Accumulator
Well-known member
Disclaimer: this is *awfully* subjective and I didn't do a "control" panel the "regular" way. So this is all a matter of personal perception.
Yesterday I washed Accumulatorette's A8 following a long road trip. Lots of bugs and tar, so I did a lot of spot-claying. It didn't seem to strip an appreciable amount of the (two week old) #16, but I decided to redo it anyhow. She hasn't been too thrilled with how the #16 looks on it, preferring the look of 3M Showcar Paste. I did not tell her I was gonna rewax the car, I said I was just doing a quick wash and clay.
I did the tight spots (around door handles, the bottom of the bumper covers near the black trim, etc.) by hand the regular way, no spit-shining.
To apply the #16 on the rest of the car, I put the (white Cyclo brand) finishing pads on the machine and turned it on briefly before shutting it off. As the heads started to slow down, I stuck one head in the can of #16. I scraped the excess wax off the pad with a plastic razorblade and then did the same with the pad on the Cyclo's other head. Warning: you might oughta be experienced with the Cyclo before you try this
Before putting the Cyclo on the car, I first lightly misted the surface with Griot's Speed Shine (hey, it's blue like the #16
), which contains carnauba. Then I put the Cyclo on the panel, turned it on, and worked the #16 until I had a *very* thin coat on the area I was working. The Speed Shine dissipated as I did this, with minimal slinging. I did a panel, then reapplied #16 to the pads and did another panel. Then I took it off the first one by hand using a CBT, fogging the surfacxe with my breath per usual. I repeated this until I'd done the whole car.
I noticed that the spit-shined areas buffed up a bit easier than the ones I'd done by hand the regular way. I can't say I noticed a huge difference in appearance between the two since the regular-method areas were rather not only small but also were not areas that really showed off any subtle differences. I *did* think the car looked a whole lot better than Audi silver ever did with #16 in the past, and I've used it a lot. Since I hadn't redone the prep, the only thing I could attribute the improvement to was the method of applying the #16.
Other notes: there was virtually *no* leftover product on/in the Cyclo pads when I cleaned them up. There's usually a bit of excess #16 that I have to squeeze out while washing them, but not this time. The two CBTs I'd used still seemed clean, not loaded up at all, no evidence of having been used to remove the "heavy wax" from a fairly large sedan (I could've got by with just one). This was also different from my usual experience.
A few hours later my wife went into the garage and saw the car, and she immediately said "wow, what did you redo it with? That's really something!" And, heh heh, she doesn't make a big fuss over her car simply looking great- she really did notice a marked improvement in its appearance compared to how it looked the last time I applied #16 to it. I told her what I did, and she was stunned; she had assumed that I'd redone the car with completely different products. She has reconsidered her opinion of the #16 based on the difference that she perceived; now she likes how it looks (after years of seeing it on silver cars).
As I said, very subjective and it might've just been a fluke. But I'd be curious as to how this method works for anybody else who'd care to try it.
Yesterday I washed Accumulatorette's A8 following a long road trip. Lots of bugs and tar, so I did a lot of spot-claying. It didn't seem to strip an appreciable amount of the (two week old) #16, but I decided to redo it anyhow. She hasn't been too thrilled with how the #16 looks on it, preferring the look of 3M Showcar Paste. I did not tell her I was gonna rewax the car, I said I was just doing a quick wash and clay.
I did the tight spots (around door handles, the bottom of the bumper covers near the black trim, etc.) by hand the regular way, no spit-shining.
To apply the #16 on the rest of the car, I put the (white Cyclo brand) finishing pads on the machine and turned it on briefly before shutting it off. As the heads started to slow down, I stuck one head in the can of #16. I scraped the excess wax off the pad with a plastic razorblade and then did the same with the pad on the Cyclo's other head. Warning: you might oughta be experienced with the Cyclo before you try this
Before putting the Cyclo on the car, I first lightly misted the surface with Griot's Speed Shine (hey, it's blue like the #16
), which contains carnauba. Then I put the Cyclo on the panel, turned it on, and worked the #16 until I had a *very* thin coat on the area I was working. The Speed Shine dissipated as I did this, with minimal slinging. I did a panel, then reapplied #16 to the pads and did another panel. Then I took it off the first one by hand using a CBT, fogging the surfacxe with my breath per usual. I repeated this until I'd done the whole car. I noticed that the spit-shined areas buffed up a bit easier than the ones I'd done by hand the regular way. I can't say I noticed a huge difference in appearance between the two since the regular-method areas were rather not only small but also were not areas that really showed off any subtle differences. I *did* think the car looked a whole lot better than Audi silver ever did with #16 in the past, and I've used it a lot. Since I hadn't redone the prep, the only thing I could attribute the improvement to was the method of applying the #16.
Other notes: there was virtually *no* leftover product on/in the Cyclo pads when I cleaned them up. There's usually a bit of excess #16 that I have to squeeze out while washing them, but not this time. The two CBTs I'd used still seemed clean, not loaded up at all, no evidence of having been used to remove the "heavy wax" from a fairly large sedan (I could've got by with just one). This was also different from my usual experience.
A few hours later my wife went into the garage and saw the car, and she immediately said "wow, what did you redo it with? That's really something!" And, heh heh, she doesn't make a big fuss over her car simply looking great- she really did notice a marked improvement in its appearance compared to how it looked the last time I applied #16 to it. I told her what I did, and she was stunned; she had assumed that I'd redone the car with completely different products. She has reconsidered her opinion of the #16 based on the difference that she perceived; now she likes how it looks (after years of seeing it on silver cars).
As I said, very subjective and it might've just been a fluke. But I'd be curious as to how this method works for anybody else who'd care to try it.
