M205 + White Pad or Grey pad

[LQ9SS]

What pad would be a better option with M205?



I used M105 with a white pad and it removed most of the swirls/scratches on my truck, but it definatly needs to be finished with the 205.



Thanks.

[imported_RZJZA80]

entriely depends on the condition the 105 left. If you want a little more bite but also refinement, go white, if you want a better finish with less bite, I`d go black.

[imported_JoshVette]

entriely depends on the condition the 105 left. If you want a little more bite but also refinement, go white, if you want a better finish with less bite, I`d go black.



I agree, and to add it will also make a difference depending on how hard or soft your clear coat is.



If it`s that Chevy truck I`d go with the white pad and chevy and GM typically make slightly harder paint most of the time.



If the paint already looks super great and you have no holograms then I`d stick with the grey as you just want to really jewel it. But if you still have some swirls or some holograms I`d go with the white.



M105 typically does not finish 100% hologram free with the rotary, if you`re using an orbital though it will. fyi



Josh

[LQ9SS]

I am using the Flex.



After the 105 it left a lot of fine scratches. I am thinking the white pad will be the way to go.



And yes, it`s a chevy truck.

[Jason M]

Try the black pad before you just go straight to white. M205 does a really good job removing scratches as long as they are uniform. i.e. after using M105. I have no problem going from M105 on an 8006 or LC Orange via rotary straight to M205 on the Meg`s black finishing pad via my DA. And I do a lot of work on hard Audi paint.



GM paint tends to be a little more sensitive to scratching but I would still try it with black before ruling it out.

[Accumulator]

LQ9SS- I`d probably go straight to the white pad. I know..."try the least aggressive first", but still..IME the M205/gray is a true "finishing" combo in the sense that it`s not gonna fix what you`ve described, at least not on hardish clear.



IMO the burnishing/jeweling techniques and combos don`t come into play until the finish already appears flawless, and that doesn`t sound like the case here.



Depending on how you used the M105, I do know that it can leave some, uhm...issues. It happens to me when I use too much product and get careless :o Considering that-



You might even want to try M205/orange (!). While I`m always raving about "harsh product/mild pad" combos (the exact opposite of M205/orange), I just had a situation like what you described, and with the Flex 3401, the M205/orange combo was simply *great*. The vehicle I`m doing does have hard clear, but this combo seems to have left it ready-to-wax, though I might give it a final burnishing just to see if I notice any difference.



So if the M205/white doesn`t do the job, try M205/orange.



Note: the credit for M205/orange should go to ebpcivicsi. He suggested I try it and I never woulda thought of it on my own.

[Jason M]

The thing with M205 on the Meg`s black pad is that it can be fairly aggressive. As long as the scratches are uniform in depth it will remove them. I think some are confusing depth with amount. He said "M105 left a lot of fine scratches".



It doesn`t matter how many scratches, just the depth. M105 tends to leave scratches that are similar to sanding scratches from a good paper. On some paints it will swirl and hologram like crazy but if you really look at the depth of the scratches they are super fine. Even on hard clears I have no issues going from M105 on polishing pads (white like he stated) to M205 on the black Meg`s pad.



Now, if the scratches are from re-wetting the M105 and it clumping.....that`s a different story.

[LQ9SS]

Thanks for the great information guys!

[imported_JoshVette]

with the flex go with the white pad. rotary is a different story.

[Furd]

You might even want to try M205/orange (!). While I`m always raving about "harsh product/mild pad" combos (the exact opposite of M205/orange), I just had a situation like what you described, and with the Flex 3401, the M205/orange combo was simply *great*. The vehicle I`m doing does have hard clear, but this combo seems to have left it ready-to-wax, though I might give it a final burnishing just to see if I notice any difference.



So if the M205/white doesn`t do the job, try M205/orange.



Note: the credit for M205/orange should go to ebpcivicsi. He suggested I try it and I never woulda thought of it on my own.



Yesterday, I used this combo on a grey 2004 Mazda RX-8. I was going to use a white pad, but I thought that a little more cutting was in order. I figured that I could follow up with a white if necessary. (I`m no expert, to be sure, so I really didn`t know how advisable this was.)



EDIT: I was using a PC.



It worked out just fine. I was able to wax right over it.



A blind squirrel situation, in my case.

[Accumulator]

Furd- Cool, that makes at least three of us who`ve found that to be a good combo.



Jason M- I bet a few of my M105 scratches *were* from my rewetting it, but 99% of them were "hologram-light" and very shallow (I was kinda :think: so I even checked `em out with magnification).



I simply couldn`t get `em out with M205 until I switched to the orange pad (tried at least four other pads), and that required two-three times with significant pressure. Even the just-slighty-milder Griot`s orange pad wouldn`t get `em out, which really surprised me. But this *was* on pretty hard clear...a weird repaint that`s been giving me fits.

[Jason M]

Jason M- I bet a few of my M105 scratches *were* from my rewetting it, but 99% of them were "hologram-light" and very shallow (I was kinda :think: so I even checked `em out with magnification).



I simply couldn`t get `em out with M205 until I switched to the orange pad (tried at least four other pads), and that required two-three times with significant pressure. Even the just-slighty-milder Griot`s orange pad wouldn`t get `em out, which really surprised me. But this *was* on pretty hard clear...a weird repaint that`s been giving me fits.





Wow, that`s kinda crazy. What pad did you use with your M105 passes?



I would be curious how M86 on a finishing pad would do with that repaint also. M86 can finish pretty fine on a finishing pad but has loads more cut than 205. Ultimate Compound comes to mind also. I one stepped a Jetta with UC on an 8006 pad a while back and was floored at how well it finished down considering the amount of cut it had. Basically how M80 via DA looks. Not as sharp as M205 via DA and a black pad but shiny and tick mark free.

[Accumulator]

Wow, that`s kinda crazy. What pad did you use with your M105 passes?



Noting that this was a pretty extreme job, where I debated getting out my rotary/rocks-in-a-bottle stuff or even the Unigrit...but my final passes with the M105 were with Flex/Meg`s 8006 pad, should`ve worked out fine.



Tricky situation- very hard clear, very uneven thickness with some *scary-thin* areas, loads of overspray, and nail-catcher scratches all over it. And the contours of a `60 MKII are tricky in themselves.



I suspect that the marring in question came from my having to ONR it after that step. There was a *LOT* of compound residue and I simply *hated* that I had to ONR instead of doing a different sort of wash, but again, this is a weird situation and this car can`t get too wet.



I`ve simply never had this problem after using M105 before...kinda suspect it won`t happen again either.




I would be curious how M86 on a finishing pad would do with that repaint also. M86 can finish pretty fine on a finishing pad but has loads more cut than 205. Ultimate Compound comes to mind also. I one stepped a Jetta with UC on an 8006 pad a while back and was floored at how well it finished down considering the amount of cut it had. Basically how M80 via DA looks. Not as sharp as M205 via DA and a black pad but shiny and tick mark free.



That`s interesting about the M86, thanks for the explantion relative to the other products. M105 always finishes out quite well for me, it was just this one time that I had issues.



Oh well, I`m burnishing it with M205/LC black and all`s well that ends well. This job has reminded me how I dislike doing really serious correction...hardly *ever* have to do it any more and that`s fine with me.

[Jason M]

This job has reminded me how I dislike doing really serious correction...hardly *ever* have to do it any more and that`s fine with me.



Yeah, but it allows you to enjoy finishing off the paint that much more!

[SuperBee364]

A couple of different approaches....



1. Use a pad with some bite to it, and 205 will clean up the "leftovers" pretty quick, but the finish will be limited to how well that particular pad can finish down. Advantage: Fast way to clean up compounding mess. Disadvantage: you`ll need to do yet another application of 205 with a no bite pad to really get the finish that 205 can give.



2. Use a zero bite pad, and keep working the 205 (adding small additional amounts as needed) until the defects are gone, then ease up on the pressure, and finish up by jeweling this same application. Advantage: it`s all done in one step, and is normally faster than option one. Disadvantage: it does take a few more passes to get out the heavier stuff.



I like option two the best, but one is good, too. 205 is just such a versatile product.