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Dr. Beasley's Nano Surface Primers and 1201 Paint Coating Review & How-To Guide by Mike Phillips
First I'd like to say a shout out to Jim Lafeber, the man behind Dr. Beasley's detailing products. I came into my office one morning and found a box from Dr. Beasley's. I open it up and inside are his brand new Nano Surface Primers!
Dr Beasley's Nano Surface Primers and 1201 Paint Coating
Thanks Jim and team!
My test car is a 1947 Dodge Panel Delivery Streetrod.
This is the before condition. Looks good under florescent lights but what you cannot see are all the Machine Sanding Marks and Holograms in the paint.
Closer Inspection
This is the section around where the wiper arms would normally be in front of the windshield - the swirl level here is low compared to the rest of the body panels.
This is a frame-up shot to show you where I'm going to focus into. The overhead florescent lights do a better job of showing the sanding marks than the swirl finder light.
These are machine sanding marks
You can also see the hills and valleys that are known as ORANGE PEEL. The tops of the hills are dull (sanded), and the valleys are un-touched.
There are both machine sanding marks and holograms throughout all the body panels like shown here...
You can see the swirls but the metallic flakes are acting like tiny mirrors and blowing out the picture.
The good
It's a fairly well-built streetrod with a small block Chevy engine, Turbo 350 automatic transmission, independent front suspension and disc brakes. I took her for a spin around the block, she runs and drives nice.
The bad and the ugly
There are DA machine sanding marks throughout the paint everywhere and holograms to go with them. And a pretty good supply of your basic swirls and scratches. So this will be a great real-world test of the brand new ABRASIVE TECHNOLOGY from Dr. Beasley's.
Abrasive Technology - THE most important factor when it comes to polishing paint
Anyone that has read any of my posts on this forum for the last 10 years knows I talk a LOT about abrasive technology. In my opinion and my experience - IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR WHEN IT COMES TO POLISHING PAINT. So it's a BIG DEAL when any company launches a a brand new line of compounds, polishes and all-in-one products an then asks me to test them.
The Mike Phillips BLACK PAINT Test
I'm not going to write a review or test a product that I would not use on my own car or black paint. I test every new compound, polish or all-in-one on black paint. If it works on black paint it will work on any color. If it won't work on black paint it won't work on any color.
Here's one of our demo-hoods. My buddy Paul Grasso of Grasso Garage paints these for us. I've been using Paul for the last 8+ years to paint our demo hoods and I'm pretty familiar with the paint system they use at their shop. I'd say the clears they spray are on the medium side of the soft/paint hard/paint spectrum. This is where you want your car's paint, not too soft and not too hard. It also enables me to tell if a compound, polish or AIO, (AIO is a cleaner/wax), works or if it doesn't work. If one of these categories of products doesn't work that means it may remove defects but it's leaving it's own defects in their place and when you're using an orbital polisher this means micro-marring.
Black Demo Hood
This stuff works!
Dr. Beasley's new Nano Surface Primers PASSED the Mike Phillips Black Paint Test
After his three new product passed my black paint test, I had the confidence to use them on some other guy's streetrod. The hood had a lot of swirls and deeper RIDS or Random Isolated Deeper Scratches. In order to remove these to my satisfaction and to the level that any streetrod deserves, I cut the hood and front fenders using the NSP 150 - this is the heavy cutting product in this new line of products, you can think of it as a compound.
The Paint Correction Step
Here I'm using the NSP 150, a Lake Country 6.5" Orange Foam Cutting Pad and the BEAST!
This compound has a super long buffing cycle and zero dusting. It's also very easy to wipe-off.
Wipey, wipey....
AND BOOM! A totally clear looking finish! (with easy wipe-off too)
No haze, no micro-marring and the majority of RIDS are gone. I hit the tops of the hood a second time with fresh cutting pads to get the paint to where I was happy.
Finishing Step
Next up I re-polished using the NSP 45 and a soft foam finishing pad. While the results looked great after the NSP 150 I"m doing SHOW CAR WORK - not production detailing on a 4-door Honda. So I always chase the heavy correction step with a much less aggressive finishing step. If for no other reason - to make sure the aggressive cutting pad doesn't leave any pad haze behind.
The product have a unique look. Not 100% creamy like most compounds and polishes but there's also no gritty feel to them.
Here's the front clip re-polished....
And hard to see in these iPhone camera shots but the clear layer of paint is even crisper, cleaner and more perfect.
Now here's the COOL part!
After using the Dr. Beasley's Nano Surface Primers and wipe off the residue - you can go straight to installing your favorite ceramic paint coating.
What does this mean?
It means you skip the pesky, time-consuming step of using some form of PANEL WIPE to chemically strip the paint. And this is important because like I've been saying for years now, wiping down scratch-sensitive paint that you just spent HOURS perfecting with a panel wipe or SOLVENT has the potential for leaving wiping marks in the paint. This is because most panel wipes are not great lubricants. Couple this with lack-luster technique and scrappy microfiber towels and you have a recipe for undoing all your hard work.
Nope - with Dr. Beasley's NSPs you can go right to the coating installation step.
Dr. Beasley's 1201 Paint Coating
For this old 2-door Dodge, I'm going to install the Dr. Beasley's 1201 Paint Coating.
Step 1: Mist a little distilled water onto a panel or section of a panel.
Then simply move around the vehicle repeating the process.
This is just to show you how much water I sprayed onto the finish. You don't need a lot - this isn't a waterless wash.
Spread the 1201 Paint Coating over the water misted surface....
Immediately wipe off the residue using a clean, microfiber towel.
Here's the final results....
Review
Nano Surface Primers
When people think of compounds and polishes, I think it's safe to say there's a number of brand names that come up for companies normally known as manufacturers of this category of product. For example,
1. Meguiar's 2. 3M 3. Menzerna
There are more, but I think we can all agree that these three companies for sure, are recognized names for companies known for making compounds and polishes.
Dr. Beasley's? Not so much. When I think of Dr. Beasley's, my first thoughts are the products that they are most known for and that is their Matte products even though they make a lot of wonderful products. But my brain does not automatically make the compound connection when thinking of Dr. Beasley's.
This is why, when Jim told me a year or so ago, while teaching one of my Roadshow Classes at his facility in Chicago that he was working on a new abrasive technology, of course my curiosity was piqued.
Among all other detailers in the world, I'm going to guess I talk about and write about the topic of ABRASIVE TECHNOLOGY more than anyone else. As I state in this article,
Abrasive Technology - THE most important factor when it comes to polishing paint
So in my opinion and experience, the most important factor when it comes to polishing paint is the abrasive technology. And from what I've seen, this is where most companies that offer a complete line of detailing products, tend to fall down, or lack great abrasive technology for their compounds, polishes and cleaner/waxes or AIOs.
So when any company decides to take the LEAP and jump into making this category of products to add to their line, it's in my opinion, a HUGE risk because like I always say, these types of products either work, or they don't. There is no grey area.
Well I'm happy to say, Dr. Beasley's new line of NSP products WORK! I'd even say Jim has hit a home run with this new line of products. I used each one of these new products with the FLEX BEAST, the FLEX PiXiE and the RUPES Nano in rotary mode and they performed flawlessly which each tool and also each pad I chose to use with each tool.
They have a long buffing cycle, no dusting that I remember, easy wipe-off and show car results. And best of all, after wiping off any residues, you can go straight to your choice of paint coating.
Jim also kept it simple, which in my experience is always best when it comes to car detailing products. There are three products in the new NSP line-up.
In order of the most aggressive to the least aggressive:
NSP 150 Heavy Cut Primer <-- Heavy or aggressive cut
NSP 95 Nano Surface Primer <--Medium Cut
NSP 45 Finishing Primer <-- Fine Cut
This enables you to do a Test Spot on any car you're working on starting with the least aggressive Nano Surface Primer and then working your way to the more aggressive products until you dial-in the perfect paint correction process for the specific paint and paint defects you're trying to remove.
1201 Paint Coating
If you've never used this coating, it's unique to the market in that you can apply it over darn near anything for protection but also without the fear of staining or turning white. For example, if you're applying the coating onto paint that is near plastic trim, if you get some of the coating onto the trim it's no problem. It will wipe right off and if you don't get it wiped off, it won't turn white and leave the trim stained like a conventional wax or sealant.
Jim also likes to share that this coating can be used on cars that have had their paint corrected and polished OR - if you don't have time to do the paint correction step, simply wash and dry, clay if needed and then apply the coating. You'll get all the benefits of the coating without all the time and labor invested into the polishing step.
Here's everything I used...
• NSP 150 with LC Force Hybrid Orange Foam Cutting Pads for removing sanding marks and the front clip.
• NSP 95 with the LC Force Hybrid Orange Foam Cutting Pads for removing holograms where there were no sanding marks.
• NSP 45 with the LC Force Hybrid Black Foam Finishing Pads - I used these for a second step polishing step anywhere I used the foam cutting pads to ensure no pad haze.
• Distilled water and Dr. Beasley's 1201 Paint Coating.
Tools used
I find myself using these three tools more and more as my normal tool selection for most car detailing projects.
FLEX XC 3401 VRG - The original BEAST - Why? Because it's the fastest tool for me to remove paint defects without inducing holograms and consistently putting out pro quality results.
FLEX PiXiE - I love how this too is able to maintain pad rotation when using the 12mm drive unit.
RUPES Nano Long Neck - I use this in rotary mode for doing edge work.
Forrest Green Edgeless Microfiber Towels
I like these towels for 2 reasons
1: They have a flat weave, which means they are less likely to become contaminated as compared to a large fluffy weave.
2: They work great.
Your choice for towels shouldn't be any more complicated than these two reasons.
Here's a couple of parting shots....
Cool streetrod.
Dr Beasley's Nano Surface Primers and 1201 Paint Coating
Thanks Jim and team!
My test car is a 1947 Dodge Panel Delivery Streetrod.
This is the before condition. Looks good under florescent lights but what you cannot see are all the Machine Sanding Marks and Holograms in the paint.
Closer Inspection
This is the section around where the wiper arms would normally be in front of the windshield - the swirl level here is low compared to the rest of the body panels.
This is a frame-up shot to show you where I'm going to focus into. The overhead florescent lights do a better job of showing the sanding marks than the swirl finder light.
These are machine sanding marks
You can also see the hills and valleys that are known as ORANGE PEEL. The tops of the hills are dull (sanded), and the valleys are un-touched.
There are both machine sanding marks and holograms throughout all the body panels like shown here...
You can see the swirls but the metallic flakes are acting like tiny mirrors and blowing out the picture.
The good
It's a fairly well-built streetrod with a small block Chevy engine, Turbo 350 automatic transmission, independent front suspension and disc brakes. I took her for a spin around the block, she runs and drives nice.
The bad and the ugly
There are DA machine sanding marks throughout the paint everywhere and holograms to go with them. And a pretty good supply of your basic swirls and scratches. So this will be a great real-world test of the brand new ABRASIVE TECHNOLOGY from Dr. Beasley's.
Abrasive Technology - THE most important factor when it comes to polishing paint
Anyone that has read any of my posts on this forum for the last 10 years knows I talk a LOT about abrasive technology. In my opinion and my experience - IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR WHEN IT COMES TO POLISHING PAINT. So it's a BIG DEAL when any company launches a a brand new line of compounds, polishes and all-in-one products an then asks me to test them.
The Mike Phillips BLACK PAINT Test
I'm not going to write a review or test a product that I would not use on my own car or black paint. I test every new compound, polish or all-in-one on black paint. If it works on black paint it will work on any color. If it won't work on black paint it won't work on any color.
Here's one of our demo-hoods. My buddy Paul Grasso of Grasso Garage paints these for us. I've been using Paul for the last 8+ years to paint our demo hoods and I'm pretty familiar with the paint system they use at their shop. I'd say the clears they spray are on the medium side of the soft/paint hard/paint spectrum. This is where you want your car's paint, not too soft and not too hard. It also enables me to tell if a compound, polish or AIO, (AIO is a cleaner/wax), works or if it doesn't work. If one of these categories of products doesn't work that means it may remove defects but it's leaving it's own defects in their place and when you're using an orbital polisher this means micro-marring.
Black Demo Hood
This stuff works!
Dr. Beasley's new Nano Surface Primers PASSED the Mike Phillips Black Paint Test
After his three new product passed my black paint test, I had the confidence to use them on some other guy's streetrod. The hood had a lot of swirls and deeper RIDS or Random Isolated Deeper Scratches. In order to remove these to my satisfaction and to the level that any streetrod deserves, I cut the hood and front fenders using the NSP 150 - this is the heavy cutting product in this new line of products, you can think of it as a compound.
The Paint Correction Step
Here I'm using the NSP 150, a Lake Country 6.5" Orange Foam Cutting Pad and the BEAST!
This compound has a super long buffing cycle and zero dusting. It's also very easy to wipe-off.
Wipey, wipey....
AND BOOM! A totally clear looking finish! (with easy wipe-off too)
No haze, no micro-marring and the majority of RIDS are gone. I hit the tops of the hood a second time with fresh cutting pads to get the paint to where I was happy.
Finishing Step
Next up I re-polished using the NSP 45 and a soft foam finishing pad. While the results looked great after the NSP 150 I"m doing SHOW CAR WORK - not production detailing on a 4-door Honda. So I always chase the heavy correction step with a much less aggressive finishing step. If for no other reason - to make sure the aggressive cutting pad doesn't leave any pad haze behind.
The product have a unique look. Not 100% creamy like most compounds and polishes but there's also no gritty feel to them.
Here's the front clip re-polished....
And hard to see in these iPhone camera shots but the clear layer of paint is even crisper, cleaner and more perfect.
Now here's the COOL part!
After using the Dr. Beasley's Nano Surface Primers and wipe off the residue - you can go straight to installing your favorite ceramic paint coating.
What does this mean?
It means you skip the pesky, time-consuming step of using some form of PANEL WIPE to chemically strip the paint. And this is important because like I've been saying for years now, wiping down scratch-sensitive paint that you just spent HOURS perfecting with a panel wipe or SOLVENT has the potential for leaving wiping marks in the paint. This is because most panel wipes are not great lubricants. Couple this with lack-luster technique and scrappy microfiber towels and you have a recipe for undoing all your hard work.
Nope - with Dr. Beasley's NSPs you can go right to the coating installation step.
Dr. Beasley's 1201 Paint Coating
For this old 2-door Dodge, I'm going to install the Dr. Beasley's 1201 Paint Coating.
Step 1: Mist a little distilled water onto a panel or section of a panel.
Then simply move around the vehicle repeating the process.
This is just to show you how much water I sprayed onto the finish. You don't need a lot - this isn't a waterless wash.
Spread the 1201 Paint Coating over the water misted surface....
Immediately wipe off the residue using a clean, microfiber towel.
Here's the final results....
Review
Nano Surface Primers
When people think of compounds and polishes, I think it's safe to say there's a number of brand names that come up for companies normally known as manufacturers of this category of product. For example,
1. Meguiar's 2. 3M 3. Menzerna
There are more, but I think we can all agree that these three companies for sure, are recognized names for companies known for making compounds and polishes.
Dr. Beasley's? Not so much. When I think of Dr. Beasley's, my first thoughts are the products that they are most known for and that is their Matte products even though they make a lot of wonderful products. But my brain does not automatically make the compound connection when thinking of Dr. Beasley's.
This is why, when Jim told me a year or so ago, while teaching one of my Roadshow Classes at his facility in Chicago that he was working on a new abrasive technology, of course my curiosity was piqued.
Among all other detailers in the world, I'm going to guess I talk about and write about the topic of ABRASIVE TECHNOLOGY more than anyone else. As I state in this article,
Abrasive Technology - THE most important factor when it comes to polishing paint
So in my opinion and experience, the most important factor when it comes to polishing paint is the abrasive technology. And from what I've seen, this is where most companies that offer a complete line of detailing products, tend to fall down, or lack great abrasive technology for their compounds, polishes and cleaner/waxes or AIOs.
So when any company decides to take the LEAP and jump into making this category of products to add to their line, it's in my opinion, a HUGE risk because like I always say, these types of products either work, or they don't. There is no grey area.
Well I'm happy to say, Dr. Beasley's new line of NSP products WORK! I'd even say Jim has hit a home run with this new line of products. I used each one of these new products with the FLEX BEAST, the FLEX PiXiE and the RUPES Nano in rotary mode and they performed flawlessly which each tool and also each pad I chose to use with each tool.
They have a long buffing cycle, no dusting that I remember, easy wipe-off and show car results. And best of all, after wiping off any residues, you can go straight to your choice of paint coating.
Jim also kept it simple, which in my experience is always best when it comes to car detailing products. There are three products in the new NSP line-up.
In order of the most aggressive to the least aggressive:
NSP 150 Heavy Cut Primer <-- Heavy or aggressive cut
NSP 95 Nano Surface Primer <--Medium Cut
NSP 45 Finishing Primer <-- Fine Cut
This enables you to do a Test Spot on any car you're working on starting with the least aggressive Nano Surface Primer and then working your way to the more aggressive products until you dial-in the perfect paint correction process for the specific paint and paint defects you're trying to remove.
1201 Paint Coating
If you've never used this coating, it's unique to the market in that you can apply it over darn near anything for protection but also without the fear of staining or turning white. For example, if you're applying the coating onto paint that is near plastic trim, if you get some of the coating onto the trim it's no problem. It will wipe right off and if you don't get it wiped off, it won't turn white and leave the trim stained like a conventional wax or sealant.
Jim also likes to share that this coating can be used on cars that have had their paint corrected and polished OR - if you don't have time to do the paint correction step, simply wash and dry, clay if needed and then apply the coating. You'll get all the benefits of the coating without all the time and labor invested into the polishing step.
Here's everything I used...
• NSP 150 with LC Force Hybrid Orange Foam Cutting Pads for removing sanding marks and the front clip.
• NSP 95 with the LC Force Hybrid Orange Foam Cutting Pads for removing holograms where there were no sanding marks.
• NSP 45 with the LC Force Hybrid Black Foam Finishing Pads - I used these for a second step polishing step anywhere I used the foam cutting pads to ensure no pad haze.
• Distilled water and Dr. Beasley's 1201 Paint Coating.
Tools used
I find myself using these three tools more and more as my normal tool selection for most car detailing projects.
FLEX XC 3401 VRG - The original BEAST - Why? Because it's the fastest tool for me to remove paint defects without inducing holograms and consistently putting out pro quality results.
FLEX PiXiE - I love how this too is able to maintain pad rotation when using the 12mm drive unit.
RUPES Nano Long Neck - I use this in rotary mode for doing edge work.
Forrest Green Edgeless Microfiber Towels
I like these towels for 2 reasons
1: They have a flat weave, which means they are less likely to become contaminated as compared to a large fluffy weave.
2: They work great.
Your choice for towels shouldn't be any more complicated than these two reasons.
Here's a couple of parting shots....
Cool streetrod.