Klasse came today =) ... Application?

S

schoi

New member
I've heard two methods of applying both AIO and SG: (a) use it straight on an MF or cotton towel, or (b) dampen the MF / towel first, and THEN apply the AIO / SG. I haven't tried either yet (glad they came in before the weekend, though), so I dunno how hard they can be, but I don't like the idea of using water with a sealant like that for some reason. What do you Klasse people do?
 
AIO: Use a damp MF applicator or foam pad.



SG: Use a dry MF applicator or foam pad. When buffing off you may want to use a damp MF towel and then follow that up with a dry one. That seems to help with the haze. A search is going to help you with other possible techniques. :xyxthumbs
 
I do the SG wet because this allows me to get coats extra thin. I use a foam applicator very lightly misted with water and put a thin line of SG over the top 1/3. I think I re-misted every 2nd application, just enough to keep it lightly damp because it's all too easy to over-wet it. Someone once said that you would never really be able to SG as thin as you'd want it without a wet applicator, and I tend to agree.



I figured mixing water and SG on the pad this way wasn't such a big deal because it says "super concentrated" and the stuff seems water-based anyway...



After I did a ton of reading on Klasse application myself, I concluded that there were as many people applying it wet as there were doing it dry. You just have to try decide which you'd like to do. Just run a search and you'll get lots of other techniques for applying AND removal!
 
mmhmm, that's where I got the application techniques: from stuff I've read here at Autopia.



Removal? Why would someone want to do that... try a new product, I guess?

(I don't wanna have to do that, I haven't even tried Klasse yet!)
 
Sometimes you need to remove it so you can attack other problems on the car like swirling. I strip and clay my car at least twice a year under normal circumstances. Maybe more often if I'm trying other products.
 
Polaris said:
Removal? Why would someone want to do that... try a new product, I guess?

(I don't wanna have to do that, I haven't even tried Klasse yet!)
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Errr.... by removal, I meant "buffing". ;)
 
4DSC said:
Errr.... by removal, I meant "buffing". ;)
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Oh, okay. I feel a little better now. :p



Jngrbrdman said:
Sometimes you need to remove it so you can attack other problems on the car like swirling. I strip and clay my car at least twice a year under normal circumstances. Maybe more often if I'm trying other products.
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Good point. However, shouldn't all of my previous work, AIO, and even the first few layers of SG take care of most of that?



And if I wanted to, a dry pad/cloth/MF/... could be used for AIO application, right...?
 
AIO can't do the job of Clay and swirl removers. Its a good cleaner and base for SG, but that's about it. You really need to use clay and some kind of SMR when the job requires it.
 
Jngrbrdman said:
AIO can't do the job of Clay and swirl removers. Its a good cleaner and base for SG, but that's about it. You really need to use clay and some kind of SMR when the job requires it.
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Course not. I was actually just reading some older posts that said the same thing.



Of course, two weeks ago I went Scratch-X > No. 7 > No. 26. I was thinking/hoping that the Scratch-X and maybe even the No. 7 (does it have ANY polishing ability besides being a glaze?) would take care of minor scratches / swirls... . Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but AIO / SG do have the ability to take care of *minor* stuff, right...?
 
I wouldn't use them with the expectation that your swirls will be removed. If they remove any swirls then that is fine. CMA says that SG actually accentuates swirls. I don't know how true that is though. I usually try to remove all the swirls before I put SG on. Anyway, always use the proper tool for the job. If its swirl reduction that you are after, then use something designed for that. AIO is designed to clean your paint and SG is a sealant that isn't designed for anything more than accenting your paint.
 
4DSC, that's really interesting about applying SG wet. I've noticed that it spreads out much thinner with a little water too. Usually, this is added to it accidentaly from a body seam. Have you noticed that it gets a little harder to remove? I've noticed areas where a lot of water gets on the pad, the SG gets really gummy on the paint and gets dang near impossible to remove. But then once some of the water works out, it spreads easier and removes like normal. I'll have to try intentionally adding a mist of water to SG some time. Sounds neat.



The bottle says "contains no water" on the front, though, so I don't think it's water-based.



Polaris, #7 really doesn't do much more than fill in swirls and shine up the surface with oils. It doesn't really make a lasting change to the paint. Scratch-X will, though. The scratches it removed should stay gone.



If your swirls are minor, AIO and SG won't remove them, but they may minimize them. It may depend on the color of your car, and how big the swirls really are. My wife's car has full-coverage of light swirls, and I don't really bother with prep work on it (although I clay it). I've always kept it regularly protected, and used to use cleaner/waxes so the surface isn't oxidized or dull or anything, it just has a lot of light swirls. 1xAIO and 2xSG and the swirls are less noticeable than they were. But they are still there. If you want the swirls gone, you'll have to remove them. If you just want to make them a bit less noticeable and they are already pretty minor, you'll probably be ok. If nothing else, use AIO and SG and P21S to get through the winter (the P21S may help hide the swirls too). If you are unhappy with the swirling, fix it when the weather warms up.
 
Aurora40 said:
4DSC, that's really interesting about applying SG wet. I've noticed that it spreads out much thinner with a little water too. Usually, this is added to it accidentaly from a body seam. Have you noticed that it gets a little harder to remove? I've noticed areas where a lot of water gets on the pad, the SG gets really gummy on the paint and gets dang near impossible to remove. But then once some of the water works out, it spreads easier and removes like normal. I'll have to try intentionally adding a mist of water to SG some time. Sounds neat.
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I don't think it became harder to remove. If anything because of the thinness I was able to apply it at it wasn't very hard, but I also developed a quite different (and super thorough :p) buffing technique than the norm because of this too. My coats were so thin that they were almost invisible on my silver paint. I used a 1oz. squeeze bottle, foam pad and a fine mist spray bottle. The tricky part was balancing water and SG amounts on the pad. Too much water and things got too thin and streaky and made for poor/spotty application. Too little and I couldn't spread it out as well as I'd like.



Yes, water from body seams (especially door handles for me) was a real pain, which was why I preferred carefully QDing instead of washing when possible.

The bottle says "contains no water" on the front, though, so I don't think it's water-based.
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Ooops! :p Well, whatever it is is at least water soluble that's for sure. I put a few drops of water into my 1oz bottle to use up that last few precious scraps of SG for my last coat.
 
Polaris said:
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but AIO / SG do have the ability to take care of *minor* stuff, right...?
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AIO is pretty effective in removing hazing which may result from heavier compounding or swirl removal in previous steps. It can also remove very very light swirls. This is particularly true if you really work the product into the paint as you would a polish.



SG is pretty good at filling in light swirls....with each subsequent layer making swirls less and less visible.
 
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