(Yet Another) M205 Review

[SuperBee364]

Originally Posted by superchargedg

How do you think it will work with the flex.

I dunno, man, there's kinda mixed feelings about KBM method and the Flex 3401 DA. Some guys have said that the Flex works great, but gmblack3a said it didn't work so great for him, and that he prefered the PC over the Flex for KBM and M205. You might be thinking that the buffer in my pic is a Flex 3401, but it's not. It's a 3403 rotary. Sorry if that threw you off a bit. With the 3403, I have to be very careful about not spinning it too slow with too much pressure. It over heats fast if I do that.

Originally Posted by Greg Nichols

Dang you superbee! You moved 5 hrs from me and now we cannot product test together. I do have a gallon of 205 and am going to retry it, but the first time it was a PITA for me. I new batches are better, so thanks for the motivation to get my car 205ied for the winter with a new sweater of 1000P topped with pink wax for the winter.

Take care buddy, and am totally stoked you are feeling better and back flying!

Cheers,
GREG

Thanks, Greg, it *is* good to be back... detailing and flying. Anytime it gets too cold and snowy up there in northern Utah, you've got a warm place to detail here in the sunny south. It was *perfect* detailing weather here yesterday and today. We need to take full advantage of the southern Utah climate this winter and do some serious product evals.

[MR Detail Shop]

Great post and very informative review!
What did you use to prime your pad 205 or a QD of sorts? I have seen a few different answers but very interested in what you used.
Thanks!

[David Fermani]

Originally Posted by SuperBee364

So what class is M205 in? I'd consider it an SIP or Power Finish Class. On the lighter side, possibly even PO106FF. And 205 wipes the floor with em all.

It's a great product via DA for buffer trail removal after compounding. If you want to bump up the gloss even more, try using 85RD after via rotary. I was blown away last weekend on a grey metallic Bentley with it.

[SuperBee364]

Originally Posted by MR Detail Shop

Great post and very informative review!
What did you use to prime your pad 205 or a QD of sorts? I have seen a few different answers but very interested in what you used.
Thanks!

205. It takes a bit of time, but what you're shooting for is to have the polish lightly covering the entire pad. Just enough to barely see it visible across the entire surface. There's a pic of this somewhere... I'll see if I can find it.

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by SuperBee364

..My money is on the Colllinites out lasting the 1000P, but we'll see...

Oh, man...I hope that's *not* the case, having switched the Yukon XLD to Fk1000P from the Collinites

Good review, I've never used M205 via rotary so it was interesting to hear about that.

Interesting to me that you think it finishes out as well as Menzerna 106FF . I can't remember which 106 I have (it's the stuff relabeled "BlackFire"), but whenever I follow my M205 (via DA) with it I'm impressed at how the Menzerna improves things. Wonder if the type of polisher factors in

Originally Posted by David Fermani

It's a great product via DA for buffer trail removal after compounding.

-AND-

Originally Posted by ZimRandy

How much more cut do you think a white pad would offer? I'm just getting into my bottle of M205 and haven't had a lot of time to experiment with it. If the white would offer a decent cut and finish off nice, it might make a good one step product.

Noting again that I've only used M205 via Flex 3401 and PC (4"), I've found that upping the pad's aggressiveness works out surprisingly well. I hardly *ever* use remotely aggressive pads with "finishing polishes", but at ebpcivicsi's suggestion I tried it with orange LC and it really worked well.

Then I tried it with *Griot's* orange and *WOW* do I love that combo! Cuts much better than I'd expected and still finishes out *very* well (at least to my eyes it's about as nice as with a LC gray). I suspect the new LC tangerine pad would work about the same way.

So yeah...I'd try using it with a more aggressive pad than you might first consider. I've removed pretty nasty compounding marks with this combo.

[SuperBee364]

Originally Posted by David Fermani

It's a great product via DA for buffer trail removal after compounding. If you want to bump up the gloss even more, try using 85RD after via rotary. I was blown away last weekend on a grey metallic Bentley with it.

Now that I have all the nasties taken out of the clear, I'm gonna spend the next few months jeweling the different panels with different polishes (FPII, 85RD and their ilk) just to see exactly how much more gloss you can get over the 205. Man, I love the weather in my new town.... I'm gonna leave a few panels untcouhed, though. Both for comparing the 205 finish to the other panels and for another long term 1000P durability test.

Originally Posted by Accumulator

Oh, man...I hope that's *not* the case, having switched the Yukon XLD to Fk1000P from the Collinites

Good review, I've never used M205 via rotary so it was interesting to hear about that.

Interesting to me that you think it finishes out as well as Menzerna 106FF . I can't remember which 106 I have (it's the stuff relabeled "BlackFire"), but whenever I follow my M205 (via DA) with it I'm impressed at how the Menzerna improves things. Wonder if the type of polisher factors in



-AND-



Noting again that I've only used M205 via Flex 3401 and PC (4"), I've found that upping the pad's aggressiveness works out surprisingly well. I hardly *ever* use remotely aggressive pads with "finishing polishes", but at ebpcivicsi's suggestion I tried it with orange LC and it really worked well.

Then I tried it with *Griot's* orange and *WOW* do I love that combo! Cuts much better than I'd expected and still finishes out *very* well (at least to my eyes it's about as nice as with a LC gray). I suspect the new LC tangerine pad would work about the same way.

So yeah...I'd try using it with a more aggressive pad than you might first consider. I've removed pretty nasty compounding marks with this combo.

For sure the machine type weighs in heavily on the gloss left by 205. I can get much better gloss with the rotary than the DA, but the darn holos get to be a problem on softer paints with 205. Same thing goes with pad selection; on a DA I won't hesitate to go to a pad with more cut, but on the rotary, I'm a two pad kinda guy: either a wool to cut (or finish, depending on hardness I *still* like my finishing wool, although it's getting very worn and it's gonna be hard to replace ) and zero bite foam for light correction and finishing. PFW on a rotary leaves (on most paints, and IMO) a better finish than cutting foam. That might be hard for DA guys to swallow, cause I've seen the mess that PFW can leave behind when used by DA, but IME it's true. Even on softer paints, PFW via rotary is cooler, quicker, cuts better, leaves a better finish than cutting foam.

I did get sweet long term results from last year's 1000P durability test, for sure. It was still in pretty good shape when I switched LSP's last spring. I think (hope!) you'll be pleased with it's durability.

[Flashtime]

M205 is a great product and I've been using lots of it. However, in really high
temps (100+), it can be a bit fickle.

I wonder when Meguiars will come out with M305 Really Final Polish...

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by SuperBee364

...I *still* like my finishing wool, although it's getting very worn and it's gonna be hard to replace..

What, are the white wool finishing pads no longer available?

I've been meaning to try them via Flex with M205 for my penultimate polishing step.

Originally Posted by flashtime

..I wonder when Meguiars will come out with M305 Really Final Polish...

I somehow don't see the Meguiar's mindset accepting that such a thing is necessary. Could be wrong, but that's just my gut-feeling.

[ebpcivicsi]

Originally Posted by Accumulator

[color="navy"]wool
I somehow don't see the Meguiar's mindset accepting that such a thing is necessary. Could be wrong, but that's just my gut-feeling.

I agree, but I sure wish that they would! There are times when M205 just will not finish out--especially when using a DA. IME, this is only the case on *really* soft paints, or on certain "curved" body lines where the pad doesn't stay flat. It would be nice to have a finer cut option based on the same technology.

Thanks for the review superbee! Lots of great info here.

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by ebpcivicsi

I agree, but I sure wish that they would! There are times when M205 just will not finish out--especially when using a DA. IME, this is only the case on *really* soft paints...

Oddly enough, I notice the huge improvement I got by following M205 with Menzerna on my M3, which has rock-hard clear

And I kept thinking that using that stuff on the Yukon (after M205) might've made for an improvement..but eh, you know what it's like to spend forever on that thing, and at this point I can't take off *any* more clear that I don't really have to.

[Robb]

Very nice review

[ebpcivicsi]

Originally Posted by Accumulator

Oddly enough, I notice the huge improvement I got by following M205 with Menzerna on my M3, which has rock-hard clear

And I kept thinking that using that stuff on the Yukon (after M205) might've made for an improvement..but eh, you know what it's like to spend forever on that thing, and at this point I can't take off *any* more clear that I don't really have to.

Geez, now I have to start following M205 with my menzerna goodies to check for noticeable gloss enhancement!


The improvement that you saw was with the FLEX DA right? I wonder if the same difference would have been there using both via rotary? Ah, the nuances of polishing paint!