Monday, September 22, 2014

Polishing Your Exhaust Tips with P21S

Today we'll tackle exhaust tip polishing.  We will be using P21S Polishing Soap and going after the BRZ's exhaust tips.  P21S Polishing Soap is a clay based polish first designed for silversmiths actually and has been designed for use on chrome, polished surfaces, and many other metal surfaces.  As with any product try it out in an inconspicuous spot first.

So here we are.  We'll start off by cleaning the tips and surrounding areas with Chemical Guys V07, I use this product because it is a hybrid of detail spray while also having some sealant properties.










Here's what we've picked up, quite a bit of dirt but nothing too tragic.  Driving through the rain (yes here in Vegas we occasionally get rain) bounced up a few splashes of water.  But now it's time for polishing.  The polishing soap comes with a sponge in the polishing container that is quite abrasive.



 First to wet it until it's damp.


Then squeeze out the extra water until it's damp.


Give it a good swipe until there's a good layer of soap on it.  Be advised a little goes a long way with this product.


Lather the sponge and go to work on the exhaust tip, working in multiple motions until it's been polished to your liking.


You can see even after cleaning embedded dirt lies within the metal and comes out when heavily worked with.


But nothing a simple rinse can't fix!


And here we are brand new and sparkling clean again!




Thanks for reading!

Friday, September 19, 2014

Does Wax Affect Gloss?


A common question many people will come and ask me is the variant of which wax do I use, which will make my paint look the best.

First off no product will make your car and paint look better than it being clean and relatively swirl free.  By polishing the paint to a swirl free surface you create a more uniform surface which allows the light to be better reflected back

Secondly though is whether products can affect gloss.  Now, it wouldn't be fair to purely look by the eye and say "Yes X wax looks better than Y sealant" because that's as reliable as saying that exhaust makes your car feel faster therefore it is putting down more power on the dyno.

I recently came across an interesting study over on the Tesla forums that uses a gloss meter which measures reflectivity of a surface.  As you can imagine, a more reflective surface has more gloss.  The forum post can be found here

The results were taken after eight weeks starting at initial application.  Here is a cutout of the spreadsheet and the products tested.


I found these results interesting but I will not make any conclusions on them.  Post below what you think and your take on it!

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Find Your Water Hardness!

A common issue for car owners is water spots.  These are caused by minerals found in the water supply and are allowed by the EPA to be up to 500 parts per million.  Ways to combat this are to use in-line filters or de-ionizing systems that use minerals to reduce these amounts.

An easy way is to head on over to ZeroWater.com


Then input your zip code on the bottom right.


Here is an example of my reading! The higher the reading the higher the mineral content which leads to easier water etching, spotting, and will inform you if your water is nothing to worry about or whether you are asking for issues by letting it remain on your paint.



Thanks for reading!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Premium Shine Is Now on Twitter and Pinterest!

Yes you read that right!

Stay up to date on the latest from Premium Shine on Twitter and Pinterest!

You can find us on Twitter at @PremiumShine
 
Or on Pinterest at Premium Shine

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Thanks for reading! Looking forward to seeing you on each site.


Saturday, September 13, 2014

Simple Wash plus Gtechniq Exo V2 and C4 Reviews

Hello fellow detailers and viewers!

Today is a comprehensive review over Gtechniq Exo V2 and C4 Trim restorer.  Ahead I'm doing this on the Jetta which previous readers will know currently has a layer of Opti-Coat over the vehicle except the hood.  You can find that paint correction here.  This is going to be a simple wash, interior clean, clay and polish with SF4000 and multiple dressing/coatings.

First off was a simple interior clean.  Vacuum first, if you need to know how to vacuum, take your shop vac, press on, take the end of the hose where dirt is.  Done!  I did also touch-up the rubber mats, these came upgraded and are absolutely awesome.  A famous brand for the aftermarket is Weathertech.

Here's what these have been through as a daily driver.


Can you tell which have been cleaned yet?


A simple scrub with an interior cleaner, don't worry these were hosed down on the backside before being placed to dry and in the car.


Just Blackfire Interior Cleaner and a Mother's brush.  These really don't need anything too much done to them.  You could put trim dressing if you wish, but with the abuse in a daily driver these get I don't know how long it would last so I chose not to, also you have to be extremely careful that anything you put on is dry and non-slippery.  It can very easily turn a quick drive into your foot slipping off the brake or gas pedal, similar to uneducated people putting tire shine on top of the tire.  


Up ahead I was able to get a cool video showing different LSP's and how they degrade over time.  Check out the video below especially the lack of sheeting and beading in portions.




Also found this nasty rockchip.  Need to get that kit from Dr. Colorchip ordered for the Tornado Red.


Now onto the goodies Gtechniq C4 and Exo V2 in their respective packaging.


Here are the tools of the trade for the hood polishing, note claying is already complete.  HD Adapt, Blue Uber Pad, GTechniq Panel Wipe, and of course a flashlight.



Alright first off the GTechniq C4.  It came with a few cotton applicators similar to ones found at cosmetic stores.  They aren't the most resilient as can be seen below.

 Here's a comparison between a treated trim and untreated.

For application just a couple drops on an applicator pad and neatly and carefully dress the trim you want covered.  Following application a microfiber towel wipe over the covered areas.


 This is how much was used to cover four window trims and the top part of the engine cowling.  Roughly 1/4 of the bottle.  It has a weird smell I noticed, kind of like an extreme rubbing alcohol type smell.


Now onto Exo V2, it came with a pretty nifty cotton applicator with finger pockets and a pair of gloves.  As I already have hundreds, I just tossed them to the side for another day.  



For application; similar to C4 and any other coating, just a few drops applied in a cross-hatch pattern over the panel followed by a light buff by a microfiber towel to knock down high spots.


Here's how much was used for the hood and a couple touchup areas that needed coating.  Roughly 1/5 of the bottle.



Now unfortunately the sun was already down but I did get a good one in the garage.  Here's the final product!





Let me know if you have any questions and feel free to post below!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Microfiber Pads and a Quick Update

I had to go back and knock out a couple rough areas and decided just to go with a tried and true favorite.  Menzerna FG400 on a Meguiar's Microfiber Pad.


You can see this is after a quick section was completed, the fibers are laid down and are not cutting to their true potential.  By using a simple pad brush or an air compressor to "refluff" the fibers you cna rejuvenate the pads quite easily.  It is also important to keep the heat down to reduce the risk of de-lamination and the pad breaking down.  Keep your polisher in the 4 speed range when cutting and let the pad do the cutting not pressure. 


I decided to go after this RID again.  Now since its directly near the door jamb and near the side window a full 5" pad wouldn't work.  This is why the Porter Cable 7424XP is now dedicated to 3" pads for these tighter areas.  I went with a Cyan Hydrotech pad and Menzerna FG400.  You can see how easy it was to see even without having to force the camera to focus and in pure daylight.  


Here it is after.  I could keep chasing it but unless the light catches it perfectly it has diminished by quite a bit.

Microfiber pads have to be dealt with slightly differently than foam pads.  If you have any questions on taking care of microfiber pads or recommendations or help with them, feel free to post below.  Thanks for reading!