big-lew18
RMS Regular
Impressive work! Looking forward to seeing more!
Dmur197 's Detailing hobby
- Thread starter Dmur197
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Walder
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Sorry for the hi-jack, but I've just done the pillars on an A4 tonight. I use a 1 inch machine (Liquid Elements A1000) with a microfiber cutting pad (I make these from the 5 inch Meguiars pads) and either Megs D300 or CarPro Clearcut (depending on what it needs), refined with a Rupes yellow pad and CarPro Reflect and just for that final touch i use a KKD black pad (really soft) and CarPro Essence. Comes out amazing for me,
Before
After cutting,
Fully refined,
Dmur197
RMS Regular
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- #54
I personally like the Menzerna range, just because I am well familiar with them. For the pillars I used their 3800 and a white hex logic pad and then 3800 again with a black for refining.
That looks really good! How do you find the meguires products and carpro products compare to the Menzerna range? I would mainly use Menzerna and scholl for polishing, I have no experience using anything else. I also use foam pads incase that makes much of a difference.
I've not used Menzerna nor Scholl before, but like you, I stick with what I know so I've a range of Meguiars, Rupes and CarPro compounds and polishes. I really like the CarPro range as the ceramic coating I've been using is theirs, and their shampo, Reset, is fantastic.
Dmur197
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I’ll maybe look into the carpro range. How do you find their ceramic coating? I have been considering doing my own car but don’t know what brand to go with. I haven’t ceramic coated a car before but have done wheels and it’s something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while
I've only applied the CQuartz Lite coating, but would like to put UK3.0 on a car. As for application, it's pretty straight forward. Apply, level down and buff, no flash time and a 4 hour cure time. Applied it to 8 cars so far and only onto my 2nd bottle as the amount you are given is huge in comparison to other Lite coatings on the market.
Dmur197
RMS Regular
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- #58
That does sounds good, might give that a go! Is there a recommended “use by” time once the bottle is opened? I used a gtechniq coating before and if i remember correctly it was advised to be used within 3 months of opening
Dmur197
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- #60
I was recently asked to polish my friends mk1 mx5. There were a few areas of oxidation and staining where some chemicals had dried that now couldn't be removed from washing alone, as well as the usual swirl marks.
The bonnet was the worst affected by the water staining.
This was the first single stage stage paint I had worked on so I was hesitant to go too aggressive on it, so I used Menzerna 3800 with a black chemical guys quantum pad as a starting point. I was planning to see how the paint responded and potentially step it up to a white pad since the black technically has no cut and its advertised purpose is for spreading sealants and waxes. I was also being extra careful as there are a couple of areas where the previous owner tried polishing themselves and had gone through the paint. In the end I didn't need to change from the black pad as it removed all of the swirls and stains.
Next I moved on to the interior which was in fantastic condition to start with. I used a detail brush to remove any dust between the buttons and then vacuumed the seats and carpets. To keep the seats in top condition I used a leather conditioner and then applied a dressing to the dash to help protect it too.
With everything done I moved onto the smaller jobs, such as the plastic trim dressings, polishing the exhaust and then applying a coat of wax to protect the paint from fading or staining again in the future.
This is it outside once everything had been completed before it was collected.
The bonnet was the worst affected by the water staining.
This was the first single stage stage paint I had worked on so I was hesitant to go too aggressive on it, so I used Menzerna 3800 with a black chemical guys quantum pad as a starting point. I was planning to see how the paint responded and potentially step it up to a white pad since the black technically has no cut and its advertised purpose is for spreading sealants and waxes. I was also being extra careful as there are a couple of areas where the previous owner tried polishing themselves and had gone through the paint. In the end I didn't need to change from the black pad as it removed all of the swirls and stains.
Next I moved on to the interior which was in fantastic condition to start with. I used a detail brush to remove any dust between the buttons and then vacuumed the seats and carpets. To keep the seats in top condition I used a leather conditioner and then applied a dressing to the dash to help protect it too.
With everything done I moved onto the smaller jobs, such as the plastic trim dressings, polishing the exhaust and then applying a coat of wax to protect the paint from fading or staining again in the future.
This is it outside once everything had been completed before it was collected.
