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Just wanted to start off by saying that this is my first real post outside of my introduction to the forum!
Long in short, this review is very over due! I have attempted to write this many times, but due to unfortunate computer freezes, and accidentally overwriting the whole review and many of the pictures. However, due to these wonderful little surprises, I have had an amazing amount of time to test this system more and experiment more with my technique.
How this review came about is that I was blessed with a sample of the Meguiar’s DA Microfiber Correction System. I have heard EXCEPTIONAL reviews of this system, from many people on the forums, and even many non-Meguiar’s detailers and detailing personalities.
Needless to say I was absolutely stoked to have an opportunity to test out this very hyped product! So, as soon as it arrived I went straight to work to find a car with swirls and scratches worthy of its mythical correction power. Last summer, in addition to my little local detailing business, I worked at a Chevy dealership and its used car branch as a lot boy. This lead to me finding the perfect test car: a very used 2000 Ford Taurus.
The car’s paint was wrecked!!! I have never seen swirls so bad! It had what looked like cheese grater marks down the front. The test of the product then begun!
The Taurus Correction----
The Contents of the System:
In the system there was
3x 6in Microfiber Cutting Pads
3x 6in Microfiber Finishing Pads
1 Bottle D300 Microfiber Correction Compound
1 Bottle D301 Microfiber Finishing Wax
(By the way, these bottles has the self cleaning tip which is possibly the best invention ever, if you do anything, buy these bottles for your other products!)
Other Products and Tools Used:
Meguiar’s D110 Hyper Wash
Meguiar’s Microfiber Wash Mitt
Two Wash Buckets w/ Grit Guards
Showcar Purple Stuff APC
The rest of my Griot’s Heavy Duty Wheel Cleaner (not super impressed for the cost)
Various wheel brushes
3M tire cleaner (pulls heavy browning out quite well)
A mixture of 3 small amounts of different clay bars
My own clay lubricant (car soap mixed with water and a super tiny amount of IPA)
Griot’s Gen 3 6 inch Orbital Polisher
Many assorted microfiber towels
(The Gold Class Shampoo bottle is full of D110)
Pre-Correction Process:
I started by hosing down the car and identifying the super dirty parts of the car. Then, giving them a quick spritz with a very mild APC.
I then followed the two bucket wash method working from top down. This car was in terrible shape! It felt like I was washing sand off the car, I resolved that my wash mitt was shot after washing the car and trying to clean my wash mitt.
I then followed up the wash with a thorough paint cleaning with the clay bars and my clay lubricant. I have never seen a clay bar turn so dark after only one car.
With the paint cleaned I took it down to our barn/storage/detailing center to begin the paint correction. I taped off all the stainable plastics and assembled the armory of cleaning products. Surgery was about to begin.
Using the System:
I began on the trunk, taping off a test section. I then primed the cutting pad with the correction compound. I set my polisher to speed 5 and patted the compound around the section. I then worked the product for a little while using medium pressure.
I then wiped the section down with a microfiber to reveal a very glossy and incredibly improved finish! The compound buffed off so easy!!!! Then again I am comparing it to M105 and Griot’s Machine Polish 1. I then proceeded to compound the entire car. I was amazed at the correction. It was just beautiful compared to the dull swirled car that entered the barn. There was only a slight haze, only visible to me under direct LED light, but enough that it needed another step to correct the car completely.
I then followed up with the microfiber finishing pad with the finishing wax, it took a great deal of the haze out and gave the car a much deeper shine. As with the D300 the D301 wiped off INSANELY easy! No streaking and a nice smooth and slick waxed feel! There was a minimal haze left after this, but this Taurus had quite soft paint, so that was to be expected with a more aggressive pad such the microfiber finishing pad over say a fine grade soft buff foam pad.
I think I might use this D301 finishing wax quite often as a quick wax. It goes on super smooth and is super easy to buff off with no streaking at ALL. That is super important to me, as in Alabama we get crazy humidity during the late parts of summer, which causes many waxes to haze at weird rates, and streaks to easily appear in almost all waxes.
Another great aspect of these pads: EASY CLEANING!!!
(Sorta Blurry) Final Pictures
**************************************************************************************
I came away from this car thinking that I had been using the wrong products to do heavy correction. I was correct in this assumption, but I did not know how true that was!
Thanks again to the technical problems delaying this review, I had more opportunities to further test the system on various other harnesses and types of paint. Namely the prominent one that left me the most impressed was when i used on my very own baby, my 2008 Mazda MX-5. It took it autocrossing for the first time. A very fun experience, but being my luck it started pouring and made the parking lot a grimy mud- sling pit. The only part of my beautifully maintained car that was clean was where the numbers had been stuck to my car. The rest was in a hard muddy crust. I was torn up. There was no way I could get this off with out some swirls being induced. But, I decided that this would be a great test for the Microfiber pads as I also had Deeeeeeeeeep scratches on my hood and trunk from the neighborhood stray cats.
So I washed my car in a similar process as the Taurus, except, I purchased a cheap ($10) Walmart foam nozzle for the wash process to attempt to give me the most lubrication possible and went with a three bucket method. Yes, three buckets for three times the crazy.
As expected the wash left minor swirls, so faint, i had trouble seeing them, but swirls none the less, and swirls must be exterminated.
So i prepped the car, gave it an IPA wipe-down to strip any remaining sealant off the poor little car’s beautiful paint.
After it was prepped for correction, I set out to polish out the mud swirl with some M205 and a couple extra griot’s orange polishing pads (I’ve found these to be a good one step pad on most cars, as they have a small amount of cut and finish very nicely, however they shed very easily and will end up spraying your entire car in orange dust after about 5 minutes leaving me looking for new pads at the moment). This combination was effective, but not exceptional at taking the small swirls out of my Miata’s very hard clear coat.
I then thought, “Might as well break out the Microfiber pads and see the finishing on them.” Best decision ever! I went with the cutting pads and D300 compound (maybe a bit excessive for this) and I was shocked with how well these pads finished on hard paint like my Miata. I then took special care of the cat scratches in the hood and trunk, and what I thought was only removable through future wet sanding, came out almost all the way, where only potions of them are visible. I then went over the entire car, as it had micro swirls (almost like slight compound mark) from drying and other assorted bits of dust hitting it while driving. I could have finished with the car at this point! There was not hazing visible and and it gleamed like a mirror. But for the sake of experimentation I tried M205 with a Griot’s Orange pad, and just wow. It brought the shine up just a hair, but at this point I was jewling my paint. This finish with M205 was the sharpest it had ever looked! To think I used those Griot’s polishes at first! This M205 combo on my paint was superb!!!
Then I performed an IPA wipe down on the car to remove the polishing oils and admired the beauty of a freshly polished car.
The next day when I got back from school (taking our old Jeep Comanche so the car could stay protected as it was bare and with out protection yet), I set off waxing it with one of my favorite LSPs, good old Collinite 915 Marque D’Elegance. If anyone is not aware, this wax can withstand a nuclear bombing and still bead some water. It drastically changes the appearance of your car. Before stripping it down my car had been wearing 3 coats of AMMO Skin, which makes the pearl shimmer very sharply. After applying the Collinite the paint gets a rich deep tone to it and seems almost black from a distance, while creating a deep looking sea of blue up close.
I’m sure you have heard also how hard Collinite 915 is to remove; all of those stories are completely true. I like to apply waxes by hand, and for 915, I use my bare hands. This is the only way you can guarantee a thin enough layer of wax, so you don't break you arms trying to get it off. This wax is also prone to streaking if applied to thick, or just because it wants to see you cry. It also has a very high content of carnauba, which causes it to sometimes “re-haze.” It will be completely clear, and then boom the next day, parts will look as if they have never been buffed. Simply, take some spray wax and a microfiber and wipe them off.
Meguiar’s Gold Class, a long time staple of mine, achieves a very similar deep wet look, and is one of the best beauty waxes you can buy for the money, but I use it as a topper as its durability is just not substantial enough to hold out on its own (Try layering it on top of Meguiar’s Ultimate Liquid for the best of both).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well in conclusion to this “Super Review”
Meguiar’s Microfiber system is a very high cutting, yet surprisingly well finishing paint correction system. I cannot stress how much use these pads are along with the compound and finishing wax. They are the most easy to wipe clean products I have used and the time that saves you is worth the products already! These pads alone have changed the way I polish cars. I came into this expecting effectiveness, but left experiencing greatness!
Thank you all so much for reading this, uhh VERY lengthy, review!
Griffith Hawk
Long in short, this review is very over due! I have attempted to write this many times, but due to unfortunate computer freezes, and accidentally overwriting the whole review and many of the pictures. However, due to these wonderful little surprises, I have had an amazing amount of time to test this system more and experiment more with my technique.
How this review came about is that I was blessed with a sample of the Meguiar’s DA Microfiber Correction System. I have heard EXCEPTIONAL reviews of this system, from many people on the forums, and even many non-Meguiar’s detailers and detailing personalities.
Needless to say I was absolutely stoked to have an opportunity to test out this very hyped product! So, as soon as it arrived I went straight to work to find a car with swirls and scratches worthy of its mythical correction power. Last summer, in addition to my little local detailing business, I worked at a Chevy dealership and its used car branch as a lot boy. This lead to me finding the perfect test car: a very used 2000 Ford Taurus.
The car’s paint was wrecked!!! I have never seen swirls so bad! It had what looked like cheese grater marks down the front. The test of the product then begun!
The Taurus Correction----
The Contents of the System:
In the system there was
3x 6in Microfiber Cutting Pads
3x 6in Microfiber Finishing Pads
1 Bottle D300 Microfiber Correction Compound
1 Bottle D301 Microfiber Finishing Wax
(By the way, these bottles has the self cleaning tip which is possibly the best invention ever, if you do anything, buy these bottles for your other products!)
Other Products and Tools Used:
Meguiar’s D110 Hyper Wash
Meguiar’s Microfiber Wash Mitt
Two Wash Buckets w/ Grit Guards
Showcar Purple Stuff APC
The rest of my Griot’s Heavy Duty Wheel Cleaner (not super impressed for the cost)
Various wheel brushes
3M tire cleaner (pulls heavy browning out quite well)
A mixture of 3 small amounts of different clay bars
My own clay lubricant (car soap mixed with water and a super tiny amount of IPA)
Griot’s Gen 3 6 inch Orbital Polisher
Many assorted microfiber towels
(The Gold Class Shampoo bottle is full of D110)
Pre-Correction Process:
I started by hosing down the car and identifying the super dirty parts of the car. Then, giving them a quick spritz with a very mild APC.
I then followed the two bucket wash method working from top down. This car was in terrible shape! It felt like I was washing sand off the car, I resolved that my wash mitt was shot after washing the car and trying to clean my wash mitt.
I then followed up the wash with a thorough paint cleaning with the clay bars and my clay lubricant. I have never seen a clay bar turn so dark after only one car.
With the paint cleaned I took it down to our barn/storage/detailing center to begin the paint correction. I taped off all the stainable plastics and assembled the armory of cleaning products. Surgery was about to begin.
Using the System:
I began on the trunk, taping off a test section. I then primed the cutting pad with the correction compound. I set my polisher to speed 5 and patted the compound around the section. I then worked the product for a little while using medium pressure.
I then wiped the section down with a microfiber to reveal a very glossy and incredibly improved finish! The compound buffed off so easy!!!! Then again I am comparing it to M105 and Griot’s Machine Polish 1. I then proceeded to compound the entire car. I was amazed at the correction. It was just beautiful compared to the dull swirled car that entered the barn. There was only a slight haze, only visible to me under direct LED light, but enough that it needed another step to correct the car completely.
I then followed up with the microfiber finishing pad with the finishing wax, it took a great deal of the haze out and gave the car a much deeper shine. As with the D300 the D301 wiped off INSANELY easy! No streaking and a nice smooth and slick waxed feel! There was a minimal haze left after this, but this Taurus had quite soft paint, so that was to be expected with a more aggressive pad such the microfiber finishing pad over say a fine grade soft buff foam pad.
I think I might use this D301 finishing wax quite often as a quick wax. It goes on super smooth and is super easy to buff off with no streaking at ALL. That is super important to me, as in Alabama we get crazy humidity during the late parts of summer, which causes many waxes to haze at weird rates, and streaks to easily appear in almost all waxes.
Another great aspect of these pads: EASY CLEANING!!!
(Sorta Blurry) Final Pictures
**************************************************************************************
I came away from this car thinking that I had been using the wrong products to do heavy correction. I was correct in this assumption, but I did not know how true that was!
Thanks again to the technical problems delaying this review, I had more opportunities to further test the system on various other harnesses and types of paint. Namely the prominent one that left me the most impressed was when i used on my very own baby, my 2008 Mazda MX-5. It took it autocrossing for the first time. A very fun experience, but being my luck it started pouring and made the parking lot a grimy mud- sling pit. The only part of my beautifully maintained car that was clean was where the numbers had been stuck to my car. The rest was in a hard muddy crust. I was torn up. There was no way I could get this off with out some swirls being induced. But, I decided that this would be a great test for the Microfiber pads as I also had Deeeeeeeeeep scratches on my hood and trunk from the neighborhood stray cats.
So I washed my car in a similar process as the Taurus, except, I purchased a cheap ($10) Walmart foam nozzle for the wash process to attempt to give me the most lubrication possible and went with a three bucket method. Yes, three buckets for three times the crazy.
As expected the wash left minor swirls, so faint, i had trouble seeing them, but swirls none the less, and swirls must be exterminated.
So i prepped the car, gave it an IPA wipe-down to strip any remaining sealant off the poor little car’s beautiful paint.
After it was prepped for correction, I set out to polish out the mud swirl with some M205 and a couple extra griot’s orange polishing pads (I’ve found these to be a good one step pad on most cars, as they have a small amount of cut and finish very nicely, however they shed very easily and will end up spraying your entire car in orange dust after about 5 minutes leaving me looking for new pads at the moment). This combination was effective, but not exceptional at taking the small swirls out of my Miata’s very hard clear coat.
I then thought, “Might as well break out the Microfiber pads and see the finishing on them.” Best decision ever! I went with the cutting pads and D300 compound (maybe a bit excessive for this) and I was shocked with how well these pads finished on hard paint like my Miata. I then took special care of the cat scratches in the hood and trunk, and what I thought was only removable through future wet sanding, came out almost all the way, where only potions of them are visible. I then went over the entire car, as it had micro swirls (almost like slight compound mark) from drying and other assorted bits of dust hitting it while driving. I could have finished with the car at this point! There was not hazing visible and and it gleamed like a mirror. But for the sake of experimentation I tried M205 with a Griot’s Orange pad, and just wow. It brought the shine up just a hair, but at this point I was jewling my paint. This finish with M205 was the sharpest it had ever looked! To think I used those Griot’s polishes at first! This M205 combo on my paint was superb!!!
Then I performed an IPA wipe down on the car to remove the polishing oils and admired the beauty of a freshly polished car.
The next day when I got back from school (taking our old Jeep Comanche so the car could stay protected as it was bare and with out protection yet), I set off waxing it with one of my favorite LSPs, good old Collinite 915 Marque D’Elegance. If anyone is not aware, this wax can withstand a nuclear bombing and still bead some water. It drastically changes the appearance of your car. Before stripping it down my car had been wearing 3 coats of AMMO Skin, which makes the pearl shimmer very sharply. After applying the Collinite the paint gets a rich deep tone to it and seems almost black from a distance, while creating a deep looking sea of blue up close.
I’m sure you have heard also how hard Collinite 915 is to remove; all of those stories are completely true. I like to apply waxes by hand, and for 915, I use my bare hands. This is the only way you can guarantee a thin enough layer of wax, so you don't break you arms trying to get it off. This wax is also prone to streaking if applied to thick, or just because it wants to see you cry. It also has a very high content of carnauba, which causes it to sometimes “re-haze.” It will be completely clear, and then boom the next day, parts will look as if they have never been buffed. Simply, take some spray wax and a microfiber and wipe them off.
Meguiar’s Gold Class, a long time staple of mine, achieves a very similar deep wet look, and is one of the best beauty waxes you can buy for the money, but I use it as a topper as its durability is just not substantial enough to hold out on its own (Try layering it on top of Meguiar’s Ultimate Liquid for the best of both).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well in conclusion to this “Super Review”
Meguiar’s Microfiber system is a very high cutting, yet surprisingly well finishing paint correction system. I cannot stress how much use these pads are along with the compound and finishing wax. They are the most easy to wipe clean products I have used and the time that saves you is worth the products already! These pads alone have changed the way I polish cars. I came into this expecting effectiveness, but left experiencing greatness!
Thank you all so much for reading this, uhh VERY lengthy, review!
Griffith Hawk
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