Hi, I've always used a combo of lighting for my corrections: Halogens, Brinkman, CM5300 and the natural sun Is it possible that some swirls only show up under fluorescent lighting only? I always thought that the "sun" is the most powerful lighting and will reveal every speck of imperfection. Thanks
Don't know, haven't tried it. The colour of the light that my P7 produces is slightly blueish, but don't know the exact Kelvin value. Kind regards, Ebbe
Flourescent lights don't show shadows, and therefore you can't see swirl marks. I recommend go with Metal Halides, they replicate very close to natural sunlight, and when you pull the car outside there won't be any surprises. John
I have Flourescent T8s on my walls, metal Halides on my ceiling but also have and use a TK10, halogens and a Sun Gun. Probably the best light for most situations is the TK10 or TK11. The metal halides are great but unfortunately they are only hung from the ceiling and are totally inefficient. They suck power like crazy. Halogens are a good compromise as they will show everything but are not as convenient as the Sun Gun or TK10. The Sun Gun I find is too bright as it has the ability to wash out metallic surfaces. The TK10 or 11 is inexpensive, will show swirls and scratches and is compact so you can take it with you when giving quotes.
- I've been thinking about buying a Sun Gun for some time, but as I haven't tried one yet I don't know how it is.. But, there are two settings on the thing, right? High and Low? I like my Led Lensers, but they're better at showing hologramming than marring and normal swirl marks from poor washing techniques. I thought the Sun Gun could fill this spot. I don't find the Led Lensers that good on silver metallics either.. Could you do us a favour and compare the two lights on both metallics and solid colors, and post a few pictures? I've seen people comparing halogens and Sun Guns but not Led torches and Sun Guns. Kind regards, Ebbe
In all honesty, for anyone other than a diehard detailing pro, a Sun Gun is a waste of money. I got away with nothing but halogens for 15 years. A good LED torch with at least 200 lumens will show anything a Sun Gun will at 80% less money. Sun Gun batteries will last around 10-15 minutes so you'll need an extra one. They are $100 each up here. The best thing for marring are flourescent fixtures I find. Silver and white are a PITA to pick defects on with any lights. Those swirls you see on the Corvette were a PITA to pick up and I had to steal a trick from DSMS and turn out all the lights in the shop. I've got a dark coloured Porsche turbo coming in tomorrow so I'll try and get some pics.
Hi again, Thank you for the reply. I've contacted an online retailer that stock both the batteries, gun and spare bulbs. They do a kit with 2 extra batteries. It is quite a bit of money - especially in the EU. I'm willing to spend the money, if it's better at spotting marring and swirls. Led Lensers are fine though, but haven't tried the Sun Gun, so can't compare. Kind regards, Ebbe Jørgensen
Get an LED flashlight(Fenix or a knockoff) and halogens. Both of those cost not even half of what a sun gun does, and will find all of your defects. LED is great at finding fine swirls and holograms, halogens will light up the deeper ones and general marring. I believe halogens are like (US$)30-40 at a home department store, and a Fenix is 70$ish from Detailersdomain.com. Also, the batteries will last much longer on a Fenix than a sungun.
Totally agree. In this case the most economical choice is the best. If you get the TK 11 I believe it comes with a rechargeable battery as well.
I have some LED torches from Led Lenser at the moment, and they're quite good, but was wondering if there was anything better. I've also been using 500w halogens for some time, but I'm currently looking for some Metal Halide units.. Kind regards, Ebbe
Thanks, I think this answer my problem. I've been using halos, CM5300 and brinkman and they have been great finding swirls but I always had to drive the car out to the sun to look for holograms. Recently I had a hologram issues and I couldnt see it with my lighting and it was getting late so no sun to help me out. Will be getting an LED soon. Thanks!
I sometimes find meta halide lamps to work with..especially when the garage expose to sunlight...during the days i find the finish is flawless, even when i bring the cars outside under the sun..but when dark, only using meta halide lamps, it shows some/few defect such as RIDS... anyone has the same problem?
Its the angle of the light. When the edges are rounded its very hard for the sun to catch the scratch. The shop lights are directly over it, so you see it in the lightbars reflection in the finish. Try staring at the sun long enough to see its perfect reflection.
It depends on the kind of sunlight intensity you use to inspect, Fenix TK11 can inspect better than an average sunlight exposure but with a smaller surface area. However, if you inspect (by looking ard the flare and not directly) with those sunlight that can blind you with the reflection, it beats the fenix TK11. Imho, using halogen/meta halide to spot general defects/ swirls and LED to spot hologram is enough to please most people.
Ken is right about the Metal Hallides....... they are great(convention center in vegas at SEMA has millions of them and they show everything) but I looked into the cost of the ballast/installation against T8 high output lights and it did not pencil out. However if they made a metal hallide that was easy to mount on the wall I would supplement what I have in a heartbeat, I also have the Fenix along with a Infratech which I replaced my HURTING NO BATTERY LIFE SUN GUN with and have not looked back. So if you have halogens(for RIDS spotting), T8 for general illumination, Infratech to find color mismatch re spray issues, and LED torch to spot ultra fine holograms and micromarring you will be set. John's shop in Seatlle is TIGHTNESS and he has the metal hallides which I hope were in the shop before or that was BIG COIN to install!!! along with the reticulating monthly outgoing of hard earned cash.
Dark Field Micro Inspection Since concourse cars are judged solely on the way light reflects from their surfaces this is what really determines the appearance of a car, so you should inspect it under all possible lighting conditions. For a surface to be optically near ‘perfect’ it should be free of all surface imperfections. The surface should be viewed very closely and from all possible angles. Start by looking at the surface in a darkened room, once your eyes have fully dilated, turn on a bright Halogen light beam. Direct the beam away from you and at a low angle and from various directions (you’ll be able to see even the most minor paint film surface imperfection) this is 100X more sensitive than viewing a vehicles paint film surface in normal light. This viewing technique is an adaptation of “Dark field microscopy” used in many scientific fields. Direct or cloudy sunlight, shaded, low-angled, directly overhead or light reflected from other surfaces, or the type of artificial light the surface is viewed under can all influence what surface imperfections can or cannot be seen (See also 3M Sun Gun ®)
