Jay Leno BIG DOG Award to 1965 Buick Skylark Grand Sport - Pinnacle Jeweling Wax

[Mike Phillips]

Jay Leno BIG DOG Award to 1965 Buick Skylark Grand Sport - Pinnacle Jeweling Wax


The Jay Leno Big Dog Award
My good friend Mike Jones displayed his original unrestored 1965 Buick Skylark Grand Sport and the 2019 Boca Raton Concours D'Elegance and out of all the cars on display at this year's show, celebrity judge, Jay Leno chose Mike's car to receive the Jay Leno Big Dog Award! Jay awarded two Big Dog Awards at this show, one for a vintage motorcycle and one for a car and Mike's Buick was the car that won the award!


Here's Mike's survivor 1965 Buick Skylark Grand Sport, with only 50,000 original miles, on display on the field at the Boca Raton Concours D'Elegance.






Here's Mike and Jay getting their picture together...







Here's Mike's car at Autogeek's Show Car Garage and the awards Mike won at the show.

From left to right....

Jay Leno Big Dog Award - Tiffany Glass Bowel
Excellence in Class Ribbon for Best Unrestored Vehicle
Excellence in Class - Tiffany Glass Platter







In order to make the lettering and design show up on clear glass I did what any good detailer would do - I placed a CLEAN dark blue GYEON Bald Wipe microfiber towel into the bowl and then took the picture.




That's right - the Jay Leno's Big Dog Award!

[Mike Phillips]

Continued....


And here's the story behind the story....

I first met Mike when I used his 1970 Buick Gran Sport to test out the new FLEX Cordless Polishers introduced at SEMA in 2017. Bob Eichelberg, the President of FLEX North America gave me a pre-production CORDLESS FLEX Finisher and FLEX PE14 Rotary Buffer to test out and actually punish. I used Mike's 1970 Buick to test these new cordless tools out and shared my results in the below write-up.

Battery Time - FLEX Cordless Polishers - Real World Detail by Mike Phillips at Autogeek


Testing out the Cordless FLEX PE14 Rotary Polisher



Testing out the Cordless FLEX XFE7 15mm Long Stroke Orbital Polisher



Finished!



The above project was over a year ago. Faster forward to the year 2019 and Mike told me his car had been invited to be displayed at the 2019 Boca Raton Concours D'Elegance and asked me to detail it to prep it for display. Here it is after Mike dropped it off. It looks to be in great overall shape but it was far from having a show car finish and there was plenty of work to be done to get it ready for the concours show.





This is the original single stage metallic paint the car was sprayed with at the factory back in 1965.




Remove above surface bonded contaminants
After a waterless wash, next up was claying. The paint and the glass failed the Baggie Test, so to maximize the gloss the paint (and glass and trim), would need to be clayed. To do the claying step I used the Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay and the Pinacle Clay Lube. Easily the safest clay combo on the market today.




Most people would say the car looked good when looking at the picture of the car and how it looked when it arrived but claying just one half of the hood shows and tells a different story.




Pinnacle Jeweling Wax
After claying, it was time to remove the oxidation as well as swirls, scratches and water spots or water marks on the paint. To do this I chose to use the Pinnacle Jeweling Wax. The Pinnacle Jeweling Wax is a fine cut cleaner/wax or fine cut AIO only it's not fair in my opinion to lump this product into the same category as all the other cleaner/waxes on the market today because it uses exceptional abrasive technology that enables you to create a super high gloss finish or a jeweled finish. Because the detailing industry is in a continual state of evolution, a few years ago I coined the term Jeweling Wax to describe some of the incredible new cleaner/waxes being introduced to the market. You can read the definition here,

Jeweling Wax - Definition






To test out the jeweling wax I chose my cordless FLEX XC 3401, which is the Number #1 Cordless FLEX XC 3401 to come from FLEX in Stuttgart, Germany, also given to me by Bob Eichelberg. The pad I chose was the Lake Country 6.5" Force Hybrid white foam polishing pad.




Technique Tip
When using a jeweling wax or any one-step cleaner/was, you want to use the product what I call, heavy or wet, that is use it like a compound or polish or in other words, use plenty of product. The reason why is because you want plenty of lubrication, cleaners and abrasives on the surface working for you to undo damage an remove paint defects. Some people think that when you use a wax you're supposed to apply a THIN coat. That's true when using a finishing wax or non-cleaning wax on paint that's already in excellent condition but when restoring neglected paint you use a cleaner/was heavy or wet.





Driver's side center panel
To test out the jeweling wax I machine polished the center driver's side section of paint. It's easy to see that I'm working on single stage metallic paint because my pad has turned a dark grey or blackish color. This is because when working on these old school paints WITHOUT a clearcoat top layer of paint - you are in essence buffing not only on the paint, (resin), but on tiny flakes of ALUMINUM metal, thus the term a metallic flake finish.





When you polish oxidized aluminum your pad or applicator removes the tarnished oxidation off and this shows up as a dark grey to blackish color.




If you've ever polished any aluminum mag wheels or any oxidized aluminum you have seen this same thing happen to your polishing cloth....



Oxidized Aluminum Turns Black
With metallic single stage paints, oxidation can show up as a darkening effect on medium to light colored paints because the aluminum metal flakes embodied inside the paint will stain or discolor the paint with a grayish black color.


If you’ve ever polished uncoated aluminum then you’ve seen this grayish black color coming off the aluminum and onto your polishing cloth as you work a metal polish over it. This same type of oxidation is taking place to the aluminum flake inside the paint.


Polishing Uncoated Aluminum







Oxidized Aluminum Comes Off Black

Wolfgang MetallWerk™ Aluminum Polishing System


This is normal when working on antique single stage metal flake paints so don't be surprised if it happens to you. That said, you have to be VERY CAREFUL because if you buff to hard, or buff to much or use too aggressive of pad, products or tools you will leave what are called Tiger Stripes in the paint. These stripe will mimic or copy the way you moved the buffer over the paint. This is key, if you alter the paint like this there's no going back, that is there's now way to undo the damage. So always use the least aggressive product and/or process to get the job done.





Here's a close up of the paint on the top of the driver's fender and if you look closely you can see a sort of uniform grain appearance to the paint, this is very fine aluminum flakes embedded in the paint resins when it was sprayed.





Start at the top and work your way down
After dialing in my process, (I switched over to the Griot's Garage 6" Random Orbital Polisher to complete the car), I started on the roof and then worked my way down.

Look closely - Do you see the difference in paint color?




Below is the same picture only I've outlined the section I've buffed. Now if you look at the picture above you should be able to see the color difference.





What this shows is that OVER TIME - paint gets dirty, that is a film of dirt can and will build-up on the exterior surfaces of your car. Take my word for it - if this happened to a garage-kept car how much more so will it happen to your car? And by your car I mean a daily driver that is driven back-and-forth to work, Monday through Friday. Parked outside exposed to air pollution, industrial fallout, etc.

For an in-depth look at where road film or dirt build-up comes from, check out my article here,

Road Film - If you drive your car in the rain your car has road film




Polishing the brightwork

When buffing out classic cars that have chrome, stainless, nickel and aluminum trim, what I do is machine polish these trim parts to remove any road film or dirt staining plus oxidation. This will brighten them and make them just as shiny as the paint. Usually after machine polishing the paint, whatever pad is still on the polisher I'll simply run over all the brightwork and this is more than enough to restore a vibrant appearance.


Machine polishing the chrome bumpers...












Machine polishing glass
As you look at the picture below and see water spots on the glass, the thing you need to understand was the paint had the same water spots it's just difficult to capture on light colored paint. But think about it? Whatever water was landing on the glass and leaving hard water spots on the glass was also landing on the paint.






To remove the hard water spots or mineral deposits off the glass I machine polished using BLACKFIRE Glass Water Spot Remover with a Lake Country orange ThinPro foam cutting pads in both 5.5" and 3.5" on the Griot's 6" orbital polisher and the smaller pad on the Griot's 3" Mini Polisher.




Old school polish for old school paint
After machine polishing the paint with the Pinnacle Jeweling Wax and BEFORE applying a true show car wax, I re-polished the original paint to gorge it with the polishing oils found in Meguiar's #7 Sealer & ReSeal Glaze, (now called Show Car Glaze). This is a vintage half gallon can in my antique wax collection that I still use when I'm working on antique, original paint.




There are two ways to use this product,

1: To restore chalky oxidized paint.

2: To maintain single stage paint that is shiny and in good to excellent condition.


I used the #7 for the second way of using it but if you have a car with the original antique single stage paint and it's chalky and oxidized, you can read my article on restoring antique paint using # 7 here.





Even though I've already machine polished the paint, rubbing anything over it will continue to pull the grey/black color of oxidation off the aluminum flake.





Here's a heavy application of the #7 soaking into the old single stage paint.



Unlike modern clearcoats which are NOT pourus, old single stage paints are porous and the oils can penetrate INTO the paint and what they do is bring out the full richness of color in the pigments. This works through capillary action like you see here,



Paper Test for Capillary Action
If you place a few drops of #7 onto a piece of paper and then monitor it over a few days you will see the oils in the #7 migrate or seep away from the actual drop of product. It does this through capillary action and the same thing can work to your car's paints' advantage if it's a single stage lacquer or enamel paint.


I placed a few drops about the size of a nickel on a piece of standard printer paper around 3:00pm.




The next day I took these pictures at approximately 10:00am, (19 hours later), note how the oils in the drops of #7 have migrated outward via capillary action.




Feeder Oils penetrate or feed the paint
This same effect can take place in a single stage paint but not only will the oils travel horizontally, they will also travel vertically, that they will penetrate downward "into" your car's paint and this is where the term feeder oils comes from as the oils penetrate into or feed the paint. The result is they will condition the paint restoring some level of workability as compared to just working on old dry paint, and they will also bring out the full richness of color, something that will showcase the beauty of your car's paint.




Maximize gloss and shine

Technically you cannot or should not try to install a modern ceramic coating onto a single stage paint.

Why?

Because in order to apply a ceramic paint coating you're supposed to use a solvent wipe to chemically strip the paint so the coating can make a proper bond to the paint. Wiping down porous paint, and especially porous paint I just gorged with the oils found in the #7 would dull the finish down. I call this,

Working backwards

So instead, I opted to apply a modern hard wax. The Pinnacle Synergy Paste Wax is a modern version of old school hard waxes like were around in the 1950s. It's modern chemistry but like traditional hard waxes, this is a "hard" wax. It's hard in the tin and when you apply a thin coat and let it dry it dries hard on the surface. Wipe-off is easy as long as you apply a thin coat but what's more important is hard waxes like the Pinnacle Synergy create a hard shine or a bright shine and that's what you want out of any paint and especially paint that you just polished with the #7 Sealer & Reseal Glaze. I know other guys in this industry that know this type of information but they don't type and write articles, so I may be the only guy that actually shares these tips, tricks and techniques from days-gone-by.








Lots of pads
I always take a icture of how many pads I use when I detail a car. The reason I do this is because I would venture to guess that most guys, at least most guys new to machine polishing don't realize that to get the best results in the shortest amount of time you NEED a LOT of pads.




The reason you want lots of pad is because foam absorbs the product you're using and wet pads don't rotate well on free-spinning orbital polishers, this means it will take you longer to do the job. (buffing out a car takes hours, you don't want to make it take longer than it has to), and when pads get wet or saturated or soggy, they no longer perform like they did when they were dry. For example a foam cutting pads stops cutting. A foam polishing pad stops polishing. So basically you're wasting your time. If you're going to get into machine polishing get lots of pads. Please don't think I'm being a "salesman" here, I'm simply sharing the truth.



Amazing abrasive technology
Anyone that has read any number of my articles on polishing paint or my replies to people asking for help polishing paint knows I believe the MOST important factor when it comes to getting great results is the abrasive technology. Most guys I meet say technique is Number #1 - but if the abrasive technology, that's the stuff actually TOUCHING the paint, (not you), isn't right or isn't good, then no amount of technique is going to make it good. Take my word for it or learn the hard way.






Final results
Here's a few pictures showing the final results. Note how clear the glass is? I machine polished the outside and my wife Stacy hand polished the glass on the inside. And to give due credit where credit is due, I did not detail the inside but my wife Stacy took over this task. She is a far better interior detailer than I will ever be and better than most detailers I've met over my life and career in the detailing industry.



















Here's the dealership info on all the options this car came with and the final suggested retail price...












Thank you Mike for trusting us with your survivor 1965 Buick Skylark Grand Sport and congratulations on the Jay Leno Big Dog award!

[Mike Phillips]

Continued....


You can get any of the products featured for this project on Autogeek.com


Griots Garage 6 Inch Random Orbital Polisher

Griots Garage 3 Inch Orbital Polisher, 3 Inch Polisher, 3 inch Dual Action Polisher, 3" buffer

Pinnacle Souveran Jeweling Wax

Black Label Synergy, synthetic wax, coating wax, best paste wax

Pinnacle?s Ultra Poly Clay is the single finest clay composition available today.

https://www.autogeek.net/pinnacle-wa...-car-wash.html

https://www.autogeek.net/6-inch-uro-tec-pads.html

https://www.autogeek.net/lake-countr...foam-pads.html

https://www.autogeek.net/meg7showcarg.html

https://www.autogeek.net/blackfire-g...t-remover.html

https://www.autogeek.net/mf-green-12.html

[SWETM]

Awesome work Mike and Stacy!

Beutieful car and awesome condition it has.

Thanks for shareing your show car prep on a SS metallic paint.

/ Tony

[fightnews]

Nice job! I have a couple questions if you don't mind?

First I was wondering why you choose a polishing pad (force hybrid white) when jeweling the finish instead of a finishing pad? I use a finishing pad with a extra fine polish when I do my car. I just figured it would give me a better finial finish?

That's actually my only question. I was going to comment that my experience with using pinnacle synergy is that it doesn't bond well at all with paint that has wax and oils on it. It always leaves a film on my paint so I stopped using it. I've tried it like 10x at least different ways.

[RTexasF]

Congratulations to all involved in winning the Big Dog award. This is indeed a rare classic and the MSRP is even more rare on the sticker. To Mike Jones: OORAH!

[Mike Phillips]

Nice job! I have a couple questions if you don't mind?

First I was wondering why you choose a polishing pad (force hybrid white) when jeweling the finish instead of a finishing pad?

At it's core, a quality jeweling wax is still a quality cleaner/wax. This one, Pinnacle Jeweling Wax does use abrasives to remove paint or in layman terms, to remove swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation. (you remove defects by removing paint).

A foam finishing pad would not be aggressive enough to remove the oxidation, dirt staining, swirls and scratches to my expectations so I simply used foam "polishing" pads. Foam "cutting" pads would have destroyed the paint on the hood and left Tiger Stripes.

I use a finishing pad with a extra fine polish when I do my car. I just figured it would give me a better finial finish?

Sounds right. This is assuming your paint is already in great or excellent condition. If you ever need more correction power, use the same product and use a more aggressive pad. (like I did).

That's actually my only question. I was going to comment that my experience with using pinnacle synergy is that it doesn't bond well at all with paint that has wax and oils on it. It always leaves a film on my paint so I stopped using it. I've tried it like 10x at least different ways.

Not sure what to say about your experience, I never have a problem with the Pinnacle Synergy. It works a lot like the old Meguiar's 16

[Mike Phillips]

Awesome work Mike and Stacy!

Beutieful car and awesome condition it has.

Thanks for shareing your show car prep on a SS metallic paint.

/ Tony

Thanks Tony. It was a real surprise when Mike told me his car won the Jay Leno Big Dog Award.

It was nerve wracking machine buffing the paint on the hood, it's all there but I could tell that if someone were to buff in one area just a little too long, the pattern they moved the buffer over the paint was going to show.

[Jerry0]

*sigh* I had a '67 Gran Sport in high school. If I only knew then, what I know now. *sigh*

[Mike Phillips]

***Update***

Referenced this thread here,

https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...ml#post1585441