todays Exterior detail - Audi A4

[Thomas Dekany]

nxt wash

clay

pwc - CMA white polishing pad on 6 felt nice and slick_



TOL pads really suck! Sending all of them back toTOL



FK1 pink wax (made the paint much more slick) by hand with a foam pad



cleaned windows

wiped down interior/door sills etc...

vacuumed under the hood - tons of leaves



hot shine on black areas



After



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/tdekany/tn_118_1853.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/tdekany/tn_118_1852.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/tdekany/tn_118_1854.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/tdekany/tn_118_1855.jpg

[MongooseGA]

You must be a night owl like me. I do all of my best thinking past 10:00 :)



How was the Audi clear coat to work with? There have been a few members that say it`s a PITA because it`s so hard.



Very wet looking :bow

[Thomas Dekany]

Originally posted by MongooseGA

You must be a night owl like me. I do all of my best thinking past 10:00 :)



How was the Audi clear coat to work with? There have been a few members that say it`s a PITA because it`s so hard.



Very wet looking :bow



No - I just don`t sleep enough. Spend too much time on this site reading.



Clearcoat - I clayed one spot (yellow drop) for like 5 minutes before 99% came off. Dent underneath of it (tiny), but otherwise the paint was free of swirls except for a small spot on the hood which I saw when the sun started to hit the car - at the end of the detail. You really had to look for it, so I think the owner will be just fine.

The FK1 wax made a big difference. It reminds me of #16



Thanks!

[stilez]

Lookin great!



Very wet for silver :)



I`m pretty eager to try out the FK1 now.

[Thomas Dekany]

thanks sean - that is the pink wax, no 2180 was applied.

both are great products, like most that are mentioned on this forum.

[Bill D]

I thought tthe TOL pads and CMA pads are all one in the same: aka Lake Country pads. What exact TOL pads do you have and what don`t you like about them?

[Thomas Dekany]

Hi Bill - I thought so too, and they are LC pads, but they do look different from CMA`s. Ok

1 - yesterday while applying PwC on a white pad tiny pieces were flying all over the car from I guess the backing plate cutting into the pad. The TOL pads have a thick velcro that measures 4.75" - the pad is 6.5" and my backing plate is larger then the velcro.

2 - don`t know why but the CMA white pad got really dirty quickly while the TOL pad was almost clean. Can`t figure out that one.

They should be the same.



My blue polishing pads from Patrick are true polishing pads without any cutting quality. Excellent pads.

So if LC pads from CMA helps me remove most swirls, scretches withSSR2.5, shouldn`t TOL`s?



I did like the tol orange pad on another car but I wouldn`t use it again because it will fall apart if I use it again.



I gues TOL should warn customers that their design needs a smaller backing plate.

[Bill D]

Hmm.. that`s interesting, sounds like a case of inconsistent quality :nixweiss. I have some old CMA pads and their exact counter parts directly from LC themselves, they are identical AFAIK. Yeah, I`ve been using a smaller backing plate now to avoid the issue you describe

[Thomas Dekany]

CMA pad on left (had it since may and has been abused)

TOL pad on right (after one car)



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/tdekany/117_1798.jpg

[Bill D]

Looks similar to my cma pads, my orange pad has more use but doesn`t look as severe probably becuase I switched to a smaller plate. I do recall reading how sensitive those orange pads are to normal use and larger plate. :( Seems like the jiggling action of the PC accelerates this. I`d be interested to see what a new orange pad used on a rotary would look like.

[MongooseGA]

tdekany,



That`s exactly what happened to my LC VC cutting pads! After one use also.



That`s not a VC type pad is it?

[Thomas Dekany]

the white pad looks like that too. I am going to use edge2000 pads on my rotary. but for Xmas I am getting CMA pads :D

[Thomas Dekany]

Originally posted by MongooseGA

tdekany,



That`s exactly what happened to my LC VC cutting pads! After one use also.



That`s not a VC type pad is it?



it is flat

[usdm]

Originally posted by tdekany

....The FK1 wax made a big difference. It reminds me of #16



Thanks!



I have those same pads, and they do suck. But I figure better

to use them up than waste time having to send them back.

I use the smallest backing plate I can find, so that the velcro

does not chew the pad up too bad.



Pink Wax reminds me of #16 as well, and I find actually much

easier to apply than #16 (which I rarely have any problems

with). One thing I learned with Pink wax is that it really needs

to be applied ultra thin. I learned this the hard way on my

car when I tried it out the first time. I thought I put it on real

thin, then I wiped. But under street lighting later that night,

I could see the applicator pad circles over the entire hood.

[Thomas Dekany]

the only way I can apply waxes thin is if I use the pc, which I will next time. I get in trouble with Natty`s almost every time on my girlfriends van, especially on the hood. It (both waxes) comes off easy but from certain angles I can see how I applied it. Can`t get it off with quick shine either. Once I wash the car I am ok.



I`ll call TOL tomorrow for getting credit or exchange them for something else.