Wetsanding and Rotary Buffer Pictures from Autogeek's Detailing Boot Camp Classes

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Wetsanding and Rotary Buffer Pictures from Autogeek's Detailing Boot Camp Classes


Here's some pictures showing hands-on action with people learning to,

• Hand sand
• Machine sand with 3M Orbital Air Sanders
• Machine sand with DA Polishers
• Use Rotary Buffers
• Use DA Polishers
• Clean Pads
• Apply Coatings

You'll see a wide range of ages including Tyler, age 15 learning the craft of detailing cars and the art of polishing paint.


Here's Tyler, age 15 use a Flex 3401...




At our classes everyone gets a chance to use ALL the different types and brands of polishers to see which one they like best...



Here's Mackay using a Spur to clean a wool pad on a rotary buffer




Mackay and Tim Machine Sanding. Mackay is using the Porter Cable 7424XP as a Dampsander and Tim is using the 3M Orbital Air Sander to Dampsand. Both guys are using Meguiar's Unigrit Foam Backed Finishing Discs.




Here's Steve from Executive Auto Detail dampsanding using a 3" Griot's Garage Mini Polisher, the perfect tool for doing surgical wetsanding. Steve drove here all the way from Houston, Texas to attend this class!








Here's Sean learning to hand sand using Meguiar's Nikken Unigrit Finishing Papers...



Here's Sean using the 3" Meguiar's Unigrit Discs to dampsand right up to and edge...






Here's Mackay learning to machine dampsand using a 3M Orbital Air Sander...




Here's Tyler, showing all the men how to leave a swirl free finish using a Porter Cable 7424XP DA Polisher...



Here's Tyler showing the proper way to remove polish residue so that you don't put toweling scratches back into the paint.




Here's Sean using a wool cutting pad on a Flex Rotary Buffer to remove sanding marks...




Here's Jeff learning how to pick up his bead using the 10 @ 10 Technique with a Flex PE14 Rotary Buffer and a Wool Cutting pad with M105




Here's Tyler using the Grit Guard Universal Pad Cleaner to clean a wool cutting pad after the compounding step...




After cleaning the wool pad in the pad cleaner Tyler then re-fluffs the wool fibers using a steel pad cleaning spur.








Here's Sean using a Flex PE14 Rotary Buffer with a foam polishing pad after using a wool pad to remove swirls and create a clear, high gloss finish. He's also demonstrating how to pick up a bead of product using the 10 @ 10 Technique.










These classes are very much hands-on and jamb-packed with learning correct techniques for detailing cars...

The next class is coming up on September 29th and 30th and there's only a few spaces left.

Next Detailing Boot Camp Class In September!

Click here to sign-up for Mike Phillips's Detailing Boot Camp September 29th & 30th

[BobbyG]

Looks great Mike and Tyler's become quite a teacher!!

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Originally Posted by BobbyG

Looks great Mike and Tyler's become quite a teacher!!

He might be back this Thursday to help with the 2012 Camaro, if not we'll see him again sometime...


Here's some more action shots from our last Detailing Boot Camp Class...


Here's Sean and Don machine polishing paint with rotary buffers...







Here's Tim machine polishing paint with a rotary buffer. Tim will be here i a few months with his Porsche and we're going to wetsand and buff it using the skill he learned at our classes.





Tim's 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera - IF you want to be part of this wetsanding class reply here, Wetsanding & Rotary Buffer Class




Iain and Tyler machine sanding, Iain is using the Porter Cable 7424XP and Tyler is showing the paint who's boss with the 3M Orbital Air Sander





Tyler showing how to hold the air line which is under pressure so it won't lift the back of the sander and cause him to use bad technique...






This is Tony and Jeff using Meguiar's 3" Unigrit Finishing Discs on the 3" Griot's Mini Polisher to dampsand...







Jeff's getting into it! - Jeff details Motorcycles including some celebrities you would recognize if I listed their names...




Here I'm going to show Donovan how to use the 10 @ 10 Technique to pick up a bead of product to keep from splattering it all over the place and to look like a real Pro when using a rotary buffer.













Next up is Tyler's turn...

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Here's Tyler ready to learn how to use a rotary buffer with a wool pad and a cutting compound to remove his sanding marks...




Modified 10 @ 10 Technique
IF you look closely, instead of picking up his bead of product at the 10 O'clock mark on his buffing pad Tyler is going to reverse directions and thus pick his bead of product up at the 4 O'Clock position. For this version of the 10 @ 10 Technique you move the polisher left to right and this way you pull the product into the pad instead of splattering it all over the place.









After passing over the bead of product he then quickly lays the pad flat to the paint and starts removing his sanding marks.






Here's Tyler, learning to hold the pad flat while holding the head of the Flex PE14 Rotary Polisher






Freestyling....







And here's Tyler moving to the other side to continue removing sanding marks. He makes it look so easy and that's the sign of a future Pro!





Here's Donovan working the other side of the hood...




Here's Stephan and Jeff learning to use rotary buffers with wool pads and compounds...

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Besides learning how to wetsand by hand and machine and then how to use rotary buffers and DA Polishers, we also go over the Microfiber Pads and Coatings...


Here's Tyler applying Opti-Coat II







Here's Steve applying CQuartz...



Here's Sean applying CQuartz...




Here's Gus trying out the Opti-Coat II




Dom applying Opti-Coat II





Everyone helping to wipe the CQuartz off after letting it dry for about 20 minutes. Remember you don't wipe the Opti-Coat off, you wipe it and leave a uniform coating on the paint and then walk away.





And here's some Beauty Shots of the Rental Car after the students removed all the car wash scratches and restored a flawless finish.









Remember, I documented what this Rental Car looked like before my students attacked it using the skills and techniques taught in the class.

Here's the thread where I documented it,

(I always document before shots, the process and after shots)

Pictures & Comments from May 5th & 6th Detailing Boot Camp


And here are the BEFORE pictures, this thing was trashed...


2012 Chevy Impala Demo Car



If you look closely you can see straight line scratches running from front to back, there are actually very few circular swirls and mostly straight scratches.



This is a negative of a cropped out section of the paint surrounding the reflection of the overhead florescent light near the windshield.






Outside Sun Shots



Scratches at the front of the hood....



Scratches at rear of hood...



Again, most of the scratches are running in straight lines...



This is a full size, cropped out section taken from just above my finger in the above picture...



Here's a Negative of the same picture...



Water Spots all over paint and glass...



Water spots on front fender...



Water Spots on Glass...



Water Spots on B-Pillar



Water Spots and Scratches on Trunk Lid...



Close-up cropped out of the above picture at full resolution...



And here's the May 5th and 6th Detailing Boot Camp Class....







Next Boot Camp Class is coming up real quick,


Next Detailing Boot Camp Class In September!

Click here to sign-up for Mike Phillips's Detailing Boot Camp September 29th & 30th

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

After attending any of our detailing classes students are awarded with Certificates of Completion...


Jeff...



Steve...






Tony...





Donovan...



Don...



Mackay...





Tyler - Age 15...



Stephan...



Gus...






Sean...






Paul...



Iain...



Steve...



Tim...

[bus3]

Mike,

So when picking up a bead with the rotary you can pick it up at 4 or 10 o'clock? Sorry I'm confused. Thanks for the help

[Hoytman]

A few questions.

1. It appears you had those guys using the Meg's solo-cut wool pad, of which I think consists of two types of wool pads; maroon and yellow. Any particular reason for using those vs. the Meg's W4000 wool pads? Did you use the matching Meg's backing plate for those pads?

2. Would you recommend those solo-cut pads/M105 combo for factory paint in this horrible condition... Trashed Trailblazer .

3. What are all the egg cartons for shown on the cart in a few of the photo's you posted?

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Originally Posted by bus3

Mike,

So when picking up a bead with the rotary you can pick it up at 4 or 10 o'clock? Sorry I'm confused. Thanks for the help

That's actually a very good question and the answer is you choose the position to lay down your bead of product and then how to pick it up by the panel you're working on.

I'm pretty sure I go over this in this video,

Video: Tips for using a Rotary Buffer and the Flex 3401 on vertical panels

Tips for using a Rotary Buffer and the Flex 3401 on vertical panels

Tips for using a Rotary..." target="_blank">Tips for using a Rotary...

This Thursday night I'll try to take a video showing how to do this on the Honda Extreme Makeover.

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Originally Posted by Hoytman

A few questions.

1. It appears you had those guys using the Meg's solo-cut wool pad, of which I think consists of two types of wool pads; maroon and yellow. Any particular reason for using those vs. the Meg's W4000 wool pads? Did you use the matching Meg's backing plate for those pads?

I wanted to use 7" pads, no larger to make it easy for newbies to handle a wool pad on a rotary buffer.

The Meg's Solo Cutting pad cuts really well and is easy to clean because it has a long pile length. This is easier with a pad cleaner or a steel spur and actually both are the best way to clean pads and that's what I show in my classes.

I like the double sided Meguiar's and Optimum wool pads but I wanted the students to use and feel what it's like using a flexible backing plate. So that's what we used, the Solo Flexible Backing Pates, the Solo Cutting Pads and Flex PE14 Rotary Buffers and I also have the DeWALT, Makita and 3M for people to test too...

Originally Posted by Hoytman

2. Would you recommend those solo-cut pads/M105 combo for factory paint in this horrible condition... Trashed Trailblazer

This post is from months ago? Have you buffed out the paint yet?

IF not, then "yes" the M105/Wool Pad/Rotary Buffer approach would make quick work of removing the damaged paint and restoring clarity to the clear coat.

Just to note though, you could tackle this multiple ways... but the rotary buffer route would be the fastest as far as the correction step goes.

Originally Posted by Hoytman

3. What are all the egg cartons for shown on the cart in a few of the photo's you posted?

I don't see them? Copy and paste a photo here to show me?


Good questions...