Dan@Adams

Without a doubt, the CLEANEST, most perfect finish, new-gen Phantom Black Metallic GTO I have ever seen in person...and I've inspected dozens and dozens of them over the years at Carlisle and many other shows.

I was going through my pics and ran across these pics and thought I would share.

This is too cool good buddy!  One day I hope my garage is half as nice as yours

This is too cool good buddy!  One day I hope my garage is half as nice as yours

I was watching My Classic Car today after I got home from church and a Racedeck commercial came on, to my surprise my garage was featured in it. Too cool!
 

What I've done in the past to get that DS smell inside:
 
Soak a cotton ball or gauze in a little DS, just enough to wet it, not dripping and tape it to a piece of wax paper and place it under the seat. Its like a home made air freshener.

I've also take a rolled up gauze, placed it in the top of an open bottle of DS and placed it in the cup holder overnight. The product will wick its way up the gauze and release the smell.

 

Hey gang, I know I haven't been on the forum much lately, but I'm hoping to change that again.  I'm warning you now that this will be a long post, so I'll throw a lot of pictures in between my babbling
 
Last Friday, I said goodbye to a truly great friend, my 2008 Trailblazer SS...
 

 
It went home to a good friend of mine who purchased it from the dealership for the same price I traded it in for.  I absolutely loved the TBSS, but I felt it was time to change things up some and get more of an adult car, even if it really is a 'pretend' adult car that happens to be an incredibly fun sport sedan too! This ain't your grandpa's Buick...
 

 
2014 Buick Regal GS.  I'm not sure how many people know about this car, so if you don't, it's essentially an Opel Insignia - built in Germany the first two years of production and now they're being built in Canada. White Diamond Tricoat finish, 2.0 Ecotec turbo, 259hp and 295ft-lbs, all wheel drive, 20" wheels with Pirelli summer-only 255's, Brembo brakes, and just about any feature you can imagine. The car is fully loaded with the exception of one option - $140 all weather rubber floor mats, lol. Driver Confidence 1 and 2 packages add things like blind spot detection, lane departure warnings, and something that really freaked me out at first but now I'm really starting to like it - adaptive cruise control. I got over $6k off MSRP, then $15k trade-in for the TBSS, so I ended up financing $25k at 1.9%...not bad at all.

My friend picking up his new TBSS, in his G8 GT:
 

 
I've never been in a car with adaptive cruise control before, so this thing put me in awe, lol...it can do all of the braking and acceleration for you, so basically all you have to do is steer! Heated steering wheel and seats, moonroof, and the awesome new 8" LCD configurable gauge cluster, very similar to the C7 Corvette. It even has a G-meter and lots of other cool screen options. Putting the car into GS mode firms up the shock valving, tightens the response on the awesome steering wheel, and also plays around with the fuel mapping and shift algorithms. The turbo can make up to 24psi of boost from the factory, and the all wheel drive system can put up to 95% of the torque to the rear wheels when it needs it.
 

 
I absolutely love this thing. It's going to make a great, fun daily driver. For all of you scifi nerds out there like me, 42 miles at purchase, no joke.
 

 

 

 
Build quality has a very Euro, bmw-like feel to it, which I think is a very good thing Panel fitment is tight, no rattles, and very little hard plastics. The touch-controls for the HVAC and heated seats are very modern and cool to me, but I guess some car mags don't like them. I've never owned anything this premium feeling. I sure miss the TBSS, but I do not regret this purchase one bit!
 

 
Love the design of these massive 20" wheels and nice wide tires
 

 
The Brembos. 60-0 stopping is supposed to be about 104 feet...I wouldn't argue that one bit! Holy brakes Batman...especially for a 4,000 pound car.
 

 
LED Daytime Running Lights are pretty sweet, and the HID's are fantastic.
 

 
LED tail lights too, with a redesign for 2014.
 

 
For a daily driver, ideally I wanted something classy that I wouldn't be embarrassed to take a woman out on a first date without making her go deaf or smell like raw fuel like my other two rides I wanted comfort, style, all wheel drive, decent gas mileage, geek toys, decent power, and awesome handling and braking - and I knew it would be hard to find all of those things in a new vehicle for a decent price. A BMW 3-series or an Audi A4 could have given me all of that as well, but for much more money for a similar feature set, and who am I kidding, I'm a GM guy and always will be!

My dealership knows how particular I am with my GTO and was with the TBSS (in fact they told me that the TBSS was the cleanest black vehicle they've ever received on a trade...I told them that was sorta my goal), never letting them wash either.  They said they at least had to wash the GS for me to look it over, so I told them only to wash it the night before - no wax or junky shiny stuff inside, and that I would take care of the car myself since like all of you, I'm obsessed with detailing cars to perfection. They put some tire shine on as well that flung all over, but I'll remedy that with SVRT.
 
I already started to claybar the car, polish it with Paint Finishing Polish with the Cyclo and white pads (didn't need Paint Correcting Polish, as there were only a few very fine swirl marks in the clear in a few spots), seal it with Liquid Paint Sealant, then Brilliant Glaze, and finally Patriot Wax. The hood and entire driver side are done so far. I've detailed dozens of vehicles now, and it always amazes me how much dirt and rail dust gets pulled out with the claybar, even with a brand new car.
 
This was from just claying the hood.
 

 

 
Lookin pretty all alone as I like it, at the Arby's parking lot at lunch yesterday
 

 
And finished the hood off with the good stuff last night.
 

 
Tonight I got the trunk clayed, polished, and sealed.  I'll move onto the passenger side, roof, and bumpers on Sunday, as tomorrow I'm detailing a friend's BMW and his wife's Acura!  I'll get better pictures once the whole car is complete.
 
Oh, and I'm already looking into the Trifecta tune, Weathertech floormats, and some winter wheels and tires, lol. As always, thanks for looking!

I might just take you on this Dan.
Corvettes at Carlisle August 28-30 in central, PA. Figure sunny, mid 90's, high humidity and you in a black apron detailing a black Vette in the direct sun the day after the customer appreciation party! Wear an apron? You guys are lucky I keep my dang shirt on!
 
LOL I may just buy you one myself!

Michael, it looks to me like the One Step Correction Kit is still available for $64.95.
 
http://adamspolishes.com/shop/kits/4-polishing-kits/adam-s-4-one-step-correction-kit.html

I no longer feel the disturbance in the Force.

Today, we let the cat out of the bag.  The Shine Doc is in, and Dylan holds an honorary Ph.D in OCD detailing!  He dialed in our product line and upgraded our detailing system since 2008, and manifested multiple product and process improvements....at all times.
 
Dylan's attention to detail, his process of measuring perfection, and his pursuit of a flawless finish has earned him an incredibly positive reputation in this company, and industry.  Our company suffered without him.
 
Adam's is way better, and more complete with Dylan on our team, and it feels FANTASTIC having him back.
 
Welcome back my friend, and I'm honored to be on the same team again!
 
-Adam

This is outstanding news Welcome back!

We like transparency here at Adam's, and here is the reality: Shipping is the enemy of our business friends. You don't win paying shipping, and neither do we! FedEx wins. The reality is, the average order that leaves our HQ costs us between $11 and $13 to ship to you.
 
The alternatives are:
 
1- Use the USPS and save 50%, but increase shipping times to 7-10 days, no tracking.
2- Pack profit into the products by raising prices, so we can cover shipping and offer it free on orders over a certain threshold.
3- Initiate an Amazon-Style membership to cover a year of free shipping.
4- Sell everything through Amazon, who offers cheap shipping through their Prime program.
 
Anybody see a neat solution out there that I didn't mention? Our FedEx bill is nearly $500,000 this year, and trust me, $10K out to them every week, when we collect $3-4K in shipping from customers, hurts!
 
Has anyone seen my Bugatti? Ferrari? My villa? No, you have not, because we drive a pickup and a mini van. This awesome company is a passion, supporting American manufacturing, much more than it is a profit center. I love this business!!
 
If we could offer reasonable prices and free shipping even on small orders, we would! Consider a 2-bottle order. Total is $40. Product costs are roughly 50%, shipping cost 25%, and overhead costs, staff, rent, website, events, etc., another 25%.
 
It doesn't take a CPA to realize this process is dripping in red ink! So, we offer specials occasionally on shipping orders over $150, so the shipping can be absorbed.
 
Free or discounted shipping isn't making Amazon profitable either! http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/11/04/why-amazon-is-not-making-money.aspx
 
So, friends, the solutions we sell are made mostly by Americans. We don't employ Asian jail-laborers, so we can get ultra cheap goods with fat profit potential.
 
Did you ask for this narrative? No, you did not, but thanks for reading, and as always, thank you for your business!
 
-Adam

Since it was already sorta mentioned earlier in this thread, Dylan was unexpectedly let go at SCG back in October after he helped get the whole new product line up and running for them.

Ha, that does look like it would be fun watching them fight until the last ram was standing.
 
First thing I did today after waking up and having some breakfast was to go outside and fix some loosened pieces of siding on my detached garage courtesy of some crazy winds a few nights ago.  Then I decided to start doing a full paint correction to my ls1 Sonoma since all of the rally sponsor decals are now off of it again for the winter.  So far I've finished the hood and the passenger side half of the bed lid.
 

 

 
Sorry for the dark pictures, I'm getting better lighting in the garage very soon!

When I am applying liquid paint sealant here's what I do. Stop the machine and "push" the pads into the surface and out comes  paint sealant. It basically squishes it out . I can usually get enough product out to do say a whole door panel! I have a Cyclo also by the way. This method has worked very good for me in the past.Also, like others have said less is more when using sealant,or any other Adams product actually.

This is my opinion, some may agree and some may disagree.  I used a Porter Cable 7424 the first two years I started paint correction and machine polishing, with the back-then products of Adam's Severe Swirl Remover, Swirl & Haze Remover, and Fine Machine Polish.  The products worked as advertised, but the PC literally left my fingers tingling and numb and forearms hurting from the vibrations.  If I worked for 10-20 minutes or so and took a break, it wasn't as bad, but that sucker sure does vibrate a lot...at least mine did...maybe I had a bad counterweight, but I know others have mentioned the vibrations too.  I loved seeing my vehicles perfect and making other people's vehicles look great too, but the fatigue of the machine actually made me not look forward to doing larger vehicles for people.
 
Then I purchased the Flex at a Grabiak Chevrolet Detail Clinic a few years back when Adam's began to offer it.  I immediately noticed how much more manageable the machine was, less vibration, and it had better correction capabilities, allowing me to work faster and easier.  My fingers were no longer tingling and my forearms didn't feel like they were playing tug-of-war with a brick wall for several hours.  Yes, the Flex can 'walk' on a panel more than say the PC, but it is still completely controllable once you practice a bit.  The pressure sensitive trigger and the way the internals gradually bring the polisher up to full speed also helps in having better control when you flip it on and prevents from slinging product where you don't want it - like your clothes, windshield, floor, etc.  I love the trigger lock too.  The Flex gave better results overall than the PC, no question.
 
Finally, this past summer I purchased the Cyclo after trying it out at the Carlisle Truck Nationals.  To me it's simply AWESOME.  It's perfectly balanced with the two rotating heads, so there's literally almost zero vibration.  Yes it's a little oddly shaped, but polishing with it feels natural almost instantly.  While it may not have as much correcting power as the Flex on the first pass on a panel, it still works fantastic.  I have brought 1500 and 2000 grit wet-sanded areas back to a perfect finish with the Cyclo, orange pads, and Paint Correcting Polish.  It can get into tight areas that the Flex simply cannot fit into like A/B/C pillars, and it vibrates plastic bumpers far less than the other options. It might even have a slightly less noisy operating volume (I'll have to borrow a dB meter from work to be sure).
 
For me, polishing on a vehicle is great therapy.  I love seeing the reactions and faces of a customer when they come to pick it up and say it looks like I repainted their car or that they haven't seen that much color in the paint since they bought it new.  A more affordable polisher can eventually give you near the same results as a more higher-end polisher, but at what cost to your body and sanity
 
Edit: Check out the videos section up above for lots of great videos where Adam explains machine polishing in great detail.  This one here is great at explaining the differences between the different types of polishers. 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM55kroCAAs&feature=player_embedded&list=UUzpvSWz3VFZpeFeitVsybWg

This is my opinion, some may agree and some may disagree.  I used a Porter Cable 7424 the first two years I started paint correction and machine polishing, with the back-then products of Adam's Severe Swirl Remover, Swirl & Haze Remover, and Fine Machine Polish.  The products worked as advertised, but the PC literally left my fingers tingling and numb and forearms hurting from the vibrations.  If I worked for 10-20 minutes or so and took a break, it wasn't as bad, but that sucker sure does vibrate a lot...at least mine did...maybe I had a bad counterweight, but I know others have mentioned the vibrations too.  I loved seeing my vehicles perfect and making other people's vehicles look great too, but the fatigue of the machine actually made me not look forward to doing larger vehicles for people.
 
Then I purchased the Flex at a Grabiak Chevrolet Detail Clinic a few years back when Adam's began to offer it.  I immediately noticed how much more manageable the machine was, less vibration, and it had better correction capabilities, allowing me to work faster and easier.  My fingers were no longer tingling and my forearms didn't feel like they were playing tug-of-war with a brick wall for several hours.  Yes, the Flex can 'walk' on a panel more than say the PC, but it is still completely controllable once you practice a bit.  The pressure sensitive trigger and the way the internals gradually bring the polisher up to full speed also helps in having better control when you flip it on and prevents from slinging product where you don't want it - like your clothes, windshield, floor, etc.  I love the trigger lock too.  The Flex gave better results overall than the PC, no question.
 
Finally, this past summer I purchased the Cyclo after trying it out at the Carlisle Truck Nationals.  To me it's simply AWESOME.  It's perfectly balanced with the two rotating heads, so there's literally almost zero vibration.  Yes it's a little oddly shaped, but polishing with it feels natural almost instantly.  While it may not have as much correcting power as the Flex on the first pass on a panel, it still works fantastic.  I have brought 1500 and 2000 grit wet-sanded areas back to a perfect finish with the Cyclo, orange pads, and Paint Correcting Polish.  It can get into tight areas that the Flex simply cannot fit into like A/B/C pillars, and it vibrates plastic bumpers far less than the other options. It might even have a slightly less noisy operating volume (I'll have to borrow a dB meter from work to be sure).
 
For me, polishing on a vehicle is great therapy.  I love seeing the reactions and faces of a customer when they come to pick it up and say it looks like I repainted their car or that they haven't seen that much color in the paint since they bought it new.  A more affordable polisher can eventually give you near the same results as a more higher-end polisher, but at what cost to your body and sanity
 
Edit: Check out the videos section up above for lots of great videos where Adam explains machine polishing in great detail.  This one here is great at explaining the differences between the different types of polishers. 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM55kroCAAs&feature=player_embedded&list=UUzpvSWz3VFZpeFeitVsybWg

you guys should thank psu goat for getting you a sale. I was on the fence about ordering it and went ahead and jumped on it today thanks to his pictures. I'm not a business man, and obviously Adam's Polishes is a very successful company. So I'm not trying to tell you how to run your business. But, a picture or 2 showing the inside of the bag on the product page could lead to more sales. The bag looks nice enough in the outside pic you have of it. But the inside's what I want to see. I know there's a thread on it with a bunch of pictures. But not everyone is going to come to the forums or Google looking for extra pics.  Just a suggestion.
 
II looked up the dimensions of the bag and the dimensions of my Wheel Woolies. Aad saw the large Wheel Woolie was .5" longer than the bag.  I was a sad panda because I wanted mine to fit. But then I thought about how I had went out of my way to order the Adam's Woolies since they're a step up from the normal ones. I Googled and saw the dimensions of the large one is 18"! SUPER glad my large and medium Woolie will fit in this beautiful bag.
 
Assuming the specs I found on Google are correct that is, Google has lead me astray in the past lol.  Just to be safe I also ordered one of the new Woolies.

Rich, I think I read in another thread that your home is all electric, mine is too.  It's a certified Energy Star home actually, I'm the second owner.  When it was built, they drilled into all of the cement block foundation and sprayed foam inside of the cement block...talk about crazy, but it sure seems to work.  When I put the GarageDeck flooring down on the concrete garage floor, it seemed to bring the overall temperature up a little as well, and it's much more bearable to sit on than concrete!  It was fairly pricey, but I got it during a good sale and I feel it's one of the better investments I've made since I spend so much time in the garage.  
 
Even with just a little cube infrared heater, similar to those ones you see on TV, my attached garage temperature has been hovering around 55-60 degrees this past week when it was about 12 degrees outside.  Now the detached garage...that's another story.  It has zero insulation and when I walked in there this afternoon, I still found frozen chunks of leftover car shampoo and water in my Adam's buckets 

Thanks for the pictures man, they're perfect.  I thought about it and can't even remember a time I needed close to 12 bottles at once. 6 + a polisher + some MF towels + a few pads would be all I need. This bag would work wonderfully for that. Guess I should just order it and see how much stuff I can stuff in it

I don't think you will be able to fit a polisher with all 12 bottles in place.  If you could, it would push the bag out from its' rectangle shape.  Here are a few pictures I took with the Cyclo.  Let me know if you want any with the Flex and I can snap more
 

 

Love that first pic with the sun rays!  I was wondering why the Patriot Wax was so expensive, obviously because it can talk!

How 'bout some frozen bead action...it was frigid out there tonight!