Detailing Tuition With The ISF

[GibletPH]

I purchased a shed load of gear many years ago (G220 V1, PTG etc etc) but fell out of love with detailing after a while and went back to just using the local £5 hand wash place. Having recently purchased the ISF I decided to get some tuition so I could expand my skills and finally correct a car fully so I booked a tuition day with Matt at Obsiadian detailing in Saddleworth.

The pictures below are a mix of Iphone and camera, excuse my poor mspaint skills when masking my plate. 

Arrived at Obsidian HQ for 09:00 and after a coffee we got on with washing and claying the car  - 

2 hours later we were left with a washed and clayed car -

Got it out of the rain and into the unit where it was dried and taped up ready for some machine polishing with a random orbital - 

We started with the bootlid which was showing the usual swirls and marks you would expect from a used car - 

The paint proved to be annoyingly soft and ended up needing a 3 step process of compounding, polishing and then refining with a trio of pads and polishes. 

The different between the correct bootlid and the untouched spoiler was obvious. 

We then moved on to the NSR door, the paintwork was just as bad as the rest of the car -

The same 3 stage process resulted in a massive difference - 

Matt also showed me the Glare Professional Polish which we used on a section the OSR door, took no time at all to apply and I was shocked at just how much of the swirls it managed to mask.

Something for me to consider using once I have corrected the rest of the car just to give it that extra something and help me keep on top of the finish.

Having spent a good 8 hours or so at Obsidian HQ learning new skills and knowledge I now have the confidence to go and correct the rest of the car and get it looking its best. Will need some decent weather now unless I manage to find a garage or unit that I can use for a day or two.

I strongly recommend one to one tuition to anyone who is looking to gain some confidence and skills in using a machine polisher and learning more about looking after your paintwork. If you are local (or fancy the trip to Saddleworth) then give Matt at Obsidian detailing a shout. 

[Keith_W]

Looking great buddy. Glad I didn't have a bright light when I had it! I washed it regularly but did so using the usual scratch-reducing methods with microfibre 'sponges' - Just shows that it still all adds up!

[Ace8800]

Top stuff.. with abit of skill you saved youself the best part of £600 or more.. good job.

[rayaans]

Good job - but still why did it need 3 stage polishing? Im no pro but I could have got that done with one product

Lexus paint is always soft - best thing to use on it is Sonax Perfect Finish with a polishing pad and then a refining pad. Its the easiest and fastest polish to use for Jap paint, so much so that you can get a full car polished in maybe 2 hours and of course its suited to soft paint, hence the name "perfect finish".

[DT_Racing]

Brilliant, exactly the same situation as I found myself in this week, looks like a similar level of correction was needed to. Amazing to see just how bad (even with lots of care) a car can get. Unfortuately we are are stuck with soft as marshmellow paint so it will mark up easily. Top work.

[stevet]

So glad I've not got a dark coloured car. But it does look stunning when clean.

Why mask your number plate?

[Stuno1]

Top work. If you have the time it's definitely the way to go.

[GibletPH]

12 hours ago, Keith_W said:

Looking great buddy. Glad I didn't have a bright light when I had it! I washed it regularly but did so using the usual scratch-reducing methods with microfibre 'sponges' - Just shows that it still all adds up!

Cheers. Give how soft the paint is I think any wash routine is likely to inflict a few marks so it's not your fault! I'm going to have to be very careful how I wash and dry it once it's fully corrected.

11 hours ago, Ace8800 said:

Top stuff.. with abit of skill you saved youself the best part of £600 or more.. good job.

Cheers. I might look into wet standing some of the deeper marks, I guess once I'm eventually done the total man hours will be sizeable so the savings will be huge compared to getting it done by a pro plus I get to learn new skills.

9 hours ago, rayaans said:

Good job - but still why did it need 3 stage polishing? Im no pro but I could have got that done with one product

Lexus paint is always soft - best thing to use on it is Sonax Perfect Finish with a polishing pad and then a refining pad. Its the easiest and fastest polish to use for Jap paint, so much so that you can get a full car polished in maybe 2 hours and of course its suited to soft paint, hence the name "perfect finish".

The paint is ridiculously soft and since it is a solid black it shows every single mark. We started off with the lightest pad and polish combo and worked our way up. The compounding stage removes the majority of the marks but leaves some imperfections behind, the polishing removes those but leaves a bit of ghosting which the refining stage takes care of.

3 hours ago, DT_Racing said:

Brilliant, exactly the same situation as I found myself in this week, looks like a similar level of correction was needed to. Amazing to see just how bad (even with lots of care) a car can get. Unfortuately we are are stuck with soft as marshmellow paint so it will mark up easily. Top work.

Cheers. I was hoping for some more durable paint but ah well. Once corrected I will have to keep on top of it with a decent glaze and wax combo. The plastic on my G220 seems to have gone off whilst in storage so I need to either sand it all back or just buy a DAS6.

3 hours ago, stevet said:

So glad I've not got a dark coloured car. But it does look stunning when clean.

Why mask your number plate?

Dark coloured cars are a pain and a joy, Once clean they do look stunning but take them for a spin around the block and they will look dirty again. I've always masked my plate when cross posting across a bunch of forums. I guess I'm being overly security concious, not like someone could clone the plate that easily given how few ISFs there are about.

16 minutes ago, Stuno1 said:

Top work. If you have the time it's definitely the way to go.

Thanks. I have time but what I don't have is a garage or a unit to work in which is annoying given the terrible weather at the moment. I've started asking about to find a workspace that I can hire for a weekend.

[GibletPH]

Here are 2 Iphone shots from today that sum up the highs and lows of owning a black car.

Lovely beading on the corrected and waxed bootlid this morning - 

The aftermath of driving back in the rain yesterday - 

I guess this is where the washing and drying routine will need to be spot on to prevent any fresh marring or swirls in the future. Great!

[rayaans]

Hmm I found the same on my RX with conventional polishes. I can pretty much do a one step after discovering the Sonax. Seems to have good cut but finishes down to the same level as M205.

What protection is on the car?

[DT_Racing]

Ooo excuse to show a lovely beading shot :-) I am an obsessive car cleaner so having a black car with light interior suits me just fine. I'm a sad sad man...

 

Still not finished my detail but the one layer of Collinite 476s will last until I have chance