Tried 3M 39009 today, diddent go to well. Need some help!

[GlossyTundra]

I was going to test out a process on my g-friends 2003 red dodge truck to use in about a month. I started with 3M medium cut cleaner on half the hood. It came out pretty good. Removed some waterspots and some scratches. Then the bottle says to follow with 39009 SMR. I did just that. With a white pad on the PC at 4.5speed. Wiped off and It might have been a 50% reduction in swirls. Put it on a second time. This time using 5.5speed. Just a little more went but nothing perfect. Sealed with EO wet polish/wax. She said it looked fine, but It still bothered me. It only has about 6 or 7 swirl lines around the reflecion of my bay lights in the garage.

So what do yall think? More aggressive pad maybe? 3m smr is the closest thing locally available, and that is very important to me( I can buy this without my dad knowing, he thinks I spend to much money on it already).

I still have about a month before I will be doing the whole thing(clay, cleaner, smr, polish, s100)



Thanks

[steck]

i dont know, but...i think it may be in your `prep` stage. I would think after your 3M medium cut, that there shouldnt be any swirls to speak of...and if there were some left by the medium cut, than certainly they would be of the sort that the SMR would take care of pretty easily.



After 3m`s PI RC, or #83/#84, the finish looks fantastic (save for some hazing/buffing scuff) which easily comes out during polishing.



I dont see how you could need something any stronger than a `medium cut` but who knows???

[termigator]

Did you keep going over the stuff until it was almost gone? You have to really work the SMR in. Using the weight of the PC, you gotta keep polishing until the stuff is almost gone. I had pretty good luck with the SMR, but I don`t go over 4.5

[Bill D]

If that`s the stuff "for dark cars" be advised it`s mostly oily filler that will mask defects still present in the paint. Before Autopia, I was so mad at myself for wasting time with this product to find this out.



If you like 3m try the Perfect It 3000 line up, it`s the new VOC safe replacement for Perfect It III. They are available at a good local paint and body supply shop. The rubbing compound and swirl mark remover are non filling and truly remove defects.



With a PC it might take several passes using cutting and polishing pads. Wipe the area you are working on with isopropyl alcohol after your passes to monitor your progress and a final time before you apply your LSP.

[steck]

"the stuff for dark" cars. I actually like this stuff. but keep in mind it should be considered more of a glaze. "make up" for your car if you will!!



BTW, i think in the 3M prof line (perfect 111) its actually called Machine glaze for drk clrd crs).



keep working at it....half the fun is trying different products and techniques!!

[GlossyTundra]

thanks for the replys. I think I will do what termigator said and work it in more. I have herd that some people dont like the 3m smr b/c its a filler, but then again some people love it.



Thanks as always

If yall have anymore suggestions please chime in.

[stevet]

3M SMR for Dark Colors and the Light Colors version get a bad rap and it`s not deserved IMO. This product will not remove major defects because it`s not supposed to. It`s a final polish type product that removes compounding haze and improves gloss. If you use it as intended it works well. It has fillers but you should have removed the defects before you get to SMR. Than use SMR for final polishing. You don`t hear people complain about Menzerna FP not being able to remove major defects because people don`t use it for that. It`s a final polish and excels at that function. 3M SMR should be used the same way.

[Bill D]

Originally posted by steck

"the stuff for dark" cars. I actually like this stuff. but keep in mind it should be considered more of a glaze. "make up" for your car if you will!!



BTW, i think in the 3M prof line (perfect 111) its actually called Machine glaze for drk clrd crs).



keep working at it....half the fun is trying different products and techniques!!



Nope, they are totally different products. PI III MG is non filling. It`s more accurately a light polish or non filling, true swirl mark remover than a glaze. 3m`s replacement recognizes this by calling it a swirl mark remover.

[stevet]

Originally posted by steck

"the stuff for dark" cars. I actually like this stuff. but keep in mind it should be considered more of a glaze. "make up" for your car if you will!!





It is an abrasive as well and WILL REMOVE minor defects and compounding haze.

[stevet]

Originally posted by Bill D

Nope, they are totally different products. PI III MG is non filling. It`s more accurately a light polish or non filling, true swirl mark remover than a glaze. 3m`s replacement recognizes this by calling it a swirl mark remover.



Bill, if you read the bottle of 3M Perfect It III Machine Glaze you will see it is also labeled a Swirl Mark Remover. It`s just not displayed prominently in the name like the new 3M Perfect It 3000.

[Bill D]

Yes Steve but it`s not the same as the commercial product called smrs for dark and light cars. ( Just in case anyone here was getting confused) It`s good they totally clarified its smr identity and made that obvious with the release of the PI 3000 product.

[GlossyTundra]

Calm down kiddies :) I just want to know how to make THIS product work better b/c I am NOT going to get anything else. Especially the professional line that is outrageously expensive. I like this product, I just need to know how to like it more.



Thanks

[GlossyTundra]

Originally posted by stevet

It has fillers but you should have removed the defects before you get to SMR. Than use SMR for final polishing. You don`t hear people complain about Menzerna FP not being able to remove major defects because people don`t use it for that.





I`m not using this for major defects, just swirl marks. Kind of like the title says(Swirl mark remover). All the major defets were removed in my first process as mentioned in my first post. I just need to remove swirls. And as also mentioned in my first post, I am having some trouble.

[stevet]

Originally posted by Brandon1

I`m not using this for major defects, just swirl marks. Kind of like the title says(Swirl mark remover). All the major defets were removed in my first process as mentioned in my first post. I just need to remove swirls. And as also mentioned in my first post, I am having some trouble.





It might take several applications to remove the swirls. You might also need a more aggressive polish/compound. You might have really hard paint so a minor defect will require a more aggessive product.



3M Perfect It II SMR does have abrasives in it. In fact I find it more abrasive than Menzerna Final Polish. SMR is not made for severe swirls. You would need a more aggressive product for that. Than you can finish off with SMR.





Just curious, were the swirls there before you used 3M Medium Cut or did you put them in when you used the Medium Cut? You said Medium Cut removed scratches and water spots. I would think it would be aggressive enough to remove light swirls if it`s removing scratches. You might be micro marring the paint with the Medium Cut and the micro marring may be too much for SMR to remove. In this case you would need to step down to a less aggressive polish than Medium Cut but one that has more cut than SMR.

[jetskie]

I find that SMR is more of a prewax cleaner than an actual SMR. It does remove light swrils, but given the fact that you used a medium cut compound you might have got some deeper swrils from the compound that the SMR won`t take out. IMO you might need to step down to a light cut compound which can be bought at pepboys, or try 3M machine polish as that has more bite than SMR. My favorite has been Meguiars #80, but it harder to find locally. You can try a pad with more cut (orange) and that may solve you problem. Good luck.



Stevet I`m surprised that you find SMR has more bite than FP2. I just got FP2 and had not tried it yet, but by touch it seems to have some more abrassive than SMR.