Is Gold Class Liquid Wax Silicone Free ?

[diego]

Hi,

I'm trying to get the silicone out of my shop because I'll be painting in there. Specifically, is Meguiar's Gold Class Liquid Wax silicone free? Also, is there a place where I can find out which of Meguiar's products are silicone free?

Thanks,
Diego

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Diego,

Gold Class Wax is not body shop safe, no true car wax is because the nature of a car wax is to coat over and protect the surface to which it is applied. In a body shop environment, products like this will do exactly the opposite of what the goal of a body shop is and that's to perfectly prepare a surface for the application of fresh paint, this mean having the surface clean and free of any substance that would or could negatively affect surface adhesion, that it the ability of a substance, (paint), to coat over and adhere in a uniform manner to the panel it is being applied to.

Any product that is formulated to seal and protect cured paint is generally not safe for use in a body shop where fresh paint is being applied, this would include waxes or paint protectants by any name, especially if they make water bead up really well because water beading up is a sign there is an ingredient in the product that creates high surface tension.

Meguiar's entered the Professional Auto Finishing and Refinishing industry in approximately the early 1920's and we continue to manufacture products for these industries many of which are body shop safe.

To get a list of which of our products in our Professional Line are body shop safe and designed to help you create stunning finishes that will Wow! your customers, you need to get one of our Professional Line Catalogs.

Your account shows your location to be OR, I can only guess this may mean Oregon? If so, locate your local PBE store and ask them for one of our Professional Line catalogs or call our Customer Care Center at 1-800-347-5700 and we will send you a catalog.

For the most part, the products that we offer that are body shop safe and typically used by body shops are,

M85 Diamond Cut Compound
M84 Compound Power Cleaner
M83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish
M82 Swirl Free Polish
M81 Hand Polish
M80 Speed Glaze
M01 Medium Cut Cleaner
M02 Fine Cut Cleaner
M03 Machine Glaze
M04 Heavy Cut Cleaner
M05 New Car Glaze
M07 Show Car Glaze
M09 Swirl Remover 2.0
M34 Final Inspection
M00 Hi Tech Wash
M62 Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner

[diego]

Body-Shop Safe Practices?

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the thorough reply. Am I searching for the impossible? I just have one garage, 20 feet by 20 feet. I'm trying to use it for everything: car repairs, car detailing, as well as body work from repairing dents to repainting panels and eventually repainting entire cars. I was hoping I could put a long-lasting finish shine on our cars without contaminating the shop with substances that will make painting a nightmare. (I see glazes on your list of body-shop safe products, but I was told they don't produce a long-lasting shine like waxes and sealers.) Am I chasing an impossible dream here?

Right now I'm using a three step process to clean up older oxidized paint. The first step is a rubbing compound that takes out scratches up to 1200 grade, the second step removes the swirl marks, and the third step is Meguiar's Gold Class liquid wax. I'm still searching for the perfect combination, but this worked well on the last car I did.

Again, thanks for the response.

Diego

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Body-Shop Safe Practices?

Originally posted by diego
I was hoping I could put a long-lasting finish shine on our cars without contaminating the shop with substances that will make painting a nightmare. (I see glazes on your list of body-shop safe products, but I was told they don't produce a long-lasting shine like waxes and sealers.) Am I chasing an impossible dream here?

Well you're working at two different extremes of this industry. Prepping paint for excellent surface adhesion and applying products that last a long time to protect paint are completely opposite goals, so yes if you want to do both jobs in the same closed environment you're setting your self up to encounter problems no matter whose long lasting wax you use because the characteristics of a protective coating are at odds with trying to create a surface perfectly clean for optimum and uniform paint adhesion.

Right now I'm using a three step process to clean up older oxidized paint. The first step is a rubbing compound that takes out scratches up to 1200 grade, the second step removes the swirl marks, and the third step is Meguiar's Gold Class liquid wax. I'm still searching for the perfect combination, but this worked well on the last car I did.

This system sounds kind of archaic compared to what Meguiar's offers. Most of our work here is to either educate people to avoid abrasive compounds so you don't scour the surface, or help them undo the damage caused by compounds.

Take some time to read our 5-Step paint care cycle in the link below as well as some of the other threads, Meguiar's offers so many great products that will make your job easier while showcasing your talents.

List 'O Links

Many of the things we cover in our Saturday Classes are discussed and talked about in the threads found in the sub-forums of the Information Station


First read this,

Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle


Then read these...

How To Remove Swirls By Hand
How to remove a defect by hand with ScratchX
Using the G-100 to remove swirls with the Professional Line
Circles or Straight Lines?
Which LSP is Best for Light Colors
How to locate Meguiar’s Professional & Detailer products in your hometown
How to tell when a Meguiar's wax is ready to remove - The Swipe Test
The Dual Action Counterweight "Controversy"
What are the Differences Between Meguiar's Waxes
What's the Deal with "Layering"?
Measuring Clear Coat Thickness
Rotary vs. PC vs. Regular Orbital Buffer
Glass Polishing...Deep Cleaning
NXT Tech Wax Cure Time
Suggested Products for Taking Care of a New Car
Colored Waxes - Do they really work?
PC + #83 not "Cutting" it! - The Limits of the Dual Action Polisher
What it Means to Remove a Scratch
Why Meguiar’s Recommends Polishing Paint
A Lesson From White Paint
Each one, teach one... Ferrari Fiorano 355 F1 Spider

[the other pc]

I think this product might be silicone free.



Silicone-Free Dressing



PC.

[the other pc]

Re: Body-Shop Safe Practices?

Originally posted by diego
... I just have one garage, 20 feet by 20 feet. I'm trying to use it for everything: car repairs, car detailing, as well as body work from repairing dents to repainting panels and eventually repainting entire cars...

A couple of things come to mind.

Besides silicones, other products in an auto service environment like oil, grease, trans and brake fluids, antifreeze, hand cleaners, etc can prove problematic for painting operations. Mixing painting and other activities in a small shop would require extremely meticulous procedures.

You'll want to check local regulations. To do painting you may be required to have an approved and permitted spray booth.

If the city/state/whatever doesn't require it your insurance carrier still might. Painting activities present significant fire risk.

Even if you're not required to use a spray booth it's very difficult to maintain quality without one. It's certainly inefficient.

Spray booths are expensive, take up a lot of space and require continuous maintenance. Air handling additions to a compressed air system that make for high quality coating operations also cost extra. If you're not using them constantly, doing mechanical work most of the time and only painting occasionally, it's likely to be more cost effective to find somebody that has a paint booth they rent out.

Originally posted by diego
...I'm still searching for the perfect combination, but this worked well on the last car I did...

Unfortunately, since there are so many different types of paints and so many paint jobs in such widely varying conditions there's no such thing as a "perfect combination." What works for one kind of paint might not work for another and even two cars that rolled out of the same factory's booth one after another but have lived in different environments might need very different products/processes.

With their range of products, Meguiar's allows you to evaluate a finish and then dial in a process as needed.


PC.

[diego]

Thanks for the replies. I'll look over the links suggested. There is a lot to learn.

The procedure I mentioned that I used on my car recently seems to have worked well. The paint is a single-stage dark brown repaint, and not a particularly high quality paint job. There are so many products out there, it's hard to sort them all out. The products I used were recommended by the local automotive paint supply shop that supplies lots of the local body shops. The paint is old, cheap, and had all kinds of water stains and imperfections in it. I did the rubbing compound, then swirl mark remover, then Meguiar's Gold Class Liquid Wax. I'll have to say the car looks the best it has ever looked since I bought it a few years ago. But, if there's a better way, I want to learn it. I'll read the information in the links provided to learn more.

Thanks,
Diego

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by diego
I'll have to say the car looks the best it has ever looked since I bought it a few years ago. But, if there's a better way, I want to learn it.

One of the most important factors when polishing paint, whether you're detailing cars or compounding and polishing fresh paint is to find a system that produces the results that please you and your customer.

It sounds like you're using products from different company's, perhaps as time goes by, you've done some reading here, then pick up a few Meguiar's products that are similar to other products you're using from other company's and try using our system, versus just a few products from our line.

We offer a pretty good system

Here's something we wrote that's in another thread that addresses a gentleman wanting to switch from 3M to Meguiar's.

Here's the thread,

Switching from 3M to Meguiar's - Rotary Buffer Questions?

and here's the pertinent excerpt...

Originally posted by Solus
Hi there, well its me again guys, look i been using 3M products and they work good, i just use the Perfect-It II Rubbing compound and the swirl remover, but now i am interest on using Meguiar's and i found Fine Cut , Medium Cut and Heavy cut cleaners, which i don't know why i think are similar as Dual action cleaner/polish, compound power cleaner, and diamond cut compound.

Hi Solus,

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!

The questions is what is the difference between them, i mean i know fine is light compound and heavy is aggressive as dual action is light compound and diamond is the aggressive one, but why there are like 2 light compounds and 2 abrasives, is that because of different paints? like the ones of th body shops that sometimes are harder cuz of too much hardness and cheap paint, and that the stock ones are soft? Or is just preference or what would be a difference?

The primary difference is they type of diminishing abrasive they use, at least that's the difference most people would notice when using them. All of these products, M01, M02, M04, M85, M84, M83, M82, M80, can be used on either clearcoated finishes, or non-clearcoated finishes. The 80's series are more modern technology based upon Meguiar's experience formulating products used at the OEM level. I would also like to add that the formula's for the Traditional Mirror Glaze Products, M02, M04, have also been updated when technology allows. I'm not sure about M01 Medium Cut Cleaner.

Either way, both groups of products work well when used according to directions on the label and which one works best for you will be based upon your personal preferences.

I'm sure a lot of you guys have used these products would you share with me some of your experience with them? plus comments.

I think Travis has contributed a lot to this thread already, thank you Travis!

Sometimes you have to work on the Sun because theres no shade, also many compounds dry too fast cuz of the hot surface and evaporate leaving all sticky the compound on the paint, i don't know if this happens with these compounds.

There are no compounds, paint cleaners, cleaner/polishes or pure polishes manufactured by Meguiar's specifically formulated for use in direct sunlight on automotive paints. The sun, or more specifically, the heat created by sunlight will increase surface temperature of the finish and make any product more difficult to work with and affect the performance of the product dramatically. Meguiar's always recommends working on a cool surface in the shade. We understand that when doing mobile detailing work, this isn't always possible, one solution is to do what Joe of
Superior Shine Mobil Auto Detailing does and that is to use a portable canopy when working in direct sunlight.



You can check out Joe's most excellent before and after write-up on how he removed the swirls in the finish of the black BMW using Meguiar's compounds, polishes and waxes in the below thread. (If the below makeover doesn't knock your socks off, nothing will!)

BMW 745il Extreme Make-Over

Also do they hide swirl marks?

Meguiar's compounds, paint cleaners and cleaner/polishes all use Meguiar's Diminishing Abrasive Technology. When used correctly, the diminishing abrasive technology Meguiar's has pioneered since 1901 and continues to improve today, will do two things,

• 1. Remove the below surface defects, swirls, sanding marks, etchings, oxidation, etc.
  2. Remove their own marks as they reduce in size and polish out

like i like to wash the car with a sponge after compound and polish just with water to remove all the dust left by compounding and polishing, and then after that i glaze it and protect it with a pure wax or polymer.(depending on the color)

I been detailing for 2 years started with a rotary buffer burning some paints :P but well i have worked on 2 detail shops and a mobile detail, and i got some experience from there, also by doing some side jobs. I don't burn paint anymore

I would recommend reading the below two threads in the Hot Topics because they discuss in detail working what can and what cannot be done with a rotary buffer as far as creating a swirl free finish.

Need HELP! - How to avoid holograms?

How to avoid swirls and holograms?

In the end, in order to guarantee a completely swirl free finish on a dark colored paint in bright lights, you're going to need to re-polish each panel either by hand or with a dual action polisher to insure any remaining minor swirls induced by the direct drive circular contact between your pad of choice on a rotary buffer and the paint are completely removed. That, or use a coating or two of wax to insure any remaining holograms or swirls are eliminated.

Read the above two threads as there is a lot of good information in them that would not be efficient to try to re-post into this thread.

Here is one example of a selection of products you can start out with when switching over to Meguiar's from 3M. This is not you're only option, but I'm trying to keep it simple with only a few products for you to experiment with.

The M84 Compound Power Cleaner is an easy product to use with a lot of play time. It is formulated to be used with foam pads, not wool pads, so you can avoid using wool and thus avoid instilling wool fiber swirls.

The M80 Speed Glaze is a light cleaner/polish that will remove fine swirls with our W-8006 polishing pad. The key to making this product remove any leftover swirls from the M84 Compound Power Cleaner is to make sure you buff the M84 completely so that you have broken all of the diminishing abrasives down completely. This is the trick to not leaving behind any deeper swirls with Meguiar's compounds. (Don't buff to a dry buff however).

The M80 Speed Glaze is also easy to work with, offers a lot of play time, and easy to wipe off. You can then also use it with the dual action polisher to insure there are no remaining swirls. M80 Speed Glaze produces a very, very, clear and glossy finish, perfect for applying your LSP to.

Again, the below recommendations are not the only products or method of tackling every car, but it is a system that will work on most cars that you will come across and 99.9% of the time, it will produce professional results you can be proud of and your customers will love you for and recommend you to their friends.

It's also the system I used to remove the swirls on this clearcoated Corvette and restore a swirl-free, crystal clear finish.

1999 Corvette - Remove Swirls and Scratches


~~~~~~~~~


First Step Products and Process
Rotary Buffer for removing serious below surface defects,

Compound Power Cleaner
SOFTBUFFâ„¢ Cutting Pad



Second Step Products and Process
Rotary buffer for removing any residual swirls or haze left by the first step process.

Speed Glaze
Soft Buff® Foam Polishing Pads




Third Step Products and Process
Dual Action Polisher to insure a completely swirl free finish in direct sun or bright lights.

Electric Dual Action Polisher
Speed Glaze
Soft Buff® Foam Polishing Pads



At this step, use the above same products that you used with a rotary buffer in your second step process, only now substitute a different machine to apply them with. For this step, use a dual action polisher to re-polish each panel using the oscillating action of this type of machine to polish and remove any remaining swirls left by the rotary buffer to insure a completely swirl-free finish.





Last Step Products and Process
By hand or using a dual action polisher to apply your choice of wax, also known as your L.S.P., Last Step Product, this is the last product you apply and remove before standing back and saying to yourself, it is finished. Then, turn the car back over to the excited owner!

Electric Dual Action Polisher
SOFTBUFFâ„¢ Finishing Pad





Meguiar's LSP's

Here are a few options for last step products if you've performed a multiple-step process as outlined above.

NXT Generation„¢ Tech Wax



NXT Generation Tech Wax Paste



Gold Class Clear Coat Car Wax



Deep Crystal System Carnauba Wax



Hi-Tech Yellow Wax




Synthetic Sealant




Polymer Sealant