Help Junkman

[FRANK121]

Just finished watching all your videos and feel that I am ready to tackle the Camaros finish this weekend

When I ordered my porter cable it came with the autogeek kit that has orange, gray, blue, white and black pads for the 5" porter wheel. I realize that you push the adams line but, will these pads work and do you know if I can compare orange to orange and black to black with the Adams pads? If you absolutely say I need the Adams pads, I will trust you but these pads I have are brand new?

I'm going to order the Adams Swirl/Haze and Machine Superwax along with the Claybar and detail spray tomorrow but I was looking at the Adams porter cable pads and can't figure out what pads go on the 5" wheel? 7.5" or 4" pads?

I guess I should have started with My car info .... 2 week old Camaro that is already showing some small swirls and after doing the sandwich bag test feels like sandpaper

I also have the decal black stripes and am a little afraid to use the porter cable around the stripe? What do you suggest for that situation?

I always use the 2 bucket system and microfiber towels but after watching your videos I wasn't using the Claybar correct. I have not touched this new Camaro with anything other than washing and Lucas detail spray to this point.

I want to thank you for your help and time for posting these great videos and tips And if I lived close enough, I would gladly pay you the big bucks you deserve to make My car shine like yours

[2LTRS]

I know I'm not AJ, but the pads you have are fine, if they are the pads im thinking of they should be in this order of aggressiveness (most to least):

Orange - medium cutting
White - light cutting
Blue - glaze
Grey - finessing/jeweling/glaze/wax
Black - wax/sealant

You can gauge the aggressiveness of the foam just by feeling the foam itself- I could be wrong as I dont what brand pads they are, but the colors are pretty much industry standard.

The 5" plate will fit the 7.5 pads, don't try it with the 4".

Don't polish the matte stripes, use painters tape to tape them off before polishing. I recommend Adams clear polish on the matte stripes, or the brilliant glaze makes them look fantastic.

[FRANK121]

Thanks for the reply 2LTRS ... To add to my confusion, I also got a Big bottle of the Klasse "All in one polish" and "High gloss sealant glaze" plus the "Wolfgang" paint sealant with my Porter Cable. Can I or should I use these products?

I'm trying to plan out my Saturday:

Wash Car first
Tape off the stripes
Claybar Car
Wash Car again and Dry this time
Buff using swirl remover

Now I don't know whether to wax or use the "Klasse" all in one polish I got
and then use the High gloss paint sealant? According to the website I can use
the Klasse on the stripes too.

Or should I just get some good wax and not mess with the sealant?

Thanks for your input!

[2LTRS]

Historically speaking All-in-one (AIO) products are pretty much junk - I haven't used the Klasse to give you a good or bad review on it. I have used 3 other AIO's and all three were pretty much bottled crap. FWIW I have heard good things about the Klasse Sealant Glaze, and the AIO however have not used it myself.

I don't really think its necessary to tape off the stripes while claying, you can easily avoid them when claying (I actually clay my stripes, but mine are glossy not matte). I have clayed matte stripes on other camaro's with no issues.

You can safely wash the car, clay, re-wash, dry, continue with the polishing then move on the sealant / wax.

I'm pretty sure the Klasse sealant products are ok to use on the stripes, Klasse is a german product, generally a highly recommended product. I have not used it but - I have read good reviews about their AIO and their sealant glaze. However I have read numerous times that removing/buffing off the sealant is quite difficult. I would not use the AIO polish on the stripes, but the sealant glaze should be ok. My recommendation would be to apply a very thin coat of the sealant glaze so its not too difficult to remove. Less is more with sealant type products. If you apply it by machine (black/grey pad) you should be able to get a very thin coat over the entire car so you don't get heavy / uneven spots where it will be VERY difficult to remove.

Personally I prefer the warm look a carnauba wax leaves on the finish, I have quite a few different paste waxes in my arsenal and only a few sealants. However I live in So. Cal the weather is usually pretty good. My personal 6 month routine is to polish, seal (adam's machine super wax), and top with 2 coats of Americana.

You have the products you need - use them; if you decide you don't like them move on to another product. There are tons of product review threads here on camaro5, you can also check out adamsforums.com and detailingbliss.com for tons and tons of detailing experience and great people.

[Junkman2008]

Originally Posted by 2LTRS

I know I'm not AJ, but the pads you have are fine, if they are the pads im thinking of they should be in this order of aggressiveness (most to least):

Orange - medium cutting
White - light cutting
Blue - glaze
Grey - finessing/jeweling/glaze/wax
Black - wax/sealant

I pretty much agree, although if I were to use a glaze (something I normally don't do because it hides damage, not fixes it), I would just use the black pad. Toss the blue and grey pads to the side for now. This is why I don't teach with that brand. To much confusion for a novice.

Use the same colored pads in that kit and match them to what I use in my videos. You should be okay.

Originally Posted by 2LTRS

You can gauge the aggressiveness of the foam just by feeling the foam itself- I could be wrong as I dont what brand pads they are, but the colors are pretty much industry standard.

Actually you can't go by feel all the time. Look at the Adam's yellow and orange pads for example. The yellow pad is much softer than the orange pad, however, the yellow pad has more cut due to the fact that the micro sized holes in the yellow pad are larger than the ones in the orange pad. Larger holes mean more cut.

Originally Posted by 2LTRS

The 5" plate will fit the 7.5 pads, don't try it with the 4".

Don't polish the matte stripes, use painters tape to tape them off before polishing. I recommend Adams clear polish on the matte stripes, or the brilliant glaze makes them look fantastic.

One thing that I would definitely do is mask off the stripes with painter's tape when claying. You don't want the clay to get up under the edges of the stripes as this will lift them and start them to peel, collect dust, dirt, polish and wax.

If you are going to order the Swirl & Haze Remover (SHR) and the Machine Superwax (MSW), you MUST order the Fine Machine Polish (FMP) too. FMP must always follow SHR as it undoes the damage that SHR and the orange pad leaves behind. This damage is very visible in your darker colors so make sure you get that also.

Although you can get the results that you want with the kit you bought, you would have come out better and cheaper to just order my kit. Not only would you have gotten what you needed to fix your paint, but you would have also gotten everything that you are going to need to wash your car correctly (minus the foam gun). You should NOT have to do this entire regiment to your car more than once. Once you get your paint perfect, you need to maintain it properly so that you are not constantly cutting clear coat off the car. That's why the way you wash the car and remove dust is so critical to your paint. Constantly doing these two practices incorrectly will result in you constantly having to remove clear coat in order to fix the damage that you are continually doing to the paint.

That my friend, is NOT a good thing.

As for the wax that you choose to use, keep it simple for now. Stick with the MSW and don't try to get fancy with layering stuff. It is enough work to use MSW and you need to get that down pat before you add anything else to the waxing process.

[FRANK121]

It took ALL DAY .... But I am happy with the results

[Camaro505Guy]

Frank:
What a great job you did, can I ask, where did you get your 6.2L stickers that you have on the hood? And can I get the "L" in yellow I really like that, have had my 2010 Camaro 2ss (bumblebee) now a month.. wanna add a couple of things to make it unique.

[2LTRS]

Looks great!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Junkman2008]

Very shiny! I would be happy too.

[WadeWilson]

Looking good Frank!!

Adams' stuff is great!! This was after about 4 hours of work on mine. I still have a few swirls and minor scratches to take care of but I would say I've taken care of 90% of them.

[SILVER BULLITT]

digging the plate