Hi,

First, I just want to say thanks to everyone on W/W for sharing all this awesome information . Also, I owe a special thanks to Mikeyc for answering all my pms =) and to nate03 for giving me some pc advice. In previous years, I did the klasse twins and loved it, but as you will see below the spider webbing was killing me. My s2000 is my daily, ungaraged driver, and all I can say is klasse has been doing an excellent job. Minus the spidering even after 8 months AIO/SG combo is definately still going strong. (1xAIO and 2xSG) Rain still beads up very nicely. The pics below were taken the morning after 4-5 days of rain.











I started the detailing at noon in the bright sun. I know I know that is bad... but no garage, and I was getting tired of waiting due to all the rain. Also, the fact that I was out drinking until 4am the night before didn't help

Anyways, I started with DP 4-1 rinseless wash using 2x the regular concentration and 2 buckets with sheepskin wash mit for the upper panels and a microfiber/chenile mit for the lower parts + wheels.

I figured this was best since it was noon and the sun was making the car surface pretty hot. This way I can cool down one section at a time and wash/wipe it off without it drying on the car. Worked pretty well. Took about 1 hour.

Then I whipped out some meguiars detail clay and used the remaining rinseless solution as lube. I had made 2 gallons of the wash for this purpose. I had some clay residue on some of the hotter panels but this easily came off during the polish stage. Also, after I got the hang of claying (first time), it was easy to avoid getting residue on the car. (just use alot more lube =p). Took about 1.5 hours.

Then I got out a green edge 2k pad (light cut/polish) and used poorboys SSR 2.5. All I got to say is wow... poorboys definately works great in direct sunlight =). It was amazing to see the difference in sections as you worked around the car. Originally, I had planned out a map so I didn't miss any spots, but it was very obvious which panels were done and which weren't. The only complaint I had was the dusting factor of SSR, but the ability to use in sunlight far outweighed that negative for me (is there any other product that has less dusting that can be used in the sun?). After making one complete pass of the entire car, swirls were almost gone. I had a couple left that I could actually count. I wanted to go over the car one more time but already 2.5 hours were past and night was approaching fast, so sadly I moved on.

Lastly, I pulled out a blue edge 2k pad (polish/finish) and used klasse AIO. Originally I planned on doing SSR 1 then AIO, but again time was a factor. One thing I noticed was it was alot harder to buff off the AIO applied by PC if you tried to hurry and didn't really work the product in for a while. I'm not sure if I will do that again by PC next time around. By this time it was 8pm and no more daylight The pics below are after the AIO, and please ignore the dust





The white specs are residual dust from using AIO on PC. I didn't realize AIO dusted until I used it with a PC.













The white waves you see on the trunk are dust waves... when I was done the previous night my microfiber towels were just pushing those waves around and since I was tired, I just called it a day.











The last pic made me go

I like to let each acrylic layer cure for at least 48 hours, so in the next week or so I'll be putting on 2 layers of SG and maybe top it off with a wax (poorboys blue).

All I got to say is... PC is God's gift to Berlina.

 

Things I learned the hard way:

-Yes you can damage your car with a PC... (the non-pad parts... I took a little bit of paint off from under the passenger side view mirror when polishing the door without putting the side mirror in the collapsed position. The top of the PC rubbed underneath the side mirror for maybe 2 sec, and it was down to the metal.)

-Get a pair of knee pads (moving a towel/blanket around is annoying)
-Get something to support the back (not as young as I used to be)
-Start way earlier than noon

 

A mirror on wheels!!!

Nice work and thanx for the pics....

 

Seeing your car on wash/wax day definately motivated me to put some elbow grease in =) Thanks again for the advice.

 

good post and great pics!

hey blunj13- instead of knee pads, try a creeper... you get to sit with all of your tools handy (on the shelf under the seat) and just roll around the car!

 

Huge improvement. I was happy to help you via PM. When you have some time treat your car to some SSR1 and that will really jewel the finish and make it even shinier!

BTW, the sides look really great especially. Almost makes me want to buy a black car.

Poorboy's does advertise the fact that they design their products to be used in direct sunlight. I'm not aware of any other brands which make this claim.

 

[QUOTE=wanabe,Jun 12 2006, 09:34 PM] good post and great pics!

hey blunj13- instead of knee pads, try a creeper...

 

Mike,

Thanks bro for answering all my annoying questions
I would have loved to do one more pass with 2.5 cause I did see a couple swirls left on the front hood due to me being 5'8" and not being able to get good positioning. Then follow up with ssr1, but when I turned around after finishing 1 pass of 2.5 the sun was dangerously low and I wanted to make sure to protect the paint before nightfall. I will definately start earlier next time and get all the steps in =) (or maybe just start with ssr1 if the swirling isn't that bad in a couple months).

Doh... I was hoping someone had tried Optimum polish/compound in the sun... I hear good things about those not dusting much.

 

Youch! Watch your DVD again. Mike suggests you keep your finger in between the mirror and the head of the polisher in order to prevent the two from contacting each other.

 

Doh... I sped through some of the movie thinking it was the same...