First Encounter with 205

[xantonin]

Re: First Encounter with 205

M205 is a compound, a very fine compound. It is used to remove light swirls and marring. It also contains a lot of polishing oils.

M07 is a pure polish. It contains nothing but specially formulated oils. On it's own it should not remove any swirls or scratches. It may fill in and cover up some scratches, but if you're using M205 it should be enough to remove those same scratches without covering them up.

Ultimately M07 will replenish any lost oils that your paint may have suffered from drying out, and it should provide a deeper more layered reflection to your paint. It is more beneficial to single stage paints than clear coated ones.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: First Encounter with 205

M205 is a compound, a very fine compound. It is used to remove light swirls and marring. It also contains a lot of polishing oils.

M205 is not a compound, it is a finishing polish with mild abrasives.

David, you comparison of Ultimate Compound vs M205 is a bit unusual in that they are quite different products, generally used for different things. You may think the distinction between them is fine since both do have the ability to correct defects, but the more aggressive products like UC are designed to remove moderate to fairly severe defects (towel marks, cobwebs, scratches, etchings, etc) while finer finishing polishes like M205, M82, etc are really intended to be "clean up" products used after the compounding step.

In the case of aggressive compounding, such as with M105 or similar on a wool pad and a rotary buffer, the finish is rarely ready to wax. You usually end up with some level of buffer swirl (hologram) or other fine marks created by the compounding step. Products like M205 are designed as the follow up to that step so that those compounding marks can be finessed out and the finish brought up to the maximum gloss before applying a wax.

Ultimate Compound is not really designed for rotary use but rather is a D/A specific product. That tool can't inflict the same type of marring that a rotary/wool pad can so often times you can finish out ready to wax. That said, on some more delicate paint systems you may find some light D/A hazing caused by UC on a yellow pad used with speed and pressure. In that case M205 can do wonders to clean up that light hazing and once again give you that maximum shine before waxing.

That said, if you have just very light towel marks or a minor cobweb here and there, and your paint is fairly soft or workable, then M205 alone may be sufficient to remove them (ie, UC or M105 is overkill in that situation, so why use it?).

Otherwise, you and your wife made some very astute observations:

• M07 is never going to be as easy to wipe off as M205 - M07 is a very oily and heavy pure polish, so even when applied in a very thin coat it will take more effort to remove than a properly applied and hazed wax, and definitely more than M205 after working it for a few minutes. But if M07 is really difficult to remove, then you're probably applying it too heavy
• Your wife mentioned the extra clarity afforded by M205 - "clarity" is the exact term that should be used here because that is exactly what M205 yields; a high level of clarity along with the gloss. Those detailers who are into the whole concept of "finessing" or "jeweling" the finish will work M205 at a slow speed for a relatively long period of time to achieve the max level of clarity possible. On very healthy paint that has been buffed to a defect free state, the level of pop given to metallics can be impressive indeed. On non-metallic paint the depth and clarity are greatly enhanced with this product.

Going forward, just keep in mind that in most cases UC and M205 will not compete with each other, but rather compliment each other.

Otherwise, outstanding work!!! Keep it up!!

[xantonin]

Re: First Encounter with 205

Oops, sorry about my misconception of M205. I guess by compound I meant that it had some abrasive power. I guess I'm still not clear on what defines a compound.