1-Step vs 3-Steps

[loudog2]

I've been doing this long enough to know what he means. I can document posting how-to information on the Internet back to 1994.

Read my follow-up questions very carefully because I choose my words very specifically.

I want to know if he's implying no level of real improvement was made, as in no paint at all was removed.

Why are you coming at me like that Mike? I didn't do anything to offend you!! I guess I shouldn't assume things with you then. I was just stating the obvious for others who are reading that not understanding what Dana was asking. I'm not attacking your reputation or skills.

[HighEndDetail]

Ok everyone group hug

Mike is very through with his write up's. And takes a very long time to do. When I read the comments, I thought the same way Mike did. Mike Phillips name is most likely world know with Meguiar's. So I think we can trust him, in what he does for us here at AGO

[Mike Phillips]

I was just stating the obvious for others who are reading that not understanding what Dana was asking.

Slow down...

I'm not coming after you... you wrote,

I can assume he is asking to see if any of the polishes are hiding the swirls.

As a follow-up to what I wrote, so it read like you were stating the obvious to others and myself.

Here's the point.

I didn't just fill-in the swirls and I don't want anyone thinking that that's all products like Ultimate Compound or any compound does. Properly worked, they will remove a little paint and level the surface and thus remove the swirls.

The assertion is,

After a wash you are going to be back to square one.

And that's just not true. It would be a lot easier to use a rotary buffer and completely level the entire hood and remove all the swirls. That wasn't the point of the project, the point of the project was to show another member what he could expect from using a one-step cleaner/wax as compared to breaking the process up into multiple steps starting with an aggressive, hand-applied compound.

I appreciate your clarifying for others what ASPHALT ROCKET meant, but it did look like you were clarifying for me what he meant and unless I'm reading his assertion wrong... I knew what he meant.

[Mike Phillips]

When I read the comments, I thought the same way Mike did.

Thanks.

It could be I read more into ASPHALT ROCKET's statement but even so, if I post how-to article or pictures or a video and show how to use a product to get a specific result, then it will be accurate.

That car will be back here next week, I can chemically strip the surface and take another picture but I'm not going to do this every time I post a how to article.

Just to note, I never said I removed 100% of the swirls with Ultimate Compound, but did remove all or a majority of all the shallow swirls. If I really wanted to remove all of them I would have applied it a third time or even a 4th time and probably used something more aggressive than a microfiber applicator pad like I did in this how-to article.

Man versus Machine



It's important that the information on this forum is accurate and I don't mind someone challenging what I post but one thing for sure... I'll bet I've demonstrated UC on more cars, which is another way of saying multiple different types of paint systems, in front of more people than anyone else I know of and I know when I'm removing swirls and I know when I'm just filling them in and washing the hood of that Saturn won't put those two spots back to square one.

[Nappers]

Great article Mike.

I occasionaly do a step one, meaning I wash, clay and use either ColorX and I recently aquired M66. Color X worked great on our Yukon but our Neon, no go!

I did use M66 as a final polishing step on our Neon prior to putting on Do Do Juice Banana Armour.

I always do a test spot and no, I don't always get the finish 100% clear, but it's nice enough and easy enough to maintain....Excpet our Neon. I put a Meguiar's spray bottle on the roof of the Neon and it slid off the top and lo and behold it left two nice marks where it slid! Very sensitive paint and very hard clear coat to boot. It's a pain!!!!!

[Mike Phillips]

I was actually hoping for some feedback on what everyone thought of the iphone videos?

I actually have a huge project I started yesterday and I stopped working on it and did this comparison for this thread,

Confused about fillers

And in the process, since I have the new iphone with video capabilities I thought I would test it out as it's faster to take a video and share it then it is to take a lot of pictures and then type out all the text.

I have to get back to work on this other project so I'll be online but working in MS Word, not vBulletin.

[Nappers]

Hmmm, can't get them to load here at work.....(wait, I'm at work! DOH! )

Will check them out when I get home on our 15" LCD on an old computer and let you know!

[Nappers]

I can guarantee you with the Ultimate Compound that paint was removed,

UC will remove paint. The pads/towels below was used with M80 and UC as a dial in process on a SS paint on my boy's '67 Dodge D100.


I've used UC by hand in a test spot on our Neon with great results and a lot of elbow grease followed with SwirlX, after a couple of washings, it's still one of the clearest sections on the car.

UC is one of the best OTC products I've used so far. There may be better ones but the wifey keeps the check book.....

[Larry A]

This is just my opinum, UC is the greatest hand compound there is . Ive use it with a rotary and wool pad and it did a outstanding job. Following with Color X and NXT2 by hand left no swirls what so ever. For the average person working by hand UC cant be beat . Fillers are your friend. When you remove 90% of your swirls, fillers take care of the remaining 10%. Also how many times can you remove swirls before you run out of paint?

[craigr]

Having spent 20 hours with UC and a terry hand applicator I know swirls, even deeper ones can be corrected (removed) by hand. If your new to detailing remember you don't need a lot of expensive products or machines, nor does it take 10 steps to arrive at amazing results. You can substitute time and effort for those. I like that Mike gives us write ups for all levels of detailer (Pro to newb).