cleaned barrels of the wheels with All Purpose Cleaner, and used Tire & Rubber Cleaner on the backs of the tires.
 
Switching to the fronts, I cleaned them with Strip Wash in the bucket, and All Purpose Cleaner with the Wheel Brush.  I then did the tires with Tire & Rubber Cleaner.
 

 
 
And yes, that is ice on the driving, and it was dark, since I did not get to the wheels until later in the day after washing and applying H2O Guard & Gloss to the vehicle.
 
After drying with the Master Blaster Revolution, I brought them into the garage for inspection.  Even though the wheels were only 8-months old, there were some minor scratches and swirls, and one of the barrels had some product residue compliments of the dealer prep.
 
To remove any bonded contaminates that did not get washed off (like brake dust), I clayed the faces of the wheels, and then clayed the backs/barrels, and then removed the residue with Waterless Wash.
 
Placing the wheels face down on the work tables, I did a one-step polish on the barrels using the Correcting Polish and Orange Foam pad on the Rupes Mini.
 

 
 
I then flipped them face up to polish the faces.  I added some plastic to the front of the car to protect from slinging product.
 

 
 
The first step of machine polishing with the Rupes Nano was done using Heavy Correcting Polish and the Blue Coarse Foam Pads to address the few areas that had actual scratches.
 
Next, the entire face of the wheel was polished using Correcting Polish and the Green Medium Foam Pads.  The final step used the Finishing Polish and Yellow Fine Foam Pads.
 

 
 
While the faces were polished with the 1.5” pads, in order to get into the spokes of the wheel, I had to use the larger 2.75” pads to reach the deeper portions.
 

 
 
For the majority of the polishing, I used the rotary attachment on the tool.  On most of the areas, the orbital attachment would just stall.  But I did make a pass using the orbital attachment and 1.5” pad across the face of the spokes and on the center caps.  While Rupes does not recommend using the larger pads for rotary polishing, I really did not have any other option, so decided that any pad damage was justified, and just figured these pads would get tossed.
 
You can also see that I added some vinyl electrical tape to the head of the neck, to keep it from banging against the spoke as I polished.  It would be nice if version 2.0 of this tool had a rubberized head and neck.
 
For the application of the wheel coating, I removed the center caps.
 

 
 
To make prepping the wheels and applying the product easier, I stood the wheels up on the table, and used chocks on the downhill side, and also used packing tape to secure them to the table.  This made it much easier than when I coated the Raptor wheels, since I did not have to keep one hand on the tire to keep it from falling over.
 

 
 
I wanted to have the wheels vertical when prepping and applying the coating to the barrels and backs of the spokes, so that I could make sure to wipe any product that ended up on the front.
 
I then cleaned the backs and fronts of each wheel with Coating Prep, going over them a few times to make sure all the polishing oils were completely removed.  I also switched towels for each wheel, to make sure that I was not leaving any residue behind.
 
Using the applicator, I applied to the backs of half the spokes, then wiped off the backs and also checked and wiped the fronts of any coating.  It is important to quickly wipe any excess coating from the fronts before it dries.  For the barrels, I applied to the whole barrel at once, then wiped off.
 

 
 
To coat the faces, I place the wheels down on the tables, then taped off the tires.  While taping may not be required on some wheels (it was not on the Raptor), these wheels have a rolled lip that goes right to the rubber.  This will prevent the coating from leaving dark areas were it gets on the rubber, and it will also keep the applicator clean.
 

 
 
Also note that I put marks on the tape to divide the wheel in half, so I could keep track of where I started and finished. With the complexity of the spokes, I only applied to half the wheel before going back and wiping the residue.
 
Starting at the center of the wheel, I used a foam detailing swab to apply coating to the lug nut recesses, being careful not to get coating onto the conical nut seat.
 

 
 
I also used this swab to coat the rolled wheel lips.
 

 
 
Then the coating was applied to the rest of the areas with the applicator pad.
 
After the application was complete, they were left to cure overnight in the heated garage.
 

 
 
I also applied coating to the chrome lug nuts.
 
While the wheels were off, I also prepped and coated the brake calipers.  Even though they are just stock, and not much to look at, the coating will make it easier to clean them.
 

 
 
After letting the coating cure for 24 hours, I then sprayed the wheels and brake calipers with Ceramic Boost and wiped down with a clean towel.  Finished by dressing the tires with Tire Shine.
 

 
 
The next day, I cleaned, prepped and applied Trim Coating to the plastic wheel wells and mud flaps, and let it cure overnight
 
On the fourth day, I masked off the entire car, and then applied undercoating using Amsoil HDMP. 
 

 
 
Note that when I washed on the first day, I pressure washed the undercarriage, and scrubbed as much of the undercarriage as I could with a pole brush and Strip Wash.
 

 
 
This product is their Heavy Duty Metal Protector, and sprays on as a fairly thin liquid, and then dries to a waxy finish.  This was applied liberally to the complete underside, including the suspension components.
 

 
 
While it does not look pretty, it does a great job at preventing corrosion.
 
Only downsides are that it is messy to apply and smells terrible.  I wore a hooded Tyvek suit and latex gloves, and use a respirator and goggles.
 

 
 
After letting this undercoating cure out for a day and a half, I reinstalled the wheels.

I just got off the phone,with Ryan at Adams and I must say he is great to work with! I have spoken to Ben a few times and have always been overly impressed. Ryan fits right in. Super guy, very helpful and as usual went above and beyond. He made good on a promise from Dan that I never collected on from close to a year ago. I am always amazed at how helpful the Adams team is. I should know by now they will always exceed my expectations. Kudos Ryan! Keep up the excellent work!!!

Ordered a few today. Have had no issue with the green ones, but since so many people rave about the blue ones, I figured I would give them a try.

I was expecting the return of the blue glass towels to be good news to some forum members on here, I guessed right
 
We added a few new products as well under the New Products section too. Full sale announcement to follow tomorrow!

I like your thinking. One of my customers just asked me this Monday why did I buy a black truck I told home I bought black because I shows off my detailing talents even though it's double the work.

I found that for headlights that are not as bad, the Adams microfiber polishing pad and heavy correction compound worked amazingly. No need to wet sand in this case

Sorry I'm late to this thread. Lots of excellent ideas and explanations as far as logistics. Rich and Robert nailed it in that Adam's tries to hold several detail clinics throughout the year in various locations, but it can be difficult to coordinate things and still keep the day-to-day business operations running as well. 
 
I'm in the Southwest PA region and would always be happy to help organize something informal somewhere in the area, either at my garage or some place else for a few people to hang out and learn, but it would be unofficial. I've had a few local forum members stop by over the last year or so on weekends, and I usually put them to work helping to clean my cars

New to the forums, not new to Adam's. Simply the BEST car care products available!

Tried the Rinseless Wash for the first time today. It's about 32-33 outside. My car sits outside so it gets dusty and dirty from just sitting there. Especially after it rains or when cats walk on it ????. I soaked 2 Double soft and 2 Triple soft towels in my bucket. I used 2.5 ounces of the Rinseless in about 4 gallons of warm water. I also mixed some Rinseless in a spray bottle and used that as a pre soak for each panel. I just wanted to add some lubricity to ensure no scratching. After I pre-soaked a panel I wiped left to right. As I wiped I slowly lifted the towel from front to back. Making sure there was always a fresh clean spot of the towel contacting the paint. Then after each panel was clean I buffed off any remaining product with a double soft towel. I repeated those same steps for the rest of the car. This stuff works pretty good. There was a couple bird bombs on the car. I sprayed them and they rinsed right away. I can see myself using this product a lot during the warm months too. Right after it rains or just before a cruise etc.. Gave my car a freshly waxed look too, which I was surprised by. Gets 2 thumbs up from me!
 
 

 
 

I've found they make good alternatives for Solo cups when you aren't that thirsty. 
 
Seriously, though, I agree. Adam's is great at paying attention to the little things. Must be because it's a "detail" business. 

I do this for the baristas at Starbucks that I go to since they always hook up the coffee. I use the waterless wash in their parking lot and when they get off work, they love the surprise.

I lived in apartments for years, they always had garages so I could still wash our vehicles. All of my neighbors would at one time or another if they came in while i was washing make a joke of "Mine next" or whatever. Well one time after such a joke and I was finishing I figured why not. So I washed the neighbors car while they were in their apartment. They said thanks a week or two later when coming in they caught me washing my car again.

I just taught my 16 year old how to do a full detail from strip wash through LPS on his new car. I'll add pics tomorrow. The neighbors car could be a good gas money project for him! Thanks for the idea.