Description
Kelly Harris is well-known for the paintwork transformations he has completed on the world's finest cars. His extensive skills in dry and wet sanding, as well as machine polishing, have allowed him to also restore the appearance of historic marques, such as the Rolls Royce pictured.
With decades of experience in this field, Kelly has setup The Detailing Centre; a centre of excellence for car paint technology training. We're excited to welcome Kelly to our HQ here in Aldershot, Hampshire as he shares his knowledge via the courses listed below.
This is a fantastic opportunity to expand the services you offer as a professional detailer. You'll walk away with a deep understanding of paint technology, which techniques to use when fixing a wide range of defects and surface finishes, plus every nuance in between the main steps.
The Courses
Intermediate (1-Day, 4th April 2025)
- Learn more about this course
- In collaboration with 3D Car Care
- Painting process and physical damage explained
- Orange peel, dry paint, swirls and scratches
- Machine-only dry sanding tools, media and methods
- Rotary and Dual Action (free spinning), DA (gear driven)
- Machine sizes, orbit sizes and the physics of paint correction
- Polishing pad materials, sizes, tool and defect/hardness suitability
- Diminishing compounds, cut levels, AIO products, MS/HS/UHS suitability
- Heavy paint defects removal, pad and compound choices, techniques
- Wipe down inspection, chemical choices, methods and lighting
- Microfibre cloth blends/construction, best uses, towel care
- Interactive, hands-on with a vehicle and test panels
Advanced (10th/11th April 2025)
- Learn more about this course
- You have the choice of day 1, day 2 or both days
Day 1 - Paint technology / sanding technology
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Intro to paint technology
- Solvent / Water / 1K & 2K systems
- OEM and aftermarket (Bodyshop repairs)
- Smart repairs
- Paint thickness
- Straight colour, metallic & pears -
Painting process defects explained
- Orange peel, dry paint, sinkage, runs,
blisters, silicones 'fisheyes, colour match -
Hardness (density) of clear coats
- Medium (MS), high (HS), Ultra-high solid (UHS) clears
- Paint application erros and how that affects the properties of hardness -
Heavy defects explained
- Etching, bird lime, swirls, scratches & stone chips
- When to sand and when to polish -
Sanding tools, materials and techniques
- Block and hand sanding
- De-nibbing and slicing tools
- Material types and grades of sanding media
- Machine sanding tools and orbit choices
- Dry, damp and wet sanding methods -
Interaction with pupils using various methods and tools
- On a pre-selected vehicle and training panels -
Wrap-up with Q&A
- A chance to ask Kelly anything
Day 2 - Machine polishing technology
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Machine tools
- Rotary / Dual Action (free spinning)
- Dual Action (gear driven)
- Machine tool sizes (large, medium and mini polishers)
- Machine orbit sizes, the physics and how it affects the rate of correction and finishes
- Spindle speed vs. contact size vs. pressure -
Polishing Pads
- Pad materials explained
- Pad sizes explained
- What pad construction suits a specific machine action
- What pad material type is best choice for defects and hardness of paint -
Compounds
- Diminishing compounds explained
- Cut levels explained
- All in one compounds
- What type of compound suits what pad type
- MS/HS/UHS paint types and what compound to use
- Finishing, refining and ultra refining explained -
Heavy paint defects removal
- Machine pad and compound choice simplified
- When to sand and when to machine polish -
Wipe down inspection
- Water based and solvent based chemicals
- Correct methods and lighting -
Microfibre cloths
- Material blends/construction
- Best uses
- Towel care -
Interaction with pupils using various methods and tools
- Hands-on with a pre-selected vehicle and training panels -
Wrap-up with Q&A
- Last chance to ask Kelly anything
Times & Location
Both courses start at 9am and will finish at 5pm on the respective days. The courses are taking place at Clean + Shiny's HQ in Aldershot, Hampshire. See below for a map of our location.
Additional Info
Refreshments will be supplied. Video and photos will be taken throughout each course for Social Media. They will also be available for your own use.
If you have any questions feel free to contact us.