hiya Matt, i know i said i was going to visit when i was in adelaide (was there last weekend) but my car shat itself while i was over there so had no spare time lol.


im after a bit of advise. (ive probably asked about a zillion times before, but this isnt for a ford this time )

i have a Black over Silver GQ Patrol.





i want to make its paintwork look pretty much what it wouldve looked like new in the showroom, to the best of my abilities. (was my grandfathers car, and he left it to me when he passed away so it carries a hell of a lot of sentimental value to me)

the pictures i showed here were afteer a light hand polish and a coating of Turtle Wax Excalibur Carnarbua (however its spelt) wax, again done by hand.

hand polishing dosent do the best job... so, would you be able to give me a bit of your know how on what the best products to use are for making it shine like new? the black is just a straight colour, no metallic, but the silver is metallic. there are quite a few swirl marks in the paint too.

im looking at buying a buffing machine from somewhere, as i have a $40 Repco one at the moment and its absolutely s**t. what would you recommend?

looking forward to hearing from you

Heya buddy

Firstly, machines. Whats your budget? If you want pro quality, buy a machine from any of these brands

Metabo rotary PE-12-175 model $400 +
Hamach rotary - VEK tools $521.00
Makita Rotary 9227CB - $360 to $400
Makita Orbital - BO6030 or BO6040 (the 40 is more powerful but way more expensive (double the price)
Festool Shinex - $757 - I am getting both of these by years end
Festool Rotex DA - $800

There are others, take a look on just tools, gasweld and VEK tools websites
http://www.justtools.com.au, VEKtools.com.au and gasweld.com.au

Products - I highly recommend Prima Swirl, Menzerna PO85RD, Gtechniq P1 and the GLARE range of products

Gtechniq P1 would suit you because it's a 600 to 1000 rpm quick but thin cutting compound
Follow that with 85RD and then use Glare Zero, Micro Finish and Professional Polish x 2 applications (orbital is best) to add metal flake pop to the silver and glass over the whole car. it actually creates a sheet of glass ranging from 10 to 80 microns depending on technique and how many applications

hmmm, one of the makita ones would probably fit my budget (just ) if that fails then i could always use the one at work.

once i get my tax back and paid off my credit card debt (cant even touch my card at the moment, its burning hot ) i'll see about purchasing some of those products you recommended.

Matt the work that you do is amazing, I have a white EL and the paint is in really good condition but needs a cut and polish. There are water marks at the rear quarter panels but the whole car needs a work over. Do you do work down in Vic or do you know anywhere in Vic that can do the work that you do and the effort and quality you put in?

Also how much would it cost to bring the whole car paint upto looking top notch?

Cheers

G'day, Thanks for the message.

Water marks are easily fixed with Glare Zero by machine or any paint correction polish (abrasive)
it's best to Zero them I reckon as it melts them out without removing any paint)

I suggest you ring VJ parthab at Infinity Auto and ask him if he has an authorised applicator in Victoria
If not, then contact the best man in Victoria for the ultimate detail

Mario - Euroglossprestige.com.au
Give him a call. He isn't cheap but then quality isn't expensive, it's priceless.

Thank Matt, I will have to give him a call. I was quoted by one place i went to $500 do cut and polish the car and they said it would look like a new paint job and they would have the car for 2 days. Hows does that sound? Should i ask what products they use first?

Cheers

that is actually pretty damn close to one of my services (about mid to high level) and quite decent price wise.

ask them what paint correction products they use, the machines, what speeds they will run it at, whether they finish with a DA or orbital and if that includes a protection product

ok thanks for that, do you have any pics of white cars actualy shining? lol. I use to use a Meguires cleaning wax that would take alot of the crap off the paint but it would look good for about a week and then start to dull down and get a bit rough. I want it done right and i want it to stay looking good for quite a while. Is there anything that you should do other than washing your car regularly to keep it shining nicely?

Cheers

yes, after every wash use a protective spray detailer like Aussie Gold Showroom glaze, a body shop safe product thats very well priced
thats available directly from aussie gold car care in NSW

if you end up getting the paint glare'd, use Glare Ultrawash and or Sahara as they both add more Professional Polish (the sealant) to the paint so it will never fade.

Ok I have mentioned Paint neutralisation and surface prep a number of times, I think I should explain in more detail why what I do surface prep wise is IMHO better than just washing and claying the paint like the general population of detailers do.

starting off with paint neutralisation systems

For years, sulfuric and oxalic based decontamination systems have been available that offer detailers the ability to break down and remove industrial fallout, pollutants, road grime, bug guts and all other contaminants including tar from the paint

Unfortunately the acid based products etched unpainted/uncoated metals and stung your hands unless you were wearing gloves.
They also had the problem of softening the paint clear coat and made the paint much easier to scratch.
These days oxalic based decon systems are in powder, gel and liquid forms but instead of going with those products, I chose to think and work smarter and custom blended my own system which although does not dissolve industrial fallout (we fix with a clay block afterwards, totally removes soft and hard waxes and sealants, emulsifies tar, sap and all other organic matter, weakens acid rain and alkalinity levels, reduces the surface tension so that water no longer beads or sheets but sits on the paint like a puddle and never dries.
This makes the paint respond better to all my paint treatments including superior abrasive paint correction. the Paint is easier, better and more enjoyable to machine polish and gives almost unlimited working time and less wear on my machine

This is step 1 in chemically cleaning the paint
I use up to three more steps to clean the paint

The next step I do is to clay block the paint to totally remove industrial fallout
Our third step is to use Silicone remover products from automotive paint finish manufacturers such as De Beer, Glasurit 541-5, Chem Spec Metalux and Spies Hecker


the Chem Spec one is used on paints with heaps of silicone buildup as it's much more powerful

From there, I clean the finish with alcohol to remove the solvents that are in the silicone removers and either begin paint correction or start non abrasive paint rejuvination with glare products or apply Glare Zero by rotary to fuse the hills and valleys of the paint together to reduce orange peel and also deep clean the paint, bring the true fresh of the gun colour shade back up and soften the paint (the hard european paints) to make all my treatments work better and be easier for me.

Sometimes I also water sand (aka colour sand, wet sand, dry sand) the paint with certain fine papers before zero to fix very deep scratches )

Here is the first of two videos that shows the befores and afters of my neutralisation wash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwgsmdxdrpg

The next one will be up tomorrow morning

Oh and here's a video showing the results of paint correction and Glare treatment that I did two weeks ago
WATCH IT IN FULL SCREEN MODE, thats alot better so you can see the gloss up close
In 12 months I will glare the car again for an even richer sharper shine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1yCKzQUVa8

Bloody Brilliant job Matt. When ya gonna open a branch in NSW and clone yourself?

Like I have said before, your work ALWAYS impresses me. Thanks for the links.

The second video - showing how the water is no longer sheeting or beading
the paint is now free of waxes and sealants.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcCvOoIM1co

Saw that this afternoon when I came home Matt. This Mould polish you can use by hand, do you sell it? Looks bloody awesome

Some great points thier Matty, excellent work as always!