Choosing Paint Cleaner or Compound

[AutoNova]

How do you know wheter to use a cpmpoud or cleaner if the paint on a car, assuming it is pretty messy with some scratches heavy swirling-micromarring and maybe some sap areas.

Would you use #85 or #4? What is the real difference between a heavy cut cleaner and a Compound?

If you use #85 what do you follow up with?
If you use #4 same question?

[travisdecpn]

I had always been under the impression that the fine, medium, and heavy cut cleaners were designed for single stage paint, whereas the newer 80 series was designed to work on bc/cc paints, and be backwards compatitble with single stage. I know I am probably wrong on this, so I'm sure Mike or someone will jump in and correct me. I have #84 to remove sanding marks and serious paint defects. I have a full 32 oz bottle of #85, but I can't imagine ever having to use it. My dad has a bunch of fine, med, and heavy cut cleaners he used on all of his single stage paint.

[Mike Phillips]

M01 Medium Cut Cleaner, M02 Fine Cut Cleaner and M04 Heavy Cut Cleaner are what are called paint cleaners, in the traditional Mirror Glaze Line. All of these have their origins as far back as the 1930's.


The story behind the word, "Compound"
Meguiar's chose a long time ago to use the word paint cleaner instead of the word compound because when people think of a compound, they think of a product that is gritty and removes paint by scratching it. Meguiar's could have created compounds using abrasives that didn't break down, but they don't advance the results towards your goal, that is while they may remove defects, at the same time they leave behind their own defects in the way of compounding scratches. Instead, Meguiar's chose to pioneer the use of diminishing abrasives in their paint cleaning formulas. As such, they didn't want to use the word compound on the label or as a part of the name to describe their products because they didn't want people to think of them as products that were gritty and that would scratch paint.

A person goes into their local PBE store looking for supplies for their shop. Because they have a wet-sanding job coming up on a car that was just painted, they know they need a compound. When they walk over to the compound and polish aisle, they see products that say "compound" and products that say, "cleaner". They understand what the word compound means, but when they see the word "cleaner", the first thing that comes into their mind is a degreaser or some other type of all purpose cleaner, even car wash, but not an abrasive product for removing sanding marks. It may be hard to believe, but the difference between successful sales and a loser product can be determined by one word. Welcome to the world of marketing. By using the word compound, Meguiar's could take all of the guesswork out of understanding what the product is and what it is used for. The decision to use the word compound has proven to be successful.

The 80's series products are formulated specifically for clear coats but can be used just as successfully on single stage finishes.

[AutoNova]

So are #84 and #4 the same thing, I think I am a bit confused?

In other words what would be considered a godd 3-step process for removing medium to serius pain defects?

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by AutoNova
So are #84 and #4 the same thing, I think I am a bit confused?

In other words what would be considered a good 3-step process for removing medium to serious pain defects?

These products are two very different formulas. The traditional Mirror Glaze line uses a different type of diminishing abrasive than the type used in the 80's series. The 80's series uses a microscopic diminishing abrasive whereas the traditional Mirror Glaze paint cleaners use a type you can actually feel between your fingers.

What are you primarily working on?

Mike

[AutoNova]

Mainly I am working on newer cars w/cc with paint defects such as swirling some bad scratches, some sap and bug issues.