Junkman2008

I wash my car on the road pretty much the same way I do it at home. I bring everything with me except for my car dryer. Then I'll do one of two things. At the hotel that I stay at, I get in touch with the maintenance people and find out if there is an area where I can wash my car and use their standard garden hose. If yes, I bring my foam gun. If not, I find a DIY car wash in a nice part of town and spend a couple of hours at the car wash the night I arrive. I purposely plan my trips so that I can arrive very late a day in advance. That way, I can get the car cleaned before any of the events jump off. Sometimes I'll only bring 1 bucket and get a second bucket at Wal-Mart. That bucket get's donated to the hotel maintenance department when I leave. A hotel can never have too many buckets. You have seen how water spots are not a issue on my paint so most of the time I'll do the spot free rinse. I can smell if their mixture is good and that will eliminate me having to hand dry the car. If the situation arises where I do not have enough room to bring everything, I'll contact someone on the forum who lives where I'm going and ask for the use of their house for a wash. People hook me up with that kind of stuff. The last option is something that I have been known to do also. Leave it dirty until I get back home. Here's my middle of the night picture after driving through the country side of Kentucky, on my way to Paducah. I always stop at this car wash and do my middle of the night wash. They even have electricity so I can run my polisher (which I always bring along too). It's a little obsessive I know but hey, that's what I do. Arrived at 1:00 AM... Fixed by 4:00 AM...

MORE clear coat. Not exactly. The difference is that the PC has what Porter-Cable calls a "free floating spindle assembly" and the Flex has "forced rotation". Because of the PC's design, the back plate's rotation acts more like a clutch driven assembly and can be bogged down to the point where the rotation can be stopped (oscillation still occurs). It we were to get technical, one would called the PC a "orbital" polisher. The technique that I use to work a PC is directly affected if the pad rotation is not allowed. I want the PC to work for me, not the other way around where I'm working the heck out of me while using the PC. Now the Flex on the other hand is truly a "dual action polisher" in that it oscillates and rotates, and neither of these actions can be stopped or bogged down. Thus, it is going to remove more clear by nature of what the pad is doing. You have two, guaranteed solid movements with the Flex (oscillation and rotation), compared to one guaranteed operation with the PC (oscillation). A dual action polisher will do much more work than a orbital polisher because rotation generates much more heat than oscillation. That was really getting more technical than I like to.

... and deeper than I go into in the knowledge department. I felt a nap come on after reading that!

I'm not sure about the foam being different, but the pores that make up the white pad and the green pad are different sizes. The size of those pores are what gives a pad its cut.

Are you using the SMOOTH, Flex pads or the Hex, PC pads?

I have not experienced that. Maybe you are using too much polish.

The Flex can do damage, but no where near as much or fast as a rotary. There are mistakes that you can make with the Flex that would wipe your paint out if you did them with a rotary. With that said, I would still never start a novice off with a Flex as the learning curve is a lot steeper when compared to the PC. The PC is a excellent learning tool and as you mentioned, it is just as important in your detailing arsenal even though you have a more powerful polisher. Think of the Flex like having an exotic sports car. You wouldn't drive it every day, even though you could. A trip to the market a few miles away can easily be done in the Ford Ranger and it won't use nearly the gas. Gas is like clear coat. No need to waste it unnecessarily.

Bring women too and I'll fix your car for free.

You should have a healthy fer of a rotary. Nothing wrong with that. As for the etching, there's no telling what it will take to get rid of it. I couldn't say without seeing it in person. About the most aggressive thing that I would suggest to you is a green pad and Severe Swirl Remover. You will either remove the damage over time or at least diminish it over time.

You can apply that protection in that order but I am not sure how effective BG is going to be on etching. I don't cover up anything so I'm not a good source to speak for BG. I'll do whatever necessary to get rid of some damage before I cover it up. That may require much more aggressive measures.

Not at all. Americana is a fine product to use to protect your paint. It goes on quick and comes off quick. To me, keeping it simple is the best advice that I could give a novice about waxing.

The reason I layer those two products is for "more protection". For me, it has absolutely nothing to do with how it looks because my paint looks beautiful without a drop of wax on it. Wax protects the paint and that's why I use it. MSW and Americana are the two, longest lasting waxes that Adam's has.

Car wash party at YOUR house!

EXACTLY! That's why I tell people to watch them multiple times. It's the nature of the beast!

Hey boys and girls, a question that I get a lot is how to deal with hard water spots. If you ask anyone from detailers to your knowledgeable average Joe, you will get a slew of answers. Some folks have to get extremely aggressive with them, while other don't have to do that much at all to rid their paint of them. Because the answers vary so widely, I have decided to share my mindset. For me, prevention is the key. It's the same with another issue I get asked about, wax build up on the rubber trim. If you don't get wax on the rubber trim OR, you immediately address any wax or polish on your rubber trim, dealing with it is a cake walk. After watching these videos, you will see exactly what I'm talking about. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." These are words to live by with a lot of situations and when it comes to detailing, these words ring so true. Thus, keep that in mind as you watch these videos. You will see how true this is. One thing to note. I allowed my car to stay filthy for a week just for this video series. By driving the car in that condition and touching the paint, I created some micro-swirls in the paint. Now they are so minor that they will easily buff out, even by hand with some Fine Machine Polish but this just shows you how damage can slowly make it's way into your paint if dirt isn't addressed immediately. This is why I wash my car 2-3 times a week during the summer when I am driving it often. I look at dirt sitting on my paint like brand new razor blades standing up all over my skin. It doesn't take much movement for one of those blades to start cutting. Dirt laying on your finish long enough will do the same thing if you disturb it. That's also why proper washing is so important. Okay, on to the videos! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgBJG_loTlQ&feature=channel_video_title]Avoiding Water Spots - Part 1 - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUa_jGC7a7c&feature=channel_video_title]Avoiding Water Spots - Part 2 - YouTube[/ame] The Junkman

I was thinking more along the lines of World's Craziest Employees!

Maybe we need to cut off your finger and check the rings...

I'll look for you on a soon to come episode on TruTV.

I'll post it any way!

I can't get over some of the suits that I see Chris in. He could hang out with me on a skirt chasing binge!

Eric at Thompson Racing and Grabiak still have some of the US made foam guns. Look them up.

A perfect video for this thread... <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1Usyr0eMshg?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Maybe so, but I couldn't eat a pizza that had anything other than meat on it. Mushrooms and onions are a death sentence on any plate shoved my way. That's rabbit food!