PPCL and 3M SMR (for light colored cars) review

Ng Luder · 10-29-01, 06:52

well after i did my initial surface cleaning with washing and mothers clay, i was off to try the SMR and PPCL for the first time.

Note:
im know by my friends to have a swirless car. and its almost true. even though my car is metalic it is very hard to find any swirls under many light conditions. my most swirly place is the butt of the car and the spoiler.

i did half the car with SMR and other with PPCL. i planed to use both on the whole car so after i do half, i would just do the car again with the other products respectively to what they had on already.

first of all i must say SMR is a good product. it does hid my extreamly minor swirls pretty well, better than the PPCL. and this i sjust from one application by hand. one thing though was that removing wasnt alot of fun. it was definitly easy but i guess it could have been a bit easier. applying was easy though. over all very satified with my first SMR which gave a slightly improved surface among the already almost perfect serface.

the PPCL was very fun to use. not only is it super easy to put on, its even easier to remove. very very nice product. smells pretty good, nothing bad smelling like the SMR (which isnt bad but not exactly somthing i want to smell like). and the creamy texture was just awesome. it frequently reminded me of a cool pina colada that kept temping me to drink the whole PPCL! i actually took a tiny tste test... doesnt taste like anything really. anyways, it does its job in hiding swirls a bit, not as effective as the SMR. but one of the greatest things aobut the PPCL is how buttery smooth it leaves ur car. the whole time i was using that bottle i felt like i was applying lotion to the car, it jsut gave me the feeling that white liquid in that bottle was actually healthy for the paint. the results were sooooooooo smooth i couldnt beleive it. i thought a claybar gets ur paint smooth but this totally leaves clay bars in the dust in terms of smoothness. i seriously never felt my car smoother in my life. i was so happy about it, after i was done and with a kinda soaked terry pad, i used that pad to do all my windows. god my windows have never felt better in my life! very awesome product indeed!

so in conclusion, 3M is great for swirls (pretty minor ones though, i didnt have any serious swirls to try this on), PPCL is AMAZING for keeping the body pure. combined together u have the effectivness of the SMR and the healthy feel of the PPCL... nothing can be better for me

so thats another little review from what i experienced this weekend. hope it helps!

912mom · 10-29-01, 06:58

I am happy that you liked the PPCL. It is one of my favorites. Diane

FLONI · 10-29-01, 10:31

...all the Pinnacle stuff smells great....i gotta try this PPCL...everybody says how smooth it makes the car feel...

......i mean...Zaino always has a slickness to it...so maybe with the PPCL it will be even smoother...

DavidB · 10-30-01, 03:51

A note about PPCL: If your paint is in excellent condition, PPCL is the best pre-wax cleaner/paint conditioner I have found to date. It is safer to use than clay, and it will leave the paint surface cleaner than clay. It will not, however, remove paint over spray and other tough particles, nor will it remove heavy swirl marks. It is a very low abrasive... almost too mild to call it an abrasive.

I have used it prior to using both Zaino ZFX and BlackFire, with excellent results. As both of these polish/sealant systems have no cleaning or polishing capability, PPCL seems to be a perfect fit.

db

Ng Luder · 10-30-01, 05:08

Quote:

Originally posted by DavidB
A note about PPCL: If your paint is in excellent condition, PPCL is the best pre-wax cleaner/paint conditioner I have found to date. It is safer to use than clay, and it will leave the paint surface cleaner than clay. It will not, however, remove paint over spray and other tough particles, nor will it remove heavy swirl marks. It is a very low abrasive... almost too mild to call it an abrasive.

I have used it prior to using both Zaino ZFX and BlackFire, with excellent results. As both of these polish/sealant systems have no cleaning or polishing capability, PPCL seems to be a perfect fit.

db

thats awesome news!! im just about to go into zaino too since i just finished my PPCL as my last step. i was afraid the dawn will wash out the PPCL somehow... but i guess it wont or at least not much of it. i cant wait to try zaino this weekend. only if i had that ZFX now i wont be limited to only doing 2 applications every weekend since i only see my car on weekends...

its gona take me like 2 months to get my satisfied amount of layers of Z5 and Z2.

rad21 · 10-30-01, 08:26

Nice review Ng Luder, now I have to get me some PPCL and SMR. Thanks for giving me a reason to spend some cash

Short Cut · 11-07-01, 12:22

Thanks for the review. What looks/works better PPCL over SMR or SMR over PPCL?

Ng Luder · 11-07-01, 03:51

Quote:

Originally posted by Short Cut
Thanks for the review. What looks/works better PPCL over SMR or SMR over PPCL?

well honestly i cant tell the differnece when i use them on seperate panels. both gave a great look. but in terms of leaving and nice smooth finish and their what they were made to do, i would suggest using SMR and then PPCL over it.

DETAILKING · 11-08-01, 10:43

I plan to try out PPCL on my black acura. It really is gonna need a spring cleaning this year, since it wasn't properly maintained (to my standards this summer since my GF is driving it.....well (leasing) it from me for now.

That car responds very finicky to abrasives, so perhaps this product will do well on that car.