Inspecting Paint

[imported_DetailDan]

Do you do a prep- sol or alcohol wipe down as you polish, why or why not?



How much time do you spend inspecting the paint after/ as you polish?



How do you inspect the paint?

[Accumulator]

Do you do a prep- sol or alcohol wipe down as you polish, why or why not?

Not very often. I either use final polishes that don`t conceal or I don`t care and just put something like Collinite 476S over the fillers and don`t worry about it. Can`t say that I`ve ever had a problem with marring "coming back" except the time I used an AIO-type product after polishing with Meg`s #80.

How much time do you spend inspecting the paint after/ as you polish?

I`ve been known to spend several minutes looking for a single bit of marring that I *know* is there but that is so minor as to be basically invisible even under the most demanding lighting Note that that`s an eternity to spend looking at a few square inches of paint.



I spend *far* more time inspecting than I do correcting. I do everything possible to make sure I truly *know* the condition of the paint and that can take ages on silver/metallic gray. I`m sure I spend at least 30 minutes doing the last, truly final isnpection, and that`s after I`d bet my life I already know its condition. I simply won`t stand for any after-the-detail surprises; if a flaw is there I want to know about it before I apply my LSP. Whether I`ll *remove* that flaw is another matter.

How do you inspect the paint?

Initial inspection: fluorescent and/or incandescent light, and/or halogens- different light lets me see different issues (marring/etching/texture/color match...etc. etc.). I use magnification as needed to fully assess the degree/nature of any issues that I`m not sure about. For the final inspection: incandescent light in an otherwise dark shop, varying the illumination and inspection distances and angles.

[imported_Detailing Technology]

I use alcohol to wipedown during polishing. Nothing pre-correction.



I inspect as I work and post alcohol wipedowns using both halogen and incandescent lighting. Halogen shows the swirls, incandescent shows me the smearing and blotchyness of a lsp application if any. I don`t move to the next panel until I am done inspecting and passing the current panel during each phase. It seems to go quicker this way.



I recently thought of using prep-sol, but still haven`t gone to buy any.

[imported_DetailDan]

bump.........