rwisejr

Holy smokes!  I should have done this years ago!!!!   Installed a 1.5 ton TRANE mini-split system!  Insulated the attic space above and my doors are already insulated.  WHAT A DIFFERENCE! 
 
It's been ridiculously hot as of late and I just melt while doing a job.  This is a game changer!  I worked in 77 degree comfort with practically zero humidity all weekend long!  This system will pull it down into the 60's during the heat of the day!  Yeah baby!
 



The inside unit. 

I just used Adam's wheel cleaner on my 2006 Cadillac STS-V 19" and 18" 6-lug wheels. I purchased the car 3 years ago. I had not paid attention to the barrels of the wheels, I knew they were dark, but didn't realize that there was 10 years of brake dust and dirt stuck to them. After doing the research, and watching Adam's video, (ironically cleaning Cadillac wheels), I purchased a gallon of wheel cleaner. I also purchased the Turbo Stick tool. I was BLOWN AWAY at the immediate release of the brake dust and gook that poured off the wheels. I had to do each wheel twice because of the embarrassing amount of buildup that had accumulated over 90k miles. I discovered that the barrels have a shiny finish! They look unbelievable! From 100 feet away you can see sunlight shining through them. I am very happy with the results, and the wheels will be easy to maintain now that they are clean. The chemical reaction does give off a bit of a foul odor as it eats, but so does my son-in-law, and he doesn't clean anything. I also purchased a bottle of the GM approved Leather Conditioner which I am looking forward to using. Thank you Adam, your products work great!

I recently purchased a detailing cart and wanted to find a solution to keep my bottles secure and prevent them from moving or tipping over.  I thought I would give it a shot and build something myself seeing as I had a specific design in mind.  Here are some details of the project...
 
Started with a heavy duty steel 3-tier cart and added the Adam's 'A' to class it up:
 
IMG_20160916_1 by avimore, on Flickr
 
 
Added some shelf-liner to all three levels for some padding and protection:
 
IMG_20160916_2 by avimore, on Flickr
 
 
Got a piece of wood cut-out to fit exactly on the top shelf.  Then measurements carefully drawn up to fit 21 bottles:
 
IMG_20160916_3 by avimore, on Flickr
 
 
Cutting the holes out was easier than I expected and luckily the wood held up well:
 
IMG_20160916_4 by avimore, on Flickr
 
IMG_20160916_5 by avimore, on Flickr
 
 
Sanded and ready for paint:
 
IMG_20160916_6 by avimore, on Flickr
 
 
The fit turned out perfect and very sturdy:
 
IMG_20160916_7 by avimore, on Flickr
 
IMG_20160916_8 by avimore, on Flickr
 
 
Used a couple coats of Satin Black (I tried Gloss Black at first but it was too shiny):
 
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IMG_20160916_10 by avimore, on Flickr
 
 
Bottles are nice and snug now.  Very happy with the result 
 
IMG_20160916_12 by avimore, on Flickr
 
IMG_20160916_13 by avimore, on Flickr

I had the opportunity earlier this week to work on a 2001 Mercedes Benz E320. This, nearly, 17 year old garage kept Benz has 98,000 miles on her, and appears to be fairly well taken care of. However, I believe the exterior is being washed at drive through car washes, and probably was kept outside by a previous owner due to the condition of some of the exterior rubber trim and some rust I'd discovered.
 
I picked the car up in Lancaster City early Monday morning, to bring home and get started on at my home.
White is such a tough color to show before's and after's with results, so I'll describe as much as I picture, if not more.
Here it is prior to me doing anything. The paint had very little gloss due to the excessive washing scratches, and was a bit chalky from oxidation.

She has heavy rubber mats (visible on the driveway) over top of the OEM carpeted mats in the car, the carpet in the vehicle appears to be in almost new condition, with very little wear and only a few stains!

I began by cleaning the wheels with Wheel Cleaner, the tires with Tire & Rubber Cleaner and the Inner Fenders/Wheel Wells with All Purpose Cleaner. The rubber mats were scrubbed with Tire & Rubber Cleaner and hung to dry.
I quickly cleaned the engine bay with a pressure washer, started to dry with my Master Blaster (4 horsepower setting), then shut the hood and started the car to let the heat from the engine finish drying.

While the car was running, I set the Climate Control to recirculate, and with the fan on high sprayed Odor Neutralizer into the system as well as spraying the exposed carpeted areas of the interior.
The car was then foamed down with two ounces of Strip Wash in my Foam Cannon.

I let the foam dwell for five minutes or so then proceeded with a two bucket wash, again with another two ounces of Strip Wash. I used the Red Wash Mitt I gotten a couple/few months ago. There was a very light rain/mist falling so I clayed the car's paint and glass out on the driveway while it was still wet. I completely destroyed a new Visco Clay bar. Each 2'x2' section I clayed turned the clay's used surface brown from contaminates. Also, the amount of oxidation on the black rubber was transferring to the clay if I touched it. I rinsed the vehicle again after claying with my Spot Free Reverse Osmosis water system and blew it dry with my Master Blaster.
These two pictures are after clay, rinse, drying.

 

Still really dull paint, but at least it was now clean and decontaminated.
I pulled the car into the garage, cleaned around the door jams, under the hood and cleaned the trunk.

I finished with a thorough vacuuming of the carpeted mats and the interior. That was it for day 1, including the time spent to pick the car up I had just shy of 9 hours in it.
 
Day two began with some more time on the interior. The dash was cleaned, as well as the center stack and console. This all cleaned up nicely with Interior Detailer and an Edgeless Utility Towel.

Next was this:

Both sets of control buttons on the steering wheel had this stuff on them, the left side pictured was far worse. Gum? Make Up? Hand Lotion? I could pick it off with my finger nail, it came off as a black sticky substance. Leather & Interior Cleaner, an Edgeless Utility Towel and some elbow grease and it all came off!

No harm to the white ink on the buttons either, I was worried about removing that while getting the gunk off. A wee bit of the gray dye was removed from the horn pad around the buttons.
The leather seats were scrubbed with Leather & Interior Cleaner, they were pretty dirty. A Cockpit Brush did a good job at pulling the dirt out of the leather. There were stains which looked like they'd come from blue jeans on the lower portion of the driver's seat back, Isopropyl Alcohol removed most all of this staining. I had to be careful as the alcohol was also pulling the gray dye from the leather. These interior pictures are after I'd dressed the leather with Leather Conditioner.

 

 

 

On to the exterior. All the exterior plastic and rubber was hit with either VRT or In & Out Spray to protect it from polish residue. I taped off the rubber trim around the doors and a hand painted pin stripe down the sides of the car.

I was able to remove a couple tiny spots of paint the pin striper got outside of his lines with clay, and was afraid to touch the actual stripe with polish. The tape I had was wider than the stripe. Notice in the above picture the Detailer's Tape is along the upper edge of the stripe. I polished above the tape line first, then re-positioned the tape to the bottom line and polished from there down. This worked out well, and this tape was able to be reused, bonus!
 
Polishing...
I own the Flex 3401 VRG, the Rupes Bigfoot15 LHRES and the Rupes Bigfoot15 MarkII. Any one of these machines would have been a good choice on this extremely hard Mercedes paint. However, I also own Adam's new Swirl Killer. I figured why not give this machine a work out and see what it could do.
No, it's not going to have the bite of the direct drive Flex, it's not quite as powerful as the MarkII Rupes, it is a bit more powerful than the LHRES and it's Adam's new offering. Why not let you all know what it's capable of on this hard German paint?
Well, it took me quite a while to dial in my procedure. I started on the driver's side with a section of the hood using the Orange Foam Pad and the Paint Correcting Polish. Seemed to do the job. I finished half the hood, half the roof and began on the rear deck lid when I realized this was not giving me the results I wanted. I went back over the same areas again believing I had it right with the Blue Foam Pad and Heavy Correcting Compound on the Swirl Killer, followed up with the Orange Foam Pad and Paint Correcting Polish. Nope, by the time I started on the rear deck lid I again realized I didn't have it dialed in to where I wanted.
Since I'd spent so much time on the driver's side I moved over to the passenger's side where I'd finally figured out what I needed. The new White/Blue Microfiber Pad and Heavy Correcting Compound, followed up with the Orange Foam Pad and Paint Correcting Polish. Perfect? No, but for a daily driver in white with the condition the paint had been in, it was really nice. The deeper scratches were still there, but much less noticeable, and the washing marks and lighter scratches and swirls were gone.
Before:

After:

Again, white is so hard to get good pictures of. The spots around the reflection of the Swirl Finder Light in the After picture are reflections off the camera.
The entire car was polished except for the rear bumper that was parked up against my garage door (that was saved for day three). Tight areas of the front bumper, roof beside the sunroof, the areas between the roof drip rail and door glass, B-Pillars, door handles, door handle pockets and areas needing extra attention were taken care of using either my Rupes Mini or Nano. By the time I finished polishing I found three more spots of paint left by the pin striper. These wouldn't come off with the polisher. Who knows, perhaps I could have polished over the pin striping? Better safe than sorry, glad I took the time to tape them off.
Paint Sealant was applied using my Porter Cable and a Gray Foam Pad to most of the paint. I applied Quick Sealant to the leading edge of the front bumper, the B-Pillars, the door jams, the wheels, and under the hood and trunk lid. I turned the car around in the garage and called it for day two; just over nine hours today.
 
Day three began by polishing out the rear of the car I couldn't get to on day two and applying Paint Sealant to this area. I also wiped down the entire car with Detail Spray to make sure all the Paint Sealant residue was off. The glass was cleaned inside and out and Glass Sealant was applied to the windshield. The tires were dressed with Tire Shine and Invisible Undercarriage Dressing was sprayed into the wheel wells. All the door panels were cleaned and wiped down with Interior Cleaner and Leather Conditioner was applied to the leather inserts.

 

 

 

I vacuumed the interior one more time, reinstalled all the mats and delivered the car back to the owner. Just shy of 5 hours on Day 3. Total time spent including pick up and delivery 23 hours.
 
The Swirl Killer pulled it off! The car looks phenomenal. The oxidation's off, and the gloss is back. Most all of the scratches and scuffs were removed as well as the swirls, and marring to the paint.

 

 

 

Impressions of the Swirl Killer?
It did a great job. As a Long Throw machine to step up from the Porter Cable, or to start with, I don't believe you can go wrong at its price point.
15mm throw, soft start up, variable speed, trigger lock, smooth, vibration free operation, it didn't get hot with continued use, a long 20' soft cord. My only complaint, and it wasn't a big deal, is that it's louder than either of my Rupes Bigfoot15's. Well, I'm not 100% sure if it's actually louder, or if it has a higher pitch, but my ears began to ring. After about an hour I put ear plugs in.

As stated with proper wash techniques you will be able to keep the damage to a minimum. As I am a fellow Black car owner . I learned long ago that if I'm not washing it then don't touch it . LOL.

So i finally decided to upgrade to a SRT, which is my dream car! I'm so excited that i can't even put in words. Anyway i told my salesman, absolutely no detailing, or sticker removing, leave that up to me. Anyway tomorrow is the day i pick it up!
 
Some pictures for the meantime that my salesman sent me:
 

 

 

 

 

 

Great ride love those. Congrats and good luck with it. Enjoy.

Just turned in my ATS 2.OT Performance Sedan for a 2016 ATS-V Sedan
2016 ATS-V Sedan
8-speed Auto
Crystal White Tricoat on Jet black with Carbon fiber interior.
Luxury package
Carbon fiber package
Recaro seats
Suede steering wheel and Shifter.
Safety package with HUD.
And all of the other bells and whistles
 
I am going to need a lot of pointers with the Carbon fiber, Suede and Alcantara
I will post up better pictures once the rain over the next few days ends and I can finally get my Adams products on it..
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone, super stoked to start answering questions and help everyone out on the forums. I live here in Colorado, and work at the headquarters. I'm a freak about cars and especially detailing! I detail cars on the side of working in the shipping department of the headquarters, so I very well could have shipped your order.   I touch and use our products everyday so I should be able to answer most everyones questions and the ones I don't, I'll be more than happy to be able to learn. I can't wait to see what everyone has to say! I have been reading the forums and have been learning a lot already, but I'm excited to jump on here and stay up to date with the detailing community and of course, do some giveaways and have some fun!!
 
Lets see everyone's vehicles! So why not start it off with a little fun with a CONTEST? Comment a picture of your vehicles and I will choose one random winner that will receive a FREE gallon of a product of your choice!  Contest ends at 11:00 am Friday MST! Good Luck!

Sorry I'm just getting to this now - had a family emergency last night and I won't be on here much today either.
 
I had the majority of this response typed when John called me just now, so I'm going to leave it as reference. He has already answered most of my questions below and it sounds like you used the product exactly as recommended in terms of time, number of panels, etc:
 
H2O Guard & Gloss is safe to use in the hot sun, provided all instructions are followed properly, and you work quickly on 1 or 2 panels at a time, to avoid any streaking. It should not cause any damage to clear coat. The only negative effects I have witnessed are streaking from applying too much product and little gray specs on textured plastic and paint from letting it completely dry onto the surface.
 
This Saturday I washed and applied HGG to a black metallic Dodge Ram Megacab dually in direct sun, 92 F and very high humidity with zero issues, other than gallons of sweat pouring off of my body. Paint on the Ram was around 151 F prior to washing it, using my cheap digital infrared temperature gauge from Home Depot. We made sure to constantly wet-down the panels we didn't treat yet, and did 1 panel at a time for the HGG application. I then did a dark blue Dodge Ram and an Orange Metallic Chrysler Conquest drag car inside of the shaded garage, but it was still 86 F in the garage. Zero issues on all 3 vehicles.
 
How many panels did you apply it to at once, and did you shake up the bottle first? One or two sprays per panel is all that is really needed, and then you need to quickly spread it with a wet microfiber towel and immediately dry with a dry microfiber towel to ensure streak-free results while working out in the sun.
 
If you don't mind John, please send the pictures to tips@adamspolishes.com for the whole team to see - Mondays are incredibly busy since it is the start of the work week, so Adam may not have time to jump onto the forum today. I can certainly send a return shipping label to have that bottle of H2O Guard sent back to us for analysis purposes if you would like.
 
In regards to the Detail Spray that you mentioned on the phone call that you used during this process and is from around 2007, it's possible that it could have broken down chemically, as the recommended shelf life is 2-3 years, if stored in a temperature controlled environment. I would have to speak with our chemists to see if ~9 year old Detail Spray could cause any issues. It's possibly the discoloration in the pictures is dried up H2O Guard residue on top of the clear coat surface and it may come off with a Clay Bar, Revive Hand Polish, or machine polishing, but we would need to see a few more pictures from different angles to be sure. Also, I can send out a bottle or gallon of Detail Spray to replace your outdated product.
 
Lastly, for everyone, the purpose of this forum is to help one another, whether you have 10 posts or 10,000. This is the first and only warning for the thread. Negative comments and criticisms do not contribute to solving the issue at hand.

So I've been away for a while (long story), and today –– for the first time in about a year –– I gave my truck a good detailing. Used H2O guard and gloss for the first time. So here's my question:
 
Has Adam been nominated for a Nobel prize in Chemistry? Because I mean wow -- that stuff is amazing!
 

Dude.... As soon as I put in an order either new stuff comes out or I need to buy something I forgot (yea mostly my fault).  I have now four orders coming to me all ordered within the past week.  The newest one was just now when I saw the NEW spray nozzle, limited edition detail spray (back in stock) and a freaking T-shirt!!  I hate you all..

Lol everybody that buys one always says the same thing ( I should have gotten it sooner ) Enjoy

Wish I had got one a long time ago! It's awesome!
Thanks to those who mentioned that it needs a 20 amp breaker. Have to upgrade one now. And if the breaker pops, it's a good idea to make sure the unit is off, or you have a hand on the hose before resetting the breaker
I did notice that the hose didn't slide very far onto the unit. Have to play with that a bit.
 
Another unexpected upside is that I was able to blow a lot of pollen and dust off the car while I was playing around. That will come in handy prior to a rinsless wash.
 
All said,

Hello everyone! Alittle background.... I used to be a simple meguiars guy but now I have decided it is time to jump into the big leagues. After receiving my first 2 mysteryboxes I am hooked! And now I have ordered 37pounds of everything I need to get my truck looking spotless inside and out!

Just got a 2016 Chevrolet SS and am pretty excited! I owned a 2008 Pontiac G8 GT back in the day and loved it, when I saw this car in person at my local dealership, I knew I wanted it. I love it much more than I thought I would, pictures really don't do the car justice
 
Here's the car:
 

 

 
So I just ordered a whole bunch of stuff to correct the paint, including the whole wheel cleaning package, foam gun and a few other goodies, but I already had a lot of stuff left over from last season and I have a few questions. 
 
Question 1: I still have the orange paint correction polish, white finish polish and paint sealant from over a year ago. Is there a shelf life on these things before I attempt using it on my new car? They weren't kept outside during the cold months, I opened them up and they seem okay. I'd just like to make sure before I attempt to use them. 
 
Question 2: I ordered all new pads, I ordered the flex (I believe) polisher from Adams website 2 years ago as well and the pads didn't have the hole in the center of them that these new pads have. Will the pads still work with my current polisher or do I have to change something to make them work?
 

The LHR75E Mini was designed from the ground up to use the 100mm pads so unlike adapting a PC to smaller pads its tuned for them.
 
The perceived vibration is more likely a result of the tools ergonomics. Holding the body of the tool as you do leads to a more direct feedback from the motor; with something like the 15 your hands are nowhere near the motor, more similar to a rotary tool layout, so you've got some deadening of that.
 
Once you get your hands on the mini you'll wonder why you didn't get one sooner - the same can be said of the Nano which should start trickling into the market very soon

Just tried something new  putting on detail spry with buffer, 25 year old paint Polish/sealer/butter wax/spray detail.
 
  

Do I'm in the market for some more microfiber towels for rinseless wash and wax and polish removal. I was thinking of getting the grey h20 towels however the new single soft are 800 gsm. Would they be more plush than the lower gsm greys? Adams sees high quality so I know none of them will induce any marring but I like the soft feel in the hand.

With the introduction of the Mark II we've created large orbit tools that are more powerful than anything thats ever been seen on the market before. As a result we are essentially having to retrain the industry on how to polish. For a long time every dual action random orbital tool, sold everywhere you have been taught to polish at speed 5 or 6 with downward pressure; this starts all the way back with Porter Cables and the fact that you couldn't get any meaningful amount of correction out of the tool unless it was running wide open.
 
With the LHR21II and LHR15II being 30 and 40% (respectively) more powerful than their predecessors you need to rethink your approach to polishing, specifically as it pertains to speed settings. As I tend to do, I like to highlight this new way of thinking with an analogy:
 
THINK OF THE SPEED DIAL ON YOUR POLISHER THE
WAY YOU THINK OF THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL IN YOUR CAR
 
When you get in your car to drive to dinner you don't jump in, start it, and floor it from your driveway all the way to the destination - or at least you shouldn't. You start the car and you drive at partial throttle to stay around the speed limit. The only time you push the accelerator to the floor is when you're trying to get up to highway speed, passing a slow moving vehicle, driving up a steep grade, or outrunning the cops (ok... maybe not the last one).
 
Your polisher should be approached the same way now. You'll run speed 3 or 4 for the mostpart doing your correction... the only time you need to increase up to 5 or 6 is to compensate for slowed or stalled pad rotation, like in a deep curve or in a zone requiring additional speed to maintain the proper movement. You'll then ramp back down to your 'cruising speed' of 3 or 4 and continue.
 
The thing to understand is that the 21 and 15mm movements are HUGE... we're talking 250 and 200% approximately of what a traditional 8mm tool (that most people are used to) are doing. Couple that with added torque and power and you have a tool that puts enormous stresses on the foam. The internal friction between the foams individual cells will generate a ton of heat and can cause internal collapse, melting, or warping. This is why our in house foams are so rigid and made up of unique foam compounds exclusive to our system. The rigidity and structure helps the pads cope with the added stress.

Hope this sheds some light on the issue. The main thing to take away from this is to think critically and not like a robot. Polishing is not paint by numbers, you need to think about the forces at work when you're polishing. If you apply the same speed settings and logic that you used with a 8mm tool to a 15mm tool then to a 15mm tool with a 40% boost of power then something is wrong. You wouldn't drive a stock minivan the same way you'd drive a Ferrari right? Despite the fact they're both cars the approach and application of their potential is vastly different.
 
NOTE/EDIT - also reconsider your sealant/wax stages as well. If you're working with the old logic of "6 for polishing and 3 for waxing" you are actually running the tool at a speed better suited to polishing when you're simply trying to apply a topcoat. This can lead to issues where the product breaks down under the stress and a broken emulsion can lead to sticky/hard to remove residues, surface marring, hazing, and certainly impacts performance.

personally I prefer the 16oz or larger as I have 3 cars of my own alone to maintain. But the option of 8,16,32 would be nice

personally I prefer the 16oz or larger as I have 3 cars of my own alone to maintain. But the option of 8,16,32 would be nice

I finally got out and got some fresh pics.

We bought a new 2015 Nissan Murano back in October and I got to wash it before the winter. I am just getting arroud to sharing the pics. These were taken with my cell phone so don't mind the quality. Last one was a few weeks ago in the snow. I did a full detail. Washed with Dawn, Clay bar, and lots of polish Enjoy the pics.