Obsessed detailer in a former life - The obsession is back

[Don_M]

At 16 I got my first car (mid 1980's), and it began. Slowly at first, but rapidly gaining strength. By 1987 the detailing bug bit HARD and I started working at a mid-level detail shop. The bug became an obsession and I was "One Of THOSE Guys." Life got in the way and I followed a different career path for the next 30+ years, but the "need to detail" stayed strong and I poured over everything and anything in print to learn more (no Internet yet).

Despite having very little "real" training, I got really good at detailing and even made a few bucks here and there doing other people's cars. My own cars were often thought to be 5+ years newer than what they were because of my efforts. The internet arrived and my skills increased with the flood of information, techniques, products and equipment I was learning about.

Last year, I discovered Yvan Lecroix and DIY Detail. My skills and confidence skyrocketed at an insane pace - what I learned from him was an absolute game-changer. The amount of actual 'work' I had to put into detailing dropped by about 2/3, while my results improved 1,000 fold. About this time last year, I picked up my current 2017 Camaro, just in time to start implimenting what Yvan teaches.

With the weather starting to be north of 60* F, I was able to give the Camaro a good Spring Cleaning. Went to the touchless wash to get all the big stuff off, and get the chassis bath. Then I took it home and gave it a detailed wash/cleaning. After that, a light paint enhancement with a rotary polisher on speed 1, using DIY's red rotary jeweling pad and DIY Gold Standard sprayable polish. The car was still in good condition from its last detail in October, so the enhancement didn't take long at all.

In a couple of months, I plan on getting DIY's Hydro-Lite, 6-year coating - I just have to do a few details for other people to get the money for the coating. So until then, I used Turtle Wax Ceramic/Graphene Paste Wax (not bad stuff actually), and applied it with my Porter Cable dual-action polisher at speed 3.5.

It was getting late in the day by the time I was finished and I still have to take care of the 'details,' (glass - wheels/tires - door and trunk jambs), then the interior. But they shouldn't take me too long this morning.

What do you think? Remember this is an 8 y/o car with 86K.

 

[paulswagelock]

I really enjoy detailing as well, my cars, boats, golf carts, do them all.
The blue on your car really pops. My son has a similar color and it really shows the swirls, so that is a never ending battle.
Nicely done detail, especially for the “quick” version.

 

[shortyb]

Looks amazing. And in Ohio even (winters are brutal on a car finish there I hear). While not quite as obsessed, I still like to detail. When I got my first PC, a set of good Lake Country pads, and almost the entire range of Menzerna, it was transformational. Still orbital for correction, and use a variety of products, but geared more to longevity and ease of maintenance these days.

 

[Patman]

Looks fantastic! That’s one of my favorite blues! When I was out for a drive in my Vette yesterday I saw two Camaros exactly like yours actually (both blue!)

 

[Don_M]

I really enjoy detailing as well, my cars, boats, golf carts, do them all.
The blue on your car really pops. My son has a similar color and it really shows the swirls, so that is a never ending battle.
Nicely done detail, especially for the “quick” version.

It's not that difficult to get your paint to the point where only someone with "Detailer Eyes" can see swirls in paint. About 97% (or more) of the people I show my work to, CAN'T SEE ANY flaws/swirls, no matter how obvious they are to me ... even with cars so heavily swirled that the paint has a siver 'tint' to them because of all the swirling. Almost ALL swirling is caused by improper washing/drying techniques.

Check out DIY Detail on YouTube (or FaceBook) for "Life Altering" tips, tricks and techniques.

 

[Don_M]

Looks amazing. And in Ohio even (winters are brutal on a car finish there I hear). While not quite as obsessed, I still like to detail. When I got my first PC, a set of good Lake Country pads, and almost the entire range of Menzerna, it was transformational. Still orbital for correction, and use a variety of products, but geared more to longevity and ease of maintenance these days.

You should really get a rotary. I picked one up from Harbor Freight for about $30. I also did the "Grease Modification," - where you remove the factory grease and replace it with LUCAS Red & Tacky Grease. This simple mod makes the machine quieter and smoother, a dream to use.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend DIY Gold Standard Polish (and their waffle pads) - EXCELLENT working time, no dusting and a little goes a long way. A single spray onto a polishing pad and you can easily polish an entire panel. Check out DIY Detail/YouTube for their methods. Definitely a bunch of eye-opening, game changing techniques.

BTW, Yvan Lecroix's mantra is "Preserve the paint. don't 'Perfect' the paint." So his teachings are geared toward preserving your car's paint and making routine maintenance easy.

 

[billt460]

You should really get a rotary. I picked one up from Harbor Freight for about $30. I also did the "Grease Modification," - where you remove the factory grease and replace it with LUCAS Red & Tacky Grease. This simple mod makes the machine quieter and smoother, a dream to use.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend DIY Gold Standard Polish (and their waffle pads) - EXCELLENT working time, no dusting and a little goes a long way. A single spray onto a polishing pad and you can easily polish an entire panel. Check out DIY Detail/YouTube for their methods. Definitely a bunch of eye-opening, game changing techniques.

BTW, Yvan Lecroix's mantra is "Preserve the paint. don't 'Perfect' the paint." So his teachings are geared toward preserving your car's paint and making routine maintenance easy.

Could you provide a link to the HF polisher you use? And elaborate a bit on the, "grease changeover"? Thanks.

 

[raaizin]

You should really get a rotary. I picked one up from Harbor Freight for about $30. I also did the "Grease Modification," - where you remove the factory grease and replace it with LUCAS Red & Tacky Grease. This simple mod makes the machine quieter and smoother, a dream to use.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend DIY Gold Standard Polish (and their waffle pads) - EXCELLENT working time, no dusting and a little goes a long way. A single spray onto a polishing pad and you can easily polish an entire panel. Check out DIY Detail/YouTube for their methods. Definitely a bunch of eye-opening, game changing techniques.

BTW, Yvan Lecroix's mantra is "Preserve the paint. don't 'Perfect' the paint." So his teachings are geared toward preserving your car's paint and making routine maintenance easy.

Great job car looks fantastic...dp you have a link for rotary?

 

[joekingcorvette]

Great story and your car looks awesome! You are very correct stating people think your cars look 5 years newer when they are clean and detailed. I have heard that many times with my own vehicles. Keep up the great work!

 

[Don_M]

Could you provide a link to the HF polisher you use? And elaborate a bit on the, "grease changeover"? Thanks.

Great job car looks fantastic...dp you have a link for rotary?

Harbor Freight Warrior Rotary Polisher
BTW, you'll want to buy a 5" or 6" velcro backing plate - the better polishing pads come in this size.

As for the 'grease mod,' the Harbor Freight BAUER (DA) and WARRIOR (rotary) are decent machines, but the factory grease is fairly thin, low quality and there's not much of it (sadly, many 'Name Brand' polishers have the same issue as well).

'Disassembly' for both machines for this grease swap is straight-forward and easy, with the rotary being the easiest. There are dozens of YouTube videos showing how to do this and almost all polishers, regardless of make, disassemble pretty much the same way.

Here is a picture of my HF rotary. Remove the 4 screws shown and you kind of have to play a bit to get the parts apart - maybe a thin bladed screwdriver to help leverage them (MARK HOW THE PLATE GOES ON THE TOOL. BEFORE REMOVING IT!!! reassembly will go MUCH easier if you do). Once the pieces are separate, I used paper towels and Q-Tips to get as much of the old grease out as I could (complete removal of ALL factory grease is not needed).

Now for the messy part. Scoop the LUCAS Red & Tacky out of the tube and put a good amount into the gear box of the tool AND on the gears on the removed part. I basically filled the cavity. Reassemble and run the tool for a few minutes. You will likely get some grease being forced out of the tool from that ring, just wipe it off and you're good to go. I skipped this part and a small amount of grease came out during the first few minutes of using the rotary, but it easily wiped up.

 

[RooflessVW]

Yvan is a goof

 

[buster]

Yvan is a goof

So sick of that guy. He's more of a salesman than expert. He changes his tune every time he represents a new brand.

Nice work Don.

 

[nwjones18]

Looks good! I keep saying I'm going to do some polishing on my Ram. I think the Black forest Green would really pop with a good polish..

 

[billt460]

I've never used a powered polisher on any of my vehicles. Mostly because of fear. Now that I'm getting older, I would like to. However, I've heard that if they're not used "correctly" they can damage paint.

What exactly constitutes, "correctly"?

 

[Don_M]

Yvan is a goof

So sick of that guy. He's more of a salesman than expert. He changes his tune every time he represents a new brand.

Nice work Don.

buster - thanks ... 40years of practice led to those results.

Well, Yvan IS Canadian ...

But seriously, when he's in, he's ALL IN - for whatever brand he is representing, and you can't really blame him for promoting DIY. The products I've personally tried have been top notch and as for his stated, preferred methods to detailing ... Following his advice has exponentionally improved my game. I'm a LOT faster now, working nowhere near as hard and my results are night/day better ... even when I use NON-DIY stuff.

FWIW ... 2 years ago, I detailed a friend's ABUSED 2013 black, Dodge Challenger. In a 24 hour period, I spent 17 hours on the exterior, with acceptable results, using my 'Old Way' of doing things. Now, I could do it in ~8 hours, with a lot less labor, and get better results. So for what it's worth, his methods work for me.

 

[4WD]

My Jeep will be 5 years old in June. Might do the first hand washing to celebrate it being trouble free
However, it can be hot in June

 

[Don_M]

I've never used a powered polisher on any of my vehicles. Mostly because of fear. Now that I'm getting older, I would like to. However, I've heard that if they're not used "correctly" they can damage paint.

What exactly constitutes, "correctly"?

Step 1. Lose the fear, it's literally just in your head.

Even though I've used a random orbital since 1989, I was ALWAYS afraid of the rotary. I never understood that you DON'T have to use it at high speed. In fact, after watching Yvan's tutorials on the rotary, I never polish at mre than a 1 / 1.5 setting (600 - 900 rpms). The ONLY time I use 'top speed,' is when cleaning the pad and I'm spinning out the liquid.

And actually, the rotary, when used at the lowest setting will remove LESS paint than a long stroke DA (there is video proof of this). A short-stroke DA (under 15mm - my Porter Cable has an 8mm stroke), really is only good for improving gloss or applying liquid/paste waxes. They really don't have enough "cut" to do heavy correction.

If you're really nervous, get a cheap orbital palm sander (under $25). This will let you get a 'feel' for machine polishing, with NO risk (It won't 'remove' even light-moderate swirls, but it WILL bring up a fair amount of gloss).

DIY Detail / You Tube has a ton of videos on using a rotary and a DA polisher. Even after machine polishing since 1989, I learned quite a bit from watching. The chief take-aways from the videos are: Don't over think it. Let the MACHINE do the work. Use lower speeds on the machine (Setting 1 for the rotary and 3 for the DA)

 

[FoxProTwisty]

Pics outside in the sun!? Without perfect light to hide all your haze and marring?! No way. I kid. Paint looks like butter, nice work.

A friend only uses the Hercules cordless rotary in his mobile business and also does all rinseless like the DIY guys. Once you have a method that pays, might as well milk it for all it's worth.

 

[billt460]

As long as we're on the subject of detailing, what do you recommend for drying the vehicle after washing? I used to always use a leather chamois. But now I've gone to terrycloth towels..... Lot's of them. But they are also a royal pain, and I end up with a ton of wet towels.

 

[Don_M]

Pics outside in the sun!? Without perfect light to hide all your haze and marring?! No way. I kid. Paint looks like butter, nice work.

A friend only uses the Hercules cordless rotary in his mobile business and also does all rinseless like the DIY guys. Once you have a method that pays, might as well milk it for all it's worth.

You want sunlight? Here are some ...