Detailing thread- Q&A Welcome!

[Kekotic]

Actually the $150,000+ Euro's are the ones that would get preference I imagine....

[hamish_023]

Behind us liberty members first lol.

Of course, There might be some plan's for January.

[hamish_023]

Today's job, a hacked up VY commodore:

will only post a couple of photo's so i don't overload the thread

Yuck


Before:





50/50, this took a while. paint measured around 156um and then 153um, so as a rough measure about 3um taken off which is nothing.


After: (not all deep cuts gone but huge improvement)


After:



for more pictures go to http://hamish023.imgur.com

Tommorow is a intense day on another BMW, refferal from the M5 V10 then thursday another commodore.

[hamish_023]

Refferal from the M5 V10, This time stage + 1 correction and opticoat.

Before:




Wash:




Treating plastics:





after:














http://hamish023.imgur.com for more of the pics

[hamish_023]

Yesterday's detail was a white VY needing some loving before summer hits.

Paint had no reflection, dark stains that didn't wash off, contaminates bonded to the clear coat and looked very yellow and oxidised.

Before:






Decontamination (Clay and iron decontamination)




Paint correction: (2-3 stages)





After:







For more pictures of the process etc head to http://hamish023.imgur.com

8 Hours spent all up

[Kekotic]

Holy shit @ that claybar.

[hamish_023]

Haha it was filth, have a look at the gallery at some more clay shots from other panels

[SH30RB]

hamish, naldo and kieran, i am curious as to how you three acquired sooooooooooo much knowledge over the years on car detailing?

[hamish_023]

hamish, naldo and kieran, i am curious as to how you three acquired sooooooooooo much knowledge over the years on car detailing?

Me, I look at detailing stuff more then this Liberty forum. I do tests of products in conditions on spare panels, glass to see how they work in actual situations instead of going by what's show on the back of the label

I havent added it all up yet but I would have spent thousands and thousand of dollars over the past few years. I would estimate beyond 6k on products and polishers etc. Although I see that money as an investment as I'm slowly building a business from the knowledge

[hamish_023]

Presale detail of a VE, nothing too special but here's the [Link] for some more pictures



Weekend ahead is a BMW M3, full restoration over two days

[SH30RB]

Me, I look at detailing stuff more then this Liberty forum. I do tests of products in conditions on spare panels, glass to see how they work in actual situations instead of going by what's show on the back of the label

I havent added it all up yet but I would have spent thousands and thousand of dollars over the past few years. I would estimate beyond 6k on products and polishers etc. Although I see that money as an investment as I'm slowly building a business from the knowledge

you're right, it is an investment, and if its something you love go for it!
have you ever added up the cost it takes yourself to do your own car?

[chris12]

Incredible thread guys. Nice work Hamish!

I have some scratches on the roof of my car which I'm looking to get rid of. I purchased a random orbital buffer with a fine cut Meguiars compound but it doesn't seem to be strong enough for the scratches. I then got a medium level but found out it doesn't "work" on a random orbital (has to be rotary). I'm not sure why, but anyway. Could I try this by hand or am I going to make a mess of things?

Tried ScratchX 2.0, that wasn't strong enough either. I'm now thinking of getting Meguiars Ultimate Compound and giving that a shot. Should I be trying something else?

If it helps, I can take some photos but they're just your regular scratches (from a tree maybe?) but a bit deeper.

[hamish_023]

Pics will be handy as it's always hard to tell. What machine polisher is it?

have you ever added up the cost it takes yourself to do your own car?

Not sure what you mean by that question?

[chris12]

It's a Black and Decker KP1200-XE. It was like $30, I think it has a 10" base or so. It came with a polishing cloth and a towel (which is what it said to use for cutting compounds). Can't really find much info on the 'net for you, but it looks like this guy here: http://www.cymfer.com.ar/BD/Automotor/bdkp1200.jpg

I took a photo with my phone but it turned out like rubbish. I'll get the DSLR out tonight and take a better photo. The scratches aren't too bad actually but are still too visible for my liking.

I'll post it tonight.

[chris12]

Ok, got some pictures. The first one is of the area I already tried buffing out. I used "Professional Fine-Cut Cleaner" by Meguiars with the random orbital buffer. These scratches run all down the top of my car on one side but these are the worst of them, the rest are finer. Like I said I have the Medium product of the above but haven't tried it.



This second one I haven't done anything about. I think it probably needs touch up paint (?) but if it does, I'll probably leave it. Any suggestions for this aswell?