Years ago, it wasn’t even a battle. There were very few steamers on the market and the few that were out there, weren’t very good. Many detailers had never heard of using steam to clean a car and the “high tech” method of interior cleaning was a carpet extractor. Today, the tide has turned. There are many more steamers out there and car interiors have changed, making steamers not only a contender these days, but basically the heavy favorite. But before we crown one a winner, lets logically look at the pros and cons of both and let you decide where to place your money in this heavyweight battle
]]>THE DREADED HIGH-SPEED BUFFER
]]>His answer concerned me. Not because the dealership chose not to wax the car, but because of his explanation that the paint was still “drying.” I am not sure if this was a convenient excuse to give the customer because the dealer didn’t want to take the extra time to wax the car, or if the dealer personnel are under the misconception that new cars really should not be waxed because of possible paint damage. Let’s examine why the salesman’s statement was incorrect.
]]>Depending on whom you speak to, clay can either be one of the most useful “tools” in your shop, or just an expensive piece of play-dough. It’s been around for quite a few years now. Some detailers have embraced it, while some have no use for it. I believe that clay can be a valuable tool with many uses.
The most obvious and popular use for clay is overspray removal. For this, it has been a godsend. Before clay, detailers had to use other methods for the removal of overspray. Compounding, which involves friction, heat, and heavy cleaners, is one such method. However, along with the overspray, this friction and heat could also remove some of the paint.
Another method for overspray removal involves dissolving the overspray with solvents, such as lacquer thinner, and rubbing it off. However, if a vehicle has a singlestage paint system (e.g., lacquer, enamel) some of the paint, including possibly a painted pinstripe, will dissolve along with the overspray. In addition, this method can be hazardous to other parts of the vehicle, as well as to the detailer.
]]>That’s my question. I know you have heard, or have possibly seen bad things happen to paint while using a wool pad. You’ve seen burned or blistered clear coat, burnt moldings and trim, the horrible swirl marks and hazed up paint. Yes, we have all seen these disastrous problems when using a wool pad. However, not only can these issues be avoided when using a wool pad, but to create a truly breathtaking paint job, you need to start with some kind of wool pad.
A little history
]]>These paint systems differed slightly from each other, but both were basically fairly hard surfaces that required a detailer (or whatever they were called back then) to employ an aggressive buffing procedure. Many guys used very aggressive wool pads, compounds that felt like beach sand and very high speeds on a rotary buffer. Aggression was the norm, not the exception. Even when paint systems changed over to basecoat/clear coat in the early 80’s, the first generation of clear coat was very hard and required those similar buffing methods of a single stage system. Therefore, if a detailer did not know the difference in these paint systems, or was not aware that they were different, he generally would not make a critical mistake in buffing an early generation clear coat.
]]>As with any clear coat, you should be skilled in wet sanding and knowledgeable about paint thickness before attempting to do this. You should also have a very good reason to sand any clear coat surface. I speak to many customers, car enthusiasts and many detailers who throw the term of wet sanding around Willy nilly and treat this as if it’s no big deal. Then when they run into problems while sanding, sometimes to a catastrophic degree, they realize the project may have been too big to handle.
]]>Although these clear coats are not bulletproof, the scratch resistant clears do hold up well to light scratches, stay cleaner as they do not let as much dirt penetrate the surface, and some of them actually “heal” or remove light scratches when left out in direct sunlight. It may seem that these clear coats will put detailers out of business, but that’s not the case. They still need care and they still will need to be buffed out when imperfections get deeper into the surface.
A little bit of chemistry
]]>Most detailers have probably had a debate with somebody, at some point in time, what the best polish is out there. The same holds true with waxes. People are always debating who has the best polish or wax. These debates are sometimes fun and entertaining with detailers claiming that they have, know of, or use the best polish out there and they can make a paint surface look absolutely perfect with their skills and the aid of the product. There are many variables that go into making a paint surface look its absolute best, and all are very important to consider before even discussing the product being used.
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