first detail

[2012srt8]

hi im new to the forum and detailing in general. ive always waxed my previous cars buy just washing it and putting some cheap wax on lie mequires nxt and a foam applicator. it never looked good really so im trying to do it the right way. i bought a 2012 charger srt8 in pitch black and bought adams cyclo pro5 polisher kit with the foam and microfiber pads. along with with 2 stage polish,glaze,americana wax and spray sealant. im doing this for the first time with the polisher so im hoping it goes well. i washed the car and clayed it and taped off all the plastic and rubber parts.

 

should i use the microfiber pads or foam pads?

 

do you do the whole car using the step 1 polish then use step 2 or do you do one panel with both steps at a time?

 

after the the polishing is done, would my next steps be glaze,sealant,wax?

[Adam]

Ryan, don't give up!  Achieving a near-flawless finish on your SRT8 is very much possible.  How much pressure are you applying to the handle of the Cyclo?  Have you been using the Pad Conditioning Brush to regularly bring the Microfiber Polishing Pads back to shape?

 

I'm also happy to talk about this with you on the phone, and walk you through personally.  We don't have many unsatisfied users of this Cyclo/ Pad/ Polishing system, and I'd be happy to help you through this process.

 

Email me your phone number, and a good time to call you.  I have church from 11AM - 1PM PST today, otherwise, I'm available.

 

Thanks Ryan! adam@adamspolishes.com

[BluedogGMC]

Ryan, don't give up!  Achieving a near-flawless finish on your SRT8 is very much possible.  How much pressure are you applying to the handle of the Cyclo?  Have you been using the Pad Conditioning Brush to regularly bring the Microfiber Polishing Pads back to shape?

 

I'm also happy to talk about this with you on the phone, and walk you through personally.  We don't have many unsatisfied users of this Cyclo/ Pad/ Polishing system, and I'd be happy to help you through this process.

 

Email me your phone number, and a good time to call you.  I have church from 11AM - 1PM PST today, otherwise, I'm available.

 

Thanks Ryan! adam@adamspolishes.com

Now that is service that you will not get anywhere else!!!

[2012srt8]

after every pass with the micofiber pads i would clean them with the brush. not sure how to explain how much pressure lol. im not pushing on it to hard. i would go side to side then up and down like in the videos. the one spot on the hood i was working on i probably went over 4 times with the orange foam pad and the white pad after.i should mention this, my hood,front bumper and fenders were repainted because my wife figured she would hit a parked car with it   not sure if the paint would have different clear on it but i did try other panels like the roof and spoiler that wernt repainted and got about the same results. im just worried about using the orange pad and ruining the clear?

[2012srt8]

Now that is service that you will not get anywhere else!!!

appreciate the help, i will send me number over now!

[2012srt8]

Ryan, don't give up!  Achieving a near-flawless finish on your SRT8 is very much possible.  How much pressure are you applying to the handle of the Cyclo?  Have you been using the Pad Conditioning Brush to regularly bring the Microfiber Polishing Pads back to shape?

 

I'm also happy to talk about this with you on the phone, and walk you through personally.  We don't have many unsatisfied users of this Cyclo/ Pad/ Polishing system, and I'd be happy to help you through this process.

 

Email me your phone number, and a good time to call you.  I have church from 11AM - 1PM PST today, otherwise, I'm available.

 

Thanks Ryan! adam@adamspolishes.com

appreciate the help, i will send over my number!

[Adam]

Great talking to you Ryan!  Thanks for putting up with the sound of our munchkins while we talked shine.....keep me posted, and we'll get our black SRT8 dialed!

[GerryC]

i should mention this, my hood,front bumper and fenders were repainted because my wife figured she would hit a parked car with it   not sure if the paint would have different clear on it but i did try other panels like the roof and spoiler that wernt repainted and got about the same results. im just worried about using the orange pad and ruining the clear?

I've found repeatedly that resprayed panels have harder clearcoat than factory. And don't worry about ruining your clearcoat. The Cyclo, these pads and these polishes are nowhere near the level of aggressive which can cause that type of damage.

[2012srt8]

ok that was my worry was stripping the clear. not the whole car was repainted but sadly the front bumper,fenders,hood,passenger rear door and rear bumper have all been repainted. talk about bad luck. it was nice talking to adam and getting some tips on how to get it done, and all on sunday at 7am. thats service right there. im gonna get back out there with the microfiber pads and then the foam pads and work real slowwww.

[mtnbiker326]

ok that was my worry was stripping the clear. not the whole car was repainted but sadly the front bumper,fenders,hood,passenger rear door and rear bumper have all been repainted. talk about bad luck. it was nice talking to adam and getting some tips on how to get it done, and all on sunday at 7am. thats service right there. im gonna get back out there with the microfiber pads and then the foam pads and work real slowwww.

 

Glad things are looking up (as they typically do, here at Adam's).  Keep us in the loop, regarding an further details or questions.  Good luck!  

 

Thanks Adam for AWESOME customer service.  

[2012srt8]

well i went back out with the microfiber pads and used both the orange and white and went real slow this time. seems to have done a better job. im still waiting on my orange and white foam pads to finish drying and will go over it again with those. all i noticed this time in the paint was some minor swirling. and thats looking pretty hard at it with the flashlight. maybe im just being to picky but i wanna get it perfect. also this was done on the spoiler, which wasnt repainted and its obviously made of fiberglass unlike the rest of the car. my previous detailer told me he had trouble with the spoiler getting it right so i think im making good progress so far with it.

[GerryC]

I do not know about Dodges, but I believe the spoiler may be ABS plastic and not fiberglass. The spoiler and hood scoops on my G8 did not correct as easily as the rest of the car because they are plastic. Also, realize that since your car is black, you will see every tiny imperfection there is. Perfect paint on a black car is extremely tough to accomplish, so again, don't feel discouraged since this is only your first time polishing.

[2012srt8]

i could be wrong about the spoiler, just guessed lol. just know its not metal. my wife is dragging me outta the garage to go shopping   so i'll get back at it later tonight. thanks again for your help guys.

[Ricky Bobby]

Just remember getting to 85-90 percent correction is the easy part, if you're looking for perfect finish at 95-98% corrected or better it's going to take you just as long to get that last 10% than the first 85-90%.

 

Make sense?

[Z06Seal]

maybe you can make a video of you doing a 2x2 panel and talk us through it as to what you're doing, and someone can chime in on what's going on as you're making the video? 

[2012srt8]

i dont have tripod for my camera. cant hold it polish at the same time. id have to get someone to hold it while i polish. im going to work on it again this weekend. im focusing just on the hood. i went over the hood with the orange microfiber pads then this weekend im going to go back over it with the foam pads

[2012srt8]

i dont have tripod for my camera. cant hold it polish at the same time. id have to get someone to hold it while i polish. im going to work on it again this weekend. im focusing just on the hood. i went over the hood with the orange microfiber pads then this weekend im going to go back over it with the foam pads

[bruuuuce]

Did you claybar first?

 

This might be a good video to watch, it is Part 1 of a series so keep watching all of them in the series.  He is a little gabby but he shows you some good technics...

 

Look on the shelf behind him, he has a bottle of Adam's on the shelf back there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP-eAddv2sk

Edited March 18, 2014 by bruuuuce

[2012srt8]

ya ive been talking with junkman. people keep telling me the cyclo isnt a good polisher to use. i clayed it a few weeks before i stored the car. still feels smooth

[mc2hill]

 people keep telling me the cyclo isnt a good polisher to use. 

 

I think is it just not as popular as some of the others, not that it is not 'good'.  And it is not the 'next great thing', it is established and has been around along time.  They are tough (I recently heard a well known detailer telling a story about dropping a Cyclo off an airplane wing - it was still spinning after it hit the ground and worked fine after that) and well balanced too.

[2012srt8]

i had a local come over from lxforums.com who details on the side and he gave me some tips and showed me what i need to do. im gonna try and finish this thing up next weekend. found the microfiber pads are working the best

[GerryC]

Sounds good. Sometimes you need an in-person hands-on demo to get on the right path. Videos unfortunately can only guide so much. Let us know how it goes.

[2012srt8]

going to finish polishing this weekend and sealant. also just ordered some patriot wax!!!!

[2012srt8]

well i have finally finished the polishing.  my back hurts! i still gotta seal,glaze and wax it though and clean the rims and wheel wells. its looks pretty good i would say. not perfect though.

[GerryC]

Tough to get perfect - especially black - on your first ever machine polish job. If it's noticeably better than before you started, that's a win in my book. Now that you're a little familiar with the machine and the process, it won't take nearly as long to polish next time your car needs it. You can always practice on someone else's car in the mean time 

[Timmy8784]

well i have finally finished the polishing.  my back hurts! i still gotta seal,glaze and wax it though and clean the rims and wheel wells. its looks pretty good i would say. not perfect though.

Can I ask why you didn't clean the wheels and wheel wells first?

 

Usually you would do this before you wash the car.