M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

[jstn]

i was working my hood today (2004 VW R32) and was surprised that 205 did not remove much of the swirls in my paint.

the problem is most likely the user but i'm wondering if i should be using a more aggressive pad on my porter-cable?

i was using the meguire's soft foam 2.0 pad. should i be using a more aggressive pad with more cut, like a white foam pad?

i clayed the hood first, then worked the polish in until it was lightly hazed (i passed a 2'x2' area roughly 4-5 times, up/down, left/right) with my port-cable at speed 4 with decent pressure.

i then hit it with 7 on a non-cut pad then finished off with 21. it looks marginally better but not what i was expecting.

here are the images of the paint after hitting it with some 205. notice the swirls where the sun reflects in the pant.

should i step up the cut in my pad or my polish?

make it go away!

thanks!

- j

[Markus Kleis]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

Which 2.0 pad was it? The black finishing pad, or the yellow polishing pad?

Either way, M205 is a finishing polish and on some paints will not be able to remove moderate defects like those swirls. You might want to try something more aggressive like ScratchX 2.0, or even the stronger Ultimate Compound if the ScratchX still doesn't remove the swirls.

Then you can finish out with M205 for the final heavy gloss.

[jstn]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

Which 2.0 pad was it? The black finishing pad, or the yellow polishing pad?

Either way, M205 is a finishing polish and on some paints will not be able to remove moderate defects like those swirls. You might want to try something more aggressive like ScratchX 2.0, or even the stronger Ultimate Compound if the ScratchX still doesn't remove the swirls.

Then you can finish out with M205 for the final heavy gloss.

it was the black finishing pad. i guess i thought i was dealing with minor swirls.

do you think those swirls are that bad? they are really only visable in direct sunlight. i thought those would be considered minor swirls marks.

thanks for the feedback!

- j

[Sevy316]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

ya wanna use the yellow polishing pad. the black finishing pad is perfect for your waxes or pure polishes though!

[Markus Kleis]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

Try it with a yellow pad. If you still can't get it done, try ScratchX 2.0.

[Bunky]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

it was the black finishing pad. i guess i thought i was dealing with minor swirls.

They always look like minor swirls...

[jstn]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

great i'll try the yellow pad.

next question is what should i do to the 21 i put on? can i just polis over it or should i re-clay the hood?

thanks again!

- justin

[yalerd]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

I agree using the Foam Polishing Pad 2.0.
Just to add, put the PC on Speed 5.

great i'll try the yellow pad.

next question is what should i do to the 21 i put on? can i just polis over it or should i re-clay the hood?

thanks again!

- justin

You can use the Finishing Pad 2.0 on Speed 3 with very light pressure.
No need to clay, you can just apply it once you are in that step

[Mike Phillips]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

Just to chime in, the below was copied and pasted from this thread,

Aggressiveness Order for New Consumer Products - This will surprise you!

Note the text I formatted to be red.

Since we introduced these 3 new swirl and scratch removers in our Consumer Line and our new M205 Ultra Finishing Polish in our Professional line, many people have asked how aggressive these new products are as compared to some of our existing products that our forum members are already familiar with to help them understand the cleaning and/or abrading ability of these new products I've listed them in order of most aggressive to least aggressive reading from left to right.

(Apologies ahead of time if you have to horizontal scroll)

Most aggressive to least aggressive -->




That would be from most to least aggressive,

• M105 Ultra Cut Compound
• Ultimate Compound
• ScratchX 2.0
• SwirlX
• M83 Dual Action Cleaner Polish
• M205 Ultra Finishing Polish - M80 Speed Glaze (Different types of abrasives but close in cut ability)
• ScratchX (Current Version being discontinued)

NOTE: M205 is specifically formulated and intended to be used with a rotary buffer on fresh paint after the initial cut is made using M105 Ultra Cut Compound. When M105 is used correctly, they may only be some fine swirls left in the paint and this is what M205 is designed to remove. This is our new M105/M205 Tag Team primarily targeted at body shops where technicians are sanding and buffing fresh paint. Of course we know the detailing industry as well as the enthusiast segment of the car hobby will also use these products so we just want to set the record straight as to what these two products are intended to do and who they are primarily target towards.

Just wanted to make sure everyone reading this understands what this formula was intended to do.


As for your swirls, as everyone has posted, switch to a polishing pad as the finishing pad you're using is apparently too gentle for your car's paint system to be used to remove swirls.

If you find the M205 still isn't working on your car's paint system even with a polishing pad then it's a pretty good sign you need more aggressive product as M205 is very much on the light cut side of products.

Try either SwirlX or Ultimate Compound.

Also, be sure to read through this and make sure you're not making the most common mistakes.

How To use: G110 - G220 - G100 - PC/Porter Cable - UDM
If you're moving up to machine polishing, be sure to read the below thread before starting...
Tips & Techniques for using the G110, G100, G220 and the PC Dual Action Polisher
(These are all similar tools)

[Michael Stoops]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

It sounds like you took too gentle an approach for the defects you're dealing with. While we don't like to make sweeping generalizations regarding paint hardness, over at the VW Vortex forum the guys are always talking about how hard VW paint is. If this is true, and there are several guys there who are quite knowledgeable about such things, them M205/W9207 pad on a D/A is likely not going to give you enough punch on that paint. And it seems your results would support this theory. Try stepping up to a W8207 polishing pad first, then going to a more aggressive liquid if that doesn't help out. Of course, just do a test spot first - nothing worse than doing an entire vehicle only to find out your process isn't producing the results you want. You may find that Ultimate Compound on a W8207 pad yields the result you're chasing.

[jstn]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

great, thanks for the tips everyone!

one lingering item i need resolved is what to do with the M21 that's on the hood now? should i clay bar again or can i polish through it?

thanks!

- j

[termigator69]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

You can just polish through it. The polish will easily take it off. Just make sure to reapply it after polishing.

[ethereal45]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

Honestly you can clay a hood in a matter of minutes -- I would re-clay rather than try and polish off old wax.

[ricadodetail]

205 is a polish try ultimate compound works great them hit it with 205 good luck

[TLMitchell]

Re: M205: wrong polish or wrong pad?

Honestly you can clay a hood in a matter of minutes -- I would re-clay rather than try and polish off old wax.

205 is a polish try ultimate compound works great them hit it with 205 good luck

Since it's the first or second post for youse guys here's a tip... in the subject line of a thread the date of the original post appears next to the poster's name. This thread is over 2 1/2 years old.

BTW...



TL