Looks like I won't need a fine cut cleaner after all. After researching stronger 3M products I may need to use for my sisters beetle, I decided to go give a try with the SMR and a cutting pad. Well, I truly was impressed.
Before:
After:
That was just one application, and there is not one swirl anywhere on that panel. No glaze or anything with that pic, just the SMR. I'm sure with a glaze I'd be even more impressed. I then just followed up with 3M SCPW, which I'm really starting to like.
I noticed when I washed that panel that it was super rough, I mean the wash mit didn't slide over the paint easily at all, and I kept feeling bumps. After I did the SMR, everything was gone and the paint was smooth as butter. So why would someone use a clay bar?
Question though, when I used a cutting pad on my Jetta and the SMR, I noticed it hazed the paint a little bit. That wasn't the case with this car though. I even went over one section with a polishing pad, but I couldn't tell a difference, except for
maybe it removed some super fine and sparse scratches the cutting pad left behind, or it was just the extra application. Maybe there was no hazing this time either because I washed the pad and it got "broken" in?
And, the car is really pretty purple/dark blue color - I don't know why the pictures turned out green?
I'll take a better picture tomorrow in direct sunlight.
- Anthony