wolfgang steps.

[solar07]

I am about to dive into the DA world and am going to try and stick with one brand of product for my paint correction, cleaning,and sealing needs. I have a 4 year old truck, 1 year old car and a 1 month old car so I know each will require different applications.

After watching your video with Bruno (awesome btw) and reading till I pass out each night, the steps seem clear and you have a pretty good post somewhere I found laying out that you typically go with the swirl remover, FG, and Sealer for less than perfect paints, and the ppe and Sealer or a wax for good to perfect paint like my new car. Acurate so far?

My question is, after I do these steps for example, TSR, FG, and Swal the 1 year old car, or PPE and seal the new car, what product do you use the next time your ready to wax/seal again?

so for the next 3 to 4 months of washing do you recommend their spray sealant after each wash?

For my mian question....Now 4 months later when I'm ready for another coat of waxing/sealing, do you repeat the first process above of either TSR, FG, and Seal or PPE and seal or do you go straight to the deep gloss seal as the only step a few different times to build up protection?

Side question, do you alays use microfiber towels to remove all these WG products or do you ever machine them off after application?

I hope that isn't too confusing....I am about to buy either a Porter cable or Griots with wolfgang products so trying to make sure I'm eating close to understanding. Thanks so much....

[Mike Phillips]

I am about to dive into the DA world and am going to try and stick with one brand of product for my paint correction, cleaning,and sealing needs. I have a 4 year old truck, 1 year old car and a 1 month old car so I know each will require different applications.

After watching your video with Bruno (awesome btw)



Out of all the DVD's we've made I see the most compliments for the DVD Bruno and I made.


Wolfgang Concours Series Instructional How-To DVD (http://www.autogeek.net/wolfgang-how-to-dvd.html)
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1313/WolfgangDVD.jpg










and reading till I pass out each night,



That's a compliment too.... when a forum has lots of helpful information that keeps people glued to their computer it's called sticky, as in you're stuck to the forum.






the steps seem clear and you have a pretty good post somewhere I found laying out that you typically go with the swirl remover, FG, and Sealer for less than perfect paints, and the ppe and Sealer or a wax for good to perfect paint like my new car. Acurate so far?



Yes.

Except if you're going to invest the time to machine apply "something" to a car's paint you might as well apply a fine cut polish instead of a paint cleaner as you'll get more benefits and great looking results for the same time, energy and effort.

I think I explained that this morning in this thread....

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/89628-polishing-new-car.html






My question is, after I do these steps for example, TSR, FG, and Swal the 1 year old car, or PPE and seal the new car, what product do you use the next time your ready to wax/seal again?



Good question.

For me, again... if I'm going to invest the time and energy into machine applying "something" to a car then instead of applying a chemical only paint cleaner I'm going to apply a fine cut polish.

Both will clean the paint surface and remove old wax as well as road grime but with the fine cut polish not only will I clean the surface but I will also remove fine swirls and scratches which are inevitable when you drive the car daily.






so for the next 3 to 4 months of washing do you recommend their spray sealant after each wash?



Yes. Build a collection of high quality microfiber towels. More on this later....






For my main question....

Now 4 months later when I'm ready for another coat of waxing/sealing, do you repeat the first process above of either TSR, FG, and Seal or PPE and seal or do you go straight to the deep gloss seal as the only step a few different times to build up protection?



If the car is a daily driver you want to do "something" to clean the paint otherwise if you only apply a NON-CLEANING wax or sealant you will be SEALING in road grime which is an oily dirt film that clouds the paint with a gray/black film.


See this article...

Road Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has road film (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/72159-road-film-if-you-drive-your-car-rain-your-car-has-road-film.html)






Side question, do you always use microfiber towels to remove all these WG products or do you ever machine them off after application?



You always wipe compounds, polishes and paint cleaners off by hand.

I also answered this question in this thread this morning...

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/89628-polishing-new-car.html





I hope that isn't too confusing....I am about to buy either a Porter cable or Griot's with Wolfgang products so trying to make sure I'm eating close to understanding.

Thanks so much....




Not confusing at all.

One thing I'll point out for your benefit.... when interaction on a "forum" you'll get more answers and better answers if you start by only asking 2-3 questions and then ask more later.

The reason why is because when you ask a lot of questions it tends to make otherwise really helpful people shy away because it can get complicated and time consuming to "type" out answers.

If you look above at how I used the multi-quote feature in vBulletin to answer your questions as it makes it easy for everyone to read and follow the interactions, i.e. question/answer question/answer.

Some people don't know how to do this...


:)

[Mike Phillips]

Here's another good article...



Here's why you need to polish paint... (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/68100-here-s-why-you-need-polish-paint.html)


http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1970/Dirty_Old_Ford_006.jpg


Worthy of reading the entire thing...

Here's why you need to polish paint... (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/68100-here-s-why-you-need-polish-paint.html)


:xyxthumbs:

[solar07]

Except if you're going to invest the time to machine apply "something" to a car's paint you might as well apply a fine cut polish instead of a paint cleaner as you'll get more benefits and great looking results for the same time, energy and effort.

I think I explained that this morning in this thread....

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/89628-polishing-new-car.html


This is great information. I have plenty to read today and will reply with any questions. Thank you for the feedback around forum etiquette as well. I did get a touch carried away.

Two questions I have right away to clarify the above quote:

- When you say fine cut polish, it sounds like that is not what Wolfgangs PPE is. Does wolfgang have such a polish?

- In between polishing and sealing is it ok to use spray sealants after each wash or will that "seal in road grime as well" Looking to extend the sealer and machine job as long as possible.


Thank you again for your much appreciated and respected knowledge. :xyxthumbs:

[solar07]

Question 1B from my recent reply may be do you reccomend going with say Pinnacle per your polishing a new car thread. I am hoping to stick with all one brand to make it easy.

I wanted to edit and add this to recent reply but I dont see an edit button.

[Jaretr1]

This would be a Wolfgang Fine Cut Polish:

Wolfgang Finishing Glaze 3.0, Wolfgang finishing polish, polising glaze, machine glaze (http://www.autogeek.net/wolfgang-finishing-glaze.html)

[Jaretr1]

Either Pinnacle or Wolfgang are both excellent brands, that are easy to use and deliver great results.

[Mike Phillips]

- When you say fine cut polish, it sounds like that is not what Wolfgangs PPE is. Does wolfgang have such a polish?



The Wolfgang Paint Polish Enhancer (http://www.autogeek.net/wg2000.html) is a non-abrasive paint cleaner. It's not a fine cut or any cut polish.






- In between polishing and sealing is it ok to use spray sealants after each wash or will that "seal in road grime as well" Looking to extend the sealer and machine job as long as possible.



Good question... the road grime builds up over time as the oily dirt "impacts" onto or into the paint and 100% of it doesn't always wash off. At least that's my theory or otherwise how does paint become stained.

So washing helps of course but again... over time, the paint on "daily drivers" becomes stained.

That's why, periodically you want to polish the paint. It cleans the paint down to a fresh base while also removing normal fine swirls and scratches.

But "yes" do use a spray sealant or spray wax in-between these "maintenance polishing" detail days.





Thank you again for your much appreciated and respected knowledge. :xyxthumbs:



Just always paying it forward...


:)

[solar07]

The Wolfgang Paint Polish Enhancer (http://www.autogeek.net/wg2000.html) is a non-abrasive paint cleaner. It's not a fine cut or any cut polish.




So to reiterate. When I do not need to remove swirls and instead of doing a PPE and Sealant like the wolfgang Bruno video, it will be more bang for more buck to do a Fine cut polish then a sealant. And the FG from Wolfgang is their Fine Cut Polish or do you recommend something different?

Lastly, so it sounds like you do at least a fine cut polish before ever doing a machine sealant every time? Correct?

I have a suntek clear film on the hood of the new car from day one. Per recommendations on the forum thats why I am sticking to sealants so I can use one type of product to seal the whole car as opposed to wax part of it and seal part of it. I am wondering if I should keep the machine away from the clear bra however and apply this all by hand. Do all these techniques apply to the clear film (fine cut polish, sealant, etc)? I plan to do an opticoat on it soon as well, same question?

I think Im close to out of questions for now :) I have read all the great articles you posted above. Good thing I am working from home today :)

[solar07]

So to reiterate. When I do not need to remove swirls and instead of doing a PPE and Sealant like the wolfgang Bruno video, it will be more bang for more buck to do a Fine cut polish then a sealant. And the FG from Wolfgang is their Fine Cut Polish or do you recommend something different?

Lastly, so it sounds like you do at least a fine cut polish before ever doing a machine sealant every time? Correct?

I have a suntek clear film on the hood of the new car from day one. Per recommendations on the forum thats why I am sticking to sealants so I can use one type of product to seal the whole car as opposed to wax part of it and seal part of it. I am wondering if I should keep the machine away from the clear bra however and apply this all by hand. Do all these techniques apply to the clear film (fine cut polish, sealant, etc)? I plan to do an opticoat on it soon as well, same question?

I think Im close to out of questions for now :) I have read all the great articles you posted above. Good thing I am working from home today :)

Assuming I have everything correct above, looks like I will be doing some more shopping tonight. My two bucket system/doley and tons of product is on the way. :buffing:

[solar07]

So to reiterate. When I do not need to remove swirls and instead of doing a PPE and Sealant like the wolfgang Bruno video, it will be more bang for more buck to do a Fine cut polish then a sealant. And the FG from Wolfgang is their Fine Cut Polish or do you recommend something different?

Lastly, so it sounds like you do at least a fine cut polish before ever doing a machine sealant every time? Correct?

I have a suntek clear film on the hood of the new car from day one. Per recommendations on the forum thats why I am sticking to sealants so I can use one type of product to seal the whole car as opposed to wax part of it and seal part of it. I am wondering if I should keep the machine away from the clear bra however and apply this all by hand. Do all these techniques apply to the clear film (fine cut polish, sealant, etc)? I plan to do an opticoat on it soon as well, same question?

I think Im close to out of questions for now :) I have read all the great articles you posted above. Good thing I am working from home today :)


I hope didn't exhaust my welcome. If I could get confirmation on my above clarification to make sure I understand, hoping I have it down now.

Thank u again so much by the way. All my auto geek supplies has started trickling in. I'm super excited. Im the MAN

[Mike Phillips]

I hope didn't exhaust my welcome.




No one ever exhaust their welcome here on AGO.

I'm no longer online as much as I used to be, mostly just a few hours in the morning.

Too many other offline projects now days.... so an hour or two in the morning and then I log off for the day and also weekends.





If I could get confirmation on my above clarification to make sure I understand, hoping I have it down now.



I'll post my replies to your follow up questions below....





Thank u again so much by the way. All my auto geek supplies has started trickling in. I'm super excited.



And we appreciate your business as well as your trust. Because really... that's what doing good business is all about. Trust.

:dblthumb2:








So to reiterate. When I do not need to remove swirls and instead of doing a PPE and Sealant like the wolfgang Bruno video, it will be more bang for more buck to do a Fine cut polish then a sealant.

And the FG from Wolfgang is their Fine Cut Polish



Correct. And keep in mind this is must "my opinion".

The deal is, if you're going to go through all the time and trouble to machine or even hand apply "something" then you might as well apply the product that you'll get the most benefit from and a HIGH QUALITY fine cut polish will do everything a paint cleaner will do PLUS remove any fine or shallow swirls and scratches, which a paint cleaner won't do.

Make sense?






or do you recommend something different?



In the online detailing world I coin a lot of phrases, terms, etc. For example everyone uses the term LSP and I'm the guy that created that term.

Everyone uses the term Test Spot and I created that practice and the term at least in the online world.

Everyone uses the term RIDS and yep... that's mine.

Here's another one I coined and made popular in the online detailing world and it answers your question above....

Synergistic Chemical Compatibility


And what this means is if you're going to use Wolfgang Uber Compound then use Wolfgang Finishing Glaze.

If you're going to use Wolfgang Finishing Glaze then use a Wolfgang LSP or Last Step Product.

Then use Wolfgang maintenance products like spray detailers and spray sealants because there's a synergistic chemical compatibility between products that come from the same manufacturer.

At least more a a synergistic chemical compatibility than using multiple multiple brands which there's the least likely to be any type of synergy.

This is a BIG PICTURE point of view so for whatever that' worth.





Lastly, so it sounds like you do at least a fine cut polish before ever doing a machine sealant every time? Correct?



IN a perfect world that is the best approach.






I have a suntek clear film on the hood of the new car from day one.

Per recommendations on the forum thats why I am sticking to sealants so I can use one type of product to seal the whole car as opposed to wax part of it and seal part of it.

I am wondering if I should keep the machine away from the clear bra however and apply this all by hand. Do all these techniques apply to the clear film (fine cut polish, sealant, etc)?



IF the CLEAR BRA is brand new and has zero swirls and scratches I work on it by hand with a clean, soft foam applicator pad and avoid machine buffing it.

I think there are a lot of really safe products that won't scratch the soft, mailable plastic film used for clear bras but why take a chance if the clear bra is currently in great condition.





I plan to do an opticoat on it soon as well, same question?



After applying Opti-Coat you should wash your car or "touch your car's paint" very carefully so you won't need to machine polish the "coating".





I think Im close to out of questions for now :) I have read all the great articles you posted above.

Good thing I am working from home today :)




You're definitely on the right track.

And do keep in mind, if you don't see my name as "logged in" on the right side of the forum homepage that means I'm not logged in or answering questions. I try to catch up with forum posts directed specifically towards me in the morning and then log off.


:)