Hello from Indiana

[Greg]

Hi all…. New to this forum. I used to use autogeek and Autopia forums,but can’t seem to get into those now…. So here I am!

I haven’t really done any detailing in probably 10 yrs, and just getting back into it! I recently purchased a new to me 21 F150. it’s the agate black metallic and has some swirls and water spotting that I plan on getting rid of.

Couple of questions before I get started.

Can someone tell me if the Ford paint is harder soft (Will also be tackling my wife’s 2013 Lexus and would like to know about the paint on it as well!).

Although I’m rusty, I’m not new to machine polishing, so I purchased the Hercules forced action DA polisher, along with an assortment of the Lake Country Force 6 1/2”orange, and white pads , as well as the 4 3/8 inch flex backing plate and 5 1/2 inch pads.

I’ll be using the Blackfire AIO. The thing I didn’t think about on this truck is all the contouring on the hood. Having never used a forced rotation DA, do I need to be extremely cautious with all the contours on the hood and will I be able to use this polisher on edge like I’ve seen Mike do to get down into all those contours, or should I just break down and buy a small 3 inch DA for those?

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a hood with so many ridges lol. I’m sure I’ll come up with more questions before I actually get started!

Thanks in advance for any and all input!


Greg

 

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Greg,

Welcome to my humble detailing discussion forum.

It's Friday and this last weekend I taught my BIG 3-day class and then took a couple of days off to repair and recharge my batteries.

Now I'm playing catch-up. I'll get back to you ASAP

Thank you for joining.

Mike

See here,

Offline for a few days

 

[Greg]

detailing forums sure seem “slow” these days over what I remember from 10 yrs ago. Is there just “less” interest in detailing these days?

 

[Setec Astronomy]

No, it's just that the interest is expressed on Facebook and YouTube, not so much on forums like this.

 

[Mike Phillips]

Hi all…. New to this forum. I used to use autogeek and Autopia forums,but can’t seem to get into those now…. So here I am!

I haven’t really done any detailing in probably 10 yrs, and just getting back into it! I recently purchased a new to me 21 F150. it’s the agate black metallic and has some swirls and water spotting that I plan on getting rid of.

Couple of questions before I get started.

Can someone tell me if the Ford paint is harder soft (Will also be tackling my wife’s 2013 Lexus and would like to know about the paint on it as well!).

No way of knowing until you do a Test Spot. Paint technology is always evolving and also changing at the OEM level. So realistically, there's no pat answer outside of doing a Test Spot.

And of course, when doing a Test Spot - start out in the middle of the spectrum for products and pads - use a polish not a compound or finishing polish and use a foam polishing pad, not a foam finishing pad or any type of cutting pad.

The idea being to use something WITH some cut, not balanced. This is what will tell you if the paint is soft or hard or somewhere in-between.

Although I’m rusty, I’m not new to machine polishing, so I purchased the Hercules forced action DA polisher, along with an assortment of the Lake Country Force 6 1/2”orange, and white pads , as well as the 4 3/8 inch flex backing plate and 5 1/2 inch pads.

I’ll be using the Blackfire AIO. The thing I didn’t think about on this truck is all the contouring on the hood. Having never used a forced rotation DA, do I need to be extremely cautious with all the contours on the hood and will I be able to use this polisher on edge like I’ve seen Mike do to get down into all those contours, or should I just break down and buy a small 3 inch DA for those?

I would make the larger 6.5" pads do everything where possible. The key feature of gear-driven orbital polishers is YOU CAN GO UP ON EDGE - without losing pad rotation. This enables you to sue the same tool for most body panels instead of STOPPING - getting a different tool, different pad and the starting again.

I try to make the tool, pad and product in my hand do as much of the detail as possible to save time and steps.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a hood with so many ridges lol. I’m sure I’ll come up with more questions before I actually get started!

Thanks in advance for any and all input!


Greg

Nice truck, I'm confident it will look like a show truck when you're done.



Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

detailing forums sure seem “slow” these days over what I remember from 10 yrs ago. Is there just “less” interest in detailing these days?

I would say the important reasons Facebook Groups, Instagram and YouTube have taken over where discussion forums used to dominate is due to,

convenience

Everyone has a phone and all these platforms are phone-friendly. I know a lot of people that never use a computer any longer because they can do pretty much everything from their phone. My own experience is, I much faster and capable to create content on a forum using my computer, mouse and full size ergo keyboard.


Plus, creating a Facebook Group is FREE. This forum I'm posting to cost me about $400.00 a year and I don't mind paying this because I use this forum for my work.

The thing about a forum that beats out all the other social media platforms is that it will DISPLAY mass content better than the other social media platforms.

Here's an example of what I mean,

564 Pictures - May 3-day class at Dr. Beasley's O.R. in Stuart Florida with Mike Phillips

I could never share all those pictures WITH headings, text, links, etc. on FB, YT or IG. They simply cannot display mass content, at least the type of mass content I have historically created. The link above? I send that to people asking for more information about our detailing classes. It SHOWS them what they will get to do. I don't believe there's any other instructor or company or detailing class that creates these types of write-ups.

And a common comment I get from people that take other classes is they regret the time and money they spent. They were looking for MY STYLE of class and instead, they got to sit in a chair, watch a PowerPoint or video, and then often times get an all-day sales pitch about how great some companies products are. If they are lucky, the get to go into the garage and work on a demo hood. If they're super lucky, they get to work on actual cars.

So I use my forum to leverage the ACTION that takes place in our garage and I'm happy to say - it works. I have two new articles I'm writing today and tomorrow and then I'll start a fresh write-up for the class that used these cars and the 24' Sea Hunt Center Console in my class. It's going to be powerful.


September 3-Day Class - Training Cars and Boats - No Chairs! No Sitting! No PowerPoint Presentation



Progress. (social media) - Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes it's not.


Mike