1969 Corvette Stingray - Cobra Clay Mitt Review

[parshooter]

That Vette looks fantastic!!! Great job Mike. How much of an area do you swipe with the mitt?

[Mike Phillips]

That Vette turned out amazing! Would love to know what's going on under that hood! LOL

I have a picture of the engine, I don't remember it being all dolled up out of the normal but when he start her up you can tell she's healthy.

[Mike Phillips]

Wow that looks great!

I don't think I could make it look like that in that amount of time, Mike. Not with moving a DA polisher around 1" a second...even if I used my rotary for the compounding step. I might be able to do the two steps with my rotary and a final with a DA, but that's probably 1 more step than you did. I'm not concerned with getting that fast...but ding dang as you say...

I would like to speed up things a little bit.

Flex 3401 on speed setting 6

Couldn't use a rotary buffer on this Corvette, too risky on the raised body lines due to others that have buffed before me.

Compounding with my DA takes generations it seems. I'm not afraid to use the rotary for that first compounding step and maybe I should.

Flex 3401 on speed setting 6

Mike, you did an outstanding job on the Corvette

You stated it was a race car and the owner tamed it down a bit, was it a Baja racer?

Don't have the details about the racing history in front of me but the owner has a large poster board he displays by the car at car shows, next time I see him I'll take a picture of it.

Looks great Mike, doesn't even look like the same car.

Thanks Walter...

Looks good! Does your same principle about washing classics with a waterless wash apply to restored classic/muscle cars?

Yes. Of course. Here's my article on this topic...

How To Wash a Classic Muscle Car


By the way, this Plymouth Fury was COVERED IN OVERSPRAY after a visit to.... a body shop. Like I say, the most common place to get paint overspray is when your car is at a BODY SHOP.

Excellent work Mike! The car looks awesome, how would you compare the Cobra Clay Mitt to the Nanoskin Autoscrub?

Similar product, does the same thing.

That Vette looks fantastic!!! Great job Mike.

How much of an area do you swipe with the mitt?

Moving the mitt back and forth in straight lines about the length of 2 feet or so, kind of depends upon the size and shape of the body panel. I don't think about it much just get and get working.


Thank you for the questions and comments...

[eaglefan]

When clay gets "Dirty" you kneel it to get a "Clean" area and continue.What is the process for cleaning the mitt after a section or two?

[Mike Phillips]

Beautiful work Mike! That classic black Corvette looks incredible!

Thanks Mike.

Question, where would this Mitt fall in terms of clay classification? Fine grade, medium grade, aggressive grade?

I'll have to check. It's not aggressive for sure so probably in the fine/medium range.

Different grades are really about speed and time. The more aggressive you get the fewer passes you need to make to do the same work. The less aggressive you get the more passes you need to make assuming all other factors remain the same.

This Corvette was BAD. REALLY BAD. And this mitt worked great.

When clay gets "Dirty" you kneel it to get a "Clean" area and continue.

What is the process for cleaning the mitt after a section or two?

Good questions.

If you're washing the car using a traditional wash method, that is you have a hose and running water then dunk it in your wash bucket of car wash soap and rub your hand over it with some soapy water and then rinse the face off with water.

If like me you're using it after a waterless wash then what I did was walk into the nearest sink to wash it off. I sprayed some BLACKFIRE Clay Cleaner & Extender onto it and the lightly agitated using a nylon detailing brush, (like a toothbrush), then rinsed in the sink. Then back to work. I think I did this about 4-5 times as the overspray paint was building up on the face of the mitt.

I should have taken pictures but I buffed this car out AFTER having worked a full day and I wanted to get home, take a shower and get to bed before 1:00am

I'm usually really good about taking pictures but it's time consuming. Not just taking the pictures but the cropping, resizing, uploading and inserting.

I have more projects coming up so next time I'll try to take a few pics to share...

[Mike Phillips]

Here's what I used...

Blackfire Clay Cleaner and Extender

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

Basecoat/clearcoat.

This Corvette actually has a different paint on it from different stages of it's life but all of it is basecoat/clearcoat.

I met the owner at our local Tuesday night car show. He watched me demonstrate how to use detailing clay and asked me to look at his Corvette. He told me the paint felt rough and that he had tried clay but to no avail.

I felt the paint and then showed him the baggie test but the baggie test wasn't needed as the paint felt like #40 grit sandpaper. The problem was years of contamination and overspray paint from multiple paint jobs.

Somewhere I have an article that explains the MOST common place to get overspray paint on a car is at a body shop. They are always spraying paint and not always inside the paint booth so it's pretty easy to get air-borne overspray paint on your car while it's at a body shop. In fact real common.




Knocked it out by myself. I'd say about 95 percent correction.





Flex 3401

I used all the same techniques I teach in my 3-day Competition Ready Training Academy classes. Next class in in January.

Compound = BLACKFIRE SRC Compound with LC 6.5" Orange Hybrid Cutting Pad
Polish = BLACKFIRE SRC Finishing Polish with LC 6.5" White Hybrid Polishing Pad
Wax = BLACKFIRE All Paint Protection machine applied using LC 6.5" Red Hybrid Waxing Pad






Thank you. Appreciate the compliment and this was a fun project.

The night before I knocked out this old car, did it in 5.5 hours too... I don't take breaks when I detail except for a drink of water.

3D HD Adapt and Poxy Review - 1940 Packard Streetrod detailed by Mike Phillips

Breath taking results mike for 5.5 hours jeez you are an amazing talent/artist.

Mike I have a 3401 with a 4 inch plate for 5 inch pads.

I find that this plate and pad setup isn't as efficient at correcting paint , do you feel this way too?

When I use the 6.5 inch pads I feel the machine works better and corrects way better at a rapid rate.

Do you feel this way too ?

I still use the smaller plate for tight areas , however I still prefer the 6.5 inch pads on the Flex, as you are the godfather of the machine 😎

[Mike Phillips]

Breath taking results mike for 5.5 hours jeez you are an amazing talent/artist.

Thank you for the kind words...

Mike I have a 3401 with a 4 inch plate for 5 inch pads.

I find that this plate and pad setup isn't as efficient at correcting paint , do you feel this way too?

No. If fact just the opposite. I find the Flex 3401 with the 5" pads are perfect for buffing thin panels. NOTE: When I talk about 5" pads for the Flex 3401 I'm talking about the Lake Country 5" Hybrid Pads. Your mileage may vary with other pads.

And when I'm talking about doing correction work with the Lake Country 5" Hybrid pads I'm talking about the orange foam cutting pads. If I need something more aggressive than the orange Hybrid foam pads (either 5" or 6.5") then I break out the rotary buffer and a wool pad.

One thing I practice and teach others is to not buff on top of raised body lines or edges. For thin panels a 5" pad comes in handy.

In fact in my how-to book for the Flex 3401, in my ACR classes and the class I teach at Mobile Tech each year I strongly recommend the 4" backing plate and the 5" Hybrid pads.

When I use the 6.5 inch pads I feel the machine works better and corrects way better at a rapid rate.

Do you feel this way too ?

Yes. Sometimes bigger is better and this would be true when you're working larger, flatter panels.

In my how-to book for the Flex 3401 I explain the "walking characteristic" of the Flex 3401 and explain that it's diminished when you use smaller pads. This can be a benefit to people "new" to machine polishing or to people that simply don't like the walking characteristic.

Truth is anytime you feel the Flex 3401 "walking" it's a sign or feedback to you that you're not holding the pad flat.

I still use the smaller plate for tight areas , however I still prefer the 6.5 inch pads on the Flex, as you are the godfather of the machine ��

Agree. When the larger pad is the best pad for the panel it's definitely the way to go as you can knock the work out faster. Sometimes a detailing job is about quality and not speed but I would have to say that even when a job is about quality speed is always a factor because none of us can simply lollygag around when buffing out a car.

For myself I always have more to do than time to do it so I push myself hard and work fast. I don't always aim for 100 percent correction. In fact for most cars I'm good with 90% correction and everything else I get is just extra.


Pad size and type can be personal preference but a good rule of thumb is to match the pad size to the panel or area being buffed.

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

Thank you for the kind words...





No. If fact just the opposite. I find the Flex 3401 with the 5" pads are perfect for buffing thin panels. NOTE: When I talk about 5" pads for the Flex 3401 I'm talking about the Lake Country 5" Hybrid Pads. Your mileage may vary with other pads.

And when I'm talking about doing correction work with the Lake Country 5" Hybrid pads I'm talking about the orange foam cutting pads. If I need something more aggressive than the orange Hybrid foam pads (either 5" or 6.5") then I break out the rotary buffer and a wool pad.

One thing I practice and teach others is to not buff on top of raised body lines or edges. For thin panels a 5" pad comes in handy.

In fact in my how-to book for the Flex 3401, in my ACR classes and the class I teach at Mobile Tech each year I strongly recommend the 4" backing plate and the 5" Hybrid pads.




Yes. Sometimes bigger is better and this would be true when you're working larger, flatter panels.

In my how-to book for the Flex 3401 I explain the "walking characteristic" of the Flex 3401 and explain that it's diminished when you use smaller pads. This can be a benefit to people "new" to machine polishing or to people that simply don't like the walking characteristic.

Truth is anytime you feel the Flex 3401 "walking" it's a sign or feedback to you that you're not holding the pad flat.






Agree. When the larger pad is the best pad for the panel it's definitely the way to go as you can knock the work out faster. Sometimes a detailing job is about quality and not speed but I would have to say that even when a job is about quality speed is always a factor because none of us can simply lollygag around when buffing out a car.

For myself I always have more to do than time to do it so I push myself hard and work fast. I don't always aim for 100 percent correction. In fact for most cars I'm good with 90% correction and everything else I get is just extra.


Pad size and type can be personal preference but a good rule of thumb is to match the pad size to the panel or area being buffed.

Killer info mike thanks for the tips.

I got my flex 2 months ago. I do not have any hybrid pads, I have the entire Boss System, and the majority of the time I use that, and on areas with a lot of curves and contours, I use my flex.

There a great team and duo to have. What one lacks in one area the other thrives at.

I have to order me some hybrid pads.

Thanks again Mike.

The Scratch And Swirl assassin 🔫

[MMcIntire]

Awesome work Mike.

I recently picked up this clay mitt for my daily and used it for the first time last weekend. Would highly recommend it. Saves a ton of time versus a traditional clay bar and the results were great.