MF Finishing Pad & Opti Coat Prep

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djd2713

New member
I've got my KLASSE from Tim and just waiting for the warmer temp. to arrive to start working on my(making it as nice cars

(making them looking closer to the ones seen on this great forum).

Just one question while still waiting - what proporsion of Down and water (how much Down per 1 gal.)
 
Wow..1oz of Dawn/gallon of water seems way to concentrated to me. I use about 1oz of Dawn in 4 gallons of water and it works great (gets the car squeaky clean). Try to use the lowest concentration possible to avoid any residue!
 
For my regular car shampoo I use 1 oz to the gallon but with Dawn I think you can easily cut it down to a half ounce per gallon. Dawn is pretty concentrated and it makes <em class='bbc'>tons[/i] of suds at that ratio.

<em class='bbc'>clic pic[/i]
 
Dawn is very concentrated so use it with care. I wonder if your car would smell like a "Lemon" if you bought their Lemon scented soap? Just a thought. :D
 
Gee, I wasn't aware there was a science to doing a dawn wash. I just do a couple squirts untill I have lots of bubbles. :D I always wash it twice, though, just to make sure I get it all off. I guess if I used the right amount I wouldn't have to do that, eh? Oh, well. When I do a bucket wash the day is usually too nice to spend it indoors anyway so washing the car a couple times before hitting it with Klasse or whatever. :)
 
I like the 1 to 1 mix it makes the mix very strong so it can remove all the old wax and stuff. It is a very concentrated product, i do wash twice, once with Dawn and once with a car wash GC.
 
I decided to apply Opti Coat to my wife's daily driver. The vehicle is a 2008 Mitsbishi Lancer, that we have owned since new. The car has 34k miles on it, and has been cared for.

To start the process, I took a few pictures. There were 0 swirls on the car, a couple of small RIDS, and a little water spotting.

Befores:
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Some spotting:
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A little dirt:
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Since I want the Opti Coat to bond well, I really need to kill any beading (hence, remove anything that may be on the paint now). Luckily, the last lsp that I applied was pretty much at the end of its useful life.

I decided to do a QEW wash. QEW doesn't seem to leave as much behind (in terms of slickness) as ONR:
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2 Buckets, Grit Guard, MF mitt:
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Here is the level of beading during the QEW wash:
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Rinse Water after the wash:
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I then decided to clay, using Meg's white clay, and QEW/Water as the lube:
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Paint shots after the wash, before polishing:
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Next up, polishin with the MF polishing pad...
 
Given the low level of defects on the car, I decided to use the MF Finishing pad, M205, and the G110v2.

Here are some shots of the pad:
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Here is the weapon of choice, along with the compresser (key item when using the MF pad):
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Primed Pad:
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Ready for 1st section:
028.jpg


Basically, after talking to Bryan, he suggested polishing for 3-4 passes at speed 3 with moderate pressure....then, fluffing up the pad with the compresser, then going back over the area at speed 3, with no pressure for a couple of passes. After some experimentation, I found that speed 3.5 with moderate pressure did better on this car. When I came across a RID, I just bumped the speed up to 5 momentarily, and that knocked them out.

Here is the pad after polishing the first area. Notice the matting down of the fibers:
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This is why the compresser is handy. A blast of 45psi air, and it fluffed back out for the next section.

Here are some areas after polishing. I noticed that the gloss seemed higher than with a foam pad:
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Here is the pad after polishing the entire car:
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After a few spritzes of Eimann Fabrik APC mixed 2:1, and some agitation with a nylon brush under warm water, and a blast of compressed air, the pad came out looking brand new:
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Next, Opti Coat prep continues...
 
Since the Opti Coat will go on the lights too, I ecided to correct them with the PC, 4" Orange, and 105:
Before:
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After:
041.jpg

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I then decided to do another wash to remove the polishing oils. This time, I mixed in some APC into my QEW wash mix bucket:
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Got the plastic mesh areas too, since they will be Opti Coated as well:
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I then moved the car out to the driveway to rinse with the hose, to check for beading. There was none (that picture didn't come out well).

I brought the car back in, dried it off, and took a couple of pics:
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My wife will not be driving it this week. During the week, I plan to prep the wheels for Opti Coat (and will post that process).

The Opti Coat will be applied next weekend. Right before application, I plan to wipe down with QEW/Water at QD strength, followed by an IPA wipedown

Stay tuned.
 
Looking good David!

How does your little air compressor work for blowing out those pads? Marc (07 z-oh-6) was asking about one that size over on AG.


Rasky
 
RaskyR1 said:
Looking good David!

How does your little air compressor work for blowing out those pads? Marc (07 z-oh-6) was asking about one that size over on AG.


Rasky
Click to expand...

Rasky,

It's not the size of a man's compressor that matters, but how he uses his nozzle.

45 to 50 psi with that one works great for cleaning all types of pads.
 
weekendwarrior said:
Rasky,

It's not the size of a man's compressor that matters, but how he uses his nozzle.

45 to 50 psi with that one works great for cleaning all types of pads.
Click to expand...
LOL...good one!

I just bought a harbor freight 8 gallon 115 PSI compressor and it doesn't have enough power to "spin" the pad clean. Do you have to get it spinning that fast to really clean the pad?
 
07 z-oh-6 said:
LOL...good one!

I just bought a harbor freight 8 gallon 115 PSI compressor and it doesn't have enough power to "spin" the pad clean. Do you have to get it spinning that fast to really clean the pad?
Click to expand...

You can turn the polisher on too and then blow it out as well. I've done it both ways....90psi gets that pad spinning pretty fast! :D
 
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