While I LUV Hydro too.... I'm not sold that it's "just as deep as Epic". I know how Blimey looked after using Hydro EVERY WASH... vs. how Blimey looked after his latest Epic treatment (which I chronicled on my blog).... While he usually looks very good, there was no comparison with the 24 hour post-Epic depth... granted, some of that might be attributable to the Amigo polish... but not all IMHO.... I'll betcha you could take two cars, same color, same paint condition, prep both down to the paint, then Hydro one and Epic the other, wait 24 hours, and I (and MiniMaybee, and ChiliPepperJet, and ML) could tell the difference. I think you would, too... you just wouldn't admit it.

No bustin on Hydro, though. I luv it. Makes my minivan look better than ever. And keeps my Epic'd MINI looked great for a longggg time.

 

you cheeatAr, you can't use Amigo under Epic and say Hydro alone did not
turn out as well. ofcourse it will not.

im sure there are benefits to Epic's depth over Hydro.
but 99% of the people will not know which polymer i
used (hydro or epic) if shown with no comparison.

that's the beauty of Hydro. (im not voting against Epic.
Epic is definitely a nice wax)

 

Ahhhh... that sounds like backpedaling to me... "99% won't know without something to compare against" doesn't sound the same as "just as deep as"...

 

I agree, Blimey.

In fact, I spent six hours on the CR Cooper yesterday (got blasted by birds on Friday and I figured I might as well go at it big time) and it's now been 25 hours since the Epic has been applied and buffed off. Bergey is looking gorgeous... more beautiful than he does after a wash and Hydro. That shine is so deep and glossy, it looks like you could dive into the paint.

Here's the steps I took:

Wash
Clay
Wash
Dry
Swirl w/orange pad
Amigo w/white pad
Epic w/black pad
Removed by hand with Monster Fluffy

And just for good measure, I did the same steps to the PW Cooper this morning.

Yeah, I know, where's the pics?! But folks must be getting tired of seeing pics of our MINIs.

 

hehehe... no no, you're just trying to cover your butt that you used
Amigo.

and to you too. lol

do a Epic vs Hydro, not a cheetAr's Amigo+Epic vs Hydro you dang cheaters.

 

ok everyone for helping out explaining the uses of prima products THANK YOU .....and im definately excited to get my bottles to use next weekend ....and CR&PW&JB i abbbsoooolutteeeeelllyyy love the mirror caps ...they literally made so much differnce ...but two other clips were actually broken ...ut oh well it holds........another question for anyone with chrome caps ....what can i use to polish the chrome caps ?....should i use a metal polish ?.....or will epic suffice ?

 

no problem...

are those chrome really metal chrome or plastic with chrome paint
like the door handles? if plastic, don't use any metal polishes. use
mild polish for paint and Epic or Hydro or use your farovite wax.

 

REALLY... two other clips ?! Why couldn't I see that ? Were they just cracked ?

Glad they worked out for you... post some pics !

 

Ken... we're not cheatArs, just smart !!

 

I'd say we're just discerning. We're not easily impressed like ken.

Bwahahahaha

jk, ken. U run circles around me in the "discerning" race, my friend.

 

Discerning ? KEN ?!?

He's just a one-trick pony !

 

actually not the entire clip was broken just the bridge of the clip that croses from the one little post to the other the part that actully goes over the mirror housing tab ....anywho they seem to be on there secure enough lol and yeah no pics until i drop the car and get rims on hopeefffulllyyy this weekend.....im putting all day saturday aside to hopefully learn how to and accomplish my spring install .....anyone in the VA area wanna help? its my first time doing this mod .

 

Thanks... I guess that's why I didn't realize they were broken, wasn't looking for that. Anyway, glad they're secure. I've heard other say you can secure them with just a few clips on each cap, depending where they are.

As far as keeping them clean, you can use the same thing you use on your glass.

 

I recently had a little "backing into the garage" incident and broke that part off ALL the tabs on one of my mirror caps. Just used some 3M double sided foam tape (like for badges) around part of the upper and lower edge, and it's holding (and looks) fine.

 

yeah my old jcw i switchd caps out and the clips on a few were broken but they stay its pretty tricky for those caps to all off so im not too worried ...plus they look sooo damn good in chrome ...i know bling on a mini is wack an all but i really think a little can go a long way ......anywho i dont clean my glass lol ....i use auto soap and wipe it with paper towels or a tshirt....no cleaning solution in particular ....but my main question is these rouh looking headlight lenses ....i REALLLYYYY need to find a good solution for them ...i have minor pits but those speckles ESPECIIALLYYY at night drive me NUTS ....

 

I still have a set of chrome caps on one of the MINIs and other than washing them along with the car every week, I just touch them up with Clarity and the glass cleaning cloth. Or if I'm QDing that MINI, I just hit them with the Monster Fluffy microfiber towel and the Speed Shine.

Can't really go wrong as long as you don't use anything abrasive on them (cheap cotton towels and such).

 

no, you're really neither. you just used Amigo before Epic and it
turned out great how heather and nick wanted your paint to look.


i am very picky on certain things, but i look at the overall picture
so that's where you see the differences.

you have to remember too im using Hydro on my commuters
with no other treatment (no polish, not even clayed this season) yet
looking better than most people's 'detailed' cars.

LOL!!! hey, at least i got something to show, buddy.

 

Amigo does not add any depth to Epic whatsoever - period!
All that Amigo does is clean and fill - prepping the surface for Epic.
So no, using Amigo before Epic is not cheating any more than using water before Hydro.
Try again kenchan - you still need to backpedal some more.

 

you again...

Detailing101. preping the paint net you more than wax alone.

so you're basically saying that Amigo = water?

you guys are missing the point completely. look at the big picture.
what you net from Hydro alone is much bigger than wat you would
net from all the work you put into for a full detail. ofcourse you will
get a better finish with all the work put in...but Hydro will get you
about as close as you can in one simple step. if it wasn't, you would
find me using Epic each time.

 

I"m confused over the Swirl, then Amigo and finally Epic.

What purpose does the Amigo serve when used after the Swirl? I was under the impression that Swirl is a bit more aggressive than Amigo, and that you basically need to see the condition of the paint and then pick one of the two.

What am I missing?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

The four "pre-Epic" products are Cut, Swirl, Finish and Amigo, but you don't have to use them all. There's also some overlap in the amount of cutting ability for the four products, depending on how much pressure you apply, what kind of pad you use, and how long you work it. If you look at some of OctaneGuy's posts on the subject, I believe he frequently goes from Swirl on a medium pad, to Swirl on a soft pad, and then directly to Epic.

If you only have the slightest bit of swirling/hazing, you might go from Finish on a soft pad directly to Epic. If you can't see any defects at all, you might start with Amigo and then go to Epic.

Perhaps you might use all four prior to applying Epic if your paint is really hammered, and you have a weak polisher, or if you only have soft pads. Other than that, I can't imagine needing all four during the same detailing session.

 

JeffreyC,

The Prima line of polishes in order of abrasiveness:

Cut
Swirl
Finish
Amigo

Which you use depends on the condition of your paint, of course. You want to use the least abrasive needed to achieve the results you're looking for. So... Take your car out into the sunlight and give it a very close look.

Stay away from Prima Cut unless your paint is really abused and neglected... severe swils and scratches or oxidation/fading.

Me, I started with Swirl and the white pad (medium density pad) but it didn't take care of all the swirls so I went to the orange pad (more dense).

I used Amigo before the Epic to get that silky smooth feel. And let me tell you, it was a noticeable difference.

There's lots of old threads in the Detailing 101 forum where Heather give detailed explanations of all the Prima products. It would be worth your time to dig one of them up and read it.

 

Yeah - agreed with all of the above. Think of Amigo as more of a "glaze"... While Swirl should remove all the swirls and leave you with a nice, swirl-free, smooth finish, the added step of Amigo fills any remaining microscopic imperfections and results in that stunning mirror smooth shine, that is then deepened and protected with the Epic application.

 

now this is good stuff.

 

Blimey should be in Marketing or Advertising.