PDC

I just HATE those felt-style fender well liners! Why not run the felt on the opposite side that faces the undercarriage for sound deadening and leave the wheel side smooth black plastic?

http://www.adamsforums.com/topic/27958-never-trust-a-car-dealerships-car-wash/

Well, it was Spring Spa Day for the wife's ML after a dreadful winter. First up was a wash with Microfiber Revitalizer. Hey, if it can dissolve all the wax build-up off your MF towels, why not let it dissolve the wax and sealant off the paint? Then it was time for a wash with Deep Wheel Cleaner and a final wash with Adam's Shampoo. The clay.
 
Here is my 'Cruel Master' - an LED Pipe Light.
 

 
Here is what the paint looked like. Ouch.
 

 
Here we are after the first stage of correction.
 

 
And this is after 2 stages of correction.
 

 
And this is with one coat of Adams Glaze and a top-coat of Adam's Sealant
 

 
Could not be more pleased with the results on a Black car that sees year round duty.

Well, it was Spring Spa Day for the wife's ML after a dreadful winter. First up was a wash with Microfiber Revitalizer. Hey, if it can dissolve all the wax build-up off your MF towels, why not let it dissolve the wax and sealant off the paint? Then it was time for a wash with Deep Wheel Cleaner and a final wash with Adam's Shampoo. The clay.
 
Here is my 'Cruel Master' - an LED Pipe Light.
 

 
Here is what the paint looked like. Ouch.
 

 
Here we are after the first stage of correction.
 

 
And this is after 2 stages of correction.
 

 
And this is with one coat of Adams Glaze and a top-coat of Adam's Sealant
 

 
Could not be more pleased with the results on a Black car that sees year round duty.

Well, it was Spring Spa Day for the wife's ML after a dreadful winter. First up was a wash with Microfiber Revitalizer. Hey, if it can dissolve all the wax build-up off your MF towels, why not let it dissolve the wax and sealant off the paint? Then it was time for a wash with Deep Wheel Cleaner and a final wash with Adam's Shampoo. The clay.
 
Here is my 'Cruel Master' - an LED Pipe Light.
 

 
Here is what the paint looked like. Ouch.
 

 
Here we are after the first stage of correction.
 

 
And this is after 2 stages of correction.
 

 
And this is with one coat of Adams Glaze and a top-coat of Adam's Sealant
 

 
Could not be more pleased with the results on a Black car that sees year round duty.

Hi Brad - welcome to the forum. You are gonna have the paint on that truck looking 'paint-booth-wet' in no time.
You did many things right here: Norton Ice is a very highly regarded, commercial product that you will see in body shops. Same goes for the Dewalt Rotary - commercial grade body-shop tool. You didn't do anything wrong by identifying and gravitating toward the professional-grade products. Hey, if the full time pros at the local body shop use it, it makes total sense to say 'this myst be the stuff to use.' You also obviously spent a TON of time rasslin' that heavy torque monster rotary around a full size pickup WITH a flourescent light. That means you are really into this and made a substantial investment of hours, sweat, and probably a sore back the next day.
 
The Rotary polisher is a bear. I have a neighbor who is an artist with thse things. I offered to help him detail his Black Escalade a few summers ago and watched him gingerly 'finesse' the paint with this monster rotary. The paint on that escalade looked spray-booth-wet when he was done. He used the 3M Light Cut Compound, Swirl Remover, and Ultra-Fina with the color-matched 3-M Pads. He then 'coached' me through my own vehicle with the rotary one panel at a time.
 
It takes hours and hours of practice to get it right and one little hiccup can be disasterous. I offered to detail my folks Cadillac after getting my own rotary, pads and polisher. All went well til I got to the rear plastic bumper. I burned thru the paint and ended up treating my folks to an all-expense paid trip to the dealership body shop for a strip and re-spray of the bumper. The manager was SO cool about it. He knew how bad I felt and said 'there isn't one tech in this shop who hasn't done the exact same thing at least once if not twice.' He said any time a car commes in for a full re-paint, they assign the 2 newest body guys the job of full polish and detail on the existing paint before it gets stripped. That's how they learn and improve.
 
SO - I think you need a nice Dual Action (DA) polisher like the Porter Cable, the current iteration of Griot's polisher, or even the new Rupes. There is no direct conection between the pad and the motor with these units. You can literally grab ahold of the pad while its running (though not 'recommended') to stop the movement. This gives you a HUGE margin of safety when polishing. That doesn't mean you don't need to be careful, you just have a far wider safety margin while experimenting with different speeds, pads, products, etc. And thats really all this is, trial and error.
 
The FLEX is a direct drive like the DeWalt Rotary, BUT the post that the pad attaches to moves as it spins so it is a true 'dual action' machine. The direct drive gives you considerably more 'power' for correction, but at the cost of a lil' less 'safety margin' since it is constantly spinning as it moves around.
 
The cool thing about the 3-M polishes and Adam's Polishes is that they all have a specified 'cut' as opposed to the Norton Liquid Ice which is a single stage polish (realitively heavy cut) that is 'controlled' by the coarseness or softness of the pad and the speed of the polisher. Also, Norton's is a 'diminishing' polish in that it is supposed to break down into finer and finer polish as it is worked. So if you get a panel almost perferct, but need a touch more polish, you are adding full cut polish to a panel that has already beed worked, potentially introducing more of the very same swirls and holograms that you just struggled to correct. That's why the Norton/DeWalt combo is SO hard to get 'right' - it isn't just a matter of physical 'technique' with the tool - its also knowing exactly what speed to use with each pad for precisely how long as the cut of the product diminishes. You can avoid this learning curve with dedicated polishes and pads like Adams and a DA machine or maybe the FLEX.
 
Don't feel bad and don't get discouraged. Every near perfect car you see at a car show is the result of countless less-impressive results and even a few 'oops' moments along the way. Order either the PC kit or the Flex kit from Adams, watch all the tutorial vids, and get out there and have some FUN! Too bad we don't live closer, I am just heading out to the the spring 'Spa Day' treatment on the wife's BLACK SUV that gets all the slop duty during the winter months. You could bring that truck over and we would make a day of it.

Hi Brad - welcome to the forum. You are gonna have the paint on that truck looking 'paint-booth-wet' in no time.
You did many things right here: Norton Ice is a very highly regarded, commercial product that you will see in body shops. Same goes for the Dewalt Rotary - commercial grade body-shop tool. You didn't do anything wrong by identifying and gravitating toward the professional-grade products. Hey, if the full time pros at the local body shop use it, it makes total sense to say 'this myst be the stuff to use.' You also obviously spent a TON of time rasslin' that heavy torque monster rotary around a full size pickup WITH a flourescent light. That means you are really into this and made a substantial investment of hours, sweat, and probably a sore back the next day.
 
The Rotary polisher is a bear. I have a neighbor who is an artist with thse things. I offered to help him detail his Black Escalade a few summers ago and watched him gingerly 'finesse' the paint with this monster rotary. The paint on that escalade looked spray-booth-wet when he was done. He used the 3M Light Cut Compound, Swirl Remover, and Ultra-Fina with the color-matched 3-M Pads. He then 'coached' me through my own vehicle with the rotary one panel at a time.
 
It takes hours and hours of practice to get it right and one little hiccup can be disasterous. I offered to detail my folks Cadillac after getting my own rotary, pads and polisher. All went well til I got to the rear plastic bumper. I burned thru the paint and ended up treating my folks to an all-expense paid trip to the dealership body shop for a strip and re-spray of the bumper. The manager was SO cool about it. He knew how bad I felt and said 'there isn't one tech in this shop who hasn't done the exact same thing at least once if not twice.' He said any time a car commes in for a full re-paint, they assign the 2 newest body guys the job of full polish and detail on the existing paint before it gets stripped. That's how they learn and improve.
 
SO - I think you need a nice Dual Action (DA) polisher like the Porter Cable, the current iteration of Griot's polisher, or even the new Rupes. There is no direct conection between the pad and the motor with these units. You can literally grab ahold of the pad while its running (though not 'recommended') to stop the movement. This gives you a HUGE margin of safety when polishing. That doesn't mean you don't need to be careful, you just have a far wider safety margin while experimenting with different speeds, pads, products, etc. And thats really all this is, trial and error.
 
The FLEX is a direct drive like the DeWalt Rotary, BUT the post that the pad attaches to moves as it spins so it is a true 'dual action' machine. The direct drive gives you considerably more 'power' for correction, but at the cost of a lil' less 'safety margin' since it is constantly spinning as it moves around.
 
The cool thing about the 3-M polishes and Adam's Polishes is that they all have a specified 'cut' as opposed to the Norton Liquid Ice which is a single stage polish (realitively heavy cut) that is 'controlled' by the coarseness or softness of the pad and the speed of the polisher. Also, Norton's is a 'diminishing' polish in that it is supposed to break down into finer and finer polish as it is worked. So if you get a panel almost perferct, but need a touch more polish, you are adding full cut polish to a panel that has already beed worked, potentially introducing more of the very same swirls and holograms that you just struggled to correct. That's why the Norton/DeWalt combo is SO hard to get 'right' - it isn't just a matter of physical 'technique' with the tool - its also knowing exactly what speed to use with each pad for precisely how long as the cut of the product diminishes. You can avoid this learning curve with dedicated polishes and pads like Adams and a DA machine or maybe the FLEX.
 
Don't feel bad and don't get discouraged. Every near perfect car you see at a car show is the result of countless less-impressive results and even a few 'oops' moments along the way. Order either the PC kit or the Flex kit from Adams, watch all the tutorial vids, and get out there and have some FUN! Too bad we don't live closer, I am just heading out to the the spring 'Spa Day' treatment on the wife's BLACK SUV that gets all the slop duty during the winter months. You could bring that truck over and we would make a day of it.

Killer.

O.K. I'm pretty late to this party.  But I had just purchased a gallon of Adam's previous formula Detail Spray when they officially released the New(er) version.  And I couldn't bring myself to give away, dispose of or otherwise waste the gallon of original formula.  I also knew better than to break into the new stuff or I just might not have the discipline to use up the gallon of original.

 

Well, I just finished up the gallon of original detail Spray and rinsed / cleaned the sprayer and refilled with the New Formula.  And I know why this stuff caused such a stir.  This stuff is absolutely awesome.  It just seems 'slipperier' and 'lighter' than the previous formula.  And it wipes off quickly and easily with zero streaking.  I noticed the previous formula seemed a little 'heavier' for lack of a better term and would leave streaks if applied too generously.  I also found the previous formula was more prone to streaking as you got to the end of the car and your Microfiber towel was getting damp.  Not so with the new formula.  It is so slick, that just a fine mist does the trick and it finishes out streak free like glass.  

 

I LOVE IT!

O.K. I'm pretty late to this party.  But I had just purchased a gallon of Adam's previous formula Detail Spray when they officially released the New(er) version.  And I couldn't bring myself to give away, dispose of or otherwise waste the gallon of original formula.  I also knew better than to break into the new stuff or I just might not have the discipline to use up the gallon of original.

 

Well, I just finished up the gallon of original detail Spray and rinsed / cleaned the sprayer and refilled with the New Formula.  And I know why this stuff caused such a stir.  This stuff is absolutely awesome.  It just seems 'slipperier' and 'lighter' than the previous formula.  And it wipes off quickly and easily with zero streaking.  I noticed the previous formula seemed a little 'heavier' for lack of a better term and would leave streaks if applied too generously.  I also found the previous formula was more prone to streaking as you got to the end of the car and your Microfiber towel was getting damp.  Not so with the new formula.  It is so slick, that just a fine mist does the trick and it finishes out streak free like glass.  

 

I LOVE IT!

Ran into this thread - now I cant get a damn thing done for the rest of the day.  And to think, my wife actually thinks I use this here computer thingy to waste my time looking at pictures of silly old naked girls.  Although I love ALL cars - and I am especially proud of the fact that U.S. car makers are producing new cars like the Camaro, Mustang and Challenger, I am just a die hard late 60s early 70 muscle car fanatic.  This car is so beautiful.  The paint looks like you could dip your finger into it.  GREAT job detailing this car.

Not trying to argue - many VERY experienced retailers on these forums. But the results I get with the new formula paint sealant are so amazing that I have decided not to replace my near empty tub of Americana. I LOVE the extra durability, slickness, and dust/dirt 'repellant' qualities of the sealant. Also, water seems to 'sheet' off of sealant rather than sit and 'bead' like on carnauba wax. I honestly am not able to identify the 'warmer' quality or added 'depth' that many attribute to carnauba. Maybe those qualities are more readily apparent on traditional single stage paints as opposed to these modern ceramic or scratch resistant factory finishes? I am just SO sold on this new sealant - and I feel as though I have tried them ALL with varying/disappointing results. Adams new sealant is darn near like adding an extra layer of clear coat! Maintain with waterless wash and detail spray and reinforce with an occasional application of quick sealant. Nirvana for a modern SRC factory finish. And I was NOT paid for this endorsement!!!

Hey Dylan!
 
Yeah, that's what makes this weird.  Same towel, same bottle of detailer.  Slick and crystal clear on the TA -  "dragging" feeling and lint everywhere on the ML.  I am using the gray sooper-dooper ultra-thick towels that I bought from California Car Cover before discovering Adams.  I bought a dozen of them and had opened one of the 4-packs and used them with no issues whatsoever. The towel in question had been opened very recently from the original pack (I had been hording them) and had only been through the washer once.
 
I am going to wash all of these gray towels in hot with MF cleaner and double rinse, and then I am going to bucket wash the ML.  I have noticed that sometimes after applying and removing sealant or wax, there seems to be a very strong 'static' electricity charge to the paint.  Kind of like rubbing a balloon on your head and then sticking it to the wall.  That seems to go away after the first good, gentle bucket wash with soap and a MF wash mit.  Also, the first wash after wax or sealant seems to 'level' the product a bit.
 
I will hit this thread Monday and let you know how it went!  If I find that these Cal Car Cover towels are linty SOBs, I will re-stock with a set of your single and double soft.
 
BTW - her is Big Red with 2 coats of Machine sealant, freshly detailed with Adams Detail Spray, no lint(!), and new rolling stock from Year One.