Other Brands

[onnfire]

So today i registered at autopia and was looking around. I came accross several brands i had never heard of like Menzerna. Is it not true that 23 out of 26 cars at the councours d elegance use meguiars. I dont mean to put these other products down, but how can they claim they are so much better when the best detailers dont even use them.

[sixty7mustang22]

Re: Other Brands

For the most part, it really insn't the product's superiority that determines the results, it is the user that determines how good a product works. The reason Meguiar's is such a hot company is because they make so many products for so many different things. They cover more bases than other companies do. And not only do they do that, but they cover those bases very well. That is what keeps them on top. They make more products for specialized uses.

Other products might be just as good, they just don't get their name thrown out as much and Meguiar's has never given anyone reason to not use their products.

I have been a user at Autopia for quite a while and you will find that Meguiar's isn't always the most talked about products. However, if you read long enough, some people keep falling back to Meguiar's products and some of the best detailers on the site use a lot of Meguiar's stuff.

A lot of times forums are biased as a community. You really have to do a lot of reading on other sites and actually using the products for yourself to make a final decision.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Other Brands

A lot of times forums are biased as a community.

This is true but as long as everyone that is financially tied to the forum admits this up front and as long as the members and lurkers realize this as the case there's no problem as that's kind of how the world works.

One time we were reading on another forum and found a person bashing a product in a very zealous way only to find out a few posts down they had never used the product.

One of the things you should try to do is pay attention to the posting style of a form member especially if that forum member is a "Personality" of that forum and try to get a good sense for their character. Then screen everything they post through in light of what you've come to learn about them through their posting history.

On some forums you'll find certain specific people continually bashing a particular product line, after a while you don't even have to read their posts to know what they going to say.

You really have to do a lot of reading on other sites and actually using the products for yourself to make a final decision.

Good advice.

What works for one person may not work for another person. Thus,

"Find something you like and use it often"

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Other Brands

Is it not true that 23 out of 26 cars at the councours d elegance use meguiars.

I dont mean to put these other products down, but how can they claim they are so much better when the best detailers dont even use them.

A couple of things,

Meguiar's enjoys tremendous brand loyalty across a large spectrum of the population including a wide range of age groups. Last we heard Meguiar's percentage of brand loyalty was something like 67% while the nearest traditional consumer brand was in the single digits.

With such a high brand loyalty it's easy to understand why Meguiar's products have been used by more Best of Class and Best of Show winners at the Pinnacle of all car shows, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance for longer than records have been kept.


You have to keep in mind that strong brand loyalty doesn't come from fancy advertising tactics, the foundation is built from the fact that the product in the bottle or can actually does what the label says it will do.

That's not to say there's not other good products on the market, but when it comes to working on your prized possession, most people want to get professional results the first time and every time and for this reason they turn to a product with a name they trust.

On a personal note, I've been detailing cars for over 20 years and two things,

1. I've never had to do a job a second time
2. I've never had to pay for a paint job for a product related problem

That's enough to keep me reaching for the same product every time I work on my own car or a customer's car.


A personal observation...

Over the years I've seen a lot of products come and go and I've seen a lot of people experiment with the newest flavor of the month products, but what I usually see is these people eventually return back to Meguiar's.

FWIW

[imacarnut]

Re: Other Brands

the best way to find out if something works, is to try it out for yourself. i've used plenty of different brands, but i will always use meguiars as i've found they have a complete versatile line of different products that suit many needs that work for me. not to mention... their customer service is top notch, which is also very important!

[TrufflePig]

Re: Other Brands

find something you like that works and use it...keep using it...

something like that ain't it Mike.

[Lucky161]

Re: Other Brands

I've recently looked at several sites and I find this one to be one of the two best, Mother's being the other. Both seem to have VERY knowledgable and experienced people, both those employed by the brand and customers and not suprisingly, the advice given is very similar.
I suppose it is a generalization that sticking to one product line is more likely to ensure that you get compatability between products, but I was wondering if there was a place where you could find what products are compatable outside of a particular line. This could be helpful if the store was out of one brand's product but also carried another quality brand. In my area, O'Reilly's carries both brands.
In my case, I would break the tie in favor of Meguire's because of their shows on Speedvision that I enjoy and find helpful.

[the other pc]

Re: Other Brands

...I came accross several brands i had never heard of like Menzerna....

Also keep in mind that the world is a very large place. In any given industry there are likely to be multiple players addressing different market segments and locations.

Menzerna is a perfect example. They’re German, so it’s not surprising that their exposure here is limited. They also concentrate on commercial and industrial customers. You won’t see their stuff on the shelves at car parts shops. On a side note, they’re one of the few companies that have been around longer than Meguiar’s.


PC.

[kpagel]

Re: Other Brands

I've recently looked at several sites and I find this one to be one of the two best, Mother's being the other. Both seem to have VERY knowledgable and experienced people, both those employed by the brand and customers and not suprisingly, the advice given is very similar.
I suppose it is a generalization that sticking to one product line is more likely to ensure that you get compatability between products, but I was wondering if there was a place where you could find what products are compatable outside of a particular line. This could be helpful if the store was out of one brand's product but also carried another quality brand. In my area, O'Reilly's carries both brands.
In my case, I would break the tie in favor of Meguire's because of their shows on Speedvision that I enjoy and find helpful.

Honestly, I think that Zaino is the only company that will try to tell you that all other companies' products are incompatible with their own.

Last night I did a detail and polished with Menzerna, applied Meguiar's #7, and used wax by Pinnacle. It all goes together great, its not like mixing is going to cause the paint to fall off!

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Other Brands

In my recreational detailing, I have tried a wide variety of differant products, But to copy What others have said you seem to always come back to Megs. So in the last 18 months I have become strictly a megs user, I really don't plan on straying away again.