Buff Off Contest @ Detail Fest 2011???

[David Fermani]

Best paint is best paint. Fillers and glazes should be allowed.

[SATracker]

I said next year because I can't make it to Detailfest this year! A stand alone event would be a cool thing. Mike/Max, my suggestion: Get through this year's Detailfest, talk to Mother's, Meguiar's, the other sponsors, even get a major car rental place on board. Sometime after Easter start brainstorming, get the word out; Dude- I think this could be huge.

[C. Charles Hahn]

Best paint is best paint. Fillers and glazes should be allowed.

So are you suggesting judging on best appearing paint or fastest detail? Because with fillers and glazes I think most people could finish off in one step as long as we're not talking about a finish with tons of RIDS to remove.

[David Fermani]

If you are allowed 24hrs to do your thing, speed isn't a factor. Especially with teams. Glazes aren't going to hide RIDs, just bump up the gloss/wetness a bit on certain applications. After total correction of course. Paint should be perfected to the highest level IMHO. How you get there shouldn't matter as long as you use the best of your abilites.

[JonMiles]

How you get there shouldn't matter as long as you use the best of your abilites.

Someone with no experience at all can throw a glaze on a car and make it look decent. But an experienced professional who knows how to sand, compound, polish, glaze, and seal properly will put a rookie to shame any day of the week. If the buff-off is meant to showcase the best of the best; any method should be open for use.

My question...if we are looking for the best paint; what would be considered the best? Is perfectly level paint with no orange peel preferred over a perfectly scratch and swirl free paint job with the "original" orange peel still intact? I only ask because "original paint" is valued highly in the show car world; and many original paint jobs have orange peel.

[C. Charles Hahn]

If you are allowed 24hrs to do your thing, speed isn't a factor. Especially with teams. Glazes aren't going to hide RIDs, just bump up the gloss/wetness a bit on certain applications. After total correction of course. Paint should be perfected to the highest level IMHO. How you get there shouldn't matter as long as you use the best of your abilites.

I agree... I just think there ought to be at least some level of control to keep people from "cheating" (though I know true professional results can't really be cheated) -- so I agree with the idea of an IPA wipe-down. The real skill is in defect removal, not in defect hiding/masking.

[Shane731]

Truth be told, I wouldn't mind being in on this, even though I'm no professional by any means. It would just be cool to do and say, "I helped do that." Plus, getting to hang out with some pretty cool guys and gals wouldn't be bad either. Great chance to learn.

[David Fermani]

My question...if we are looking for the best paint; what would be considered the best? Is perfectly level paint with no orange peel preferred over a perfectly scratch and swirl free paint job with the "original" orange peel still intact? I only ask because "original paint" is valued highly in the show car world; and many original paint jobs have orange peel.

This isn't a Survivor class, so I say make the paint as nice as possible. You most likely won't be able to make Factory paint perfectly level anyways. I personally would go for sanding, but not for total flatness, just to create some nice sharpness and level away all the defects.

I agree... I just think there ought to be at least some level of control to keep people from "cheating" (though I know true professional results can't really be cheated) -- so I agree with the idea of an IPA wipe-down. The real skill is in defect removal, not in defect hiding/masking.

I agree, but If you think about it, who cares if you do a IA wipedown? If you're hinding defects and making paint look great for show purposes more power to you. I'd hate to get the car with super soft paint that marrs when you wipe it down after all that work just to prove you didn't fill.

[C. Charles Hahn]

I agree, but If you think about it, who cares if you do a IA wipedown? If you're hinding defects and making paint look great for show purposes more power to you. I'd hate to get the car with super soft paint that marrs when you wipe it down after all that work just to prove you didn't fill.

Good points.

[Joe@Superior Shine]

About 10 years ago I had this idea where approximately 12 identical black Corvettes were brought together and then equally scratched up using a bucket of sand and gravel mixed with a car wash solution, of something like that...

Then a group of Detailers would be give 24 hours to do their best to take the paint to it's maximum potential.

Afterwards, a group of judges would inspect the paint on each car in different light settings and do their best to pick the top 3 winners.

The above would likely be very difficult to pull off and getting the that many identical cars together that could be thrashed and then restored would also be an expensive challenge.

It takes quite a bit of time to do an entire car, let along a modern Corvette, and because I don't think show car detailing should be rushed, thus the 24 hour time frame.

An easier version would be black paint panels like Kevin Brown created using upside down cookie sheets when we held the NXT ti Classes a few years ago. The cookie sheets are small enough you can knock one out with as many steps as a person wanted to use rather quickly.

Here's some pictures of the upside down cookie sheets as posted by Joe Fernandez aka Superior Shine who will be here at DetailFest

TWO THUMBS UP !!--Meguiar’s NXT Tech Institute




Car Hoods are too large...

Just typing outloud...

WOW that has about 7 years now! Time flys when your having fun!!!