Blog - Page 2 of 4 - NDG PRODUCTS

July 20, 2018August 5, 2018

DIY Head restoration/rectification

Headlight restoration kits are available everywhere and are priced to motivate the DIY market to buy and try their luck on getting the desired result, clear headlight lenses. The problem is that most if not all of these kits give a great result but it is short lived.

The issue with headlight lenses that once they have been restored with a quick and easy DIY headlight restoration kit is that you cannot use them a second time and expect a good result, in-fact you can very easily destroy the lens. The legacy of using these kits is that in the preparation process you sand to etch the crazing/discolouration off the lens before applying the clear-coat.

The grit is pretty course that leaves deep sanding etching in the lens. This etching is where the challenge begins as it is very hard to get a clear lens on a 2nd restoration and even harder to get a restoration to last the service life of the car.

Typical headlight issues that occur after an off the counter DIY headlight restoration

Hazing

DIY Head restoration/rectification — **Hazing**

Crazing

Severe Etching

The NDG Process.

What you need

Bucket of clean water
Waterproof gloves
Chamois and 2 x micro fibre cloth pieces
1 sheet of 400 grit Wet & Dry cut in to 10cm * 10cm pieces
1 sheet of 800 grit Wet & Dry cut in to 10cm * 10cm pieces
1 sheet of 2500+ grit Wet & Dry cut in to 10cm * 10cm pieces
5ml of NDG Hyperseal or NDG shield 120 or NDG Screen Shield

Here is what to do

Starting with 400, wet one piece and starting on the most etched damaged area on the lens start sanding in a linear motion with heavy pressure and insuring the 400 grit stays wet but dipping into the water to clean and keep wet. Change 400 grit pieces when sanding effect is diminished.

Keep sanding until the scratching noise reduces significantly and the residue starts to turn white. Wipe the lens to see how it looks and that the major scratching has been reduced significantly.

Using 800 grit with the same process and hard pressure keep sanding the entire lens wiping clear occasionally to see the clarity of the lens. Keep sanding and clearing until the lens looks very clear when wet.

Using 2500 grit and using the same methods as the other grits you start the finishing process. Keep sanding and wiping until no visible etching, crazing of disscolouration. Wet the lens with clear water and wipe down to check on the clarity and quality of finish. (if you need to touch up areas start the process of the more agressive grit papers as required)

Once you are satisfied with the finish wash the lens with water and prepare a clean piece of Microfibre or other lint free cloth and apply a small amount (coin size) and wipe onto the entire lens.

Leave Hyperseal to settle for 3 to 5 minutes before buffing clear with a clean mocrofibre or other lint free cloth or a buff machine with a soft pad.

Now your lens will be good for several years, if not longer. Recommended best practices is to apply Hyperseal to the lens every 2 to 3 years to ensure continued protection.

July 15, 2018

Matte Vinyl Wrap Restoration

We have always claimed that our Hyperseal is an excellent coating for Vinyl wrapped cars. Here we have photographed a recent job that was on a late 2000’s BMW 740il that has had a metal flaked matte vinyl wrapping for approximately 6 years.

First inspection of the wrap showed that bird droppings had left their permanent mark on the horizontal surfaces and that the Suns UV rays had dried out the same surfaces. The metal flakes were very dull and the surface looked 1 dimensional.

There were several large scratch marks on the Boot/Trunk lid possibly from shopping bags or boxes being dragged on or off but other than that the wrap adhesion was as good as ever.

The restoration plan.

The plan was to restore the wrap to look unified in it’s appearance and the original Metallic flake Matte look.

First we washed the car with Mega Gloss Wash to clean the surface well

Using a waffle pad and an orbital buffing machine on low speed applied Hyperseal to the horizontal services and hand applied Hyperseal after misting all the panels with water to the vertical surfaces and left to settle for 30 minutes.

Using the same pad and machine on midrange speed we buffed the excess Hyperseal.

The Bonnet/Hood and Boot/Trunk took some work. The dryness was worse than it first seemed so it took 3 coats of Hyperseal & polishing process to get the look and feel of a newly wrapped car in all it’s glory.

The owner was beyond happy with the result and so were we.

The end result.

End

April 2, 2018April 3, 2018

SummerNats 2018 & 2019

Summernats is an Australian must do if you are interested in over powered cars that can win an event by being the most entertaining and fastest to shred tyres down to the rims (an beyond in some cases). Mullet hair styles are your ticket into the cultural inner circle in Canbra (Nats abbreviation for Canberra).

A number of cars were already NDG Automotive product users so we had the opportunity to see these cars in their natural environment of the Summernats in Canberra (or Canbro as the local vernacular calls it).

The smell of burning rubber and over fuelled engines and screams of Supercharged V8’s added to the whiffs of red bull drinks combine to being unique sensations. Almost worth bottling it as a motorhead fragrance.

More on the Summernats can be found here

News of the day is that NDG Products will be Sponsoring the Event for 2019 and exhibiting our NDG products with live demonstrations over the Summernats week with great prizes and challenges for competitors and travelling visitors in true NDG testing program style. More on that and other programs later in the year.

March 7, 2018March 7, 2018

Hard working Polaris quad extreme makeover

It is hard to believe these pictures are of the same bike, but they are. Our camera operator on the day was not the best camera operator but got enough to tell the story.

Our mission was the get this hard life beaten Polaris quad bike, which had been on the used market for some months, back to as close as showroom condition as possible.

We picked up the machine from the Dealer on a cold winters afternoon along with a brand new Polaris quad which we were to coat with NDG Hyperseal to see how the product holds up against the UV effects of the sun on plastic.

We took the units our workshop and got to work.

The Red unit was a high hour and hard life trade-in with reasonable fading on the red plastic and high fading and oxidation on the black plastic and crystallisation of the plastic on the from tool box.

The black painted sections were also faded to oxidation stages and the aluminium was dulled and badly mud stained.

The End results were beyond what we had expected. When we took the quad back to the dealer.

The following afternoon we went back to have a look at the treatment condition on the tool box plastic as it was highly absorbent and we wanted to see if the Hyperseal had soaked in and what effect that would have on the plastic, if at all, to find that the quad was sold and delivered the same day and we were told that the plastic looked new so no problems to report.

12 months later

We asked the dealer to follow-up on the quad with the owner who said that the bike looks just as it did when they bought it and that they were very happy with the way it looks.

What we did:

We pressure cleaned the unit with NDG Bio Crystal Magic which did a great job of removing the mud stains on all the metals.
We then applied Hyperseal to every part of the unit we could reach. In all we spent 2 hours getting the Unit back to an excellent condition.

Hard working Polaris quad extreme makeover

Toolbox was heavily crystallised, now looks new

March 7, 2018March 7, 2018

Infrastructure Solar Panels and NDG Solar Flare

We have developed several Solar panel coatings under our name Solar Flare that have different characteristics for different locations and applications. To get to this stage took a lot of testing and validation in various parts of the world.

We tested on infrastructure large array solar farm panels to ensure correct tune levels and not void the panel manufacturers warranty

We tested on domestic solar panels for performance over the 4 different seasons and environments

Domestic Panel with NDG Solar Flare applied. Great colouration and clarity

We tested on solar panels for government and city infrastructure structures over 2 years.

Long term testing in extreme environments on LED Solar street lights

What we have now is a solid range of solar panel coatings that are tuned to do specific jobs.

Long Term Solar testing Biosphere 2 Arizona USA

We are very proud of our range of NDG Solar Flare products.

We are committed to developing the range of Solar Flare products further in step with the Solar and Renewable energy industries so please contact us for developmental request.

Solar Flare products can be bought here. or send us a message for further information.

March 6, 2018March 13, 2018

It was all too hard

Someone somewhere is saying this very thing every minute of every day for just about any subject you could think of. In this case it was a 1994 306 Peugeot that we had been told had broken down on a nearby highway and the nearest place to get help was a farm with a farmer who had some mechanical know how, but not enough to get the 306 running again. So there it sat in his farm shed ever since, for some years.

We spotted it on a visit to the farm while there for another reason, but it caught our eye. Why? the car seemed out of place against the rest of the items on the farm. We worked a tentative deal with the farmer pending on whether the car started. We did an assessment of the car to see what it would take to get it back on to the road. Below is our initial list.

First look list

Fuel pump has left the building. Not even in the car and the fuel tank has been exposed to the elements. (the driver door has been open all this time)
The fuel lines are cut in the engine bay
The inlet snorkel is not around
Battery terminal have take a beating (not sure why this would have been )
The car has 3 steel wheels and 3 alloy wheels
Battery is missing
Drivers door panel hanging off the door (hence the door open all this time)
small dent in the drivers door and a scrap mark on the drivers rear quarter panel.

It was all too hard — Slight damage to body

Next job

Was to see if the engine will start so fitted a battery carried out the standard checks before we attempted to fire the engine. We sprayed “Start Ya Bastard”into the engine and it fired up straight away and sounded sweet for the short time it ran under test conditions.

We now know that the car had a fuel problem of some type but what specifically is still not known but highly suspect that the fuel pump failed.

Next job was to find a donor car so we visited the local wreckers where we found the same model car that had the same parts we needed to get our project car going.

Fuel sender unit with pump
Air tract snorkel
genuine tool kit
Good battery terminals and leads

Now all the elements are sourced we can determine whether the project is viable which we think it is, but not by a lot.

Our plan is to get the car mobile in situation on the farm then drive it to get it registration checks.

We may even go as far as to carry out the NDG renovation treatment on the car on the farm.

Lets get going on this.

We will update this Blog as it happens.

Update 12th March

We removed the donor fuel pump and connector and headed out to the farm where the car was located. Installed the pump, sorted out the bad wiring, installed the battery and tested for power which there wasn’t any. Found the fuel pump fuse which was unmarked and the car fired up first go.

Reversed the car out of the shed and gave it a quick pressure wash and pumped up the tyres and took it for a short drive.

All the drivers door hardware was on the floor of the car but all the bolts and screws were missing so we taped the door closed and fitted the unregistered car permit to the windscreen and drove to town for the next phase.

Something got the better of us. The car was terrible to drive and a fuel line sprung a leak so fuel was spray in the car interior. A quick fix and then an idea occurred to us. Take this car straight to the wrecking yard!

We didn’t make it to the wrecking yard. The car stopped on the side of a lonely country road, refusing to go any further. Not giving in we sent back our pilot car to get our SUV and a tow rope to complete the final few kms to the wreckers, which we did and got there just before closing time.

Our wrecker friend would not let us abandon the car but instead offered his workshop and a special deal on the donor car in his yard to get the job completed. He is a big supporter of our Blogging work and he said that this is all part of the story and to go away and think about it overnight.

We left the car in his yard to go away and think about it.

March 6, 2018March 6, 2018

Livestock Drinking Trough Test Phase 1

As part of our blogs we will be covering some of the industries where our products are being tested in the field and also in action with our clients.

For this blog we will cover an agricultural element test program with attempting to reduce the amount of algae build-up and to reduce the leakage through cracking that inevitability occurs on a Livestock drinking trough in outback Australia.

For this we will be using one of our main industrial products FPU industrial along with an experimental Nanoscale PU coating.

In March 2017 we travelled from our Australian test facility into the interior of Australia to the edge of the wheat & sheep belt to marginal farming territories to carry out a test on a new large volume trough. We took our long term test ford for a quick outback drive. See the blog about this car here.

One arriving we found that the trough was empty of water and had a very healthy build-up of algae on the sides and plenty of dust. We set to and cleaned the trough in preparation of the coatings.

Once thing we did see was that the concrete forming of the trough had a rough finish and very pitted with micro and macro holing so we were not confident that sealing without compromising the coatings would not occur.

We coated the trough 50% FPU Industrial and 50% experimental PU coating and applied it by painting on with a standard paintbrush. We noticed that there was bubbling through some of the pitting in the concrete which means we will need to include a concrete sealant into the best practises to eliminate the bubbling.

On applying the coatings were touch dry in 10 minutes and imparting a very smooth surface which was the objective and the larger crack that had been leaking was sealed. (the cracking is important to seal as the livestock will dig around the base of the trough to get to the water on the ground. This is especially the case when there is algae buildup in the trough as the livestock do not like the algae in the trough and prefer to dig into the ground which opens the cracking further in the trough)

We will leave this test to run for 12 months and we will revisit the trough in March 2018 to see the results and gain an understanding on what we can do to improve and refine the products for this job.

Stay tuned for Phase 2 revisit to the test site @ 12 months.

March 6, 2018March 7, 2018

Criterium bike racer looking for any advantage to win

Word gets around fast. Our recent Blog about our Hyperseal seeing a good take up in the cycling industries pointy end of sprinting has spilt over into other disciplines of cycling, and in this case criterium racing where we have several riders turn up for the NDG service which not only gives the riders an advantage in pushing through the air but also making their tools of trade look new again.

The criterium season is about to start and here we have a 650 Fuji under 13’s racer who’s owner is a successful racer already at this young age and according to him he fully understands the world of nano as he reads about the advantages that can be gained.

So we did the usual and did a photoshoot before we started so we can get some solid before and after shots.

The rider stayed for the process, Maybe an entrepreneur in the making as all sorts of questions were coming at us on how and what.

The end result was a bike that looked a little tired now looks new again and right where the owner wanted it to be. New Tyres are next on his list and Graphene tyres are just the thing to complete the upgrade into the world of Nano technologies.

We are claiming this as “another success story!”.

The process was carried out using

Bio Crystal magic pressure clean (for a deep non-invasive cleaner)
Mega Gloss wash to remove any residues
Hyperseal final coating on all moving and non-moving parts.
The results were well beyond what the owner expected. The bike actually looked new again.
All Good!

You can buy out Hyperseal here

March 4, 2018March 29, 2018

60,000km Test

1 year and 60,000kms for our test car

We are always pushing our products to the limits just to see what they can and can’t do. 12 months ago this 2011 Ford Fairmont Ghia had just past the 110,000Km mark when it came to our attention on how many Km’s this car drives each week which at that point in time was about 1500kms per week, sometimes more.

12 months on the car has past the 170,000km mark and time for us to have a really good look at the condition of the Hyperseal coating we put on. We had seen the car on and off during that time but it was just for a moment and it was usually plastered with roadworks mud and spattered insects or it had just come out of a automatic car wash and was looking like it was freshly coated with Hyperseal.

So looking at the numbers.

The Average car gets driven 20,000kms per year and that is the top end number for the motoring.
This Ford has therefore driven 3 years of Km’s and out getting hammered on country and city roads all within 1 year and usually not on the same roads.
It was thought to have had over 50 car washes with 100% of them using harsh automatic carwash chemicals.

The inspection

The car is a state rep’s car for the farming and hardware company called Fjord . We arranged for a visit and a wash with NDG Mega Gloss wash and a look, touch and feel of the paintwork. We also took the car to one of the local detailers for their opinion (truely unbiased opinions come from him)

But first before we washed

The car had taken a lot of large stone impacts on the Bonnet/Hood and there was a lot of insect splattering on the Bonnet and wing mirrors.

Tar and other grime on the side doors
After washing with Mega Gloss wash

After Washing with Mega Gloss wash

All the grime and most of the insects came off with the washing
The Mega gloss and super light refraction that Hyperseal imparts was still just as good as the day it was applied (the owner says that it looks back to new each time it is washed)
We used NDG Bio Crystal magic to remove the remainder of the insects that were harder to remove and found that they had not compromised the Hyperseal protection and had just been baked on with the summer heated hot air flowing over them.
We did a quick claybar on the bonnet and wing mirrors to remove any acid rain and diesel particle adhesions and as we had hopped for the car felt as smooth as it was shinny. (One of the features of Hyperseal is you can do spot repairs without special equipment or special skills).
Once the inspection was over it was time to go out for a sunset photoshoot. (pics below)

The next test phase.

Considering that this car maybe sold within the next 12 months, it’s job is complete. For the effort the owner made in doing this long term test we will coat the car with a new layer of Hyperseal and this time we will do the rims which we didn’t get time to do 12 months ago. We will then ask the owner to take more photos of places he and his car go.

Summary

We are always surprised at how strong NDG Hyperseal is and here is an indisputable test that we had no influence over and the results are spectacular. The local detailer concurred with our observations pretty much work for word. Excellent. We are very thankful to Garry for doing this long term test.

March 3, 2018March 7, 2018

RC Trophy Truck cuts loose

Cutting loose is is a verbatim comment from the owner of this RC model of an electric powered Trophy Truck.

A kid in the neighbourhood came to us today and said he wanted to Nano his RC car to make it “Cut Loose” as he had heard that it makes old look new. Wow, this is a big statement from an under 10 year old boy. We certainly said yes you have come to the right place.

We did a photo shoot with the before both static and in action. Then we go to work on getting the job done.

Body removed and mega gloss wash, then a coat of Hyperseal. Simple but effective process.

We did notice that the gearbox sounded like it was dry running so we took a look and re-greased the gears and bushes and lubricated the drive shaft sliders.

Back together we did an after photo shoot and then hit the jumps and dirt for some action shots.