Questions on Buffing....

[Detail ExTreMisT]

I'm wondering,.....after I use swirl and haze remove to get my finish back to nearly perfect condition, will I ever have to rebuff my car? Am I suppose to rebuff it after ever wash or only when I find swirl marks? Note, my Camaro is a daily driver. But buffing it after every wash wouldn't be a problem; I take pleasure in it. I watched Junkman's videos and correct me if I'm wrong, but Junkman said when you buff a car using a orbital buffer or rotary tool, your basically "cutting the clear-coat down", is that true?

 

So basically every time I buff my car, I'm taking away clear coat through buffing? Is that why you should only buff when swirls are present?

 

I've seen these high price cars before autoshows getting buffed on the floor when to me, the cars were CLEAN with no swirls present, so why buff it?

[whiterp199]

I only "buff" my car when it starts to show swirls. If you use a PC or other random orbital polisher it takes off hardly any clear coat. check this thread out. http://www.adamsforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4034

[Bill-V8V]

I watched Junkman's videos and correct me if I'm wrong, but Junkman said when you buff a car using a orbital buffer or rotary tool, your basically "cutting the clear-coat down", is that true?

 

No, the Junkman lies to us all the time :lolsmack::lolsmack:

[mononoke6900]

Thanks for the useful info A.J.

[Junkman2008]

No, the Junkman lies to us all the time :lolsmack::lolsmack:

 

Am I going to have to have you spanked by Rosie O'Donnell, Bill?

 

Here's the deal Mel. Although you have watched my videos, you need to make another run through them. Here's why. In my videos, I explain how to correct your paint. I also explain in detail the how to properly care for your paint, which also includes why I do what I do. If you properly care for your paint, you won't end up creating more of the damage that you had to fix in the first place. If you don't create damage, there is no more damage to fix. At that point, the only thing that you will need to do to the car is wash and wax it. Once you truly grasp what I saying, you will truly understand through logic and common sense the answers to the questions you have posted.

 

Now in reality, a daily driver is going to get scratches on it from idiots brushing up against in parking lots and such. Thus, you will probably have to break out the WHITE pad and some FMP from time to time, but that should be all that is required until it is necessary to clay the car again. Even after claying, the white pad/FMP combination should be the only polishing ritual that you should need to correct any damage. If you continue to wash or wipe on the car incorrectly, you will continue to create swirls in your paint and thus end up constantly correcting it. Well let's face it, there is only so much clear coat on the car and although the PC isn't going to eat it off very quickly, you still only have so much. One thing I suggest you invest in is a paint thickness gauge that can measure the clear coat and base coat on your car. The gauges that give you 1 total reading are useless because they don't separately give you the individual levels for both. You need to know the level FOR BOTH. You say that you are wanting to get serious about this stuff so you need to buy the tools that serious detailers use. That isn't $10,000 waxes, these are the tools and equipment that serious detailers use.

 

You can relate this to being burned by fire. All of us have experienced some type of burn before, be it from heat or fire. Maybe you had to go to the hospital or had to do some type of home remedy to address the problem. So does that mean that you should go to the hospital every other month for burn treatments if you haven't received any burns? Heck no, you only go if you get burned badly again. What you learned from that experience was to NOT stick your hand in fire or on something that is hot. That is what we call preventive maintenance. By not burning yourself again, you save yourself the pain and the need for treatment again. This is the same with your paint. If you don't swirl it up again, you won't have to keep correcting it. The preventive maintenance in all this is to wash the car correctly and limit how often you are touching the paint. This also includes following my waterless wash videos when wiping it down with detail spray or waterless wash.

 

Now you should be clear on the why I do what I do in caring for my paint. My videos explain HOW.

[mononoke6900]

Which Paint thickness guage would you recomend? Thanks

[Junkman2008]

Which Paint thickness guage would you recomend? Thanks

 

The one that measures paint off of the material that your car is made of! Paint thickness gauges measure the material on top of a given source. There are gauges that measure material on top of wood, metal, fiberglass and anything else that can be painted. What you have to find out is what your painted panels are made of. Then you have to find out what gauge will take measurements on that material. Lastly, you need a gauge that will differentiate the the clear coat from the base coat AND the primer. The gauge needs to be able to read in units of microns. It will NOT be cheap. My gauge for fiberglass cars cost $2600. It only works on fiberglass and plastic.

 

You can get a cheaper one but if you actually understand why you need one in the first place, common sense would tell you that a cheaper one that only gives one reading is useless for a professional detailer. For detailing cars using a PC and Adam's products, a paint thickness gauge is not needed because Adam's doesn't have any super aggressive polishes that are going to wipe out your paint. Especially using a PC. It is when you get into some of the stuff that Meguiar's sells, or automotive grades that 3M makes that require you to pay close attention to how much material is on the paint. This is especially true if you decide to pick up a more aggressive polisher.

[Chris@Adams]

Well said AJ!