LVMOC Detail Day with Meguiar's Rod Kraft!

[Mosca]

Sunday, May 1st, Gerard Tonno and Young Mazda in Easton PA hosted the Lehigh Valley Miata Owners' Club and honored guest Megiuar's own Rod Kraft for our third annual Detail Day!

Young's is a brand new facility, and it is absolutely FANTASTIC! There must be over an acre of indoor space available, with great lighting and lots of electrical outlets, hoses, seats, air, whatever you want!

Here's Rod & me surveying the scene before the gang arrives:




Here is what a perfect detail day should turn into:




Trust me, you can use a PC and #17 Plastic Cleaner to restore a plastic rear window. A professional would have taped off the top, but I'm a hack... actually it didn't spatter at all.






Rod inspects the finished products as they roll out the door:




And Bruce was more than happy to have had his car used as the "test mule"! (Mild digital enhancement of the sunflare, obviously, but this was one of those "transformation" cars).




Thanks Rod, Gerard, Young's and Meguiar's!



Tom

[Mosca]

See the complete set of 81 pictures here.


One thing everyone might find interesting: although Rod spent a lot of time with the PC, he is actually a rotary guy, and firmly believes that it is the tool to use. He had people using a rotary who had never used a PC before. Mike, Tim, and you guys who know, I'm not saying anything new to you; but you can do an afternoon's work of a PC in 30 minutes with a rotary. I'm a strong believer that given enough time a PC can do the same job a rotary can, but when you can get a perfectly acceptable HOME-HOBBYIST quality rotary from Harbor Freight for anywhere from $25-$50 depending on whether it's on sale, there's a pretty persuasive argument to be made for getting a junk hood and doing some practice. (Note: this tool will not stand up to professional use, but it should last an occasional user a lifetime.) We took 3 passes with the PC and #83 on that green car's hood, and accomplished nothing; then one pass with the rotary at 1000rpm, a polishing pad, and #83 made it perfect, no swirls and no marks at all.


Tom

[2000]

great write up, looked like it was lots of fun! I can wait till one gets near me.

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks for sharing this Tom, you have to wonder, where does Rod get his energy?

Way to go Rod, two clinics back to back... I'll bet you slept great both nights!

[SpoiledMan]

Originally posted by Mike Phillips
Thanks for sharing this Tom, you have to wonder, where does Rod get his energy?

Way to go Rod, two clinics back to back... I'll bet you slept great both nights!

LOL, and I've always wanted to know where YOU got your energy.

[MandarinaRacing]

One thing everyone might find interesting: although Rod spent a lot of time with the PC, he is actually a rotary guy, and firmly believes that it is the tool to use. He had people using a rotary who had never used a PC before. Mike, Tim, and you guys who know, I'm not saying anything new to you; but you can do an afternoon's work of a PC in 30 minutes with a rotary. I'm a strong believer that given enough time a PC can do the same job a rotary can, but when you can get a perfectly acceptable HOME-HOBBYIST quality rotary from Harbor Freight for anywhere from $25-$50 depending on whether it's on sale, there's a pretty persuasive argument to be made for getting a junk hood and doing some practice. (Note: this tool will not stand up to professional use, but it should last an occasional user a lifetime.) We took 3 passes with the PC and #83 on that green car's hood, and accomplished nothing; then one pass with the rotary at 1000rpm, a polishing pad, and #83 made it perfect, no swirls and no marks at all.

WOW! Very interesting Tom.....nice pics BTW!

Alex

[Mosca]

Rod has enough energy for 3 people....


Tom

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Mosca
One thing everyone might find interesting: although Rod spent a lot of time with the PC, he is actually a rotary guy, and firmly believes that it is the tool to use.


He had people using a rotary who had never used a PC before. Mike, Tim, and you guys who know, I'm not saying anything new to you; but you can do an afternoon's work of a PC in 30 minutes with a rotary.

I'm a strong believer that given enough time a PC can do the same job a rotary can, but when you can get a perfectly acceptable HOME-HOBBYIST quality rotary from Harbor Freight for anywhere from $25-$50 depending on whether it's on sale, there's a pretty persuasive argument to be made for getting a junk hood and doing some practice. (Note: this tool will not stand up to professional use, but it should last an occasional user a lifetime.)

We took 3 passes with the PC and #83 on that green car's hood, and accomplished nothing; then one pass with the rotary at 1000rpm, a polishing pad, and #83 made it perfect, no swirls and no marks at all.


Tom

The rotary buffer is the tool of choice among professionals, it has the ability to do a lot of work fast. The problem is that when you're just starting out, if you make one mistake,

• * Wrong pad
  * Wrong product
  * Wrong technique
  * Buff too long
  * Buff too little
  * Wrong RPM

You can cause more problems than you're trying to fix.

This is why the Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher has become so popular. I will take the work out removing defects by hand, and it's dramatically safer and easier than using a rotary buffer.

Anyone that has read any of my posts on this subject on this forum or on other forums will know that one of the things I'm constantly explaining is because the dual action polisher is gentle, (that's why it's safe), it's not as fast or effective as the rotary buffer.

It's a trade-off, safety and ease of use for speed and effectiveness.

That said, attending a class taught by Meguiar's and our experienced and trained instructors, together with some practice on a junkyard panel, or a car nobody cares about, and most people can acquire the skill necessary to use a rotary buffer.

Remember however, buffing out a spot on a hood is a lot different than buffing out an entire car. When you take-on the responsibility to buff out an entire car, just keep in mind, it is a pretty good workout for your arms, upper body and back. That's why we also try to teach good ergonomics when using any machine and that helps to keep you from hurting yourself.

The rotary buffer is often times blamed for causing buffer swirls, but in fact the root cause is the operator. You see, the fastest, most effective way to remove swirls is with the correct use of the rotary buffer, how can a tool be both good and evil? It can't. It all comes down to pad, product, technique and skill level.

Mike

[Mosca]

That said, attending a class taught by Meguiar's and our experienced and trained instructors, together with some practice on a junkyard panel, or a car nobody cares about, and most people can acquire the skill necessary to use a rotary buffer.

Oh boy, I hope I didn't imply that he recommend we all go get rotaries... I'm the one who says that with the tool so cheaply available, a strong argument could be made for trying it.


Rod actually spent a lot more time talking about practicing on a junk panel than I did in explaining what he said. He talked about using the junkyard panel to find out things like what happens at the edges, and he even suggested burning it on purpose to see how and why that happens... He didn't just put the tool in our hands and say, GO; All rotary use was closely supervised!


Tom

[Rod Kraft]

Thanks.

Okay... my turn...

I think we are all on the same page here. Although we covered both tools, Tom makes a good point. There are many people that have never picked up a buffer of any shape or size. There are lots of people that use the G-100 and have never picked up a rotary.

My goal is to always explain our products and how they can be used based on our recommendations and guidelines. There will be limits to what either tool can do depending on the finish being worked on, the product being used and the application or technique/skill level.

It was cool to see several people pick up the rotary and use it for the first time and then watch them stand back and say wow!!

We all understand there are no two finishes the same. Each one requires varying levels of care based on the condition or foundation that exists.

Okay now its time to say thanks........

Thanks to Tom for putting this together!!! Always top notch.

Thanks to Gerard for letting us use the dealership (what a great back drop and facility) and his help in setting up.

Thanks also to the lunch ladies for putting on such a great spread! (you all know who you are)

This is such a great group of people to be around and I really had fun. I hope we can do it again next year.

Thanks again,
Rod

[Mosca]

Rod,

Thanks for dropping by! We ALL are looking forward ALREADY to next year's event!

Question: I don't think that the LVMOC wants to monopolize ALL your time; would it be OK if I maybe tried to get another event set up this year as a MOL event, maybe?

Tom