Questions: MF system and sealants

[jrsb1418]

I got a 5" MF system coming in the mail and I was just wondering about the use of sealants with that system. I have the klasse high gloss and was wondering if i could use that and if I should do it before or after the finishing wax from the MF system. Help?

Thx in advance!

[Marc08EX]

Re: Questions: MF system and sealants

If you have a dedicated LSP, then I would use it after using D301.

There are a lot of situations that D300 finishes LSP ready so if you're happy with the finish, you can go straight to LSP and skip D301.

There are also a lot of detailers who use a different finishing polish such as M205 or Ultimate Polish to follow up their initial correction using D300. Then after use their dedicated LSP.

[jrsb1418]

Re: Questions: MF system and sealants

sorry what's LSP?

[Marc08EX]

Re: Questions: MF system and sealants

sorry what's LSP?

Last Step Product such as sealants/waxes. This refers to step 4 (Protect) in Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle.

[wifpd4]

Re: Questions: MF system and sealants

Marc,

To supplement this discussion, do you see a difference between M205 or Ultimate Polish using a MF pad versus a foam pad? Or is the difference not discernible? How about a difference in speed or ease, any difference? Does the dual personality of Ultimate Compound really show up when using a MF correction pad versus a MF finishing pad?

[Marc08EX]

Re: Questions: MF system and sealants

Hi David,

I've only used M205 or UP using a foam pad. I haven't tried using it with a MF finishing pad because I'm afraid that the MF strands might be too aggressive for my purpose of finishing the paint even if it's called a finishing MF pad. I've only used my MF pads with the MF compounds and the other liquids using foam pads. I've never tried to cross over in terms of compatibility. I've read that Mike Stoops has used the D300 Microfiber Correction Compound with a foam pad to dial down the aggressiveness and it worked beautifully!

I apologize I can't fully answer your question.

[Mark58]

Re: Questions: MF system and sealants

I used D300 MF followed up with Ultimate polish and Finishing foam pad on Black car and it worked out great.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Questions: MF system and sealants

Two things to keep in mind here:

1. The full system was not designed to be a high end, concours type detailing system but rather a fast cutting, very nice finishing, quick and safe way for large volume reconditioning facilities to correct a large number of vehicles on a daily basis. By "large number" we mean often on the order of 300 to 400 or more cars per day.
2. There is nothing in the rule book of detailing that says you absolutely must use this system only with its own components, so feel free to experiment.

Because of the fast cutting action of the cutting disc and D300 a lot of guys are using this instead of a rotary for the initial correction step. From there, the options are almost limitless. Some cars end up coming out just beautiful using nothing more than D300/D301 on their respective microfiber discs. Sometimes, however, the system is a bit overly aggressive on more delicate paint so you might want to substitute M205 or Ultimate Polish on a foam finishing pad rather than D301 on the microfiber finishing disc, and then top with your favorite wax or sealant. Or you might be in a situation where you're looking to achieve maximum gloss out of a finish, even if the MF system is not overly aggressive. In that case, it's very common to follow D300 with M205 and then a high end sealant or wax, like Ultimate Wax paste.

In those rare cases where the paint hazes very noticeably with D300 and the microfiber cutting disc, you might want to do a bit more experimentation. Marc mentioned a case where I, personally, used D300 on a W8207 Soft Buff 2.0 foam polishing pad on a car with paint that wa quite delicate though in need of some serious correction. This particular car would hologram very badly if a rotary was used on it so, with very limited time to work on the car, I opted out of rotary work on it. D300 on the microfiber cutting disc left some pretty nasty haze, but it did remove all the defects very quickly. But moving to D300 on the foam pad and a G110v2 gave almost instantaneous defect removal and zero haze, zero holograms. Keep in mind, this scenario is what worked on this particular car. The owner has another car that loves rotary work, so that's what I do on it - M205/W8207/rotary. But the other car hates that combo. Go figure.

David, to your questions regarding M205/Ultimate Polish on microfiber versus foam, it's really going to come down to how the paint responds to the microfiber disc. In some cases we would expect the outcome to be nothing short of incredible, in others you may not see much of a difference at all.

Of course, all of this "experimentation" can lead to a lot of wasted time if you're in the process of actually detailing a car. If everything is coming out to your satisfaction, or the satisfaction of the client, then that's what matters. If you're doing this for money your client isn't going to pay you for the time you spend trying different combinations to see if you can eek out one last little metallic particle having a bit more pop. What's important is to understand how the individual products are supposed to perform on their own, how using a different process (tool, pad, speed, etc) with that product might effect it's behavior, and how the paint is responding to a given input. Fortunately it is quite rare that a paint system is extremely uncooperative so normally just a few liquids and pad types on hand is all you need. But when something really finicky does come along, it's nice to be able to think on your feet and respond to the situation. While those sessions can be a bit frustrating at first, they also tend to be very rewarding when everything is said and done.

[wifpd4]

Re: Questions: MF system and sealants

M & M & M,

Thanks for your experiences and knowledge. Helpful as always.

[jrsb1418]

Re: Questions: MF system and sealants

Thx for the good info guys!