Many thanks to Mike Phillips, Meguiar's and our own Placo1 for organizing and putting on the detail clinic last Saturday. It was great to meet some of the other Mercedes Shop members and put faces to the names.

Mike is one of those rare people who truly enjoys what he does and has the gift of being able to teach it to others with enthusiasm and humor. I learned quite a bit and I plan to use Meguiar's products exclusively on all my cars and bikes. I liked Mike's idea of staying within a product line as they are all designed to complement one another.

His technique of picking up a line of polish with the rotary buffer was great, too. It's one of those things that are simple, make sense, and work. Watching Mike at work turning a paint job full of fine spiderweb scratches into a deep glossy liquid-like surface was an education in itself. I was really impressed with how quickly the finish improved after only a few passes with the rotary buffer and 2 or 3 different grades of cleaner/polish.

Mike's technical knowledge of each of the products is equally impressive. I learned about diminishing abrasives, electrostatically coated finishing sand paper that orients the grit with the points out and the flat surfaces toward the paper (makes sense, eh?), how oils in the polish are actually good for the paint as they replenish the oils lost to evaporation, detergent washing, etc., and how they displace the water that would otherwise get in to the pores of the paint and cause oxidation, and many other interesting and valuable bits of information.

In addition to the invaluable information and hands-on experience that we recieved, we all got goody bags with about $60 worth of products to take home and try. Everybody left with big smiles on their faces and visions of brilliantly shining cars in their eyes.

I've always been impressed with Meguiar's products; now I'm equally impressed with the people that make up the company.

All in all it was a very worthwhile day. Thanks.

Gary

P.S. Anyone remember the name of the guy with the black Porsche? I need to talk to him about racing karts.