Showdown: Hammered Mercedes SLK vs. Cyclo and Adams Paint Correcting Polish

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AdamsPolishes

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I'll start with this:

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Not long ago, a good friend of mine mentioned his mother had been washing her car with "old t-shirts and dirty sponges." I immediately shed a few tears, and told him I wanted to get it into my garage for a little TLC.

Enter the previously mentioned blue SLK.

From 20' away, it's a cute little car. Upon closer inspection, this had some of the worst clear coat damage I've come across in quite some time. Swirls, marring, washing scratches, and RIDS galore, and they were EVERYWHERE:

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Since it had been recently washed and they don't live far away, I did a quick Waterless Wash wipedown to get the driving dust off, and broke out the Clay Bar. Only going to post one picture here, but I think you'll get the point:

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Post clay inspection, pretty much the same everywhere:

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Time for some taping to see what it was going to take to take make an improvement. She didn't want perfection as I only had a few hours to work with, but I wanted to to get close. :)

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This was the roof after one pass of Paint Correcting Polish and Orange Microfiber Cutting Pads on the Cyclo. I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least:

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All of the horizontal surfaces had quite a bit of solvent pop in them, which are the tiny dots you can see:

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Deck lid 50/50:

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This was the passenger side corner of the hood, near the windshield cowl after one pass as well. You can still see some deep stuff here as well that still remained after one pass of the Correcting Polish:

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We are getting ready for a cookout (hence my limited time frame to do this one) so the garage was a busy place! My Mom and my little man James supervising:

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My sister and daughter Azlyn "cooking" in her garage kitchen:

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I went around everything with a quick pass of Revive Polish on Grey Sealant and Wax Pads to clear up any polishing oils, then laid down a coat of Liquid Paint Sealant, Super VRT on the tires, and away she went!

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The Cyclo, combined with our Paint Correcting Polish and Microfiber Cutting Pads, correct very quickly and finish down great!

Thanks for looking, and if you have any questions, fire away!!
 
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AdamsPolishes

AdamsPolishes

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Excellent correction. If I'm understanding this correctly, I can use the Revive Hand Polish as a finishing polish with my Cyclo?

Not so much as a finisher, that's where Paint Finishing Polish (aptly named :wink:) comes into play, to clean up and light defects left behind by a stronger polish.

I used it here to remove oils from the Correcting Polish so the sealant would have a perfectly clean surface to adhere to. An Isopropyl Alcohol wipedown would have served the same purpose...but I like using power tools. :buffer:
 

Nick@Apollo-Optics

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Not so much as a finisher, that's where Paint Finishing Polish (aptly named :wink:) comes into play, to clean up and light defects left behind by a stronger polish.



I used it here to remove oils from the Correcting Polish so the sealant would have a perfectly clean surface to adhere to. An Isopropyl Alcohol wipedown would have served the same purpose...but I like using power tools. :buffer:


Gotcha. I have a Correcting and Finishing polish, but didn't know if the Revive was an even finer finishing polish that could be used before applying Brilliant Glaze and then ultimately topping with wax.
 
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AdamsPolishes

AdamsPolishes

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Gotcha. I have a Correcting and Finishing polish, but didn't know if the Revive was an even finer finishing polish that could be used before applying Brilliant Glaze and then ultimately topping with wax.

It's a non-abrasive paint cleanser, so stick with Finishing Polish if going straight into glaze and wax.

I only use Revive when prepping for a sealant.
 

Nick@Apollo-Optics

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It's a non-abrasive paint cleanser, so stick with Finishing Polish if going straight into glaze and wax.

I only use Revive when prepping for a sealant.

OK cool. I'm going to be doing a pretty good paint correction on a 2008 Obsidian Lexus GS350 pretty soon and want to get this right:

1) Correcting Polish
2) Finishing Polish
3) Revive
4) Sealant
5) Glaze
6) Wax

All good? I never knew that the Finishing Polish didn't have a cut to it.
 

OilPatch

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OK cool. I'm going to be doing a pretty good paint correction on a 2008 Obsidian Lexus GS350 pretty soon and want to get this right:

1) Correcting Polish
2) Finishing Polish
3) Revive
4) Sealant
5) Glaze
6) Wax

All good? I never knew that the Finishing Polish didn't have a cut to it.

not to thread jack but what is point of glaze? it seems like that you get the best shine with carnauba and the best protection with a sealant, so those in combination is there something else that a glaze adds?
 
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