Buffing Blog

When it comes to repair and reconditioning...

Posted by Jay Schneider. Filed under News.
April 27, 2009

We spend tens of millions each year on the latest wizardry trying to maximize the performance of compound, polishes, swirl removers, glazes, waxes and sealants. How do we discern what is right and what is simply snake oil? The answer is fairly complicated for those of us who take our industry, business or hobby seriously. A walk through the aisles of NACE, SEMA and AUTOMECHANIKA reminds of this.

 

When it comes to repair and reconditioning/detailing, dealing with automotive clear coats has always been a clouded mystery full of taboos. There are so many variables from the type of paint and paint condition to abrasives, to compounds and polishes, to buffing machines, to buffing pads and buffing techniques.   The primary goal of our web blog is to share our many years of experience to educate, inform and answer many of these mysteries. First, let’s talk about our experience… it clearly sets Lake Country apart from the rest. As mentioned in a previous post, one of my responsibilities is manager of new product development and Eric is responsible for technical support. We have a combined 46 years of hands-on, in-the trenches experience. I have personally stripped, painted and buffed over 80 vehicles including cars, motor cycles, motor homes, boats, personal water craft, corporate jets and general aviation aircraft. Eric has years of reconditioning experience including cars, hotrods, muscle cars, motorcycles and trucks and continues to operate his own detailing business outside of Lake Country. We have worked with paint companies, manufactures of abrasives, polish companies, and tool companies worldwide to develop custom buffing systems. We have also worked side-by-side with OEM’s and Tier One suppliers to improve the efficiency of their buffing operations. Lake Country has its own buffing station that replicates lighting and other conditions of the modern body shop. We prepare our own test panels, (in-house) – from bare steel we prep, etch, prime, base then clear utilizing up to date breathing and painting apparatus, and the newest paints available from all paint manufacturers. While testing potential buffing pad materials, we rely on sophisticated testing equipment to make quantitative as well as qualitative evaluations for our recommendations. It is this experience and technical knowledge that allows us to constantly develop and introduce new leading edge products. In fact, Lake Country holds 22 U.S. and foreign patents and has 6 patent applications pending currently.

 

Enough about us…hope we made our point. We’ll be posting a series of informative articles as time goes on, so stay tuned for our first topic: Clear Coat Fundamentals.

 

Scott S. McLain

Vice President

Sales & New Product Development

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