Why Adam's Paint Correction Videos Are Misleading

[Agbull]

Ok, so search "disheartened" and you will come to my original issues with Adam's and following their instructions. If you watch their videos as a "NOOB", you think simple enough. Here is the catch, they always paint correct a section of the hood and then say that once you have that down, you can polish the rest of the car with the same process. This is NOT CORRECT!. Again, I learned the hard way but am learning fast. Again, look at my post from December (search disheartened on the Adam's forum). For the MOST part, ok and it worked......but not on the a#$ end of the car! Again, reference my original post and the damage I saw was on the a$% end. Coincidence? I think not! The a%$ end is catching all the exhaust, etc. As a NOOB learning quick, again, DO NOT take the Adam's videos as the gospel because they are misleading. With all of the preceding said and what I have learned on my own, Adam's is a great product but DO NOT FOLLOW THEIR PAINT CORRECTION VIDEOS! I Am completely blown away by the fact that they have not caught this and cannot tell you how much it has cost be as a NOOB! On average, the tail end of my car took three times as many passes as the "normal" panels.

 

Now the good news. After about 30 hours of work, I think that I have ALL of my paint corrected for the most part (including the damage that you see if you search "disheartened".) Still have to do the fine polish, seal and wax though! I will post those pictures on my original "disheartened" post.

 

Also, Adam's, how about showing us how you polish and correct curves on a car? Again, you only show correcting a flat hood surface.

[Dwhite0960]

I typically test hit the worst area so I know I'm covered throughout my process. The videos are great quality and very informative. You still have to tweak things to your own style everyone has differences in my opinion. I don't think Adams is at fault at all personally

[stripesace]

You ok boss?

 

I remember your original thread. If I remember right you were using products from a previous generation... 

 

The language you have chosen tonight is very personal and incendiary in nature... 

[Chris@Adams]

It doesn't matter where you do your test section, the idea of the test section is so you will know exactly what it's going to take to make your paint perfect again instead of jumping around and not accomplishing any results.

[5OHHH]

Wow, is it that big of a deal to look at a section and say, "oh I have to take another pass"? Wouldn't think someone would just polish the entire vehicle and only check to the test area.

[chops1sc]

While I understand your frustration, you cannot hold Adam's videos responsible for YOUR results (good or bad) because in the end YOU are the one doing the work. YOU have to check after each pass and YOU are the only one that can determine if you can move on to the next panel or not. There are too many other videos and tutorials online for you to get advice from. I have watched at least 4 other people do paint correction on YouTube and they ALL use different techniques. It would be like me trying to smoke a brisket and telling people to not follow a certain cook's recipe because mine came out different than what they said it would be.

 

You also have to consider the countless variables involved in paint correction; paint condition, lighting, polisher, pads, humidity, temperature, technique, time, experience, the list goes on! Experience is probably the biggest variable of them all. you said it yourself that you are a noob. Why would you expect perfect results the first time?

Edited June 1, 2016 by chops1sc

[rrmccabe]

DO NOT FOLLOW THEIR PAINT CORRECTION VIDEOS!

 

Oops !  Too late, I already did and it worked great. 

 

However, common sense told me that if I was going to test on the hood it would be to take care of haze in the paint from previous washing's and only if the rest of the car looked exactly the same when inspecting it.

 

I had a door that need a couple extra passes and the roof needed more time as well.

 

That said I don't totally buy into everything Adams pushes but for the most part they have the best program going which includes forum support and videos. So to me that makes them the right product.

 

In the end you got the results you wanted so its a win. You were not looking for zip wash in a bucket results. Some guys spend weeks doing paint correction on a single car. Did you notice how much time Adam spent on the rear sail skirt on that one car getting it cleaned up? Note that was not a hood and it was also not flat.

[James__]

Your test section is supposed to be on the a section representative of the overall all condition of your paint.  If the rear of the vehicle is much worse than the front, you should have done your test section there to get an accurate idea of what kind of labor you were looking at.  The only reason that they always do videos and demonstrations on hoods is because it is much easier to see from a crowd and much easier to film, not because they necessarily recommend doing your test section there.

 

Also, the damage incurred did not come from any technique shown in their paint correction, but rather from contamination that was not removed from the vehicles surface before beginning paint correction.  I have found the paint correction method to work just fine, though it will change slightly depending on your technique, the tools you are using, and the complexity and condition of the vehicle you are correcting.  

 

I do not believe the videos are at all misleading as a whole, but were maybe misunderstood by you when viewing them.

[Kingsford]

Every car is different, every panel is different. There is no way to show how to correct every specific different type of swirl, defect, imperfection, etc on a panel. I started out using Adam's videos and I don't seem to have any issues at all. What your asking for is unrealistic, the video would be 100 hours long and it wouldn't even cover half of the different issues you'll run into. YOU need to take the different knowledge and recommendations from the videos and YOU need to piece them together and make them work on the panels YOU have to work with. If you want to pay someone to come hold your hand through an entire detail and paint correction then do that but no one is going to do it for free, especially with this kind of attitude.

 

This is the equivalent of going to college, getting a job and expecting the college to have taught you every issue you will run into and need to fix. No... NO! They teach you the basics and some advanced stuff and YOU have to put it together.

 

Just my $0.02 but if I were a Mod this would be a none issue and it would just be gone along with the OP'er.

 

Again, I started off using Adam's and learning from the videos and I've never had one issue. However I also believe in the phase "Once you've stopped learning, its time to retire." No one should ever stop learning. You should learn something new every single day of your life.

Edited June 1, 2016 by Kingsford

[Rich]

No bashing here guys.

 

I think the main problem here is "expectations".  Following the videos, first timers think that it's going to be so easy to get your car to look showroom new just by following the steps.  Not so.  It's a learning curve.  Not every car is the same. Not every car has the same paint, problems,, clear coat, etc.  Not every car has the same contaminants.  Not every car has the same scratches or issues. The videos are a GUIDE on the steps to take to get the BEST result on each individual car.  Nobody (well at least me) gets it right the first time. Or even the second or third time. It's a process. You're going to have areas that are a lot tougher than others.  They're going to take more work, more passes, more product till you get it figured out.

You've apparently learned all of this along the way and even though it took 30 hours, you got the results you wanted.

You watched the video and "expected" to get it right the first time just by following the steps.  But that's not the way it works.  The videos are there to guide you and teach you what to do.  But that's all they are.  Guides.  

Thanks for your feedback Jeff.