Can you tell me about the Festool polish? I have many of their tools, but have never seen the compounds/polish.
Hi and welcome, The compounds are not available in the States and it takes quite a bit of work to keep your van in as new a condition as if new.
I have the advantage of being able to maintain my van in almost perfect condition.
Polishing requires the correct tools , Festool is a premium tool as they can last for up to 20 years with no or little maintenance required , such as bearings or bushes.
My van was purchased new in 2005 and has never been garaged , simply because it will not fit in an older style garage and I can't get up the drive in it anyway.
However the finish you see is the real McCoy.
The first step is to clay bar the van to remove residue form atmospheric fallout, , each polish is for varying states of the paintwork from extra cut through to polishes three of, and one final coating of ceramic based polishes. ,once completed a final mist of prep spray vamooses all traces of excess compounds.
The key is the cutting pads from course to fine in either smooth backed pads or the Hologram pads of which the latter removes fine scratches and or swirl marks.
Three separate Polishers are used , I have only showed one off, to prep the Van from Go to Finsh takes two days so it's done twice a year now due again as Winter is closing in .
To this day I have never found any polish that matches the quality or longevity of Festool products, for maintaining the vans finish. It is used by Mercedes at the factory's and by professional body works for most German models.
I have been looking for a used Sprinter to use as a work vehicle, but the more research that I do finding threads like this one, I'm starting to get a little spooked with all of the problems they seem to have. Or is it the case that I'm hearing only the squeaking wheels?