Put a little passion behind the pad - Mike Phillips

[Mike Phillips]

Put a little passion behind the pad - Mike Phillips



Put a little passion behind the pad

The saying "put a little passion behind the pad" comes from the first how-to article I wrote on how to remove below surface defects like swirls, scratches, water spots and bird dropping etchings using only ScratchX by hand back when it used Diminishing Abrasive Technology or DAT back in June of 2004 in a thread that has been viewed 87,173 times at the time I'm writing this article.


When I first wrote this article it was because so many people were frustrated trying to remove swirls and scratches by hand using ScratchX and there were two reasons for this,

1. Back when ScratchX used Diminishing Abrasive Technology it was not very aggressive and in most cases would require multiple applications to small areas, (about 8" to 12" square), and using perfect technique

2. Most people were not using perfect technique or even good technique or even the right technique. Most people that would apply ScratchX would apply it like a finishing wax, that is they would gently spread the product around and then wipe it off expecting all the swirls and scratches to be gone only to be sorely disappointed.

This comes back to the hardness or unworkability of modern clear coats. Modern clear coats tend to be harder or less-polishable by hand as compared to softer single stage lacquers and enamels. For this reason the only way to abrade or remove small particle of clear paint off the surface is to use some downward pressure when applying by hand.


See this article for more information on paint hardness and softness

The practical differences between single stage paints and a clear coat paints


In my effort to type-out an explanation as to how much pressure a person needed to apply I wrote something like this,

Mike Phillips[/B] on June 22nd, 2004 at 3:36PM

A couple of important notes to consider,

1) Clear coats are harder than traditional paints. This means they are more difficult to remove defects out of, especially by hand. This is part explains the increase in popularity of the Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher.

2) ScratchX is not a wipe-on, wipe-off product, (WOWO), it's more of a wipe-on, work-in product, (WOWI). You need to apply with a clean foam applicator pad and when you're applying it you need to use some elbow grease.

After writing the article and posting it I shared it with my Manager at that time who is also a Professional Copywriter, Richard Koeth.

Richard read my article and then called me and told me I needed to get that article down off the forum right away!

I asked him why and he said,

You can't say ScratchX requires elbow grease to get good results because that makes it sound like our products are hard to work use.

That makes sense at one level but I asked Richard if he's ever used ScratchX to remove below surface defects out of clear coat paints and he said,

"Of course but you can't write the directions in a way that makes it sound like it's hard work. You need to somehow re-write and re-word the elbow grease sentence".

So I moved the thread to the Moderator's forum until I came up with a new way to express to the reader that a person needs to rub the product against the paint using ample and firm downward pressure but at the same time keep it kinder and gentler. That's when I came up with,

"put a little passion behind the pad"


Passion invokes the idea of intense emotion but not the idea of work or struggling. While it's probably not the most or best descriptive word to associate with rubbing on car paint, when joined together in the context of using your hand to apply a product to paint in an effort to remove a below surface defect it seemed to work.

Plus Barry Meguiar is always using and talking about the passion we car enthusiasts have for working on our cars so it seem like the perfect solution to the problem.

I made the changes and then moved the thread back into the public how-to section of the forum. Here's how it reads after the re-write,

Mike Phillips[/B] on June 22nd, 2004 at 3:36PM

A couple of important notes to consider,

1) Clear coats are harder than traditional paints. This means they are more difficult to remove defects out of, especially by hand. This is part explains the increase in popularity of the Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher.

2) ScratchX is not a wipe-on, wipe-off product, (WOWO), it's more of a wipe-on, work-in product, (WOWI). You need to apply with a clean foam applicator pad and when you're applying it you need to put a little passion behind your pad.

I sent Richard the link to the revised version and he gave me the wink and nod of approval.


The point of the above story is I'm going to do my best to explain with the written word and how-to videos how to apply hand-applied abrasive products in a way that will do two things,

1. Remove the offending defects
2. Leave the paint looking clear and scratch-free


It's the second part that's tricky and takes some technique. You can't just rub a clear coat finish any old which-way with any old shop rag and expect it to look good when you're done.

So that's the story behind the story and as we move forward, this story will be linked to future articles.

While I know the trend is for machine polishing, there are times and places where only the human hand will do and just like a machine, in order to get good results you'll need to know how to use the right techniques when working by hand.

[Grizzly]

I like this writeup. I bet there is a lot of people out there that have used ScratchX as wipe on and wipe off product and expect the scratch to disappear. ScratchX can remove swirls and scratches when used properly. Usually take several applications as well.

[OGauge4Me]

Mike:
I saw you use Scratch X at a clinic a while back and it changed the way I used the product. I am a big guy and people are amazed that I put my body weight into the pad when using the product.

It is fun when you have a newbie use Scratch X on swirl marks and let him get the feel of the product and the effort required. Then break out the PC and use a polish and a pad while letting the machine, product and pad do the work. The smart ones invest the money in a polisher and pads.

I hope our paths cross again. It is always a treat to learn from you.

[Mike Phillips]

Mike:
I saw you use Scratch X at a clinic a while back and it changed the way I used the product.

I am a big guy and people are amazed that I put my body weight into the pad when using the product.

That's right.

Working by hand and I mean trying to remove swirls and scratches which means you're trying to REMOVE A LITTLE PAINT means rubbing hard and rubbing fast and for long periods of time to just a small area.


When I used to teach Meguiar's classes and show people how to work by hand the most common comment I would hear after the demonstration went something like this,

"That's not how I was doing it"

And the person that would be saying this would also be the person that wasn't having any luck removing defects by hand.

It is fun when you have a newbie use Scratch X on swirl marks and let him get the feel of the product and the effort required. Then break out the PC and use a polish and a pad while letting the machine, product and pad do the work.

The smart ones invest the money in a polisher and pads.

That's right.

The best sales tool for an electric polisher is to either demonstrate how to remove swirls by hand or better yet... show someone what they have to do to remove swirls by hand and then let them work up a little sweat...

I hope our paths cross again. It is always a treat to learn from you.

I love buffing out cars and showing others how to do it... I see there are now more people in this industry wanting to go down this path and more power to them but I firmly believe I teach the best paint polishing class in the world.

I've learned so much in my life and as I say in my classes,

"I'm going to do a brain dump... I'm going to pour my heart and soul into this class"

And I do...



My classes are a TON of work but they are also a lot of fun and very rewarding.

[Mike Phillips]

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Review: Meguiar's D166 Ultra Polishing Wax by Mike Phillips