Professional Products vs. Regular Detailing Products -- Please Help!!

[sk8brdkd]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this site.

I was looking at all of the Meguiar's products. I do not own a body shop or anything like that. I'm just a regular person. I own a 2000 Atlantic Blue Mustang. When I bought the car (bought it new), it already had a lot of swirl marks and everything in the paint. I never thought too much about it but the last few years, have been trying different products to remove all those swirl marks and everything, though, nothing has worked.

I've tried the ultimate compound which does absolutely nothing and several others that said it would remove swirl marks but, none of those products did a thing to remove any of the swirl marks.

My question is, I was looking up the products under the Professional section and was wondering if it would be ok for me to use those products? or, would they hurt the paint? I do have a orbital buffer as well.

The products I was considering, (And I would Really appreciate some feedback on these products), are: 1. Pro Speed Compound, 2. Speed Cut Compound, 3. Heavy Cut Cleaner, 4. Swirl Remover --- my car has many swirls, mostly on the trunk and hood of the car. Also has some acid rain on it and some holograms in the paint. I always took good care of my car and I believe it still looks like new, but never knew how to remove all those problem areas on the paint.

I'd really appreciate some feedback as I want my car to look its best this summer so I can enter it into some car shows.

[h_bomm]

Re: Professional Products vs. Regular Detailing Products -- Please Help!!

First off, welcome to MOL! Second, what kind of orbital buffer do you have? Is it a PC, a GV110, Griots? Or is it the "flying saucer" style?

[Murr1525]

Re: Professional Products vs. Regular Detailing Products -- Please Help!!

Have you used the orbital buffer yet?

Can you tell us more about what you used, how you applied them?

[sk8brdkd]

Re: Professional Products vs. Regular Detailing Products -- Please Help!!

First off, welcome to MOL! Second, what kind of orbital buffer do you have? Is it a PC, a GV110, Griots? Or is it the "flying saucer" style?

thanks for the welcome. I use the Meguiars Dual Action Orbital Buffer --- I believe it's the G110 --- I'd have to go down and take a look at it but right now its covered w/ stuff for a garage sale I'll be having next month.

Murr1525;528281] [/URL]Have you used the orbital buffer yet?

Can you tell us more about what you used, how you applied them?

I used the orbital buffer for the first time 2 years ago. I liked it but, just didn't like that I didn't see really any improvements in the paint using the buffer via doing it by hand. I wish I could remember all the products I've tried but, I've used Scratch X which yes, have taken out surface scratches and I tried the Ultimate Compound <----- used that w/ the orbital buffer and tried it 3 times the same day to see if it would do more but, that seemed to do absolutely nothing. I'm kind of just at a loss as to what to do anymore which is why I started looking at the professional products. Nothing seems to be working unfortunately. I used the buffer for the ultimate compound, the polish and the wax.

I'd show a picture of my car, but, its hard to see the swirls in the paint via a picture.

[h_bomm]

Re: Professional Products vs. Regular Detailing Products -- Please Help!!

What kind of pad did you use? How much pressure did you put down on the pad? What speed did you use on the machine? How fast were you moving the machine across the paint? How big of an area were you working on? Sorry to assault you with so many questions, but they are all very important factors that will determine your results. I've used Ultimate Compound a bunch and it works wonders!

[wifpd4]

Re: Professional Products vs. Regular Detailing Products -- Please Help!!

Sk8brdkd,

Everyone has some good suggestions. I might add watch some of the Meguiar's videos or get on YouTube and watch some videos. Another thing to look at is the photos of the Saturday classes using Ultimate Compound. They have very good luck with Ultimate Compound, although technique is a large part of successful swirl removal. Plus you have a good dual action buffer, learning to use it is a large part of the battle against the swirl.

Going to the Professional line is no big deal. The products are available is larger quantities and also made for use with a rotary buffer in addition to a dual action buffer. Switching to the microfiber system can also help remove those stubborn swirls. The other thing you must be aware of, is if you have delicate paint and your product, pad or technique is causing some of the marring you are seeing. There is a discussion of that situation here on MOL called "The Challenge of Delicate Paint". Read it and see if your car fits into that description.

[sk8brdkd]

Re: Professional Products vs. Regular Detailing Products -- Please Help!!

What kind of pad did you use? How much pressure did you put down on the pad? What speed did you use on the machine? How fast were you moving the machine across the paint? How big of an area were you working on? Sorry to assault you with so many questions, but they are all very important factors that will determine your results. I've used Ultimate Compound a bunch and it works wonders!

I honestly do not know what pad I used. I bought whatever pad the guy from pep boys told me to buy for using the ultimate compound. Which pad would you suggest to use for it? But, I had 3 separate pads --- 1 for the ultimate compound, 1 for the polish and 1 for the wax. I applied some pressure but was told not to press too hard on one area so I didn't. For the speed, I followed what the directions said on the bottle. <---- I guess I should've better memorized what I used before posting but didn't think I'd ever need that info --- sorry. Next time I take that car out, I'm going to see if I can get close enough to the paint to take pics of what the paint looks like from close up.

I wasn't moving the machine too fast and was working on a small area at a time.

Does it really make a huge difference the type of pad used when using ultimate compound? I wish I still had that pad but had to throw it out last year. I want to get all the right pads for use w/ the compound, polish, wax and whatever other products I choose to use this year.

[sk8brdkd]

Re: Professional Products vs. Regular Detailing Products -- Please Help!!

Sk8brdkd,

Everyone has some good suggestions. I might add watch some of the Meguiar's videos or get on YouTube and watch some videos. Another thing to look at is the photos of the Saturday classes using Ultimate Compound. They have very good luck with Ultimate Compound, although technique is a large part of successful swirl removal. Plus you have a good dual action buffer, learning to use it is a large part of the battle against the swirl.

Going to the Professional line is no big deal. The products are available is larger quantities and also made for use with a rotary buffer in addition to a dual action buffer. Switching to the microfiber system can also help remove those stubborn swirls. The other thing you must be aware of, is if you have delicate paint and your product, pad or technique is causing some of the marring you are seeing. There is a discussion of that situation here on MOL called "The Challenge of Delicate Paint". Read it and see if your car fits into that description.

thanks --- I will watch some of the videos -- I guess I'll have to learn how the ultimate compound works if it does work for the rest of you.

One question, you said if I switched to the microfiber system, it could help remove stubborn swirls. May I ask what that system is? I mean, I've heard of microfiber cloths but never a microfiber system. And I'll definitely read about the delicate paint. I honestly do not think my car fits in that category, however, I won't take any chances either. Thanks for the suggestions.

[C8N]

Re: Professional Products vs. Regular Detailing Products -- Please Help!!

Does it really make a huge difference the type of pad used when using ultimate compound?

Huge... if you use a finishing pad... it will do nothing as far as swirls and scratches are concerned.
To level paint.... you will need to use a polishing pad. For meguiars pad... it is the yellow one.

[C8N]

Re: Professional Products vs. Regular Detailing Products -- Please Help!!

thanks --- I will watch some of the videos -- I guess I'll have to learn how the ultimate compound works if it does work for the rest of you.

One question, you said if I switched to the microfiber system, it could help remove stubborn swirls. May I ask what that system is? I mean, I've heard of microfiber cloths but never a microfiber system. And I'll definitely read about the delicate paint. I honestly do not think my car fits in that category, however, I won't take any chances either. Thanks for the suggestions.

Meguiars developed a microfiber pads along with polish and wax designed to be used together.

[h_bomm]

Re: Professional Products vs. Regular Detailing Products -- Please Help!!

It does make a difference. I'm not sure what the Pep Boys guy gave you but odds are it may not have been the right pad for the job. There are lots of pad manufacturers. I personally use the Meguiars Soft Buff 2.0 pads. I use yellow polishing pads with Ultimate Compound and black finishing pads with Ultimate Polish and wax. You never want to use the same pad with different liquids, not use the same pad for wax that you just used UP for. I think you mentioned that you had a Meg's buffer so you would want to use UC on a yellow pad on speed 5 and UP and wax on their own black pads on speed 3. Hope things are starting to come together for you! Keep asking questions, it's why the forum is here!

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Professional Products vs. Regular Detailing Products -- Please Help!!

It seems like there are a few gaps in the story here as it's difficult to diagnose a situation when the OP doesn't remember what the pads were, how the tool was used, etc. Not a dig at you, sk8brdkd, since it's been a while since you last used the buffer, etc. But something just doesn't add up here. We've used UC on more cars than we can count, including plenty of Mustangs, and it almost always does an outstanding job.

Not only is pad selection an important part of the puzzle, but so is tool speed, arm speed, pressure, size of work area, etc. Get any one of them wrong and you will diminish your results. Get more than one wrong and you'll do very little to correct paint defects. While that may sound a bit frustrating, it's actually part of what makes a DA buffer so safe - use it wrong and you just don't good results. Compare that to a rotary buffer where, if you use it wrong, you often end up going to a body shop to have a panel repainted.

Read through our article on using a DA buffer and then look at your selection of backing plates and pads. While some of the products in our Mirror Glaze pro line are definitely more aggressive than UC, if you still don't use them correctly they aren't going to overcome issues with technique. In fact, some of them are even less forgiving than UC and you may find yourself fighting them with issues like dust, more difficult wipe off, etc. And many of the Mirror Glaze products are actually less aggressive than UC.

As for the DA Microfiber Correction System, it's definitely the next step up without resorting to going rotary. But before jumping into that, we think you owe it to yourself to give UC another go, with the right pads, technique, etc. Any chance you can get us some pictures of the DA you have, the backing plate, and any pads you may still have? That can really help us narrow down a process for you, as well as some recommendations for what you should change.