Stutopia

I’ve used a DA before, mainly correcting cloudy headlights, but only briefly on the soft paint of the Z. Many have advised me that you don’t need training to use a DA, do some reading and youtubing, understand the process and then only the simpleset of simpletons can do damage. However, I’m looking to do more than just not doing any damage, I’d like to also achieve some correction and/or gloss enhancement. The biggest obstacles for me thus far has been having to work on my own car, with no space for a scrap panel to practice on and having to do so outdoors. Which is always a mixture of too hot paint and all manner of dusty contaminants blowing onto the working area. And that's when it’s not raining. This was a chance to work indoors, out of the elements and with proper tools to help find the pesky defects I started by tidying up my garage and arranging some of my stuff. This had absolutely no bearings on proceedings, but it felt like suitable pre-study. Naturally the first order of the day at the workshop is a snow foaming. Good to see a familiar face from my shed, in the professional domain, Bilt Hamber Autofoam. One of the many perks of getting to work in a professional environment is the tooling on hand, like a serious jet washer which makes petrol smells and insanely thick foam. Another familiar face, the Gyeon Q2M Silk Dryer is my current favourite drying towel. This absorbs water like nothing else on earth and is super soft on the paint. It’s a distinct step up from the excellent Woolly Mammoth I was using before, it’s just so absorbent. If I had one complaint, it’s difficult to wring out once it gets saturated, but that doesn’t matter if you’re doing a BRZ sized car and you’ve sheeted most of the water off. More exciting pro tooling, possibly my favourite piece yet, a dog blower. This is a leap up in drying, even from the excellent Gyeon towel. No more water lurking in badges, handles or wing mirrors I’d have one in a heartbeat, if they weren’t £750 a pop! I must find a budget alternative, eliminating touching the paint during the drying phase must be worth it. Next up some new-to-me product Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine (ONR). I don’t know what this product is meant to be, but it certainly does the job as a lube. Also new to me, Zaino Clay Bar, more like a putty or plasticine than the Meg’s and BH clays I’ve used previously, very nice, and soft. No horror shots of a filthy clay bar I’m afraid, my paint was more or less spotless So that’s the easy bits out the way, time to try something new; a paint activated, three digit, random number generator. You pop it on the paint, wait a split second and it display a three-digit number, usually in the one hundreds. I’ve no way to know if it’s true, but some people believe these numbers to be the depth of primer, paint and lacquer on the panel. Apparently, this number means there is “plenty”. As well as minimising the risk of my incompetence, part of the reason for the upcoming pad and polish combo is that my paint is in fairly good nick. This is it, post clay and naked – like Demi Moore in Ghost, ask your parents kids. As mentioned earlier, it’s quite difficult to pick up scratches on camera, particularly without the lights, which were in use. Low on swirls but with quite a few random deep scratches, like this pesky bugger. After a thorough demonstration, I’ve been advised I have been handed a fairly idiot proof a combination of products, so it was time to get cracking on my paint. The combo in question is a DAS-21 polisher, a yellow finishing pad and Scholl S40 polish, all primed for my beautiful WR Blue Mica paint. S40 bills itself as a gloss enhancing polish, free from fillers, so it is safe enough for a clown like me but also doesn’t flatter me too much by filling up the scratches instead of removing them. I have no frame of reference on this versus other products, it’s my first proper run, but I really like the way my paint looked after this. The bonnet on the BRZ is nicely shaped for a noob and divides nicely into 4 sections. There are no significant creases and no furniture like washer jets to get in the way, a good place to start. I don’t have a 50/50 to show you (the boot vid below sort of is) as I was way too absorbed in what I was doing to bother with photos mid-way through, got a rather nice one after finishing the bonnet though. The gloss coming out very nicely if I do say so myself, quite pleasing for a first run. Unlike when I’ve done this at home on warmer paint with Menzerna Medium and Super cut polishes the Scholl doesn’t seem to turn to dust, it can be worked for ages, and even after all these passes it was still quite oily. This was great for me as I have previously mistakenly used too much product, hoping it will keep it wet for longer, I should have just spritzed cold water. The process on these sections for me was two cross hatch passes at 5-6 with some pressure on the DA, then two more at 3-4, also with pressure, then two at 3 with only the weight of the polisher pressing down. Next up the A-pillar, roof and boot lid – all of the easy to reach and work on horizontal surfaces. A cheeky little roof reflection shot. Not perfect, but not many defects left. I did have the chance to go more aggressive, but for a car that never goes indoor, I elected to keep some of these and keep the paint for inevitable future corrections. The roof on the BRZ is a royal PITA to work on, it’s super flexible and prone to bending & denting under the smallest amount of pressure. Fortunately, the roof doesn’t attract much in the way of scratches, so there was less need for pressure on the machine. I quite liked the way it looked afterwards. Here’s a quick vid of the boot after the right half has been polished, left side naked. Once again I got to enjoy access to a bigger selection of tools than I have at home, namely the Vertool Mini DA a.k.a. “the 75”. This little thing is ace for a noob like me. It’s light, it doesn’t fight you and it simply refuses to bog down. It is used at lower speeds than the DAS-21 steps outlined above. The width is perfect for the boot spoiler, A pillars and roof sides on the BRZ. I can all of a sudden start to see why pros have so many different polishers, the versatility of size and throw is super useful. My Meg’s DA is a butter knife compared to this scalpel. Sorry for the brochure shot of the 75, I forgot to take a real pic. You can see how compact this little guy is compared to the DAS-21 – the only downside is the speed selector dial is located out of view when operating it. On Day 2 we get her up on the ramp and move on to the horizontal panels, then, with a bit of luck, onto nano-cermaic coatings. Oh and the small matter of dealing with this absolute bugger of a defect the PO skilfully buried under a mountain of glaze. If that image isn’t scary enough, check out the horror movie… Last but not least, a bit of a secret project this one, so don’t tell anyone. I’m breeding caterpillars which eat dirt and excrete gloss. Once we get the mutation just right, this will be huge. P.S. if anyone sees one of our early prototype mutants please let me know, it's a 9ft, 300lb purple caterpillar which answers to the name Archibald.

Due to a variety of circumstances I shan’t bore you with, an opportunity presented itself for me to spend time at a local detailing company. The detailer in chief, John, would be spending some time showing me around a DA, pads, polishes, and also a glimpse into the world of nano-ceramic coatings. This post covers having a go at working on my car and both the familiar and new steps in doing a one stage correction. I should say now that I have enhanced the images in this post, not to remove blemishes and defects but to increase contrast and definition to show the defects in my paint. One of the first things I learnt is that it’s not always easy to capture the look and real world 'feel' of paint with a camera.

Looks nice, the 'mouth' is a little bit too smiley, but other than that, I'd be ok with driving that.

Remember kids, dealers are for your drugs, not your car.

That's great, glad it's moving in a confidence inspiring direction.

Glad you got this sorted mate, it sounded like it was ticking you off a bit when we were chatting on the CAT day. Have you managed to make any of the changes you talked about on the day, like the ARBs? Has it helped?

Thanks for doing that, the more people who do the better forums can recover from this heinous attack on sharing knowledge.

It's gorgeous mate. Now leave it alone!

Good to finally get out this summer. Bumper turnout for "North West", kudos to those who were up at 6am to get here. Some cracking '50s and 70s on display. And in the VIP section... Thanks @Spatt for sorting it all out and leading

Are you allowed a 52" widescreen TV on your windscreen?

Shame about the late start.

It might be useful if you could post up a couple of links/screenshots to other forums where the layout is more up your street. Thanks.

Sorry to read this, I hope you can make a success of this campaign and make a positive difference.

Please form an orderly line Ladies, no queue jumping!

Got it, I'll have a look in my big bag of trim clips.

I've got loads of clips knocking about mate, drop me a PM with a photo of the ones you need and I'll get them over.

Contracting is great, do it.

I've found that, since my last contract finished, relaxing and doing small projects in the shed is brilliant. It's not very lucrative sadly...

I hate wax. Something synthetic and sprayable gets me going!!! How come you're head over heels for just the one brand? Have my favourite brands, AMMO, Sonax, Gyeon, but there isn't one that just does everything for me!

I don't a stinking tutorial on the wheels of steel, I'm OLD!

Sold - thread locked

Sold - thread locked

Approved despite the lack of photos, the OP has a clean record and good tenure.

We're ALWAYS watching.

RBF600 Brake/Clutch Fluid - 1 Litre - unopened Yours for £20 delivered