[DML] Re: Scotch Brite Pads

["bbbigray" <bbbigray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi EJ.

(Short answer first: I use 3M Finishing Pads--love 'em.  Gave up on 
Scotch Brites some time ago.  Interested to hear other opinions--a 
lot of folks use sandpaper, but that just sounds creepy to me.  Read 
further at own peril.)

Not a dumb question at all.  Ever hear owners and onlookers gripe the 
finish because it gets "dirty-looking" or "dingy" so easily, 
especially on cloudy days?  It's not always because of dirt, and 
there's nothing inherently wrong with brushed stainless.  Your car 
can stay shiny bright for long periods between baths, and IMHO, it 
all has to do with blending technique.

When I first had my car, it gleamed wonderfully, but after using the 
gray Scotch Brite pads that came in the OEM cleaning kit, I noticed 
the finish looked a lot duller.  Hm.

Decided to approach the job as if I were matching panels when 
building kitchen cabinets.  When you do this, you don't just look for 
smoothness and color.  The real trick is one I've not seen in the 
judging criteria for Concours DeLorean--evenness of luminence.  Not 
surprising.  Car guys think in terms of paint, issues like hue and 
focus, but we don't generally work with grained surfaces like really 
first-class wood.  So I tried a different approach.  

Ideally, once again IMHO, when you walk around your car on a cloudy 
day, when the light is diffuse and the most even, all the metal 
should have equal lightness or be equally bright.  The only changes 
should come from reflections and from the contours of the car so it 
shows off the sometimes delicate nuance of the form.  As this car 
doesn't swoop like a drunken Maranello, you really need a first-class 
finish to bring out the subtle beauty of the shape, or it can look 
pretty plain-jane, even after you break your arm shining it.  That's 
because stray bright spots can actually camouflage all the cool 
shapes, and the car doesn't look "shiny."

A few easy steps:  

1) The blending pad.  The OEM DMC pad was, as far as my fingers can 
tell, a gray Scotch Brite.  I had mediocre success with them, and 
they were bad pokey if you had scratches.  Life and looks improved 
markedly when I switched to 3M Finishing Pads, the kind you use for 
woodwork.  Now I use one with a bit more agressive grit, though it's 
been so long since I bought them I'm not sure which one--100s or 
120s, maybe?  Just a tad more tooth than the OEM blenders, whatever 
that is.

In any event, a contractor friend of mine saw my D by the sidewalk 
one day and remarked how shiny it was, and how nice the grain 
looked.  As my buddy is renowned for his woodwork, I took that as 
some validation of technique.  (As it happened, it was parked in 
front of another friend's guitar shop, and they had seen it just the 
day prior, before the rubdown.  Everybody noticed the bright finish, 
even the bookeeper.  Jeez, all that just for an amp cord.)

2)  Blend each panel in its entirety, not in sections.  Had a "pro  
DMC detailer" do my car a few years ago, (it had been scratched in 
several places) and the poor thing came home with blotchy squares all 
over it that flashed like cheap Contac paper when you walked by.  It 
looked positively dour on cloudy days.  I could tell he did each 
panel in sections.

To do it right it takes long strokes, and you'll rock back and forth 
like a parrot on a perch to reach both ends of most of the panels.  
The neighbors will titter.

That said, if you really need to concentrate on a trouble spot, do 
the spot a bit, then blend the whole panel, then do the spot some 
more, then blend, etc.  Otherwise, you can really build yourself a 
chore trying to make the job look like one piece.

On the subject of unified finish, walk around the car and watch the 
light--make sure the luminance matches from panel to panel too.

3)  Make relatively straight strokes, following the factory grain.  
The "pro" that did my car apparently stood in one spot when he did my 
roof, gouging huge stationary arcs in the tops of my doors, and it 
was way ugly in bright sun.  He also followed the curve in the fender 
flares, making my wheel wells look like they had milk mustaches.  
Yikes.  

The straight-stroke technique takes patience and practice when you 
first learn it, so take your time.  You'll catch yourself taking the 
path of least resistance on the fender flares.  The hardest part is 
on the A and B pillars, but those are some of the most showy surfaces 
on the car.

4)  Use fairly light pressure.  If you press too hard, particularly 
on the hood, you'll press the metal onto the composite frame 
underneath, and the finish will be noticeably brighter in those 
spots.  I've seen quite a few D's with big shiny "X's" on the hood.

How hard to push?  Imagine it this way: if your hand was on a puppy 
laying on the floor, and you pressed hard enough to make him yelp, 
you'd probably be pushing too hard.  (No puppies were harmed in the 
making of this post.)  Okay, maybe a big puppy.

5)  When you do this job, run your garden hose on the panel while you 
work, sort of like wet sanding.  It seems to get scratches out 
quicker, it gets the oxide and dirt out of the grain, and washing the 
residue off as you go makes it easy to see the luminance we're 
looking for.  It also makes the neighbors think you're washing your 
car, which they'll commend you for, instead of sanding it, which 
they'll peek at you through the blinds for.

So how stinkin' long does this take?  Last time I decided to 
resuscitate my finish, I did the entire car in a leisurely two hours 
on a nice sunny afternoon--easier than a wash and wax.  Besides, you 
don't do it very often anyway.  But then JZD did want this car to be 
nice to its owners...

Happy sanding.

--Ray
10693 and Counting.

--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "EJ Chambers" <marmieej@xxxx> wrote:
> Hello All:
> 
> This may be a stupid question, but for graining the SS panels, can 
you
> use the green scotch brite pads you can buy in any store? What is 
the
> difference between these and the ones the vendors sell?
> 
> Thanks!
> Ej
> 4475




To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address:
moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx

For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com

To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/