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September 22 - 28 was an incredible week - NXT Institute moved out of Southern California for the first time ever, and we had a blast! Logistically it was a bit of a chore, moving everything to Monkton, MD and then setting it all up and ultimately tearing it all down again and packing things up for shipment back to SoCal, but in between we hosted some really elite detailers who were hungry to advance their skills in wet sanding and paint polishing.
The team was lead by four primary instructors:
Kevin Brown - buffdaddy.com
Rod Kraft - Meguiar's
Mike Stoops - Meguiar's
Jason Rose - Rupes
The primary instructors were assisted by a group of graduates of previous NXT events:
C. Charles Hahn (without who's help this thread wouldn't appear because the SD card in my phone died on Sunday night, taking with it almost all of my pictures!)
Greg Gellas
Greg Nichols
Christopher Brown
Dan Miele
It must be said the above five guys didn't just help out with the hands on portion for the students, they also reset the work area each time we headed back to the classroom. That meant cleaning up the mess created by 14 or 15 students wet sanding and setting up for machine polishing. It also meant setting up each morning and cleaning up each evening, doing laundry, etc. Without these guys, NXT would have been a very different experience - it's impossible to thank them enough!
So, just what is this NXT Institute anyway? Well, it's a program that highlights advance wetsanding techniques using both hand sanding and DA sanding processes with a variety of tools and materials. We deal with both texture leveling and texture matching processes when sanding. It's about high level rotary and DA paint polishing, again using a variety of tools and processes. It's also about a fundamental change in how you think about polishing paint. Too often we get hung up on a scale of least to most aggressive, and that's about it. "What's the most aggressive compound and pad I can use to remove these defects?" "What's the softest pad I can use to finish out this finicky paint?" "What's the fastest, most aggressive way to fix these RIDS?" "Why won't this paint finish out clear when I'm using the softest stuff I can find?" It's also about residue control; keeping your pad clean, or using a process that assists in doing so. Nobody who took this class will ever again neglect to clean their pad frequently. Very frequently.
Here's just a small example of how we alter that thinking. Below is the result of washing a Chevy Suburban (in non-metallic black, no less!) with a broom. No, seriously, with a broom. Yes, it was intentional. To make matters worse, this paint is very prone to DA hazing, making it pretty tricky to finish out. With typical processes you can imagine using a compound on a foam or microfiber pad to cut, then a finishing polish on a soft pad at low speed to finish with. But that wasn't working. Oh, sure, we could remove the defects easy enough, but the finishing part was the source of frustration for many. Residue control becomes key here.
The same area, polished with a single liquid and a single pad.
A 50/50 view of the panel.
Another "before" shot showing the scratches, water spots, and deeper RIDS
After, using a single liquid and a single pad. That RID was later addressed with a bit more concentrated effort on the offending mark.
So, what was the process? Well, the technology behind SMAT abrasives allows us to use just a single compound to both cut and finish on this paint. And the technology behind microfiber pads enhances and maximizes the characteristics of the SMAT abrasives, getting the most punch out of them while taking advantage of their incredibly small size and uniformity to finish out like this, even on finicky paint. We accomplished this with M100, M105 and D300 on different parts of the hood, always using a microfiber cutting pad and a DA. It didn't seem to matter is we used the MT300 with it's shorter stroke, or one of the tall stroke DA tools present. While the taller stroke tools might have cut a bit faster, the MT300 was observed to perhaps finish a bit better. Yes, there is always a trade off!! But what's interesting is the technique used; lower speeds on the tools (always less than 5800 opm) and very firm pressure. Not enough pressure to get the paint hot, mind you, as we never felt the paint become anything beyond "comfortably warm". But after the initial pass to knock down the bulk of the defects, the pad was blown out with compressed air - totally and completely blown out. If you've ever blown out a pad with compressed air you know how material shoots out in the air stream, right? Well, do it again. And again. If you think you've done too much, it's probably just about right. Now, don't add any more product to the pad and polish the paint surface again. Keep the speed moderate, the pressure quite firm (don't stand on the thing or lean your entire body into it, though!) and move slowly from side to side over the area and stop. Don't keep massaging the paint. Don't "jewel" the paint. Don't just keep going at it for pass after pass, and do not ease up on the pressure for you final pass.
We got the best finish using this process; far better than backing down on pressure with a soft foam pad and a finishing polish. Crazy, right? Well, maybe, but there's a reason why this happens, and it's not a process that you'll do all the time. But on those frustrating paints that just won't finish out because they haze like crazy, this total shift in thinking can save you a lot of time and frustration. And this is the kind of thing we dealt with throughout the four days of NXT Institute training.
Below are some overview pix of the facility we were fortunate enough to use for the program. Just a note on the facility: it's a private car collection (the owner asked to remain anonymous) outside Monkton, MD. The owner has very eclectic taste in cars, and kudos to him - he drives them all. From classic European sports cars to American Muscle Cars and modern super exotics, he's got something for everyone. We'll post some shots of the cars later, but for now, here's a group of shots showing what the whole NXT program looked like.
How's this for a classroom setting?
Yes, we even did a Podcast with Larry Kosilla!
Read that slide..... think about it.
We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the owner of this facility and, as much as we'd like to publicly thank him we respect his desire for anonymity. We can and must thank Mike Lambert of the Shine Shop for putting us together with this collection and facility for holding NXT East 2015. Mike was great fun to hang out with and, lucky guy, he's the one who gets to maintain this collection. Thanks Mike, and we hope to see you again in the future!!
The team was lead by four primary instructors:
Kevin Brown - buffdaddy.com
Rod Kraft - Meguiar's
Mike Stoops - Meguiar's
Jason Rose - Rupes
The primary instructors were assisted by a group of graduates of previous NXT events:
C. Charles Hahn (without who's help this thread wouldn't appear because the SD card in my phone died on Sunday night, taking with it almost all of my pictures!)
Greg Gellas
Greg Nichols
Christopher Brown
Dan Miele
It must be said the above five guys didn't just help out with the hands on portion for the students, they also reset the work area each time we headed back to the classroom. That meant cleaning up the mess created by 14 or 15 students wet sanding and setting up for machine polishing. It also meant setting up each morning and cleaning up each evening, doing laundry, etc. Without these guys, NXT would have been a very different experience - it's impossible to thank them enough!
So, just what is this NXT Institute anyway? Well, it's a program that highlights advance wetsanding techniques using both hand sanding and DA sanding processes with a variety of tools and materials. We deal with both texture leveling and texture matching processes when sanding. It's about high level rotary and DA paint polishing, again using a variety of tools and processes. It's also about a fundamental change in how you think about polishing paint. Too often we get hung up on a scale of least to most aggressive, and that's about it. "What's the most aggressive compound and pad I can use to remove these defects?" "What's the softest pad I can use to finish out this finicky paint?" "What's the fastest, most aggressive way to fix these RIDS?" "Why won't this paint finish out clear when I'm using the softest stuff I can find?" It's also about residue control; keeping your pad clean, or using a process that assists in doing so. Nobody who took this class will ever again neglect to clean their pad frequently. Very frequently.
Here's just a small example of how we alter that thinking. Below is the result of washing a Chevy Suburban (in non-metallic black, no less!) with a broom. No, seriously, with a broom. Yes, it was intentional. To make matters worse, this paint is very prone to DA hazing, making it pretty tricky to finish out. With typical processes you can imagine using a compound on a foam or microfiber pad to cut, then a finishing polish on a soft pad at low speed to finish with. But that wasn't working. Oh, sure, we could remove the defects easy enough, but the finishing part was the source of frustration for many. Residue control becomes key here.
The same area, polished with a single liquid and a single pad.
A 50/50 view of the panel.
Another "before" shot showing the scratches, water spots, and deeper RIDS
After, using a single liquid and a single pad. That RID was later addressed with a bit more concentrated effort on the offending mark.
So, what was the process? Well, the technology behind SMAT abrasives allows us to use just a single compound to both cut and finish on this paint. And the technology behind microfiber pads enhances and maximizes the characteristics of the SMAT abrasives, getting the most punch out of them while taking advantage of their incredibly small size and uniformity to finish out like this, even on finicky paint. We accomplished this with M100, M105 and D300 on different parts of the hood, always using a microfiber cutting pad and a DA. It didn't seem to matter is we used the MT300 with it's shorter stroke, or one of the tall stroke DA tools present. While the taller stroke tools might have cut a bit faster, the MT300 was observed to perhaps finish a bit better. Yes, there is always a trade off!! But what's interesting is the technique used; lower speeds on the tools (always less than 5800 opm) and very firm pressure. Not enough pressure to get the paint hot, mind you, as we never felt the paint become anything beyond "comfortably warm". But after the initial pass to knock down the bulk of the defects, the pad was blown out with compressed air - totally and completely blown out. If you've ever blown out a pad with compressed air you know how material shoots out in the air stream, right? Well, do it again. And again. If you think you've done too much, it's probably just about right. Now, don't add any more product to the pad and polish the paint surface again. Keep the speed moderate, the pressure quite firm (don't stand on the thing or lean your entire body into it, though!) and move slowly from side to side over the area and stop. Don't keep massaging the paint. Don't "jewel" the paint. Don't just keep going at it for pass after pass, and do not ease up on the pressure for you final pass.
We got the best finish using this process; far better than backing down on pressure with a soft foam pad and a finishing polish. Crazy, right? Well, maybe, but there's a reason why this happens, and it's not a process that you'll do all the time. But on those frustrating paints that just won't finish out because they haze like crazy, this total shift in thinking can save you a lot of time and frustration. And this is the kind of thing we dealt with throughout the four days of NXT Institute training.
Below are some overview pix of the facility we were fortunate enough to use for the program. Just a note on the facility: it's a private car collection (the owner asked to remain anonymous) outside Monkton, MD. The owner has very eclectic taste in cars, and kudos to him - he drives them all. From classic European sports cars to American Muscle Cars and modern super exotics, he's got something for everyone. We'll post some shots of the cars later, but for now, here's a group of shots showing what the whole NXT program looked like.
How's this for a classroom setting?
Yes, we even did a Podcast with Larry Kosilla!
Read that slide..... think about it.
We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the owner of this facility and, as much as we'd like to publicly thank him we respect his desire for anonymity. We can and must thank Mike Lambert of the Shine Shop for putting us together with this collection and facility for holding NXT East 2015. Mike was great fun to hang out with and, lucky guy, he's the one who gets to maintain this collection. Thanks Mike, and we hope to see you again in the future!!
Kevin!
Thanks Mike, your posts have been very informative.
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