# Pictures from Autogeek's Competition Ready Roadshow Detailing Class at Waxstock in En



## Mike Phillips

*Pictures from Autogeek's Competition Ready Roadshow Detailing Class at Waxstock in England!*

There's a LOT of work that goes on behind the scenes to teach our 3-day Competition Ready Detailing Class here at Autogeek.


We have over 150 tools in the Show Car Garage so up to 25 students can use the specific tool that the class is covering in each dedicated class session.

There's are hundreds of clean microfiber towels ready to go.

There are HUNDREDS of pads from all manufactures in all sizes ready to go.

There is every product needed to run a full-bore, hardcore hands-on class with up to 25 students.

Our classroom is wired to have 25 electric polishers plugged in and under load at the same time.

There are more then enough heavy duty extension cords and power outlets to easily handle any class.

There is a classroom with seating for up to 50 people and a pro grade projector and 102" wide projector screen for the power point presentation.

That's just the big things off the top of my head and there's so much more equipment in the Show Car Garage ready to go for our classes like hot water extractors and steam machines etc.

We can also turn the air conditioning down to 68 degrees and keep everyone cool on the hottest South Florida summer day.

And cars? You bet. Our classes here at Autogeek set the standard for both cool show cars and daily driver cars for both show car detailing and production detailing. And best of all... we have the pictures from all our classes to prove it.


Conducting a hands-on class here at Autogeek is a cinch. Duplicating our class at an offsite location and running it just like we run it here takes dramatically more work and effort and teaching out class OVERSEAS takes even more work, effort and resources to pull it off in the style and standard we demand of our selves and our reputation with the collective car hobby and industry.

So we're very happy to say that the first full bore, hands-on Competition Ready Roadshow Detailing class held in Bishop's Storford, just outside of London, England, in conjunction with the 5th Annual Waxstock was a HUGE success. And we have the pictures and the testimonies to document it.

While it's a little time consuming to sort through the pictures and then process them in a way they can be shared on a discussion forum the benefit is these pictures will be here till most of us are long gone and will be a testimony to our sponsors and everyone that helped with the class and attended the class. These pictures will also help to set the bar for any class, anywhere including our next class.

I'm going to share the pictures in the order they come off the camera as this is also the order that unfolds the story of the first Competition Ready Roadshow Class that took place on Friday, July 22nd.

With that said.... onto the pictures!


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## Mike Phillips

Location - Location - Location
We needed a top notch shop to hold this class. We also needed a shop that was large enough to hold our Training Cars, which are ALL genuine Detroit Iron! The shop also must have top notch security system in place for not only the cars but all the tools, pads, products and other equipment that will be at the shop.

Buff Monkey Garage!
Our host for this class is my new good friend Aki Azemi and his shop the Buff Monkey Garage! This is a purpose built shop specifically for car detailing. This is the back entrance into the shop as this is where the car wash bay is located. As cars are worked on the come in through the back and then travel through to the front. By the time they come out they are shining like diamonds!










*This is there light room for show car detailing.*










*We converted it into our classroom...*










Projector for the Power Point Presentation

My good friend pj at Dodo Juice provided the projector. I couldn't bring our portable projector as it's 110 volt and England runs on 220 volt.

This also means all the polishers are 220 volt!


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## Mike Phillips

Thursday is set-up day!

The class is on Friday, we flew in from Florida on Tuesday and arrived Wednesday morning. After a good night's sleep and adjusting to the time difference, (England is 5 hours ahead of us on the East Coast of the United States), the next day is Thursday and time to head to the Buff Monkey Garage to meet Aki and his team and then start setting up. The training cars will also be arriving today and it's important to me to be there to meet the owners who are trusting in the Autogeek name and my name to leave their prized possession with at this moment - *complete strangers*!

*Here's a shot from early Thursday morning... *

You can see the FLEX polishers have arrived and we're busy setting up more tables to hold LOTS more supplies to be delivered and unpacked.










These are BRAND NEW tools by the way that FLEX provided for this class. They asked me to sign each tool after the class, which I did. If you want one of these signed units you can e-mail Stuart Colclough and he can process your order.

*[email protected]*










*Yancy stoled the table you see above holding FLEX tools and turned it into his Tech Station for computers and cameras.*










*Then as the day progressed we sorted out all the tools, products and microfiber towels in to an order that would follow the flow of the class.*


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## Mike Phillips

Now to share with you all the goodies needed to hold a first class class...

First up... car washing supplies as this class will start out just like I start out the Production Detailing Class I teach here in the states.

Microfiber Chenille Wash Mitts - The GOOD ones that Autogeek sells not the cheapie ones that fall apart. We shipped these to England because I like to show these for what I teach called *The Aggressive Method* for washing a car.










*Here's some super high quality wash mitts - these are for The Gentle Method - that is for washing a car AFTER you've perfected the paint.

*









*Wheel cleaning brushes*










*5 gallon buckets with traps to help prevent inflicting swirls and scratches from cross contamination when washing body panels.*










*Ah.... my absolute favorite car washing tool the Autogeek Foam Gun!*



















*pj and Dom from Dodo Juice suppled the high sudsing Apple iFOAM Snow Foam Wash that works excellent in the Autogeek Foam Gun!*










*Iron Contamination Remover - Ferrous Dueller by Dodo Juice!*










*Nanoskin Autoscrub Wash Mitts to Mechanically Decontaminate the paint during the washing process.*










*Nanoskin Autoscrub Towels - Also to Mechanically Decontaminate the paint during the washing process.*










These types of products are not cheap so I share a tip I use to identify which side I'm currently using and which side is been worn out.










More to come!


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## Mike Phillips

Wet Sanding Tools

As we progress down the line of tables holding all the tools and products the next table after the car wash station is holding all our wet sanding products and tools. I'll be using these for a seminar with Kelly Harris at the Waxstock show on Sunday too....

Here at Autogeek we carry Mirka Abralon foam sanding discs from #500 grit to #4000 grit in both 3" and 6" and also 3M Trizact sanding discs in #3000 and #5000. This higher grit sanding discs are the best choice and the safest choice when machine sanding FACTORY THIN CLEARCOAT paints or refining your hand sanding marks after block sanding by hand.










*Pictured below is a Griot's 3" Mini Polisher that I use to teach machine sanding with 3" sanding discs like the Trizact discs from 3M*










*Pictured below is a Soft Block hand sanding backing pad and a 6" backing plate for machine sanding*










*Below are foam interface pads in 3" and 6" for machine sanding and above them are 3" and 6" Nanoskin Hand Backing Pads for hand sanding with machine discs.*










*Meguiar's Finishing Papers - much higher quality than sand paper*










*3M tape - Blue Vinyl Tape and Green Painter's Tape*










*Can't work clean and do pro quality work without some pad cleaning tools!*


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## Mike Phillips

LOTS of high quality microfiber towels

All the best tools and best work in the world don't mean squat if you're using poor quality microfiber towels. So we have a superb collection including some we sent from Autogeek to England and some provided by MotorGeek as well as the Buff Monkey Garage.

*One of my favorites and the microfiber towel we use the most at our classes at Autogeek the Gold Plush Junior in 16" x 16"*





































*Plus a variety of flat weave and super plush towels from MotorGeek and Buff Monkey Garage*




























*Another one of my favorites that we use for all the final wiping here at Autogeek the Super Plush Rolled Edge Microfiber Towels.*










*Guzzler Waffle Weave Microfiber Drying Towels from Autogeek to dry water off car without scratching.*










*And if you aren't using microfiber gloves to grip your microfiber towels you're missing out! Courtesy of Autogeek*










_*Microfiber Gloves! - I love the glove!*_










HUGE THANK YOU to Stewart Linn and his dad Ron Linn from Motorgeek in the U.K. for providing supplies from Motorgeek and for also recieving and transporting all the products we shipped from Autogeek to Motorgeek.

_Thank you Stewart!

_


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## Mike Phillips

Cool tools like Paint Thickness Gauges!


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## Mike Phillips

More tools for Mechanical Decontamination!

*Here's traditional detailing clay because in our classes you learn to do it the proper and correct way....*










*And Nanoskin Autoscrub Pads*

If you've read my book, "How to use the FLEX 3401 you already know what I think about these cool tools!


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## Mike Phillips

Compounds, Polishes, Waxes, Sealants & Coatings

*Products from Wolfgang, Dodo Juice and RUPES*

Wolfgang!









































































Dodo Juice!









































































RUPES Compounds and Polishes!


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## Mike Phillips

Tools and buffing pads!

Dodo Juice Buff Daddy Dual Action Polishers



















Lake Country 5.5" Foam Flat Pads for the Buff Daddy DA Polishers


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## Mike Phillips

More tools!

FLEX XC 3401 VRG Dual Action Polishers

These are all BRAND NEW tools - used one time for this class.










These FLEX 3401 polishers were all signed too so if you live in the U.K. and use 220 volt and want one then contact,

*[email protected]*

Lake Country 6.5" Hybrid Foam buffing pads for the FLEX 3401 polishers


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## Mike Phillips

More tools!

The FLEX PE14 Rotary Polisher!

Again, all brand new tools used one time for this class... - THANK YOU FLEX!










These FLEX PE14 Rotary Polishers were all signed - so if you live in the U.K. and use 220 volt and want one then contact,

*[email protected]*

Lake Country 6.5" Gold Jeweling Foam Pads and Lake Country 7.5" Wool Cutting pads for use with the FLEX PE14


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## Mike Phillips

And yes... more tools!

The FLEX PE8 Kompact 3 Rotary Polisher

Like the FLEX 3401 and the FLEX PE14, these are all brand FLEX PE8 Rotary Polishers used one time for this class... - THANK YOU FLEX!










These FLEX PE8 Rotary Polishers were all signed - so if you live in the U.K. and use 220 volt and want one then contact,

*[email protected]*

FLEX 3", 2" and 1" foam buffing pads for the FLEX PE8


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## Mike Phillips

And YES even MORE tools!

RUPES BigFoot Orbital Polishers!

Below are BigFoot Legacy 21mm and 15mm polishers as well as the new Mark II BigFoot 21mm and 15mm polishers










These are RUPES Duetto 12mm orbital polishers and RUPES Mini 12mm Orbital Polishers










This is the NEW Nano iBrid Long Neck Polisher










From my stock here at Autogeek I sent over my favorite RUPES pads, compounds and polishes.


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## Mike Phillips

*First things first....

*We went over a LOT of tools and techniques in this one day class. I teach two methods of washing cars,

*The Aggressive Approach*- This is for getting a car surgically clean before any machine polishing.

*The Gentle Approach* - This is for maintaining the finish on a car that's been properly machine polished and sealed.

These are very different approaches and in my thinking, it's important to know both. We had two white cars here and neglected white paint works great for showing how iron removers like Ferrous Dueller Iron Remover works to remove iron contamination so we chose the 1965 Mustang and the 1979 Trans Am for teaching how to use the aggressive approach for washing cars before machine polishing.

*Dodo Juice Ferrous Dueller for removing embedded iron contamination

*









One thing I always do is what I call,

*Document the ugly

*That is, I do my best to get great pictures that shows the true and accurate condition of the paint before they are detailed.

To the untrained eye, the paint looks fine on this Mustang.










*Now let's light up the paint with a FLEX Swirl Finder Light...

*









*Yeah.... the paint on this Mustang is far from fine but it's going to be better than fine after my class works their magic.

*









*This is the 1979 Trans Am. It had a LOT of really deep swirls and scratches and while my class won't be able to remove 100% of them they will remove a majority of them.

*













































Class starts with an actual class, that is we go through a Power Point Presentation that covers basic information and *paint*, *products* and *procedures*, or what I call,

*The Three Ps

*



























Now it's time to get the first two cars clean using the aggressive approach to washing a car.























































*Using Nanoskin towels and mitts to mechanically decontaminate the paint during the washing process.

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*Using the Foam Gun to slather the paint with car wash foam...

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*Working as a team not only creates a great learning experience it's also a lot of fun and you will make new friends with the same passion!

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This first session was off to a great start. Above all when detailing cars it's vitally important to...

*Work Clean*


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## Mike Phillips

*Hands-on Training - Real world experience*

A chemically decontaminating the paint and then mechanically decontaminating the paint, rinsing and drying, it was time for the fun part of all our classes and that's putting time in behind the buffers. People learn by doing, not sitting in a chair and listening to someone drone on and on and on....

*1965 Mustang*

We always start with the easiest machine to learn how to use and master, (that's two things), and for this class these would be the Dodo Juice Buff Daddy dual action orbital polishers. This style of polisher has been used around the world for around 30 years now to de-swirl paint and create true show car results.

The key to getting great results with the Buff Daddy DA Polisher are,

*1:* Use great abrasive technology - In this case we're using Wolfgang Uber Compound followed by Wolfgang Uber Finishing Glaze which is actually a fine cut polish not a glaze.

*2:* Use the correct and appropriate pad for the job. For the Mustang and the Trans Am we're using Lake Country 5.5" Flat Pads. Orange for the compound and white for the polish.

*3:* Use the correct and proper technique and that's what we go over in our classes.

*First up a demonstration over correct and also incorrect technique*










*Here's Yancy doing what he does best....*



















*Inspecting the results after compounding a Test Spot.*



















*What's ironic is if you do the demo right and you're using great products, pads and tools - there's nothing to see except swirl free paint!*










*Key to using dual action polishers like the Buff Daddy DA Polisher when doing the compounding step is to only work a small section at a time. About 16" x 16" squarish or the size of the average microfiber towel.*










*Time for the class to take over...*































































_*Next up.... the beauty shots!*_


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## Mike Phillips

*Here's the final results for the 1965 Mustang!*




























Perfect work guys!


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## Mike Phillips

*Next up... the 1979 Trans Am*

Like the Mustang, we started with chemical decontamination with Dodo Juice Ferrous Dueller Iron Remover to remove embedded iron particles and then followed this with mechanical decontamination to remove all the above surface bonded contaminants. Then re-washed using the Autogeek Foam Gun, rinsed and dried.

*The FLEX 3401 aka THE BEAST!* - The official FLEX name for the FLEX 3401 is now the BEAST!

The paint on the Trans Am was probably the worst out of the 6 training cars in that it had a lot of deep swirls and just as many random straight line scratches throughout the finish. There was also a lot of Orange Peel which acts to mute reflections. For this car I chose to show how to use the FLEX 3401 which is a gear-driven orbital polisher. For abrasive technology we're using the same products we used on the Mustang and that's the Wolfgang Uber Compound followed by the Wolfgang Finishing Glaze, (which is a fine cut polish not a glaze). We used Lake Country 6.5" Hybrid pads in orange, white and black. If you've read my how-to book, then you know I highly recommend the Hybrid pads for this tool. The hybrid pads are about an 1 1/4" thick with a taper design to them and matched to the FLEX 3401 they can really knock out a car fast.

*How to use the FLEX 3401 for both Show Car Detailing and Production Detailing*










*Lake Country 6.5" Hybrid Foam Pads*










First I like to demonstrate a key difference between free spinning orbital polishers and gear-driven orbital polishers using the skin on my hand. This demo usually drives the point home and with a joke or two, everyone has a good laugh. A good detailing class should be both educational _*and fun*_.










*Correct technique*

Next up we go over the key features and benefits of the gear-driven FLEX 3401 and the proper and correct techniques for using this tool for both correction work and final polishing work as well as how to use it to machine apply a wax or sealant.










*Great Abrasive Technology*

There was a question about the Wolfgang Uber Compound so I poured a little out and asked anyone that wanted to - to feel some between their fingers. Unlike old school compounds that feel gritty, Uber Compound feels like Jergens Hand Lotion, that is it's smooth and creamy. Yet when used with the right pad, the right tool and the right technique it can do amazing correction work while leaving behind a finish that looks like you just used a fine cut polish.



















*Wolfgang Uber Compound*










*Wolfgang Finishing Glaze* (Fine Cut Polish)










*Self-teaching*

The gear-driven FLEX 3401 is what I call a self-teaching tool, if you don't hold the pad flat to the surface you'll feel it try to pull or walk around on the surface. This walking effect is telling you that YOU are not holding the pad flat to the surface so re-adjust your grip and/or how you're holding the body of the tool in relationship to the panel being buffed.



















*Once you get a feel for the FLEX 3401 it's a real smooth operator...*










_*Enough demonstration - it's time for learning!*_



























































































_*Next up... the beauty shots!*_


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## Mike Phillips

_*Here's the final results for the 1979 Trans Am!*_




























Incredible work by the class really made the paint on this Trans Am glisten!


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## Mike Phillips

*Two done and four more cars to go!*

_We had two cars finished and looking perfect!_










It was time for a hot pizza lunch after finishing both the 1965 Mustang and the 1979 Trans Am. By now the guys had worked up a powerful hunger and they're going to need some fuel because they still have 4 more cars to do! Here's pj from Waxstock and Dodo Juice setting the pizza pies out for the hard working class.


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