Most of you know him as the video camera person to go to-but he is also a great detailer. after trying to keep my car clean for 10 months, i finally gave in and hired him to do a professional job, and it turned out great!! thanks to Richard Lin for a great job!

 

Hey Thanks Scott for the nice words. I really had a great time working on your car, and thanks for replacing that bent control arm I had!

I'm going to post a writeup on your car later this week, but here are a few pix.

This was AFTER the Detail


This is the result of a test spot on the bonnet in the black painted stripe area. The swirls are visible on the lower half of the image. The upper half was buffed out and is swirl free. I achieved this by masking an area off and buffing around it. Then I removed the masking portion, and what you are looking at is the original, untouched swirled finish, contrasted to the buffed out area.



More pix coming soon.

Richard

 

if i only had those skills my car would look amazing...

 

Beautiful MINI, Scott! Great job, Richard. I'm thinking I need to make an appointment with you for a special spa day for Wanda this Fall!

 

skuzy
Thanks!!!

Well my detailing video in the NAM store will get your more than half way there!!!

I did a lot of crazy stuff with only a PC for years. For Scotts car, I also used the rotary buffer, but I still finished it with the PC, and in some cases--bordering the vinyl, the PC was the only safe tool, next to doing it by hand!

MINICLO
Sure!! Business has been good. I'm generally booked solid 2 weeks in advance, so just something to keep in mind as far as timing goes.

 

I'm leaving for the Southeast on Tuesday, returning in August. I'll get in touch sometime after that.

 

Ok, here's his MINI!

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...37#post1036137

 

I agree with what people are saying, Richard RAWKS! Minerva was so pretty when he was through with her. Next year at MOTD - I probably will have you do it again

 

Once again Octane guy to the rescue!!!
Nice MINI BTW!

 

Can you expand o the comment:

"Vinyl presented buffing challenges"?

Looks FANTASTIC, Richard!

 

Sure. You never want to buff on printed vinyl. The roof vinyl was textured, and I couldn't tell if it was printed or not. The vinyl was draped over the entire roof and you could see seams around the base of the antennae. In short, it wasn't a perfect install, and I felt the potential was too great to either damage the vinyl, or make it look worse, so I preferred to play it safe, and just dress it.

Thanks!

Richard

 

So what do you do with bonnet and/or boot stripes, exactly? I've heard that the stock bonnet stripes can get pretty fugly over time, and mine are already showing a few marks even after just a few months (OTHER than my magnet-induced circle, which is a whole 'nuther issue). How did you get them vinyl so darn shiny?

 

Your detailing video is awesome!

 

ImagoX
I leave them. Seriously. For my white stripes, I buff them, since I know they aren't printed. I use M80 right over them to remove stains. Not all stains come out.

For black stripes, I gently buff on them with my PC and M80 and follow with Hyperdressing or Trim Detailer.

If the stripes are printed, I MAY follow with a dressing if they look dull, otherwise I leave them, and let the owner do what he's doing--likely using the 303 stuff or back to black.

I hope you realize that the center bonnet stripe on Scotts car is painted! =)

tsukiji
thanks!!

 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... dur. I thought you had somehow managed to get a mirror shine on vinyl. I was ready to make you my Detailing God. Alas, now I'm totally disenchanted (sob)!

PS- What dressing do you recommend? Thousand Island? Light Italian for that "Extras Virgin Olive oil" shine and reduced calories? Maybe California French because, you know, those wacky Californians ALWAYS have the nicest cars (they think so, anyway)...

 

re: God
Haha, sorry to burst your bubble.

re: Dressing
Haha. Everyone seems to have their own favorites. I like Meguiar's Hyperdressing because it's diluted with water, yet can be used on tires, engine bay (high flash point), plastic trim, and decals, and it lasts!

Aerospace 303 is a popular one as well.

 

Ah... I saw that Meguire's once (can't remember where) and I had no idea what the heck it was. Cool. You da man.

 

I have and have benefitted from your DVD, but I do have one question:

How does detailing a clear-coated car differ from detailing a single-stage painted car? The Corvette in the DVD demonstrates how to restore the finish on an ancient, single-stage auto finish. But, our MINI's have a clear coat, so Im really curious about whoexactly isgoing in with Lori, abnd wh's in the sack.

 

Depends on your definition of ancient. There are cars from the 90's that still had single stage finishes.....

Not sure about Lori and the sack, but there is no difference in polishing technique between a clear coat multistage finish like that on the MINI over a single stage finish.

As I said earlier, a multistage finish just has extra paint on it that happens to be clear.

When you buff out a single stage finish, because you are buffing on the pigmented paint and not a clear, you can see the color come off on to your buffing pads.

With multistage paints, this doesn't happen. The downside of a clear coat finish is that if the clear is scratched, you can only remove so much paint before hitting the pigmented base coat, and then its history...time to repaint.

On a single stage finish, you can perform dramatic recoveries on finishes that look long gone because you can actually peel away the old bad layer of paint to expose fresh new paint below. This isn't possible with clear coated finishes.

A finish with a clear coat isn't any more glossy or durable than a single stage finish, although car dealers would have you believe that it were.

So what's the difference?

Single stage finishes can be buffed longer and further
Both can accept modern synthetic waxes
Both can be polished using a PC or rotary buffer
Both can be restored when neglected, but once a clear coat starts to fail, it can't be restored.
To me, a single stage finish is much preferred over a clear coat finish, but I know that wasn't the question!

Richard