Dan@Adams

Oh it's definitely happening. I have about 43 pages typed already and that just covers the intro, table of contents, and 15+ chapters/steps on the exterior detailing process...still have to do the sections on interior!

Known issue with the 2.0 turbo, more common problem with the ATS than the Regal. There's an updated piston design now. Send me a PM if you want to discuss it, I don't want to derail this thread too much more, thanks

As far as I know, the Rinse and Soap Bucket labels will be sticking around, but I will have to find out about the Detail Kit label. Edit: And I'm sure some forum members have started to catch on by now that we sometimes have a sale when new products are launched, so keep your eyes peeled

Oh hey...what's this? http://www.adamsforums.com/topic/29856-detail-spray-scented-air-fresheners-are-back/

We get a few emails and calls each week asking if we have any Detail Spray Scented Air Fresheners still laying around at the Headquarters that we could sell, and sadly we were sold out of all of them... But we're happy to announce that they're back, now with the updated logo from our most current sticker design, featuring the Adam's "A" with the black border around the circle that proudly states "Premium Car Care Made In USA". Click Here to Shop New Products Now! As with all of our air fresheners, we recommend that you hang them from either the rearview mirror, turn signal stock or other area where they will not come in contact with plastic, as the material these are made out of can stain certain plastics.

Some of you may have already noticed a few new products on the website this evening. We're introducing a New Car Wash Bucket label design with the new Adam's "A" logo! Same great 5-gallon bucket with the gamma-seal water tight lid and Grit Guard insert, but now with the new modern logo design. Click Here to Shop New Products Now! Plus, if you're just looking to pick up the sticker to add to the back of your current Rinse or Wash Bucket, or to just hang up somewhere in the garage, we have the 8" sticker available for $4.99 before discounts: http://adamspolishes.com/adam-s-polishes-8-label.html Thanks for looking, and let us know what you think!

Yep, GM put a whole new engine in it since the #4 cylinder wall was too damaged from the piston ring land breaking...just got it back last week and I'm babying it around for the first 500 miles or so and trying to stay completely out of boost.

If it's just dusty, I would probably either do a Waterless Wash or Detail Spray wipe down first, depending on how much dust is on the surface. Also, one application of HGG should probably last you 2-3 months, especially if it's not a daily driver

Hey Rome! Thank you for finding us and signing up for the forum, but more importantly, thank you for your service We have a great bunch of detailers on here that can help with any questions you may have, so ask away!

I would actually advise against using our Detail Spray on an exterior cloth convertible top. Our Detail Spray does have shine enhancing agents in it to add gloss and extend the longevity of any wax or sealant a little longer, whereas the Total Interior Detailer will dry to a completely matte finish on plastics, vinyl, and leather. Total Interior Detailer also has cleaners and deodorizers in it for light cleaning of the interior.

I'm hoping to get part 2 posted either tonight or tomorrow night at the latest.

Thank you very much for signing up for the forum good buddy! Jeff is a close friend of mine and is just as fanatical about keeping his cars clean as I am, so I knew he would never do any damage to the finish like this, so hopefully no one thought that he caused these problems ​Here's a nice sideways action shot of his old awesome Camaro!

I get great results with our older Gen4 and our newer Gen5 pads, and I have used CCS-style pads in the past with no major complaints. It is important to note though that those pads are not color coordinated to our polishes, so if you go that route, make sure you buy the correct pads for the polishes you are using. I like the flat design of our Gen5 pads as they seem to correct a little faster for me, and the foam seems to be more forgiving and doesn't tear up as easily as our older wave-style pads if you don't have perfect technique with the machine, i.e. putting too much weight on one side of a pad vs. keeping the pad face flat against the surface area. The center cooling hole also allows for the pads to generate less heat. My winning combo on most of the hammered vehicles I've worked on lately has been the orange microfiber pad with Paint Correcting Polish followed up by the white foam pad with Paint Finishing Polish.

Dylan, you are the man!

I haven't had a chance to try the B3CD yet, so I should probably pick one up. I can usually dry most areas with just one of the two 4hp motors with the big Master Blaster if a car has a good coat of sealant or wax on it, so I would say the B3CD should work well on small to midsize cars, but might take a while on larger trucks and suv's. That is my best guess until I actually test one out. Hopefully others will chime in if they have purchased it

It was purchased several states away, so I don't think he will be taking it back. I know a few good painters that could fix the hood for him though.

Part I: Cleaning and Assessment When my friend brought the car over, he had just washed it the night before and only drove it back and forth to work. It was still 90% clean, and just from visual inspection of the paint, I knew I was going to be doing some heavy machine polishing on this bad boy, so I did a quick cleaning of the exterior with Waterless Wash and our waffle weave Waterless Wash Towels rather than a traditional Two Bucket Wash with Grit Guards and our Car Shampoo…plus it was pretty cold outside and much warmer in my garage! After the wiping down all of the exterior panels and glass, I began to assess and document the condition of the paint. It was very apparent that there were swirl marks all over the car, but I found a lot of other interesting mistakes and areas where the shop that re-painted this Z06 cut some corners and did some things poorly and some things completely wrong, probably to save time and to get it on a sales lot as quickly as possible. Here are some minor swirl marks in the front bumper, don’t worry, it gets worse.​ Some pretty deep scratches right in the center of the hood: There were also several wet sanding marks around the car that they did not fully polish out, like below the passenger mirror stalk and on the mirror itself here: ​More wet sanding areas not fully polished out, same spot on both sides: ​ Deep scratches on the passenger side rear quarter panel where it looks like someone repeatedly bumped into it with a belt buckle: Deep scratch on the top of the rear bumper, as well as water spots: Lots of hazing and swirls around the trunk emblem, difficult to see most of them, but they were there: Fairly deep scratches on the hood and roof. The auto-focus and exposure adjustment on my phone made these and other pictures look less severe than they actually were: Next up I noticed a pretty big issue with the plastic rain channels and rubber molding that go around the doors and the windshield – the shop that repainted this car painted these areas and clear coated them as well, which you can see somewhat in the picture below. They did not however paint over the lower rubber channel of the side windows, and instead chose to leave them oxidized and stained with some type of overspray splotches: ​ Really deep scratches in the "just buffed" hood: And then I discovered the biggest problem area of the car, the front third of the hood. Whomever did the work on this car clearly went over it very quickly or very poorly with a rotary polisher, and they left all sorts of nice buffer trails and holograms in the finish: Even worse, you can clearly see a paint mismatch between the hood, and the front bumper and driver side pop-up headlight bucket. Also, notice all of those little tiny dots in the hood? Those are not rock chips or dirt. Upon closer inspection with an LED torch light, I realized this section of the hood was painted with metallic paint, with tiny dots of blue, purple, and gold metallic, when the rest of the car is straight GM Gloss Black. My best guess is that there was either metallic paint left over in the spray gun from them not cleaning it out properly in between jobs, or they just re-sprayed this area with the wrong paint and either repainted the rest of the car with the correct gloss black paint or did not repaint it at all and simply just wet sanded and polished the whole car. You can clearly see the waves and buffer trails start to disappear as you look further up the hood, creating an almost ghost flame effect on this front section of the hood. I knew I was not going to be able to fix this completely, as it would need a re-shoot with the correct non-metallic paint. Stay tuned for Part 2: Paint Correction!

IN-DEPTH: Full Exterior Detail on a 2002 Corvette Z06 Products Used in this Write-Up: Adam’s All Purpose Cleaner Adam’s Big Blue Clay Bar Adam’s Blue Hex Grip Applicator Adam’s Borderless Gray Towel Adam’s Detail Spray Adam’s Metal Polish #1 Adam’s Liquid Paint Sealant Adam’s Pad Conditioning Brush Adam’s Paint Correcting & Paint Finishing Polish Combo Adam’s Patriot Shine Kit Adam’s Pro Tire Hex Grip Applicator Adam’s Red Waxing Hex Grip Applicator Adam’s Revive Hand Polish Adam’s Single Soft Towel Adam’s Super VRT Tire & Trim Dressing Adam’s Tire Shine Adam’s VRT Super Block Tire Dressing Applicator Adam’s Waterless Wash & Towel Combo Adam’s 4” Orange Foam Pad (2 Pack) Adam’s 4” Orange Microfiber Pad (2 Pack) Adam’s 4” White Foam Pad (2 Pack) Adam’s 6.5” Orange Microfiber Cutting Pad Adam’s 7” Orange Foam Pad Adam’s 7” White Foam Pad Cyclo Model 5-Pro Mark II Polisher Flex 3401 VRG Dual Action Orbital Polisher Rupes LHR 75E Mini Random Orbital Polisher Background A few weeks back one of my close friends parted with his red 1996 Camaro Z28. That car was near spotless as could be for a nearly 20 year old car, and I never thought he would sell it due to how many fun memories he’s had using the car for SCCA Autocross for over 10 years, even letting me co-drive it with him one year at the SCCA Nationals in Topeka, Kansas. He decided he wanted to step up to a more competitive car for stock class racing, since the trusty F-Body simply could not keep up with the newer technology Mustangs that can also run much better tires due to having 17 and 18 inch wheels instead of the 16” wheels on his Camaro. He shopped around for a while and found this awesome 2002 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 – very, very low miles and for a steal of a price! When he purchased it, they told him right then that the car had an incident where the paint was pretty damaged but that it was not in a wreck…let’s just say that someone was sick and it ended up going all over the front half of the car and then it sat there for a few weeks, requiring the front half of the car to be repainted, so they went ahead and repainted the whole thing. He brought it over on his way home from work one day and asked if I would be interested in detailing it. He said “you’ll see why once we pull it into your garage under the lights…”, so I had a feeling this was going to be a good challenge. Sure, it looks like it's in pretty good shape paint-wise in the picture above, right? Wrong! Once I started to take a look at it, we agreed to leave the car with me and I gave him a ride home to his house…blowing up cylinder #4 in my year old Regal G.S. daily driver in the process…but that’s a different story for a different thread…

I agree with Chris that it should be fine. If it is a matte vinyl, the Super VRT may add a little bit of shine to it, so just be aware of that. I would also apply it on a nice day or indoors and let it dry for a few hours. If you apply it and then it rains or snows right after applying it before it has had enough time to dry a little, you may have issues with the SVRT streaking and running off.

I think Ben just sent you a response a little bit ago

Thanks for sharing James, that first Ram sure did look sharp with the black and white stormtrooper theme. It's a shame what happened to it...black ice is never fun, but I'm glad you were ok! Really digging that black and white picture with the color US Flag with the 2500 and the that last muddy picture. Being a shine freak, I cry a little inside when I see so much mud like that, but I can definitely appreciate it and I know how fun offroading can be

I think I spoke to you, sorry about that! As soon as I found out the white Sidekicks arrived at the warehouse yesterday, I made the post about 2 minutes later. They didn't go up for sale until after the Mystery Box sale had ended. Give me a call on your next order and I can at least make up for that shipping charge. Thanks!

Thanks for posting up! Very nice ride...mmm...shiny! I almost bought wheels very similar to those for my blue car.

I've had quite a few people asking "When will you guys get the white Sidekicks back in stock?" Well that answer is NOW! They just showed up at the warehouse this morning, in stock and ready to ship. Plus they're on sale right now too! Click Here To Shop Now

If my plans work out correctly, I might own an even closer relatively to your G8 this spring to replace one of my rides...just that it will be missing 2 doors and sorta have a truck bed on the back half!