New from Down Under

[Aaron@P2PQD]

Hi All,

        Been a lurker for a while and was actually hoping to do this thread with pictures of my freshly detailed car, I need help before that can happen though  . My Dad lives in the states and sent me one of Adams detail kits last christmas via Joe the Australian distibutor for Adam's, and was telling me how great this American stuff was. Yeah, Righto I thought, I'll be sure to try that one day when I have exhausted all my existing supplies of Megs and AG 

 

Well, Six months later and I had a rapidly expanding family and a Mazda3 which was struggling with one child. My wife adored the Mazda (it was an SP) but driving around with my knees buried in the dashboard due to the child seat behind was getting old very quickly. I took the plunge and we went car shopping, We looked at several different family sedans but wanting to support the fledgling Australian car industry we decided to buy a Holden VE Calais which was an ex-factory demonstrator. It fit the bill perfectly and had under 10,000k's on the clock!

 

Upon getting the vehicle home and washing it thoroughly myself I realized I wasn't really that happy with the state of the paint, I clayed it and hit with my favourite Megs wax but for the first time in a long time I still wasn't satisfied with the finish. Concluding my Megs had gone off, I went the auto shop where I was sold AG Super Resin polish. Again I clayed and waxed the car but still found the finish was not where I wanted it to be. Standing there perplexed I remembered that bucket Dad bought me and thought "I wonder if there's a wax in there?"

 

Well, I went inside and raided the bucket hoping like all hell there was some sort of miracle cream in here and after I had upended the contents all over the floor I found what I was looking for! Lollies! Couldn't believe my luck, just what you need when your having a bad day  I chowed all three of them while rummaging through the contents and then came across this yellow stuff called Adams Buttery Wax. As the car was a Daily and would be subjected to the horrors of children I figured the car had worse things coming if it didn't work.

 

Well, I proceeded to apply the wax the following day and honestly didn't expect alot. I'd used alot of products before I settled with Megs and alot of them had been of a poor standard to be kind. Before I'd finished my neighbor had wandered over and made comment on how good the car looked. It was then that I stopped and compared both sides of the car. I have to say it didn't blow me away initially, but the more I looked the more I could appreciate the quality of the wax and I found myself unable to stop looking at it. It had made decidedly average paint look fairly spectacular.

 

Since using the buttery wax I have ordered the 2 step correction kit along with the all purpose cleaner, super vrt kit and the 2 step correction kit. I have also sourced a cyclo 6ce locally and the bits to convert it to Adam's spec. Joseph from Adam's Australia has been really good to deal with and I have to say I'm pretty much sold on Adam's filling a large proportion of my detailing gear. I've been trawling the Detailing section of the forum for the last few weeks and some of the results you guys get is nothing short of amazing and I'm super impressed by how helpful the community here is. 

 

That's pretty much my whole life up until this moment right now

 

TL:DR - Aussie who tells long stories is impressed with Adam's products and thinks the community here is pretty awesome! look forward to liaising with you all in the future

 

So the question I had right at the beginning is how do you take good photos of scratched paint before correction? My camera seems to make them vanish in pictures

 

Cheers

Aaron

[Chris@Adams]

Aaron! It's hard sometimes to capture pics of scratches and flaws, try different lighting.....

[CMDChase]

Welcome Aaron. I agree with Chris. Lighting makes a huge difference. I found for myself that late afternoon sun works best. But basically its trial and error. Good luck !!

[Aaron@P2PQD]

Thanks Guys, I will give it a try. Looking forward to doing my first correction!

[AmyAtAdamsAustralia]

Hi Aaron, Thanks for sharing your story and welcome to Adam's Forums- there are definitely plenty of tips and tricks to be found here. I hope all is well on your side of the country and I'm looking forward to some photos of post correction.

 

Regarding taking pictures of swirls, it can be hit and miss and I'm with the cohort that good lighting does help. I've found personal success with switching to manual focus on a DSLR or point and shoot camera and adjusting the focal point to bring out the swirls.

 

If there is anything we can assist with further, let me know.

[Natch02]

Welcome to the clan Aaron

[mc2hill]

Welcome Aaron!

 

I have had good luck using a halogen work light.  Two 500 bulbs work fine, but they get hot!  Turning off all the other light sources works the best, but is not always practical.  

 

 

Using tape to create an 'end' line can help show the contrast between the corrected and not corrected side.

 

[Chewy]

Welcome Aaron!  From one Holden owner to another!  Let us know if you need any help!