MikeyC

Well, I've been using the PC about a year now and the whole time I've never been completely confident I was doing it right. I've read postings on various forums about "how to use the PC" until my eyes fell out of my head. Still, I was not 100% confident I was using the machine to it's full potential.

Not being aware of anyone locally who I felt could show me how to use the machine properly in person, I decided to buy the Show Car Garage video titled "How to Use the PC for Show Car Results!" The video stars (and I believe was scripted) by Mike Philips of Meguiar's. For those not familiar with Mike, he answers most technical questions on Meguiar's on-line and he teaches many of the detailing classes at Meguiar's California offices. Mike is widely respected as a top paint polisher and a very knowledgeable detailer.

Overall, IMO this is a very good video. Do not be mistaken though, this is not a video about detailing. In fact, the video does not even cover washing the car. It is purely a video about paint polishing which IMO is the part of detailing where experience and knowledge are critical. Also, due to his association with Meguiar's the video exclusively shows Meguiar's products. Mike even uses the G100 which is the Meguiar's version of the PC.

The video is basically broken down into two parts: techniques for polishing/protecting paint by hand and techniques for polishing/protecting paint using a PC.

The level of detail of the instruction in the video is excellent. Mike covers everything you want to know about polishing with a PC including taping the car, where to put the polish on the pad, arm speed, PC speed setting, pad selection, etc. My only complaint is that he does not discuss stepping down to less agressive polishes. I don't believe he covers this because the technique he teaches is less aggressive than what some people use and should leave an LSP ready finish.

I HIGHLY recommend anyone who is a newb with the PC to purchase this video. While I don't consider myself a newb, I did pick up some techniques which I believe have helped my polishing. Additionally, my confidence that I am polishing correctly has increased dramatically which was one of my main goals in purchasing this video.

The video is available only on DVD and can be purchased at ShowCarGarage.com for $30. A bit pricey I know, but I love my car and I love detailing. So, for me it was worth it.

wanabe

great review mikeyc!!

there are several ways to polish with the pc- can you give us a brief summary of his technique ("working the box", sectional approach, etc.) ?

MikeyC

No problem. The short version is that he mentally sections off the car into areas of approximately 16" square. He turns the PC to 5 for polishing and then spreads the polish over his first working area with his initial pass. Then he works the area in multiple directions until the polish becomes opaque.

wanabe

sounds like he is working the box...
i consider the box a 2 foot by 2 foot area- pretty close to what he is doing-
working the box involves working the area side to side in the box until the box is done... then diagonal until the box is done - finishing front to back. the product needs to be worked really well until it (as he says) is opaque or begins to dust.
another method is figure 8s in the box (figure 8s sometimes are done without the box) finishing front to back-

i just realized that we have never discussed polishing techniques on this board!!
you got a first!

MikeyC

Can I have my badge back then? J/K

Yes, Mike basically instructs to "work the box." He states that you should first polish in one direction . . . let's say horizontally . . . then switch to a second direction . . . let's say vertically . . . then you can do a third if you want . . . say diagonally. He seems to prefer going horizontally and vertically. Except for a brief mention I didn't see any diagonal polishing. However, he seemed to indicate that it didn't really matter what directions you pick as long as you do at least two different ones.

wanabe

and end up front to back...

MikeyC

He made no distinction, that I picked up on at least, about which direction you should finish your polishing with.

In fact, I found it very surprising that when hand polishing he stated it didn't matter whether you polished in straight lines or in circles. His stance is that if polishing in circles instills swirls in your paint then you're using a crappy product which is not removing paint evenly. He doesn't advocate circular polishing by hand though because he states your arm will tire faster than with linear polishing. This is due to circular polishing using more muscle groups in the arm.

As I stated, it's a really great video. Even if you consider yourself a polishing expert I can guarantee you'll still pick up a couple of tips. Mike's been in this business a long time and IMHO knows his stuff practically better than anyone.

BTW, in my most recent Griot's catalogue I noticed that they are now selling a detailing DVD for $9.99. If I ever order anything from them again I'll probably pick up the video just to see how it is.