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Good work!

Darth, saw your video of the record setting pass earlier today. Congrats, that thing gets it done!

Nice shots!

Nice pics & car!

I am curious how you will like the controls on the stack. My wife and I are looking at the explorer and it seems not many mags/tv shows are enthusiastic about the center stack

I haven't spent much time in the car. The touch sensitive "buttons" work well, the touch screen is a tad slow to respond. It is nice to have multiple ways to control things. The interior is nice feeling & it is a quiet car compared to others in this price range.

Thanks for the compliments, we are happy with our choice so far!

My wife had an '09 Mazda6 Grand Touring that we bought new, she loved it & called her Sadie. A few weeks ago it was hit while it she was parked at a gas pump. The car had 40k on it, so we decided to see what was out there. Ended up driving a few cars & really liking the new Fusion. We traded in the damaged car & picked this one up, it has the Titanium package. 2.0 Ecoboost, all wheel drive & is fairly loaded on the inside.

The dealer washed it & did a quickie on the inside.

I gave it a good foam bath & 2 bucket wash. Went over all of the paint & glass with a clay bar. There were a few swirls here & there, but for a majority I just used the Flex & FMP on a white pad, followed that up with sealant. Quick wipe down under the hood & some In & Out spray & then an interior wipe down & vac.

Here are some pics I snapped with my iPhone....

safety first, never wear a ring while doing anything!

I didn't have a ring on, I've seen too many bad things happen.

On Tuesday I was working on my best friend's black SRT-10 Ram that he recently picked up. He uses his truck hard & treats it to regular strip wax/brushed car washes...

Any way, I wanted to give it a quick once over & get it looking nice.

I had another project going at the same time that was kind of time sensitive, so I worked in small, hurried bunches on the Ram.

As I worked on the doors with the Flex, I decided to grab the PC & throw the 4" focus pad backing plate on it. I primed the pad, & put the machine to the panel. I did not double check the backing plate or the speed the PC was set on. I know, stupid move...The PC came up to speed & before I could catch it, the backing plate spun off. My left ring finger got caught in the the counter weight, I guess & I was unable to keep the "bolt" of the PC off of the surface.

I ended up in urgent care for stitches & the truck ended up needing some good touch up work & PDR. I have had stitches several times, but this injury was as painful as they get. I thought it took the tip of my finger off, but I was lucky & will heal up in a week or so.

My pride is hurt, I haven't had an "accident" while detailing since I first started out, like 18 years ago. This was a great reminder to me to never rush things & to always be 100% on top of what I'm doing.

I just thought I'd share...

Might as well add a comparison pic of before & "after".

I'll be finishing this thing up in the near future!

good idea, but i thought the pad should always be dried facing down with velcro face the ceiling?

I usually put them down on a clean towel when they are real wet.

He got here to pick it up before I could get more pics of it. He was shocked/happy with how well it turned out. He honestly thought it was ruined forever. i talked to him about maintenance & expect to see the car in similar shape in a few months.

No perfect comparison pics, but...Here is a before & after of the hood.

The paint was easy to work with, as I figured with the feedback I received here. I used the Flex DA & the 4" focus pads on a drill for the small stuff. The white pads & Fine Machine Polished finished out very nice. I did experiment with a few "step 1" products, mostly in order to use up the bottom of a few bottles I had.

I'll be honest I still do not have the Severe Swirl Remover figured out, I never seem to get the results I want from it. Fortunately for this car, the Swirl & Haze Remover & FMP would take car of the damages any way.

Thanks for the feedback here! It is always nice to know a little something when working on a type of car for the first time.

Tried to add some post shot lighting on the iPhone...

Unfortunately the sun was only out this morning, temp is dropping & it is going to snow tomorrow. So I don't have any good pics. I'll set up some lights & try some before he picks it up.

Here is a test spot on the hood.

Thanks for the input!

I figured the clear must be super soft, since this was really the 1st time it had been touched & that pic doesn't tell the story of how bad it is.

He asked for advice of how to upkeep it, I could only come up with, don't touch it.

I got an email from a guy last night about looking at his black Veloster. He had a momentary lapse in judgement & went to a brush wash. He was hoping I could straighten it out, or he could put it in the river. HA!

Going to take battle with it on Tuesday. I haven't buffed in Hyundais lately, any tips?

Here is a pic I snapped with my iPhone.

Nice idea!

 

My favorite is still the box fan on high, pads laying face down on it with grit guards on top to ensure they don't move around and fly off.

 

Good idea though!

I like that, I keep a box fan in the garage too, never used it for pad drying.

I think my wife had seen enough of the pads drying in the kitchen. So I decided to do us a favor. Hit up the Dollar Tree today, got this set up for 2 bucks. The rack has 7 spots to hang from & the bags were 3 for a dollar. I will pick up a few more bags, they will fit 2 per bag. Not the ideal set up for washing & drying a ton of pads, but better than getting the evil eye...

I got to climb around on my platform working on my buddy's SS today...He just sold it, did a good wash & a quick, single stage buff with my Flex.

The sting of yesterday is still there...I hate having stuff go to the body shop!

It sucks, can't seem to not be mad about it, but nothing I can do about it. Tomorrow I get to break in my new platform though.

I ordered the Werner platform online from Lowe's Friday for $17, got around to picking it up today.

It will come in handy for sure!

In the 10 minutes I was in the store, my TBSS got hit & the bad driver ran.

It isn't going to be buffable... Front bumper and fender both damaged, it was a sick feeling walking up to it.

The camera that was directly in front of where I parked was pointed to the West, so whoever did it got away clean.

That's what I get for getting a deal I guess.

Here is one of my Mustang...Not a great pic or insanely detailed.

Here is my Mustang convertible. The fan shroud is made out of some odd plastic & I can never make it look "right".

My old '99 SS, the nitrous kit sure had a lot going on with it.

Original paint 1980 Malibu.

1993 Mustang LX Convertible

A different 1993 Mustang LX Convertible

1999 Firebird

I have a soft spot for them too! I can't remember the last time I didn't have at least 2 of them.

Here is my notchback, it has a turbo charged LS motor in it.

I headed out to an open house with some friends today, just to check it out.

Karl Performance Parts

The last thing I expected was to see a big section of Adam's products...Even scored some samples of detail spray.

We had some crazy warm temps here today, so I sprayed off the old convertible with some Car Shampoo & took it out there. Snapped a pic with my phone when I got back in the garage...

Stretching will help, and doing the buffing more than twice a year will help train your back too. Find some other cars to shine, make the world a happier place.

Thanks!

I'll go lighter with the detail spray too.

Here is a before pic of what I'm cleaning up.