Product Comparison Info needed Please.

[steve911]

Hi all,

I have a red Viper that sleeps alot in the winter and gets washed alot in the summer. I am very careful on what I use for wash pads and for drying towels.

Over the 3 years of its life it has developed some very very fine scrathces that show up in very bright light. A friend that custom paints motorcycles is a "til death do us part" 3M Perfect-It buffing and polishing system freak.

His paint shines flawlessly, and his final product that he uses is 3M 06068 Ultra Fine polishing compound with their 3M blue waffle polishing pad on a 7" polisher (non-orbital). He tried his products on the corner of my car and the results were fabulous.

I am a dyed in the wool Meguiars guy with my trusty PC orbital. What pads and compounds can I use to get the same results?

I have plenty of winter here in Wisconsin to ge the rest of the car looking great and I would like to show him that Meguiars products are the BEST!!!

[Chex]

Re: Product Comparison Info needed Please.

well 3M's ultrafina SE polishing system is supposed to be the ultimate in removing the last of swirls. The only meguiar's polishes that I can think as an equivalent to the ultrafina, are #9 swirl eliminator and #82 swirl free polish.

If you know about 3M's system, he should use the Perfect it II, perfect it III, or perfect it 3000 system. Few people use the Imperial system in cars.

I use 3 product lines: Meguiar's, 3M and Automagic and they all work extremely well for me, even though I know one does better products than the other one but it varies.

If your friend was able to remove the scratches and stuff with the Ultrafina SE system completely, I think you could be able to equal the results using M80 with a W8006 foam polishing pad at 5 speed, then topping that with M21.
if the scratches are very stubborn, try using M83 dual action cleaner/polish as your first step with the W8006 pad and refine (if necessary) with M80 and the W9006 pad.

Lots of companies do very good paint finishing products (Meguiar's, 3M, Automagic, Body Magic/Evercoat, etc) and the products will give you excellent results. YOU are the one who makes the difference.

Good results aren't just acheived by buying high end products. YOU need to have the correct technique to get to the points you expect

so....which product is the best? there's no "best product (even though whomever makes the most is the best care care product manufacturer that year)"

the best product is the one you use and master.

that's why mike Phillips always says (and had it once as his quote)

Find a product that you like and use it often.

So keep up the work. Experience will be the one that makes your jobs better and better and better.

hope this helps.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Product Comparison Info needed Please.

Good results aren't just achieved by buying high end products. YOU need to have the correct technique to get to the points you expect

Couldn't have said it better, it's all about technique...

[steve911]

Re: Product Comparison Info needed Please.

Chex

thanks for the in depth reply....

Can I use the perfect it 3000 06068ltra fine polish with a Meguiars 8006 Pad? 3M's BLUE WAFFLE PAD only comes in 7 inch diameter. Nothing small enough for my Porter Cable. I really dont want to dig ut my old 7" non orbital buffer. I dont want to hurt the paint.

thanks

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Product Comparison Info needed Please.

Hi all,

I have a red Viper that sleeps alot in the winter and gets washed alot in the summer. I am very careful on what I use for wash pads and for drying towels.

Over the 3 years of its life it has developed some very very fine scratches that show up in very bright light.

To date, all of the Vipers with factory paint that we've worked on here at Meguiar's have always had paint as hard as stainless steel. We remember one class where we tried M83 with a W-8006 polishing pad on the PC/G100 on a heavily swirled and scratched Viper and it didn't have any effect at all.

In fact it was at this class all the way back in 2004, (man how time flies when you're having fun )

Viper Class from 2004



And it was actually the black Viper you see here with the silver stripes.







There's actually an interesting and funny story behind that Viper and that detail day that's posted somewhere here on the forum...

[Chex]

Re: Product Comparison Info needed Please.

I guess there would not be any problem applying the Ultrafina SE polish from 3M using meguiar's pads, but it would be really recommended to use the blue polishing pad from this system, since it's been made to maximize results. the only thing that can not be done, is trying to use the ultrafina SE polish with a DA polisher or sander (like the PC/G100)

If you don't trust your rotary buffing skills, you should then try using your PC with M83 (hoping your car does not have super hard paint) and the W8006 pad.

if you do trust your techniques, get the ultrafina system (also if you're willing to pay for it) and burr your car using the blue pad @ 1800RPM, until the point that the product is starting to dry.

It's better explained in the 3M site. open the following link and then download the 40 minute ultrafina SE video to make things clearer:

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Automotive_Aftermarket/Home/Products/Video_Library/

Hope this helps.