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Questions for the Junkman!

irunnoft

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irunnoft

irunnoft

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AJ,

 

I've been watching your videos for the past few nights and they've been very helpful. In particular, I've been paying close attention to the series on the speed at which you move the various polishers (love the Copa method LOL) and the amount of polish used.

 

So, I've got this new SRT8 Challenger that just doesn't want to seem to cooperate and let go of those dealer installed swirls.

 

Here's what I've done so far, I used the Flex without having any real idea how much pressure I was applying and without having any real idea how quickly to move the polisher. I followed Adam's video and put an X on the pad and hit it with the detail spray. I would do this: Orange pad, White pad and then move on to another section. I never wiped it down between orange and white to see if it was "working". I don't know that I fully understood what it meant to get the polish to flash. And I also thought my pads were coming apart because I was seeing little orange "bits" flying around on my car. I understand now that what I thought was the pad was actually bits of dried polish.

 

Anyhow, as sloppy as that technique was, it did do some work.

 

The next day all my pads were wet so I did a correction run by hand with the orange hex applicator and the revive blue polish with the blue hex applicator pad.

 

The weather didn't cooperate the next day, but during that day I watched your video series. Now I have a much better understanding. So, two days ago, I hit it again with the Flex, but I worked it to the speed that you used. It's about an 8 count across whereas the PC would be a 16 count. I used a bathroom scale and found that it doesn't take much pressure to produce the 9-14 pounds of pressure. The machine itself exerts about 5.1 pounds of pressure, so a very slight downward pressure from my right hand at the top of the Flex produces the desired pressure range. I used a small circular bead of polish on the Flex pads (not the pea sized three drops for the PC) and I used the detail spray most of the time after I'd had the polish flash to bring back the polish and get some more time working it. This time, I also just used the Fine Machine Polish and not the orange pad.

 

Brother, my brother, I thought I was finished when I did the job. Now I don't have a garage so I'm rolling in the outdoors, but in NC, it's been in the 40s and 50s when I've been detailing. It was also not a sunny day that last time. It was mostly overcast. I'd get down and get an angle where I thought I'd have some sunlight to check for the swirls and I wouldn't really see any. So when I finished the car, I hit it with Quick Sealant and then Brilliant Glaze. That night when we left to go out to eat, my wife's car's headlights hit the Challenger and she looked good, but when I went up to her to check again for the swirls, I still saw some. They weren't as bad as they had been before. These are light marks. Not really too bad, but I know the car isn't perfect and I've been busting my hump trying to correct it.

 

So, my question is this, it's a bright sunny day today (so far). I'd like to get it one more time. Do I need to do anything to the car to remove the Quick Sealant and the Brilliant Glaze? The car has been outside but hasn't been driven since I finished it off with Quick Sealant and Brilliant Glaze. I was thinking about hitting it with the Master Blaster to blow any debris off and then going over it with some Waterless Wash and a waffle towel. If that's ok, then I'm guessing I'll go for the Orange Flex/White Flex. I don't think I'd need the Green pad, but I'd like to know what you think. Would you go PC and use it because it give me more time to work the polish or would you go Flex because it's faster?

 

I don't have a good light to use to shine on the paint yet to see what's really there. In one of the earlier threads I'd been reading, I saw you recommended a type of light that's meant for installation on a bicycle. I forgot the name, but I saw it on Amazon for a little over $100.

 

One thing I might need to focus on is the area I'm working. I might be guilty of working more than a 2' x 2' area. It might be slightly larger. It gets funny and hard to tell when you're dealing with areas like the top of the car where there's a sunroof and not a large flat area.

 

Also, my car has stripes on it (basically factory installed stickers!) and I'm pretty sure those have clear coat over them, but is there any danger of the Flex or PC peeling those off if I don't put 3M automotive tape over them?

 

Thanks AJ!

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Chuckkilo3

Chuckkilo3

Posted
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:lol:

 

Me in 1985...

 

break_dancers.jpg

 

... and yes, those are white Playboy socks and shoes. You couldn't tell me I wasn't cool! :lol:

 

I'm here to tell you that you were not cool at all.

 

 

 

 

You were ice cold. A cold cat to the max. :thumbsup:

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rpomeroy

rpomeroy

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Dang! Where's my M.C. Hammer pants!!! 1985 a.k.a. the year I graduated High School! I hate to admit it, but I think I was rockin' a mullet. Oh crap! Now I've got that Duran Duran video running through my mind! :lolsmack:

 

If I know AJ, it was probably more like Parliment or Cameo than MC!

 

:)

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Junkman2008

Junkman2008

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Where are junk mans vids on using the flex? Can only find the Lamborghini scratch on his channel

 

There's also my videos on buffing the side of your car. In that series, I use both the Flex and the PC. Those videos are located in my FAQ's thread. In my upcoming videos, I will be strictly using the Flex.

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rpomeroy

rpomeroy

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As soon as I can make the time to upload them. It took me almost 24 hours to upload my last set of videos. That's a long time for me to tie up my main box. I do a lot of remote assistance with that machine.

 

Must be time to upgrade to the Junkman's fortress of solitude to a fiber connection. :)

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Chuckkilo3

Chuckkilo3

Posted
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Yet.

 

Words to grow by. I used the PC for so long that by the time I got to the Flex, I was like a duck to water. The key was all the many hours that I had put behind the PC. It's all about growing with your tools and your passion.

 

When I first bought my Corvette, I opened the hood and couldn't locate the engine. It looked so Greek to me that I closed the hood and never attempted to do anything more than check the oil level. As a matter of fact, that was about all I knew about working on cars. That was 2004.

 

Now I'm changing head gaskets. :help:

 

cylhead6.jpg

 

 

I couldn't help but to think that now will be a primo opportunity to get a toothbrush into some areas of the engine that I couldn't reach before. I'm sick with this! :willy:

 

Outstanding responses to the OP. While you're replacing your head gaskets, don't forget to have the heads checked out by a machine shop. Also check the block for flatness with a straight edge. Lastly, get rid of that nasty Dexcool coolant. :thumbsup:

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Junkman2008

Junkman2008

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AJ,

 

I've been watching your videos for the past few nights and they've been very helpful. In particular, I've been paying close attention to the series on the speed at which you move the various polishers (love the Copa method LOL) and the amount of polish used.

 

So, I've got this new SRT8 Challenger that just doesn't want to seem to cooperate and let go of those dealer installed swirls.

 

Here's what I've done so far, I used the Flex without having any real idea how much pressure I was applying and without having any real idea how quickly to move the polisher. I followed Adam's video and put an X on the pad and hit it with the detail spray. I would do this: Orange pad, White pad and then move on to another section. I never wiped it down between orange and white to see if it was "working".

 

Allow me to address some of the things that I feel you have done wrong. First of all, a novice with a Flex. You have this extra oomph that can cut your work time in half but you don’t know how to use it. Thus, it is going to take you just as long to get your paint perfect as it would, had you started with a PC. Since the Flex is heavier and is a lot more work to control, you have the perfect storm for a long learning curve. Solution? Start your learning curve with a PC. It sounds as if you have both machines (which is smart by the way), so get the PC out and cut a bunch of that curve out of your learn. :thumbsup:

 

As for wiping the polish off. For every pass that I do, I wipe all the polish off that spot so that I can visually see what progress I have made. If you are going for flawless paint, that is what you must do. If not, how will you know if you need to repeat what you have just done because some damage remains? You won’t and this is why I wipe the polish off the car after each completed pass. For anyone who may be confused about what a “pass” is, it is the time that I spend working the polish and polisher until the polish has flashed (that is, worked until the polish has broken down and is ready to be wiped off).

 

Another thing that I do is complete the entire car or panel with one polish (SHR for example), before I move to the next polish. This makes sense to me and doesn’t slow me down as I move along. I can also finish using that pad, wash it and have it drying while I’m using the next pad. This gives the first pad that I used time to dry; just in case I need it again.

 

Another thing that I preach to a novice who has never done this before and has not had a chance to developed a proper technique is to perfect your technique and understanding of this process IN ONE SPOT on the car. It does absolutely no good to attempt to make your entire car perfect if you can’t get ONE SPOT perfect. Furthermore, if you attempt to do the entire car using a bad technique, all you do is learn a bad technique and waste a lot of product. That is not the way you want to learn as that can be somewhat expensive with all the products that you are wasting. :help:

 

I don't know that I fully understood what it meant to get the polish to flash.

 

Flashing is the term we use to describe what the polish does when it is ready to be wiped off. When working the polish, it will be anywhere from milky looking to clear and greasy looking. Once you have worked the polish long enough, the shine of the paint will begin to show throw the clear, greasy looking polish. In other words, the shine of the paint will “flash” through the polish. This is you signal to stop polishing, wipe off the remaining polish and inspect your work. At that point, you will either repeat what you have just done if damage remains or move to the next section of your work area. ;)

 

And I also thought my pads were coming apart because I was seeing little orange "bits" flying around on my car. I understand now that what I thought was the pad was actually bits of dried polish.

 

And this is caused by a couple of things. Using too much polish is the number one cause of this problem. This can also be caused by working on too hot of a surface; as in working on the paint in direct sunlight. Using dirty pads will also cause this problem. Those are the top three reasons you will encounter this issue.

 

Anyhow, as sloppy as that technique was, it did do some work.

 

I bet it did. It just didn’t give you the exact results that you want. You now have a clue why. :thumbsup:

 

The next day all my pads were wet so I did a correction run by hand with the orange hex applicator and the revive blue polish with the blue hex applicator pad.

 

I bet that was a lot of fun. NOT. For deep swirls like the ones you have, working by hand is not going to do anything but wear out your ball and socket joints. Working by hand is for perfect paint or paint that is close to perfect. Other than that, you are NOT going to remove any swirls by hand. :help:

 

The weather didn't cooperate the next day, but during that day I watched your video series. Now I have a much better understanding. So, two days ago, I hit it again with the Flex, but I worked it to the speed that you used. It's about an 8 count across whereas the PC would be a 16 count. I used a bathroom scale and found that it doesn't take much pressure to produce the 9-14 pounds of pressure. The machine itself exerts about 5.1 pounds of pressure, so a very slight downward pressure from my right hand at the top of the Flex produces the desired pressure range.

 

And here’s where you made your mistake. You combined some of the information from my PC technique and used it with the Flex. With the Flex, I do NOT just use 9-14 pounds of pressure. My pressure varies all over the place with the Flex. The 9-14 pounds of pressure is what I use strictly with the PC. With the Flex, my pressure usually starts out a little heavier and I slowly ease up until the polish flashes. However, that is what I do with some very jacked-up paint. With paint that is not that bad, I may use a constant medium or light pressure throughout the entire pass. I judge what I am going to do by watching how the paint is reacting to my technique. The paint and polish “talk” to me as I am working and I react accordingly. Remember, proper technique is king. Proper technique is why a 95 pound scrawny guy can knock a baseball out of a stadium or drive a golf ball 350 yards with one swing. Proper technique trumps product everyday of the week. That’s why I can get better results with the crappiest product on the planet than a novice can with the best product in the universe. Proper technique is your friend. :thumbsup:

 

The I used a small circular bead of polish on the Flex pads (not the pea sized three drops for the PC) and I used the detail spray most of the time after I'd had the polish flash to bring back the polish and get some more time working it. This time, I also just used the Fine Machine Polish and not the orange pad.

 

Again, you have to watch the polish when doing this. You don’t want to make the polish too thin by spritzing it too much. This is also something that time behind the polisher will teach you. Once you start getting the exact results that you want every time you touch the polisher, you will realize when to spritz and when not to spritz. ;)

 

Brother, my brother, I thought I was finished when I did the job. Now I don't have a garage so I'm rolling in the outdoors, but in NC, it's been in the 40s and 50s when I've been detailing. It was also not a sunny day that last time. It was mostly overcast.

 

It is next to impossible to see damage in the paint when working in those conditions. You definitely need another source of light when given that scenario. But you of course know this now. ;)

 

I'd get down and get an angle where I thought I'd have some sunlight to check for the swirls and I wouldn't really see any. So when I finished the car, I hit it with Quick Sealant and then Brilliant Glaze. That night when we left to go out to eat, my wife's car's headlights hit the Challenger and she looked good, but when I went up to her to check again for the swirls, I still saw some. They weren't as bad as they had been before. These are light marks. Not really too bad, but I know the car isn't perfect and I've been busting my hump trying to correct it.

 

As you have heard me say a bunch of time already, the light never lies. Again, you know this now.

 

So, my question is this, it's a bright sunny day today (so far). I'd like to get it one more time. Do I need to do anything to the car to remove the Quick Sealant and the Brilliant Glaze?

 

No. SHR will take care of anything that is on the car with no problem.

 

The car has been outside but hasn't been driven since I finished it off with QS and BG. I was thinking about hitting it with the Master Blaster to blow any debris off and then going over it with some Waterless Wash and a waffle towel.

 

If the car set outside overnight, wash it. The dirt that landed on it has by now gotten stuck to the paint and wiping on it now is like making sandpaper. That’s the problem with leaving a car outside overnight. The temperature changes make the dirt stick like glue. :help:

 

If that's ok, then I'm guessing I'll go for the Orange Flex/White Flex. I don't think I'd need the Green pad, but I'd like to know what you think. Would you go PC and use it because it give me more time to work the polish or would you go Flex because it's faster?

 

What I would do and what you should do are two different things. What you should do is master the PC. I do not think that you need to break out SSR (although I haven’t seen your car). The PC with the proper technique, coupled with SHR should fix your paint considering how new it is. Then you can bring the gloss back with FMP. You’ve seen the cars that I have worked on in my threads and videos and look at how well they turned out using the same combination. It’s not about getting it done faster; it’s about getting it done right. You’ve got to go over the entire car again because you used the “faster” method with an improper technique. So in reality, how much time are you saving considering that you have to do it all over again? Furthermore, look at all the Quick Sealant and Brilliant Glaze you’ve wasted. This is why you perfect ONE SPOT before you attempt to do the rest of the car. I know that I would be bummed out if I had to go back and redo all that work again. But hey, I was a noob at one time too so I’ve been there and done that. ;)

 

I don't have a good light to use to shine on the paint yet to see what's really there. In one of the earlier threads I'd been reading, I saw you recommended a type of light that's meant for installation on a bicycle. I forgot the name, but I saw it on Amazon for a little over $100.

 

Yes, the Serfas True 500. It’s my bicycle helmet light, but it does a sweet job of spotting swirls no matter what condition you’re working in. Pricey little sucker! :thumbsup:

 

One thing I might need to focus on is the area I'm working. I might be guilty of working more than a 2' x 2' area. It might be slightly larger. It gets funny and hard to tell when you're dealing with areas like the top of the car where there's a sunroof and not a large flat area.

 

That can happen and yes, you need to be cognizant of that when working. That will definitely affect your results. :thumbsup:

 

 

Also, my car has stripes on it (basically factory installed stickers!) and I'm pretty sure those have clear coat over them, but is there any danger of the Flex or PC peeling those off if I don't put 3M automotive tape over them?

 

Thanks AJ!

 

No, they won’t have clear coat on them unless they are painted on the car. The PC will not lift them, but it can cake polish up under the edges of them and that will eventually cause them to start lifting. That, along with looking like crap.

 

Thanks for taking the time to start this thread. You have asked a lot of good questions that a LOT of people will benefit from. If anyone reading this does, chime in and let Jim know. I’m sure he will appreciate knowing that he has helped others with his thread. I will definitely be directing novices to it and i applaud Jim for taking the time to start it. :cheers:

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irunnoft

irunnoft

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Junkman - thank you for taking the time to go through all these myriad of questions and helping point out my errors. I do have both the PC and the Flex. I've also got the 4" focus pads for my PC. I'm not going to attempt to use them on a drill until I've mastered my PC and then my Flex. Besides, I don't really have anything that needs that level of correction.

 

I appreciate your constructive criticism. I don't mind having to start all over again. You know, a lot of what you've directed just makes sense. Hitting one spot and getting it right and then moving on is going to be more efficient, as well as doing the SHR on the entire car before changing out the pad and moving on to the FMP.

 

I'll log in some time with the PC. I've got no problems with using that and, like you said, I'll cut into that learning curve. I've already learned some things. Today, when I was working, I believe I've definitely got down when the polish has flashed. It's not that tough to spot now. In fact, it was just as you described. There would be a shiny part of the paint flashing through a milky part of the polish.

 

So for the PC, it's 9-14lbs. of pressure (which doesn't take much effort to achieve), prime the pad with some Detail Spray and four pea sized drops for a new pad or a pad that I'm just starting to use for that day. After that, three pea sized drops - all of which are on the inside of the area where the backing plate is. Let the polisher do the work, it's about a slow 16 count on a 2 x 2 square area. Cross hatch the area that's being worked. Wipe and check each time after each pass. If I still see damage, do it again. It can take up to three, four or even five times to get it corrected, right? The key is to go slowly, apply the even amount of pressure (9-14lbs), use three pea sized drops, keep an eye on the pad and don't let it get clogged, use Detail Spray to maximize the product working time, but not too much that it waters down the polish too much and finally work the polish up and down and back and forth.

 

I think I've got it!

 

By the way, the paint is pretty close right now. I took the car out for a cruise tonight and I pulled into a gas station and she looked mighty fine just sittin' there all Back in Black! I can't wait to get it perfect. Slow and steady wins the race.

 

Even though I know I've gone through more product than I will once I get the technique down, I know that's all part of the learning curve. I've already cut down on wasting polish big time! With your videos and your guidance, I'll be getting my shine on more effectively, efficiently and expeditiously. Okay...I'm out of words that start with "e".

 

Thanks again, AJ. :thumbsup:

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Junkman2008

Junkman2008

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I'm surprised your eyes aren't bleeding after reading my long response! lol!

 

Tough love my man, I pull no punches. I tell it like it is and hope that anyone reading it can see my passion. I want YOU to have the same success that I have at doing this and one day, you'll be giving out the tough love too. Then you think back to the times when you were learning and say,

 

"Man, I'm glad he wasn't close enough to smack me upside the head!" :help:

 

You're on the right road now my friend. :thumbsup:

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