Maintaining that shine

[addysdaddy]

Thought it would be worthwhile to summarize several conversations I recently had with Nick regarding my Q5 which is in very good-excellent condition. I know we typically deal with severe cases here on the forum, but I've been searching (with Nick's help) on the proper maintenance routine for my well maintained vehicles. Hope this helps.


Here's what I did to the Q5 over the weekend

Waterless wash w/ONR after driving around the block in the rain.
clayed with Wolfgang claybar
LC HT Crimson pad with KAIO - paint passes the plastic baggie test with flying colors
LC HT Tangerine pad with Optimum Hyper Spray Polish - hood only. Honestly, didn't see a big difference with the polish vs KAIO only. Tough to see on silver & white. I even broke out the Brinkman to inspect the paint.
Menzerna Top Inspection wipe down
BF Crystal Seal (u should try this stuff, it's really terrific - ) And yes my friend, two coats are definitely better than one. In fact I applied two coats on Saturday, waiting 2 hrs between applications and the next morning applied a third coat. OMG, you needed to wear sunglass.

Also used my new 3" Griots pneumatic Very nice and prefer it to my Porter Cable with a 3" attachment. I would rather have something electric but nothing is powerful enough for less than $100. Made doing the bumpers, front grille and underneath the tail gate a real pleasure. Never realized how much I was missing with the 5.5" pad system. It does tax my 28 gallon 6.5 scfm compressor in that it runs continuously whenever I'm using the device - but it's got nice power and doesn't slow down, so now I have the right setup and worlds better then polishing by hand. Using the LC HT 3" pads on the small Griots, which is great since it's my pad system of choice on my 7424XP as well. Feel confident in recommending the small Griots polisher for non commercial usage.

I don't have any photos since I'm not sure what the pix would show other then glossy looking paint that I've already photographed. I didn't do any side by side shots because frankly, like I said earlier the Q5 is in excellent shape already. For me it was an experiment with a different product (KAIO) to see if I can get great looking results without 2-3 passes with the DA. As it turns out, assuming u have paint in good-excellent condition, I believe the answer is yes. My other concern is that since this is my hobby, I'm afraid that "polishing" to much with aggressive chemicals/products (or the wrong product) could produce clear coat failure - which is obviously counterproductive to what we're all trying to accomplish. I know that Mike P has written several articles about how "less is more" and clearly there is value in that thought process. So a shout out to Mike and want you to know that I'm actually paying attention to what your saying in all those videos & articles.

Based on my conversations with Nick about KAIO and its non-abrasive nature, I feel pretty safe that I won't hurt the clear coat, even if I take the buffer to on it monthly. So in this case study...clay, KAIO and BFCS was all that's needed to get that "Nick Certified Shine." Hopefully my explanation & experimentation can help in some small way when it comes to guiding other Autogeeks working on their vehicles. I know that Nick's guidance has been invaluable to me, so I would very much like to pass it forward.

[addysdaddy]

One question that just occured to me is whether the Top Inspection wipedown removes the sealant that's contained in the KAIO? I'm hoping that it actually removes all of it and whatever polish residue that might still linger behind. And if not, does the KAIO interfere with the Blackfire Crystal Seal bonding properly to the paint. I've come to understand that layering some of these high tech sealants can be a little tricky.

[Nick McKees37]

Thought it would be worthwhile to summarize several conversations I recently had with Nick regarding my Q5 which is in very good-excellent condition. I know we typically deal with severe cases here on the forum, but I've been searching (with Nick's help) on the proper maintenance routine for my well maintained vehicles. Hope this helps.


Here's what I did to the Q5 over the weekend

Waterless wash w/ONR after driving around the block in the rain.
clayed with Wolfgang claybar
LC HT Crimson pad with KAIO - paint passes the plastic baggie test with flying colors
LC HT Tangerine pad with Optimum Hyper Spray Polish - hood only. Honestly, didn't see a big difference with the polish vs KAIO only. Tough to see on silver & white. I even broke out the Brinkman to inspect the paint.
Menzerna Top Inspection wipe down
BF Crystal Seal (u should try this stuff, it's really terrific - ) And yes my friend, two coats are definitely better than one. In fact I applied two coats on Saturday, waiting 2 hrs between applications and the next morning applied a third coat. OMG, you needed to wear sunglass.

Also used my new 3" Griots pneumatic Very nice and prefer it to my Porter Cable with a 3" attachment. I would rather have something electric but nothing is powerful enough for less than $100. Made doing the bumpers, front grille and underneath the tail gate a real pleasure. Never realized how much I was missing with the 5.5" pad system. It does tax my 28 gallon 6.5 scfm compressor in that it runs continuously whenever I'm using the device - but it's got nice power and doesn't slow down, so now I have the right setup and worlds better then polishing by hand. Using the LC HT 3" pads on the small Griots, which is great since it's my pad system of choice on my 7424XP as well. Feel confident in recommending the small Griots polisher for non commercial usage.

I don't have any photos since I'm not sure what the pix would show other then glossy looking paint that I've already photographed. I didn't do any side by side shots because frankly, like I said earlier the Q5 is in excellent shape already. For me it was an experiment with a different product (KAIO) to see if I can get great looking results without 2-3 passes with the DA. As it turns out, assuming u have paint in good-excellent condition, I believe the answer is yes. My other concern is that since this is my hobby, I'm afraid that "polishing" to much with aggressive chemicals/products (or the wrong product) could produce clear coat failure - which is obviously counterproductive to what we're all trying to accomplish. I know that Mike P has written several articles about how "less is more" and clearly there is value in that thought process. So a shout out to Mike and want you to know that I'm actually paying attention to what your saying in all those videos & articles.

Based on my conversations with Nick about KAIO and its non-abrasive nature, I feel pretty safe that I won't hurt the clear coat, even if I take the buffer to on it monthly. So in this case study...clay, KAIO and BFCS was all that's needed to get that "Nick Certified Shine." Hopefully my explanation & experimentation can help in some small way when it comes to guiding other Autogeeks working on their vehicles. I know that Nick's guidance has been invaluable to me, so I would very much like to pass it forward.

:applause:


One question that just occured to me is whether the Top Inspection wipedown removes the sealant that's contained in the KAIO? I'm hoping that it actually removes all of it and whatever polish residue that might still linger behind. And if not, does the KAIO interfere with the Blackfire Crystal Seal bonding properly to the paint. I've come to understand that layering some of these high tech sealants can be a little tricky.

Top Inspection will most likely remove the protective ingredients in Klasse AIO. I've successfully used Klasse AIO with BLACKFIRE Crystal Seal on several occasions and never encountered any bonding issues. :dblthumb2:

[addysdaddy]

Thank for clarifying that point. Appreciate the help as usual

[Rsurfer]

[QUOTE=addysdaddy;742815]
Also used my new 3" Griots pneumatic Very nice and prefer it to my Porter Cable with a 3" attachment. I would rather have something electric but nothing is powerful enough for less than $100. Made doing the bumpers, front grille and underneath the tail gate a real pleasure. Never realized how much I was missing with the 5.5" pad system. It does tax my 28 gallon 6.5 scfm compressor in that it runs continuously whenever I'm using the device - but it's got nice power and doesn't slow down, so now I have the right setup and worlds better then polishing by hand. Using the LC HT 3" pads on the small Griots, which is great since it's my pad system of choice on my 7424XP as well. Feel confident in recommending the small Griots polisher for non commercial usage.



Nice write up. One caution when polishing plastic bumpers, do not apply too much pressure. The paint has a flexing agent that makes the paint soft. Using too much pressure can cause paint winkle, which can only be corrected by a re-paint. That 3" Griot sounds interesting, but sounds like it's a mini rotary.

[addysdaddy]

Rsufer,appreciate the heads up. Actually I asked whether this unit was a mini rotary and Griots assured me that it was a fully functional DA and in fact, they didn't make a rotary at all. Did a super job on those hard to reach places.