Meguiar's Ultimate Compound (UC) vs. Intensive Polish (IP)

[wannafbody]

Does UC leave a reasonably LSP ready finish?

You could probably get away with one stepping it with a white pad on a light color. On darks a two step is needed.

[termigator]

You could probably get away with one stepping it with a white pad on a light color. On darks a two step is needed.

That's what I do with IP now. Guess I won't be needing UC after all.

[wannafbody]

Well, I wouldn't go that far. IP dusts fairly easily-correct? UC can be worked a long time before it will dust.

[Bostonsfavson]

IP dusts fairly easily-correct?

Understatement of the year

[dragula]

I just tried, on a heavily oxidized roof; 2000 Toyota Tundra:

Optimum Hyper Compound, new formulation, on a 6.5 SurBuf=Piss poor correction, definate haze

OHC on 4'' Orange LC: Almost the same


Megs UC on 6.5 SurBuf: 9/10 correction, but still needed a 2nd step.

Megs UC on 4'' LC Orange: 10/10 correction, finished down damn near LSP-ready via KBPCM~ish.

The Megs UC has been my new fav compound, as I believe with proper pad choice it can cut almost as much as 105, but finish down nicer. IMO/IME of course.

[Don M]

Since I've never used IP, I can't comment on its abilities, but I've recently had the opportunity to use some of Megs "New for 09" line. I detailed a 2005 black Honda Accord that has been washed only rarely and never detailed or waxed.

I started with their new Swirl-X, since it's supposed to be a step above #83 DACP which is my normal "go to" on a neglected surface. After quite a bit of work, I was rewarded with an extremely glossy shine, but after hitting the paint with a pair of 500w halogen lights, I saw there wasn't much correction...I now had a deep, glossy, scratched and swirled surface. I don't fault the Sw-X, the level of damage to the paint was beyond it's design specs.

I grabbed the bottle of UC and a LC polishing pad. Working up to a 6, and fairly heavy pressure, the combo did the job, but I felt that the polishing pad wasn't strong enough to hold up to the pressure of speed and downforce needed.

Switching to an LC cutting pad, I kept the speed at 6, but I was able to significantly able to lighten up on the downward pressure. The UC works great, no gumming up, no dust and when it was time to remove it, it came off clean and easy.

The end result was an unbelievable turn around. The UC brought the paint to an LSP-ready finish that I topped off with one application of M21-2.0

Here is a pic of the clay I used after JUST the trunk lid:



This pic is a before (wash & clay) / after (Swirl X) of the hood. Although there is an improvement, in reality the hood was still horrible.



Here are the final results, UC + M21 2.0 Polymer Sealant.

[x justin]

I've had very similar results as posted above. I've been using Ultimate Compound with a G110 and a yellow Megs 2.0 polishing pad on 6 and it's done an excellent job at leaving an LSP ready finish and removing any swirls/oxidation/light scratches etc, with a few passes. However, it's still not strong enough to get most random deep scratches out. Really it looks like a cutting pad needs to be used to do any more serious correction (which I haven't tried yet). It's really not as strong as people may think. I have swirl-x, but haven't felt the need to go back over the UC with it to see if it makes it any deeper. I'm sure 205 or SIP would help, but after following up with NXT 2.0, I've yet to be unimpressed with the results. If swirl-x isn't near as strong as UC, I wouldn't think it would be capable of much paint correction. UC or 105 is the way to go for Meguiars compounds.

[Cassman]

UC is a better choice (for me) because of the fact that I do not need to let the polish completely break down. Thus, I can quit whenever I want to without creating marring due to improper use of the polish. In most situations where a finishing polish is needed or wanted after UC, the same is likely to be true after polishes such as IP. The ease of use of UC tips the scale in its favor, at least to me.

[Bostonsfavson]

After working with UC a few more times, I feel as though I need to update this review. So, here goes the contradicting of my earlier findings and me sounding like an idiot:

I polished my truck this week using my usual routine (IP/orange, 106, FPII/white). However, I found that I wasn't getting the results I wanted fast enough. Some of the defects were requiring *three* passes with IP/orange, and even then there were some remnants. I decided to give Meg's UC another go, and I'm glad I did.

Now, I don't know what the KB method is *exactly,* but I believe I did something similar. I primed an orange pad with UC, and using speed 6 and *heavy* pressure, gave the area several passes. I then followed up with a few passes using moderate/light pressure. The defects were gone, and the finish didn't have the very noticeable compounding marks I had noticed when using UC previously.

I ended up using UC on the rest of the truck. *Much* faster, *much* less dusting and, most importantly, better results. IP still finished down a bit nicer, but when you still have a step or two left anyways, who cares?

Bottom line: UC is much better than I gave it credit for originally. I didn't give it enough of a chance, and for that I'm sorry. I'm polishing my parents' vehicles over the next week or so, and you can bet UC will be getting a workout. I *still* look forward to trying out the M twins, but until then, UC will certainly do.

[termigator]

Good update.

[FordFan2009]

This may sound like a noob question but if I was using UC what would be the next polish to go to to get an LSP ready surface within the megs line up? swirlx?

[SoFreshSoClean]

This may sound like a noob question but if I was using UC what would be the next polish to go to to get an LSP ready surface within the megs line up? swirlx?

I used optimum polish II and it worked great and left an LSP ready surface. I also used optimum poli-seal and looked even better.