imatt27

I have a black car. And so far I’ve used buttery, Americana, and ceramic wax. And my favorite overall has been the Americana. For ease of use and shine. I think the ceramic lasted longer but was harder to remove. And I had a very difficult time with the buttery wax. 

My favorite sent so far is the 4th of July bottles. Cars and coffee smells like hot chocolate to me lol 

Lol.  I am not the only one who refers to them as “flavors.”  I'm saving some to mix with pumpkin spice.  That's right people...
PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE DS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Idk how I got lucky and scored one a few weeks back but I did. I had been searching for weeks on ebay and on here, happened to look up who my local dealers were and called the closest one to me. I asked him if they kept in stock and if he had any signs. He had a sign and gave it to me for free when I got there! Obviously bought some product from him to return the favor and will now be going back there from now on!

Washed and used H20 Guard and Gloss on the daily today. She’s looking good! 

Washed the corvette this morning. Added some BG... I’m impressed! 

I noticed the out of stock metal garage signs have been purged from the store...bummer, I was hoping to pick one of those up eventually.

It has become clear to me why more pro level detailers don’t use Adam’s Polishes. It’s become increasingly difficult to keep them on our shelves in a cost effective manner.
 
I am aware everyone here is heavily pro-Adams. And their products work well for the consumer. But there’s a whole world of products out there, and some even work better. The pricing here was what lead to that discovery for us. 

I had the opportunity this past weekend to do a full detail on a previous customers new, to her, 2017 BMW X3 in Alpine White. I'd detailed her 2007 Acura MDX several years ago. Since then she's graduated college with a degree in Athletic Training, I believe, and bought this that need a little love.
 
She'd been looking for one of these for several months and finally located one at a dealership in NJ at a price she was willing to pay. The vehicle had been a rental with 15,000 miles on it, she's now put on another 5,000+ on it before turning it over to me for the weekend.
 
I picked the SUV up Thursday afternoon and brought it back to my place where the work would be done. It was raining Thursday, raining hard. We got over 5" of rain that day.

Yup, I started in the rain. Put on a hat, my Bean Boots and a gore tex jacket and sucked it up. Broke out the pressure washer and using Adam's new Pressure Washer Swivel Extension Wand cleaned all the debris from the felt lined inner fenders and took care of the wheels and tires. The 20* bend and shorter length is nice to really get up in where I wanted. Eco All Purpose Cleaner on the fender liners, Wheel Cleaner on the wheels and scrubbed the gunk that was on the tires twice with Tire and Rubber Cleaner to get them thoroughly cleaned.
 
The rain stopped overnight and the rest of the weekend looked like it was going to be great weather.
 
At first light Saturday morning I was outside. Didn't want to bother the neighbors with the pressure washer yet, so I did a few of the more quiet activities first
 
 Chrome exhaust tips polished with Metal Polish #1 using a piece of 0000 Steal Wool
Before:

 
After:

 
I removed the rubber floor mats and cleaned them

 
I vacuumed the interior, and here's where things started to get weird. I was finding shattered pieced of tempered glass in the carpet, along the gas pedal on the hump side, under the front passenger's seat,  between that seats bottom and back, and in the outside seat rail track of that seat.

 
A quick look at all the vehicles glass...
All windows have the BMW logo in them

 
except the front passenger's side door glass

 
The B-pillar on that door

It appears this vehicle had been broken into at some point. I contacted the owner. She said before she purchased it she saw the vehicle had a clean Car Fax, and that she had noticed all the glass shards sometime after she's gotten it home. She contacted the dealer she'd bought it from and was told they knew nothing about it.
 
Engine and engine bay tidied up

Eco All Purpose Cleaner a Fender Brush and Trim & Lug Nut Brush. I dried it with the 4hp setting of my Master Blaster Revolution, shut the hood and let her run for five minutes to dry the rest of the water off. While it was running I sprayed Odor Neutralizer inside the vehicle and into the recirculating intake with the fan on high to take care of any odors.
 
It was now late enough in the morning to get the pressure washer back out again. Adam's Snub Nose Pressure Washer Attachment and my Foam Cannon filled with 2oz of Strip Wash and warm water.

I let that dwell for a few minutes then proceeded to give her a two bucket wash with another 2oz of Strip Wash in my wash bucket and used the Red Microfiber mitt. Rinsed her down well and hit everything below the glass, including the C-pillars with Iron Remover to decontaminate.

 

 

Thoroughly rinsed the Iron Remover off the vehicle and clayed using the Clay Mitt and Detail Spray as the lubricant. Black specks all over the SUV. Worse on the rear panel and right quarter panel, but everywhere on the vehicle. The clay mitt wasn't getting it off.

My guess? The window glass was replaced at a Body Shop and the vehicle was sitting uncovered too close to the paint booth and over-spray made its way to the BMW. There were black paint specks even in the jamb of the rear hatch. They must have had the hatch open when the over-spray made its way onto the Alpine White.
Adam's Visco Elastic Clay was able to remove the over-spray, but it was a lot of work and about three hours of time I wasn't expecting! One last rinse from my Reverse Osmosis Spot Free system, and a quick blow dry with my Master Blaster Revolution, this time on the full 8hp setting..
Before:

 
After:

My right shoulder felt numb when I finished for the day from all the rubbing and pressure I had to exert to remove all of this.
 
Before the day ended, the paint was thoroughly cleaned and decontaminated and I began polishing. I was able to finish the front and rear bumpers, and most everywhere else I had to use my Swirl Killer 12mm mini and Nano ibird. Lots of curves, contours and angles required the smaller machines. Heavy Correcting Compound and a Blue Microfiber Pad, that's it on this one. This vehicle is washed at drive through car washes. Most of the marks in the paint are straight line marks from the car wash brushes. The combo I used got 75% of them out and left the paint with a nice high luster.

My GTO was pulled out onto the driveway for the next two nights and the BMW was put in the garage.
 
First thing Sunday morning I put the plugs into the front bumper she'd provided me. NJ runs a front plate while PA doesn't. She didn't like the holes. Can't say I blame her.

 

In & Out Spray to all the black Honey Comb up front too.
 
Completely Polished, including the headlights.

Also used my Swirl killer 15mm LT machine on the larger flatter panels, again Heavy Correcting Compound and a Blue Microfiber Pad.
 
Paint protected with H2O Guard & Gloss, wheels protected with Ceramic Boost, tires dressed with Tire Shine, Glass Sealant on the windshield. I even hit the little rubber splash guard in front of the rear tires with VRT.

My method for using the Guard & Gloss was one I watched Adam do at Corvettes at Carlisle the previous weekend. I'd never thought of it before. Go one panel at a time, spray the one panel with water from a water bottle, then spray the Guard & Gloss on that wet panel. Use a wet microfiber towel to even it out/level it off and a second to buff the panel dry, then onto the next. In the past I'd been pulling polished vehicles back out onto the driveway and wetting them with the hose again. Adam's method I was able to do while still in the garage.
Sunday was done...
 
Monday morning had three hours spent on the interior. Interior Detailer mostly, Leather & Interior cleaner on the soiled Steering Wheel

In & Out Spray in the vents, inside of the windshield and back glass got Brilliant Glaze, all other glass was wiped clean with Adam's Glass Cleaner. My McCulloch 1385 Steamer was needed to get the crud from inside the cup holders, the tracks in the floor of the cargo area, and a few spots on the drivers compartment floor. The interior came as nice as the outside, I thought.

This!!!
 
Here's a video:
 
 
 

Here's my little garage...Have another 2-3 car garage attached to the house.  

I’ve used APC for cleaning my household appliances. And glass cleaner for the bathroom mirrors. Helpful around the house and the cars! 

That’s awesome!! #garagegoals 

Since my business is run out of my home, and with the recent family additions we outgrew our garage which doubled as a family garage and workspace. 
 
The way our land is laid out, we can’t have a poured foundation due to the zoning setbacks. So we had to go with a premanufactured garage. 
 
We ended up settling on a 14’ x 32’ garage style “shed.” We have used the back half for storage for equipment and I’ve started making the front half a film and coating studio. 
 
The front and back half will be separated by a canvas curtain enabling me to easily get in and out of for the storage component.  Up front, I’ve installed eighteen 4,800 lumen LED shop lights on the wall and ceiling. That’s 86,400 lumens of light for coating and film to catch everything. 
 
We started hanging banners and have power partially run. The rest will be done soon. 
 
Eventually I’d like to RaceDeck the flooring. But all in good time. And I’ll insulate it before winter. 
 
In the meantime here’s some progress photos. 
 
 
 
 

Washed the corvette this morning. Added some BG... I’m impressed! 

Washed the corvette this morning. Added some BG... I’m impressed! 

I’d be interested in a mystery sticker pack!

After a few months of nagging about my purchases my wife asked me last night what product and towel she should use to get bird bombs off the car. I was so happy I almost shed a tear. 

I have a few of each of these in my collection also. I'm starting to looking to buy additional sets of towels for different things like wheels only, engine bay only, stuff like that, and it would be nice to have color options for the different tasks and some different lower GSM/lower cost options for the dirtier tasks where I want more pile than the utility towel offers. I would love to see Adam's expand the lineup in this area.

this was a great video that explained each towel. 

A combination of posts here and having just attended accreditation training for another coating have once again gotten my writing mind working. It’s also an effort to go back to some detailing related discussion as opposed to this weeks special edition detail spray. 
 
It seems there are a million questions about ceramic coatings. What’s worse is that there are two million opinions on ceramic coatings, what they can and can’t do and when they should and shouldn’t be applied. So let’s get into it a bit...
 
What can a ceramic coating do?  Ceramic coatings are simply a different last step product that can change the maintenance regiment for your vehicle. They are not maintenance free by any means. A ceramic coating can lock in a deep gloss look that’s easily maintained and restored while offering some better scratch resistance (which we will get into shortly). 
 
What can’t a ceramic coating do?  A ceramic coating won’t stop rock chips. It’s not impossible to scratch (meaning proper care and technique when washing is still required). Also, a ceramic coating can’t last forever despite anyone’s claims that they will do so. Setting your hood on fire because it’s ceramic coated isn’t a good idea either.
 
So why would you want to ceramic coat your car?  Well, it’s typically lower maintenance than having to reapply the finish every so often and provides an amazingly slick surface that’s a bit easier to clean or keep clean. 
 
Maintenance?  Yup. The biggest complaint from “failed” coatings isn’t that they’ve failed, it’s that they haven’t been decontaminated properly to allow them to function normally. They still require periodic maintenance by claying and iron decontamination. To go the extra mile, some coatings require reapplication of a top layer. This is sometimes a spray or an actual top coating layer. This is widely variable based on the coating used. 
 
Can I do this myself?  It is in the wheelhouse of most serious weekend warrior detailers. It can seem overwhelming, but it shouldn’t be. Understand that the prep phase is literally everything. Poor prep will result in a poor coating. Great prep will help to get that great result. 
 
How do I do it?  Well, the prep is similar to most other details. Decontaminate the vehicle with wash, clay and iron remover. Polish the paint until you’re satisfied with the results (once you apply the coating, what’s there is there).  Give it a good wipedown to prep for coating. And install. We do wheels, trim and then paint last typically. You can change it in any order you like. In fact, we actually spray wheels when we have them pulled for an easier application. This comes at the expense of using more product. 
 
Rules of thumb?  Textured plastic gets trim coating. Painted plastic get paint coating. Textured plastic doesn’t usually require leveling, where painted trim does. Work in small bites. Know you’ll go through a bunch of towels and a bunch of applicators. It’s a slow process, especially when you’re not familiar. 
 
What kind of tricks are there?  Start working small. Make a “puddle line” down the middle of your working area. Then spread the coating across it (think like an H). The puddle line across spreads the heaviest product. When crossing it you’re spreading it and thinning it for a very even coverage.  
 
We use three towels when we buff off a coating. We use a low pile suede for the initial buff, then we go wider with a microfiber to pick up the push and then we use a third microfiber to get any remaining spots.
 
If it’s hot and/or humid, rapidly flashing coatings can be frustrating. We can stretch the open time of the coating by storing the bottle in a cup with ice in it prior to and during application.  This will give you some more time to let the coating flash and then buff off. I won’t get into flash times since they’re widely variable based upon environment and what coating you’re using. Always keep the cap on when you’re not applying to the applicator. And a little really does go a long way. 
 
If you get some coating where it shouldn’t be, wipe it immediately before it cures. 
 
If you have high spots, you can try brilliant glaze before it’s cured. You can also try a little polish on a rag and your finger. Or worst case you’re polishing it out and reapplying to that section. Adams coatings usually come off with glaze/polish. We do work with a coating that has to be wet sanded down once it fully cures. High spots are a nightmare. 
 
Which brings us to lighting. And a bunch of different types. Light from different angles and sources will reveal everything. Have multiple eyes look at it and see what they see. Things blend together after a while. 
 
Take your time. Plan appropriately for the time to prep, install and cure. Don’t rush it or you’ll pay the price. 
 
And lastly, what coating is for me?  That’s a very open ended question based on what you expect out of your coating for performance and durability. Only have the car a couple of years?  Use a lower end coating. Keeping it for a while and daily driving it?  Maybe a higher end coating is for you for longevity. Not all coatings are available to everyone. We have two coatings that are accredited or authorized installers only. We can’t even sell you a bottle if you wanted one. That’s because they’re a bit harder to work with and less forgiving. The flip side is the results from them are amazing. 
 
I think that’s all my brain has kicked out off the top of my head. If you have quesrions, ask. Between myself and others here there’s a thinktank of answers available. Take advantage of it. 

I’ve learned it’s always better to ask for forgiveness than permission ? as long as bills are paid, I bring home what I want haha. 

Welcome and sweet collection!! 

That is pretty slick. Here's a pic of my setup
 

Older picture but here is mine!