Captain Awesome

I upgraded to the Flex during the New Years promotion and decided to give some lovin' to my girlfriend's car this weekend.

There wasn't any wax on the car to begin with, but I still started with a strip wash anyway. I decided I didn't want to work around the pinstripes, so after drying the car I removed them with an eraser wheel. Then a thorough rinse to remove the eraser dust and on to clay. After clay I did some testing to determine what needed to be done as far as polishing. Some spots needed 3-step while most only needed a 2-step. All the polishing was either done with the Flex or the Focus pads on a cordless drill. After Polishing, Machine super sealant was applied and removed 45 min later, then it was allowed to cure for 12 hours. In the morning the car got a wipe down with waterless wash and then a coat of brilliant glaze followed by Americana. Then the glass was cleaned and sealed, and the tires got a coat of SVRT. Then some In and Out on the plastics and IUC in the wheel wells.

Before:

No more pin stripes

This made me really mad. When this panel was repaired the jackarse who painted it taped off to the pin stripes. Since this was the last panel I removed the pin stripes on it was too late at this point. :explode:

After:

I used the flex for the first time this weekend and I am happy with the results, but I had a few issues with it. I did a few test spots to see what level of correction would be needed, so I ended up doing a combination 3-step and 2-step depending on the condition of the area I was working on. My concern was when I used swirl and haze remover. I would make maybe 2 passes and then it seemed like the polish was dying out. It looked like cheetah spots all over the panel. This was on speed 5 and 6. If I worked it slower than 4 it was nice and smooth coat of polish.

Now I believe this may be due to using too much product, but I don't know. I don't have any pictures because I didn't think to take any while I was working.

The other thing i noticed is that when I was using FMP it never seemed to flash. I also think this may be a result of using too much product.

What do you guys think?

Like the brother in law from the tv show 'Chuck' ?

Yes, but I had that nickname before that show.

I thought your name changed...I was doing a double take yesterday.

I can be very sneaky...

Can I change my name to: Captain Awesome

So I used my waterless wash this weekend to clean all the crap out of my door jambs, but now that they are "clean" there are water spots everywhere. So I would like to clay, polish, and seal them. I was thinking Revive, quick sealant, and then Americana. Am I on the right track, or should I use swirl and haze remover first?

Great work... I still love that car almost 20 years later!

Couldn't agree more. Nice job on the detail.

Thanks. It was in the mid 80s yesterday. I'd much prefer it to be colder though.

Got the G8 nice and clean with a sunset. Enjoy!

P.S Sorry for the quality, all I have is a cell phone pic.

are you using PC or FLEX?

I live in an apartment and since I have no means of easily washing my car, I just have all my shipments go to my mom's house. So here is what I found waiting for me at the door. The three largest boxes are from Adam's.

Here's what was inside

This is all from the new years special and glass cleaner daily special.

I'll be flexin' on the girlfriends car next weekend so be on the lookout for before and after shots next weekend.

very nice. Now you need a turbostick to keep them looking good.

for the buckets, a second sticker with a marked rinsing and washing on the other.

 

how you made ​​not to make a mistake?

Forgot about this one. I always wanted one red ring and one green ring on the buckets. Red meaning "Stop" for the dirty water and green meaning "Go" for the clean shampoo.

 

For now I always keep the Adam's logos facing the exact same way and always know the right side is the one with the clean shampoo in it.

A can of spray paint and a stencil would do the trick.

If you dont take lots of pictures and post them you are

edited with a close up

It's rust. The picture is from my iphone and the quality has been reduced so I can store it on the forum. I'm not too concerned about it yet, as it isn't that bad. Just wanted to make sure this was normal before I try and send it back.

anyone else have this happen to their brush?

Looks great! Adams has the best customer service of any company I've ever heard of.

It's a Dual Action Machine and we already sell two of them. With the Flex being an absolute beast, this thing is really gonna have to blow me away.

I just bought the flex so I'm gonna be pissed if this thing is better.

Decided to tackle some of odds and ends of the car yesterday. Finally got around to polishing my wheels. They weren't in terrible condition, but they did need it. Washed the wheels with Green wheel cleaner then they were clayed with Adam's claybar. For polishing I used focus pads with a porter cable with swirl and haze remover, fine machine polish, and finished with machine super sealant. Next time I wash the car they will get a coat of Americana. The pictures are of the worst wheel. The other three are perfect.

Before:

After:

After that got out the little paintbrush and got all the little trim pieces around the windows, and the honeycomb in the fender vents and the rear diffuser. The picture is a nice 50/50 shot of the diffuser.

Finally I cleaned all the carpets with my new Bissell extractor. Used Adam's carpet and upholstery cleaner and Adam's carpet brush for the cleaning. The picture is the nastyness that came out of my black carpets.

just picked up the little green heat off amazon prime for $75 and it gets a $10 mail in rebate. Its an older version of the little green so it has the same attachments as the auto version, but it was $30 cheaper. Now i just need to get a gallon of carpet cleaner.

I've never had an issue with APC's strength or cleaning power. Are you using cold water or not letting the product dwell? I'm interested in your process.

 

Adam's APC is 4x stronger than your over the counter all purpose cleaner.

I saturate the pads and let them sit until everything has been sprayed. Then I give another spraying for each thing I clean. The ones I have the most trouble with are white and black pads, svrt applicators, americana applicators, and the sponges I use to spread undercarriage spray. works great for everything else. I also use it full strength.

how about a heavy duty degreaser for cleaning pads and applicators and such. APC works great for most jobs, but not so much for cleaning pads and pplicators. +1 for adult beverages

If any of you have been to a Detail Clinic, you have heard Adam's thoughts on High Gloss Dressing. If you see it, you're probably in the wrong zip code.

I don't get it.