Hi Lynn,
My Lynn, :wavey forwarded this thread to me this morning and I am just now getting to it. (It’s 3:00pm here)
First I had to answer a plethora of e-mails, then a magazine interview/article on cleaning, polishing, and maintaining chrome, then a meeting on paint and polishing supplies for the new big rigs.
Now to your questions/comments...
Lynn said:
Mike, have you seen enough questions in the threads here? Or would you like to create a thread asking for input on what Autopian detailer’s want/need to know? (Just a thought.)
Nope, I haven't seen enough questions yet... I love questions, there is never "too many questions".
Asking questions and actively "Seeking the Perfect Shine", keeps us all "sharp".
When I started out in 1988 as on Outside Sales Rep and Trainer for Meguiar's, the first thing I noticed was that the hardest shop calls I had to make were shop calls to "Detailers who thought they knew everything". Not all detailers are like this, but I met many that were. Because they “thought� they knew everything... they had effectively "Walled" themselves off from anything "New", or "Things they had never seen before".
Example: Meguiar's came out with the very first foam pad called, the
"BuffMaster Wooless Wonder", for polishing paint back in
1965, shortly after the first Mustang came to market and Gilligan’s Island debuted, (1964 for both). 1965 was also the year the Beach Boys released “California Girls� and "Help me Rhonda", then the Rolling Stones released, "Get off of my Cloud", and "I can't get no Satisfaction".
(Just to add some perspective as to how long our original foam pad has been around)
In 1988 I was showing painters and detailers a bright yellow foam polishing pad that dramatically reduced buffer swirl problems while creating dramatically more “clear� results with superior gloss and shine compared to what wool pads could produce. This foam pad, the Wooless Wonder had been out on the market for
“33 Years�, and yet for whatever reasons,
some of these guys had never seen one.
(I think some of the reasons some of these guys had never seen onen before includes the “Walled off from new ideas� reason
)
It always caught me by surprise that in 1988 and into the 90's I could call on shops that had never seen them before.
(I can post of picture of one of the
orginal "Wooless Wonder" if anyone is interested).
So I actually like people who ask questions, and are open to new ideas and new products because that’s how I am, and I know that having an open mind and always questioning and challenging the status quo is how we, as a group, continue to grow and take our passion, (detailing cars/polishing paint), to a higher level.
Do I have the time to answer all of the questions, comments, and criticisms posted here and on other forums? No, but I want to, and it is now part of my job description. It all comes back to a “time thing�.
Just a side note: I have been visiting David’s Autopia website since at least 1998, back when it started out as
www.autopia-carcare.com, (is that right David? the
“WayBack Machine�,
http://www.archive.org only tracks your site back to 1999, but I think I have page of your website printed out from 1998 in a folder somewhere), and I think I have been reading and participating on his forum since it’s inception, I don’t remember exactly when, David could probably research that but it’s not really important.
I have been posting “how-to� stuff relating to Meguiar’s since 1994, possibly, 1993, mostly to the Usenet Newsgroups, specifically, rec.autos, and then to rec.autos.misc, after rec.autos split. (rec.autos grew too large and the topics varied so much that back in 1994 it divided into rec.autos.misc and rec.autos.tech). All of this was way before web-based forum software such as vbulletin was even invented.
Sure sounds like you have your hands full!
Yes, like many of you… I’m busy.
Er ... so you have sanded/buffed other big rigs! ? :shocked
No, I didn’t mean it to read like that, at least not “Big Rigs� as in trucks. I have polished out a few large motor homes, delivery vans, and pleasure boats, but not big semi-trucks; this will be a first, and probably a last. I will be posting over on my website,
www.showcargarage.com updates which will show just how much work goes into a project like this.
Probably the largest custom rig I have done is a 1971 Black Suburban, (3 door model). This was a street rod with a built 454 and single stage black enamel finish. I wet-sanded it using Meguiar’s “Nikken�, finishing papers and the buffed it out using their paint cleaners, cleaner/polishes, foam pads etc.
While not as big as a semi-truck, a 71 Suburban, does offer a lot of “real-estate� to either turn it into a “Glistening Gemstone�, or worse provide you with a lesson from the “School of Hard Knocks�.
I have pictures of the process and the finished results for the above mentioned Suburban which I will post them as time permits to my “Project Archive�, which will include all of the cars I have buffed out over the years, and that I have captured on film.
Now… back to work on the “Definitive list of Meguiar’s Compounds, Cleaner/polishes, Pure Polishes and Cleaner/waxes and their abrasiveness level, and then onto to paco’s question about the difference between #84 and #85 and when you, (or I), would choose one over the other.
p.s.
Or would you like to create a thread asking for input on what Autopian detailer’s want/need to know? (Just a thought.)
Sure, how about after the Memorial Day weekend? :xyxthumbs
