Adam, is it worth it?

[jordan572]

I have a new camaro that is 2 years old, it is starting to show swirls. The only thing I do to protect the paint is clay and wax it. My question is if I buy the pc and all the other stuff will I see a noticeable change in the shine of my car? It is so new that I am worried that it already looks to good to benefit from the adams products all though the swirls do show quite a bit in the sun. I plan on buying about 700 dollars worth of stuff so when I start I have it all. Can this shine any better?

[irunnoft]

Thanks AJ. Sealant it is, then.

[Golf for Life]

Have been using wax on my wheels both steel and alloy. But since discovering Adams I've been using MSS on them barrels and faces. Brake dust for the most part just rinses off with the pressure of the garden hose. But I do use car wash shampoo and I also use a dedicated bucket for wheels/tires.

[THE Mook]

Have been using wax on my wheels both steel and alloy. But since discovering Adams I've been using MSS on them barrels and faces. Brake dust for the most part just rinses off with the pressure of the garden hose. But I do use car wash shampoo and I also use a dedicated bucket for wheels/tires.

 

I'm surprised more people don't just mix an extra wheel/tire bucket. I started to. Heck, I even have a specific tool bag for the wheel stuff to tote from section to section easily!

[DaveVY]

I'm surprised more people don't just mix an extra wheel/tire bucket. I started to. Heck, I even have a specific tool bag for the wheel stuff to tote from section to section easily!

 

I don't use a bucket for washing the wheels... not sure why I would want to. Maybe someone can help enlighten me as to the benefits.

Currently I just hose the wheels down to knock off the loose dirt, few squirts of APC on the tire and fender area, 2 or 3 squirts of wheel cleaner on the wheel, use the fender brush on the fender and tire, boars hair brush on the wheel and then rinse (both the fender/tire/brush and the brushes)- go to the next wheel. Doesn't take much time or cleaner doing it this way. Though I have considered having a car wash mixture in a spray bottle to use instead of wheel cleaner each time.

 

So why would I want to use a bucket? I must be missing something!

[THE Mook]

I don't use a bucket for washing the wheels... not sure why I would want to. Maybe someone can help enlighten me as to the benefits.

Currently I just hose the wheels down to knock off the loose dirt, few squirts of APC on the tire and fender area, 2 or 3 squirts of wheel cleaner on the wheel, use the fender brush on the fender and tire, boars hair brush on the wheel and then rinse (both the fender/tire/brush and the brushes)- go to the next wheel. Doesn't take much time or cleaner doing it this way. Though I have considered having a car wash mixture in a spray bottle to use instead of wheel cleaner each time.

 

So why would I want to use a bucket? I must be missing something!

 

You clearly have your process down. Some people choose to use that bucket as being a place to keep the heads of the brushes and sticks away from the ground. I was using mine mainly for just that, however since picking up the new little tool bag, I find myself using the bag to store the brushes (and also the bottles) in wheel to wheel instead of the bucket.

 

You want to use Car Shampoo and water into a mixture? Remember you won't need a ton. A typical bucket filled with what, 3 gallons of water gets around 2oz of soap. If you are using a 16 oz bottle, maybe a few drops and shake the heck out of it, and continue to shake it while you are using it.

 

[Golf for Life]

You clearly have your process down. Some people choose to use that bucket as being a place to keep the heads of the brushes and sticks away from the ground. I was using mine mainly for just that, however since picking up the new little tool bag, I find myself using the bag to store the brushes (and also the bottles) in wheel to wheel instead of the bucket.

 

You want to use Car Shampoo and water into a mixture? Remember you won't need a ton. A typical bucket filled with what, 3 gallons of water gets around 2oz of soap. If you are using a 16 oz bottle, maybe a few drops and shake the heck out of it, and continue to shake it while you are using it.

 

 

 

Thats what I've been doing for years, just my method and I see that I'm in good company.

[chas]

Same here, I use some shampoo in a bucket with my brushes, do the normal spray down with apc and wheel cleaner, then take the brushes from the bucket (all suds up) and go to town. Maybe its a mental thing, could be wasting product, but I like having a little bit of shampoo to help with agitation. That or when my wheels aren't dirty enough to warrant using wheels cleaner shampoo is the next best thing.

[irunnoft]

Same here, I use some shampoo in a bucket with my brushes, do the normal spray down with apc and wheel cleaner, then take the brushes from the bucket (all suds up) and go to town. Maybe its a mental thing, could be wasting product, but I like having a little bit of shampoo to help with agitation. That or when my wheels aren't dirty enough to warrant using wheels cleaner shampoo is the next best thing.

 

Me too. And I thought I was just doing overkill, but now I see I'm in good company!

[jordan572]

Should I use americana or super sealant to get the ultimate shine?

[Junkman2008]

Should I use americana or super sealant to get the ultimate shine?

 

Waxes and sealants do not make stuff shine. If you want something to shine, you have to polish it. If you want to protect the shine that you get from polishing, you use a wax or sealant. Waxes and sealants are protectants, not shining agents (which is what a polish is).

 

Do you think that guys who have polished aluminum wheels just wipe on a little wax and cause the wheels to suddenly shine? NO. They take the wheels off the car and then spend HOURS polishing those wheels. That's what causes them to shine like new. NOT WAX.

[jordan572]

Waxes and sealants do not make stuff shine. If you want something to shine, you have to polish it. If you want to protect the shine that you get from polishing, you use a wax or sealant. Waxes and sealants are protectants, not shining agents (which is what a polish is).

 

Do you think that guys who have polished aluminum wheels just wipe on a little wax and cause the wheels to suddenly shine? NO. They take the wheels off the car and then spend HOURS polishing those wheels. That's what causes them to shine like new. NOT WAX.

 

O yea thats right you have told me this many times!!

[psycho_puppies]

Waxes and sealants do not make stuff shine. If you want something to shine, you have to polish it. If you want to protect the shine that you get from polishing, you use a wax or sealant. Waxes and sealants are protectants, not shining agents (which is what a polish is).

 

Do you think that guys who have polished aluminum wheels just wipe on a little wax and cause the wheels to suddenly shine? NO. They take the wheels off the car and then spend HOURS polishing those wheels. That's what causes them to shine like new. NOT WAX.

 

 

Once the polishing is finished do you recommend wax or sealant? If you recommend wax and sealant which one should be applied first?

[Junkman2008]

Once the polishing is finished do you recommend wax or sealant? If you recommend wax and sealant which one should be applied first?

 

The choice between a wax or sealant for me depends on how much time I have to apply either. The sealant that I use is Adam's MSS so I have to allow at least 24 hours to apply each coat (provided that I am doing more than one coat), and have it cure. The wax that I use is Adam's APW. It goes on fast and comes off fast. MSS last longer than any other type of protection that Adam's offers so that is what I like to use (sealants last longer than any type of wax).

 

Thus if time is no issue, I'm going to use a sealant TOPPED with a carnuba paste wax. That is my normal regiment. If time is an issue, I'm going to use APW because it goes on fast, comes off fast and last for quite awhile. None of my choices have anything to do with what the paint looks like after I apply the protection because my eyes cannot see a difference from one wax to another. The shiniest my paint looks to me is after I'm done polishing it. The same is true with my combat boots, any jewelry that I have and the buttons on my uniform. I don't wax those things, I polish them and they shine like hell.

 

So the sealant goes on FIRST because it must bond to the surface of the car. Nothing ever goes on before it. Anything else will go on after the sealant. There is another reason that I layer a sealant with a wax on top of it and that because I'm too lazy to do 2 coats of sealant. Too much wait time. That's why I put APW on top of my MSS. By doing so, I somewhat double up the protection and it doesn't take two days to do that. I must say, my sealant and wax regiment does a hell of a job protecting my paint. I did a thread about it here. Take a look.

[BRZN]

I have a new camaro that is 2 years old, it is starting to show swirls. The only thing I do to protect the paint is clay and wax it. My question is if I buy the pc and all the other stuff will I see a noticeable change in the shine of my car? It is so new that I am worried that it already looks to good to benefit from the adams products all though the swirls do show quite a bit in the sun. I plan on buying about 700 dollars worth of stuff so when I start I have it all. Can this shine any better?

 

Wow this thread sure seems to have gone off topic!

 

I say yes:

 

A simple system that anyone can start detailing with safely with awseome support whenever a question arises.

 

Even new(er) cars look better when taken care of properly

(photo courtesy rshadd)

Oh, and I beg to differ: without polishing I still get a shine (not as much as after polishing, but definitely a shine) out of MSS and/or wax and have also had success with glaze on bare paint with MSS applied overtop. Detailing is an art not a science someone once told me: experiment, don't just follow the herd you'll never know what kind of results you might find on your own! But that's for another thread...

[Junkman2008]

... Oh, and I beg to differ: without polishing I still get a shine (not as much as after polishing, but definitely a shine) out of MSS and/or wax and have also had success with glaze on bare paint with MSS applied overtop.

 

I can vouch for what you have posted, but only in one circumstance. If your paint is cloudy or has anything on it that is inhibiting the shine, scrubbing any type of wax on it will cause it to shine because you're removing the stuff on the paint that is inhibiting the shine. That is definitely the wrong way to go about making paint shine because that's what polish is for, not wax. So yes, you can make paint shine with wax, and you can also use a knife to remove a flat head screw.

 

Personally, I like to use my knife to carve up my filets.

 

[BRZN]

So no glossing agents in Adam's waxes and sealants then?

 

These are straight from the web site:

 

Adam's Americana Premium Carnauba Paste Car Wax

Adds Unbelievable Depth in Gloss and Paint Clarity

 

Adam's Buttery Car Wax

High Gloss Carnauba Wax Shine

 

Adam's Machine Super Sealant

Easy Application Offers More Shine and Protection

 

Adam's Quick Sealant Paint Protection Spray

Excellent shine and long lasting durability for months of protection

 

 

I'm a bit confused then. An example: I washed and clayed a six year old Totota Sienna mini van two weeks ago (never been clayed and it showed 65,000 miles). The vehicle had more shine after the clay process, and that was obviously due to the contaminants being removed from the surface allowing more light to reflect. The owner didn't want it polished out just simply protected for the NE winter months. I applied one coat of Adam's MSS with a Porter Cable and the gloss that was brought out in this paint was unmistakable. As far as I'm aware there are no abrasives or solvents in MSS to farthur clean the paint of contaminents I missed with the clay but there was more shine I have to attribute to glossing agents in the sealant.

[Junkman2008]

The paint look better after MSS because MSS has filling properties in it that help cover up small imperfections in the paint.

 

The only way to tell if any wax makes your paint shine is to use some type of shine-o-meter. I've never seen one but I do know what my eyes see. Now I don't have 20-20 vision anymore and I will agree that different waxes can positively affect the shine of your paint in different ways but to make the paint SHINIER?

 

Not happening. That's not what wax does. That's what polishing does. If wax did that, why the heck did I spend 6 years polishing my freakin' boots! Waxing them would have been a whole lot easier!

[LDM]

I don't think Dave is trying to say that polishing doesn't make the paint shinier. I think he'd agree that a polished finish with no wax will be shinier than an unpolished surface with wax. However, that unpolished finish with wax will appear shinier than the same unpolished finish without wax. I know you're trying to instill in people that the key to a great shine isn't just to slap some wax on the paint, but in cases where you don't have time to polish, waxing can create an improvement, even if it's a minor one.

 

Also, I'm not sure polishing boots is a good analogy. Maybe boots are different than shoes, but all the time I spent polishing my shoes at the academy, I used Kiwi Shoe Polish, and right on the can it says "KIWI shoe polish contains a time-honored blend of quality waxes that protect and nourish leather and produce a long lasting glossy shine." Shoe polish is more of a wax than a true polish in my opinion. It just has to be "polished" into the leather instead of a simple wax on, wax off process.

[Junkman2008]

I don't think Dave is trying to say that polishing doesn't make the paint shinier. I think he'd agree that a polished finish with no wax will be shinier than an unpolished surface with wax. However, that unpolished finish with wax will appear shinier than the same unpolished finish without wax. I know you're trying to instill in people that the key to a great shine isn't just to slap some wax on the paint, but in cases where you don't have time to polish, waxing can create an improvement, even if it's a minor one.

 

I can agree with that.

 

Also, I'm not sure polishing boots is a good analogy. Maybe boots are different than shoes, but all the time I spent polishing my shoes at the academy, I used Kiwi Shoe Polish, and right on the can it says "KIWI shoe polish contains a time-honored blend of quality waxes that protect and nourish leather and produce a long lasting glossy shine." Shoe polish is more of a wax than a true polish in my opinion. It just has to be "polished" into the leather instead of a simple wax on, wax off process.

 

What that can of Kiwi says is very similar to polishing wax. There are a ton of polishing waxes available over the counter. They attempt to do both, shine and protect, but do not do either as well as a dedicated product. My understanding of what Adam offers are dedicated products. Now I'm not privy to exactly what is in every bottle so I can't say 1000 percent but the understanding I have is that the products are dedicated to what they do. If that is the case, wax is a protectant and polish is a cleaning/cutting abrasive.

 

If you don't want to use leather, then use jewelry, aluminum or glass. All 3 are polished with some type of abrasive compound and neither are waxed. Polish equals shine. I have always experienced that, will always preach that and that is what my eyes show me.

[LDM]

What that can of Kiwi says is very similar to polishing wax. There are a ton of polishing waxes available over the counter. They attempt to do both, shine and protect, but do not do either as well as a dedicated product. My understanding of what Adam offers are dedicated products. Now I'm not privy to exactly what is in every bottle so I can't say 1000 percent but the understanding I have is that the products are dedicated to what they do. If that is the case, wax is a protectant and polish is a cleaning/cutting abrasive.

 

If you don't want to use leather, then use jewelry, aluminum or glass. All 3 are polished with some type of abrasive compound and neither are waxed. Polish equals shine. I have always experienced that, will always preach that and that is what my eyes show me.

 

I agree with you, and think that polishing metal is a much better analogy to polishing paint. Leather is unique in that it's a porous material that you're basically building up the waxes to fill in the holes so that you can have a smooth surface that shines. The only way to get it looking good is to put some time into it. Some kids would use the "Quick Shine" products, and they may have been glossier, but they looked like crap. That would almost be analogous to waxing unpolished paint.

[Junkman2008]

I agree with you, and think that polishing metal is a much better analogy to polishing paint. Leather is unique in that it's a porous material that you're basically building up the waxes to fill in the holes so that you can have a smooth surface that shines. The only way to get it looking good is to put some time into it. Some kids would use the "Quick Shine" products, and they may have been glossier, but they looked like crap. That would almost be analogous to waxing unpolished paint.

 

I think we are on the same page.

[BRZN]

The paint look better after MSS because MSS has filling properties in it that help cover up small imperfections in the paint.

 

 

Did not know that, I stand corrected.

 

 

 

Since there are fillers in the sealant then that would explain what I called shine: swirls were diminished by being filled letting the light reflect in more of a single pattern than diffused in many directions. Perhaps shine is the wrong word to describ the difference between the before and after, but there was a noticable difference: it looked better. Call it what you will; shine, gloss or an optical illusion. It simply looked better than just after the clay process.

 

Different materials require different processes, in my mind, as well as different products to achive similar desired results. Raw aluminum, jewelery, glass, shoes, buttons or army boots: apples to oranges comparing to paint and clear coat.

[Junkman2008]

Did not know that, I stand corrected.

 

 

 

Since there are fillers in the sealant then that would explain what I called shine: swirls were diminished by being filled letting the light reflect in more of a single pattern than diffused in many directions. Perhaps shine is the wrong word to describ the difference between the before and after, but there was a noticable difference: it looked better. Call it what you will; shine, gloss or an optical illusion. It simply looked better than just after the clay process.

 

And I am 100% in agreement with you there. I know it looked better.

[Ragweed]

On a Red Vehicle...you would be noticing the same swirls in the sun, but the flash test just brings them out all at once, at one viewing angle. Kind of hard to word a response...but instead of looking at a different angles in the sun, leaning your head over to see the condition of the paint....the flash test kind of brings them all out in one picture. I'm sure AJ, the paint Dr. can word it better:lol:

 

By the pic you posted, the car already looks spectacular don't get me wrong. But you would be astounded with polishing, glaze and sealant/wax combo!

What is the flash test

[Junkman2008]

What is the flash test

 

Read post #23 in its entirety.

 

I accidentally deleted someone's post about Americana. Repost your question again.