Comparative Abrasive Chart

[akimel]

From time to time someone asks how a non-Meguiar's polish or compound compares in abrasiveness to Meguiar's polishes and compounds. This may be an impossible question to answer, particularly with the introduction of SMAT; but the brethren at Autopia are attempting to create a comparative abrasive chart nonetheless. Here are two versions:






Check out the thread and the conversation that is taking place. If you have experience with some of the non-Meguiar's polishes and can offer some comparative insight, join in the discussion.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Comparative Abrasive Chart

This is such hard task to tackle, mostly because besides all the chemicals, the other factors make HUGE differences, this would include,

Type of pad used to apply the product
Type of machine used to apply the product
Technique used with the machine
Skills and abilities

Same above factors would apply to working by hand also.

At the end of the day most sane people are going to try to limit their correction steps to one or 2 steps before either finish polishing or applying a wax or a paint sealant.

If nothing else, the chart will be a starting point with some relative comparisons between products and give the reader enough information to start doing more research into the products that interest them the most.

[10degreesbtdc]

Re: Comparative Abrasive Chart

I can chime in on OPT products. I first purchased Hyper Compound (red label), Compound (brown label-old formula), Polish (black label-old formula), Spray Car Wax and Dark Magic cleaner/polish/wax a couple of years ago. Also got some of the distributor's in-house spray glaze and insta-cut compound.

At higher speeds OPT stuff seems to dry out quicker and be a little harder to remove. The Dark Magic cleaner/polish/wax is nice stuff for medium to dark paint, but it really gums up on the pad at higher speeds/temps/humidity and leaves light marring if the pad is not constantly cleaned, which is not easy once it's caked on the foam from heat. Once it gums up on the paint you can look forward to quite a bit of extra effort and time to remove it using spray detailer or 50/50 isopropyl alchohol/water. I have some Auto-Glym Radiant Polish Wax that doesn't gum up and produces nice results too at the same speeds/temps. OPT Car Wax and Huey Chemical's own speed glaze is pretty nice and I still use them quite often since it was very reasonably priced and I still have some left! The Insta-Cut compound really takes out defects and takes off clear coat/paint as expected, but leaves a white dust like I've never seen!

Overall I found that their products work well for the most part and produce a nice finish. There are a lot of local detailers using OPT. That's good for me as their competition using Meguiar's! Anyone interested in half-full containers of OPT? Let's make a deal.

I also have some Menzerna, 3M, Zaino and Ardex (local distributor). Only used Menzerna once and found it to be very nice as is 3M. Zaino is also nice and seems to be very durable when used with ZFX. Ardex is used by local dealership contractors and works fine. Just doesn't please my eye like Meguiar's nor do they have the resources and knowledgable, friendly users as is found here. That's worth a lot in my book!