How do you know how aggressive of a product you need?

[Ryansworld]

So I have the order of most aggressive to least found here: http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?28407-Aggressiveness-Order-for-New-Consumer-Products-This-will-surprise-you!

My question is how do you know which one you need just by looking at the car? I'm new to most of this but am having a hard time evaluating which product I need for a particular project... I guess my concern would be to use a product that is more aggressive than I need and cause more damage than good.

Lets say I use UC when really I only need to use scratch x, would I cause more swirls and defects by using a product that is stronger than I may have otherwise needed? Or will the UC get the job done without causing any problems even if I only needed a less aggressive product to get the job done.

[Murr1525]

Re: How do you know how aggressive of a product you need?

If doing big projects, it is really SwirlX to UC you would be comparing, wouldnt have to worry about scratchX.

Ideally you would do a small test spot, and see if the mild products works. If not, then try the stronger product. If not, then a stronger one, or technique, etc.

On most cars, esp new ones, you wouldnt cause too much of a problem if you went to strong. It may cause some marring, but then can be removed with the poper mild products. Not a good habit, but survivable.

The problem of course is if you are working on older paint, more damaged paint, etc where things are more delicate. Then going too strong could permanently damage things.

[sproulman]

Re: How do you know how aggressive of a product you need?

i had swirls on my truck and honda shadow gas tank.
i used the SCRATCH -X and it did not work.i put it on by hand.
last week i read about ULTIMATE COMPOUND.
so, i bought a bottle and tried it by hand.
it took swirls right out by HAND.

worked great.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: How do you know how aggressive of a product you need?

My question is how do you know which one you need just by looking at the car? I'm new to most of this but am having a hard time evaluating which product I need for a particular project... I guess my concern would be to use a product that is more aggressive than I need and cause more damage than good.

Well, just by looking at a car you really can't tell for an absolute certainty which product is going to be the "best choice" - that's what test spots are for. Whether you're just getting into detailing or you're a seasoned pro, every time you touch a car for the first time you're going to have this little bit of experimentation to see what works best. Now, most vehicles will respond very well to typical products like Ultimate Compound, but every now and then a car comes a long that just doesn't want to cooperate - the paint is either very resistant to buffing, or it's very delicate and easy to mar. But for the vast majority of vehicles out there we would recommend starting with Ultimate Compound and, if using a DA buffer, a polishing pad running at speed 5. Don't forget that just because a given product provides "X" amount of cut that doesn't mean you can't fudge things a bit. For example, in the link you gave you'll see that M205 and M80 offer very similar cut. But if you were to run M205 on a DA with a finishing pad at slow speed and M80 on a rotary buffer with a polishing pad at medium speed, you'd get a whole lot more cut out of the M80. Why? Because the product alone is only part of the story (see Let's talk about "Total Cut" for more info on this). So with that in mind, you can vary the overall aggressiveness of your use of Ultimate Compound, so whether it's a bit more or less aggressive is almost immaterial. Would you hurt anything by going far too aggressive? No. People reach for M105 all the time, our most aggressive liquid, when they probably could get the job done with a much less aggressive product. And they love what it does, how quickly it works, and how nice it finishes. Did they need that much power to get the job done? Probably not. Did they create any further problems? Nope.

Having said all that, there are times when a paint system is so very delicate that almost anything will cause some marring to it. In that case, you may still need a fairly aggressive product to cut through the defects, and then follow with a much less aggressive product to further refine the finish (see The Challenge of Delicate Paint for more info on this).

Lets say I use UC when really I only need to use scratch x, would I cause more swirls and defects by using a product that is stronger than I may have otherwise needed? Or will the UC get the job done without causing any problems even if I only needed a less aggressive product to get the job done.

The answer to this is pretty much as stated above. We use Ultimate Compound in our Saturday Classes all the time, on all kinds of vehicles with all kinds of paint issues. It is extremely rare that it fails to remove the defects, and also extremely rare that it needs to be followed to something less aggressive to remove any light hazing it may cause.

What's important to remember is that when doing a test spot you need to compare the test area you just worked on to an adjacent area that has not been treated. What you're trying to determine here is which product to use, how to use that product (pressure, time, number of passes, speed, etc) and not just hoping that a quick run with Product A makes the paint look perfect. You're looking for an improvement in the level of defect, preferably without any newly induced haze. But don't let a little hazing, if it should happen, bother you.

Detailing is all about reading the paint, paying attention to it, and ultimately giving it what it's asking for it. It will tell you what it needs, you just need to learn how to understand it. Fortunately, the vast majority of times, this is really straightforward.