Plastx questions.

[Anomaly]

I currently have a bottle of Plastx that's about 4 or 5 years old. This bottle has the diminishing abrasives that require you to work the product really well to break down the abrasives and get a good finish. I was looking at the label on the new Plastx in a store recently and it describes the abrasives as micro abrasives. Is the new Plastx using the new non diminishing micro abrasives that Swirl X and and Ultimate Compound is using? If so why use Plastx when you can use Swirl X or Utimate Compound? Both work great on clear plastic and much better than my old bottle of Plastx.

[Murr1525]

Re: Plastx questions.

Hmm.. didnt know there was a new PlastX...

[Anomaly]

Re: Plastx questions.

Hmm.. didnt know there was a new PlastX...

Grab a bottle from a few years ago and read the label. Better yet find some old threads about how to use Plastx and how it needs to be broken down to get a good finish. Now look at the label on a recently purchased bottle and see that it says it contains the Micro Abrasives. These are the non diminishing kind like Swirlx and Ultimate Compound and do not break down. Clearly different stuff.

Still waiting for an answer to my question.

[Anomaly]

Re: Plastx questions.

Are the product experts on vacation?

[Nappers]

Re: Plastx questions.

It is Sunday and will answer more than likely Monday.

But, I do not believe that PlastX has the new SMAT, they still use the diminshing abrasives. I haven't looked at a "new" bottle in a while as I don't use a lot (little goes a long ways).

[the_invisible]

Re: Plastx questions.

Hmm.. didnt know there was a new PlastX...

I agree. I don't even know whether mine is SMAT or DAT...






Regarding replacing PlastX with UC or SwirlX... I believe they are very different products. I believe PlastX is very aggressive, and is designed to level plastic rather than paint. Some people are able to remove plastic wetsanding marks by hand rubbing PlastX onto the surface. That is not something SwirlX or UC could do. SwirlX and UC could do an excellent job refining the plastic headlights, but PlastX is actually powerful enough to remove serious plastic oxidations and scratches.

Seeing that PlastX is also sold as a kit to use on a drill, it should be rotary compliant as well. This seems to explain why PlastX has an extremely high oily feel to it.

You could certainly use UC and SwirlX on clear plastics. I always see myself removing scratches on my clear plastics with either SwirlX or UC. For wetsanding, I use M105. However, I still use PlastX by hand once in a while to deal with light oxidation on plastic.

[the_invisible]

Re: Plastx questions.

But, I do not believe that PlastX has the new SMAT, they still use the diminshing abrasives. I haven't looked at a "new" bottle in a while as I don't use a lot (little goes a long ways).

Hey man, I just checked my bottle of PlastX. The one with the G35 on the label. Anyway, the label says that it uses "Micro-Abrasive Technology". SO I guess it is neither DAT nor SMAT.

[Anomaly]

Re: Plastx questions.

I agree. I don't even know whether mine is SMAT or DAT...






Regarding replacing PlastX with UC or SwirlX... I believe they are very different products. I believe PlastX is very aggressive, and is designed to level plastic rather than paint. Some people are able to remove plastic wetsanding marks by hand rubbing PlastX onto the surface. That is not something SwirlX or UC could do. SwirlX and UC could do an excellent job refining the plastic headlights, but PlastX is actually powerful enough to remove serious plastic oxidations and scratches.

Seeing that PlastX is also sold as a kit to use on a drill, it should be rotary compliant as well. This seems to explain why PlastX has an extremely high oily feel to it.

You could certainly use UC and SwirlX on clear plastics. I always see myself removing scratches on my clear plastics with either SwirlX or UC. For wetsanding, I use M105. However, I still use PlastX by hand once in a while to deal with light oxidation on plastic.

UC kicked the **** out of Plastx on my head lights. This is why I started the thread. I am using an older bottle of the Plastx though which definetley has diminishing abrasives.

[Anomaly]

Re: Plastx questions.

Hey man, I just checked my bottle of PlastX. The one with the G35 on the label. Anyway, the label says that it uses "Micro-Abrasive Technology". SO I guess it is neither DAT nor SMAT.

The new bottles of Plastx say it contains micro abrasives. My bottle of Ultimate Compound says the same thing. UC label makes no mention of SMAT. I think micro abrasives is SMAT.

Any way there is clearly a change to Plastx and if that change is going from diminishing abrasives to micro it makes the product totally different. This is something that should have been mentioned. I wasted an hour trying to correct some cloudy headlights by hand with my older version of Plastx. I took UC to the head lights and it took just minutes to correct the problem. No doubt due to the non diminishing abrasives in UC. So now I would like to know why bother with Plastx if the new version contains the non diminishing micro abrasives like UC?

[CieraSL]

Re: Plastx questions.

This probably doesn't really answer your question, but it may help. Sometimes, you may find that a product works great for an application for which it is not really intended, such as using Ultimate Compound on plastic (see this thread: http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36913), or using Ultimate Quik Wax on windows and plastic trim. While Ultimate Compound was not designed by the Meguiar's testers for use on plastic, and Ultimate Quik Wax was not originally designed for use on windows, a number of people have found them to work very well for them in those applications of the product. Plast X was designed for use on clear plastic, although I have heard of people using it on interior wood trim as well. As Mike Phillips put it, "Find something you like and use it often." If you decide that Ultimate Compound works better on your headlights as opposed to Plast X, then use Ultimate Compound. Nobody is going to look down on you for that. Make the products work for you. That's what being a true enthusiast is about.

[CieraSL]

Re: Plastx questions.

Also, Plast X uses Microscopic Diminishing Abrasive Technology. Products like Ultimate Compound, Swirl X, Scratch X 2.0, M105, and M205 use Super Micro Abrasive Technology (SMAT), while products like M80 and M83 use Diminishing Abrasive Technology (DAT). For a list of the products in the SMAT and the DAT lines, see this thread, post #4: http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33834. The difference between the two lines is that where Diminishing Abrasives have to be worked until they are broken down, Super Micro Abrasives can be worked for as little or as long as you want, depending on the condition of the paint and the level of defects you wish to remove - there is no "breaking down" of the product. For more information on the differences between SMAT and DAT, see this thread: What's the difference between Meguiar's Super Micro Abrasive technology and Meguiar's Diminishing Abrasive technology?. Plast X utilizes Meguiar's Microscopic Diminishing Abrasive Technology (MDAT), as pointed out here. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that means that Plast X does need to be broken down, but only to the point where defects are removed. How long that takes depends on whether you are working by hand or machine, and the condition of the headlights. You can see some more on that on Tim Lingor's review of the Headlight Restoration kit. Plus, Plast X is designed for plastic (obviously, hence the name ), where UC, Swirl X, etc., are designed for paint. As I stated before, use what works for you. Hope this helps answer your question.

[Tuck91]

Re: Plastx questions.

It states micro abrasive technology, not Super Micro Abrasive technology.

[CieraSL]

Re: Plastx questions.

It states micro abrasive technology, not Super Micro Abrasive technology.

Which product(s) are you referring to?

Super
Micro
Abrasives
Technology

[the_invisible]

Re: Plastx questions.

The new bottles of Plastx say it contains micro abrasives. My bottle of Ultimate Compound says the same thing. UC label makes no mention of SMAT. I think micro abrasives is SMAT.

Any way there is clearly a change to Plastx and if that change is going from diminishing abrasives to micro it makes the product totally different. This is something that should have been mentioned. I wasted an hour trying to correct some cloudy headlights by hand with my older version of Plastx. I took UC to the head lights and it took just minutes to correct the problem. No doubt due to the non diminishing abrasives in UC. So now I would like to know why bother with Plastx if the new version contains the non diminishing micro abrasives like UC?

You are right, switching from Diminishing abrasives to micro abrasives could affect the application requirement of the product. While my bottle of PlastX, which contains micro abrasives, is able to correct some major defects, it leaves behind some very small swirls that need to be removed using either UC or SwirlX. In fact, I have reported a few months ago that M105 coupled with a cutting pad was able to finish smoother and nicer than PlastX with a polishing pad. PlastX left a lot of swirls while M105 none. I took some pictures to showcase my discovery, but the swirls were too fine to be shown in the pictures. At that point I decided to just end the discussion there. Note that the swirls induced by PlastX are easily corrected with something like SwirlX or UC.

I remember one of the Mikes on MOL claims that PlastX is extremely abrasive and should not come into contact with paint. I totally believe that as my experience with PlastX confirms that it is a very abrasive product.

Keep in mind that PlastX is designed to be able to remove oxidation and scratches on clear plastics by hand. It has to be very abrasive to do the job. If you have a DA or a rotary, M105 is able to remove defects just as quickly, without leaving the fine swirls that PlastX does.

[Tuck91]

Re: Plastx questions.

Which product(s) are you referring to?

Super
Micro
Abrasives
Technology

I was talking about the PlastX. Mine says Micro abrasive technology and not Super Micro Abrasive Technology.