3M products

[Phideaux]

I was wondering if anyone here has had much success with 3M. I haven`t heard too much chatter about it here or anywhere else, and I was curious. Today, I stopped by a local auto body supply place and they had a ton of Meg`s stuff, and some other brand (Wizard?) and a little bit of 3M. The guy said that he thought 3M was by far superior to anything Meguiar`s put out, and, as he put it, "better than a lot of stuff you find online."

But then again, he also told my to wash me vehicles, all I needed was a sponge and a brush. To his credit though, he did stress that I use a soft brush.

[SVR]

To me 3M is old school and I only have two bottles left
Once they are gone, no more
I prefer to use menzerna, dinitrol, ppg, four star, detailers pride and other top shelf online gear than anything in the body shop or industrial detail product market

[Brenton]

I haven`t a tonne of experience with them. They dropped a rubbing compound that wasn`t VOC compliant, and it was too bad. It could bring back wetsanding marks without a buffer. A lot of their compounds are good, but unlike swirl removers today they tend to dry out the paint a little.
Like SVR said, they are old school, but with a "ch" and not a "k".

[MrRogue]

I know their boat line up is still great stuff.

[Brenton]

I just compared the 3M Chrome & Metal polish with Blue Magic (was thinking about this thread). No comparison. Blue Magic was unbelievably better.

But that`s just one product.

[vwgtivw]

I use alot of 3m products on body shop cars and have no problem with them.

[jdoria]

I use 3M to get paint where it needs to be before sealing or waxing. I have used them in a bodyshop for years on new Glasurit adn Sikkens paints, I know how they work. No gimmicks, just cutting and polishing.

Once paint looks proper, I use boutique products to enhance shine and seal.

[joe.p]

I just compared the 3M Chrome & Metal polish with Blue Magic (was thinking about this thread). No comparison. Blue Magic was unbelievably better.

But that`s just one product.

ditto..

[Beemerboy]

I`ve used there IHG, light cut compound, swirl removers and had great results with them all...The only reason I changed was I found that I like PB P-w-C and his Nattys better....I still use the light cut compound

[Anthony A]

3M Perfect It III Rubbing Compound and Perfect It III Machine Glaze are awesome products. Work great by hand, PC, and rotary. They have been dropped in the USA because of VOC but as far as I know they are still available in Canada and other parts of the world. I have two almost full bottles, one of each, and they will last me a while. First abrasives I reach for when working by hand.

[C. Charles Hahn]

3M stuff I find caters to body shops and painters, moreso than Meguiar`s generally does. So if he`s a paint and body guy, of course he`s going to prefer 3M. For us "detailers," for the most part we`re going to prefer Meguiar`s (at least, I sure do).

[SVR]

I don`t touch meg`s either.

[Bence]

In mid-December my father removed the snow from my car with a stiff broom. It left ugly and quite deep scratches on the trunklid (new Spring Project).

We washed our cars together with a pal, who is a body shop guy and has quite good skills (as I thought) with the rotary.
He said that he`ll remove it. OK. Out came the 3M P-III Trizact compound and removed the defect in no time and left an LSP-ready surface. That was suspicious for me because it worked too fast and left a perfect finish. I thought: A polish can`t be that good! But I was pleasantly surprised nevertheless. I threw on a coat of 845, and we were finished.

Then came yesterday. I washed my car with my usual Sonax Gloss Shampoo/garden sprayer-foamer (Which in fact produces pretty good foam!) routine. I was surprised because the water was pooling on the trunk. How can it... Washed once again. I thought that it must be the 1Z -90°C windshield wash. Maybe it is too harsh on LSPs...

But I noticed that the water pooled exactly on that particular area where my pal polished the surface. After drying, I had to realize that the broom scratches are still there (lessened) and additionally, there are disgusting buffer trails too! The damned 3M just hid them! 1.5 months of near perfect illusion! I`ll never let a 3M polish touching my car again.

This little happening just taught me that a body shop guy is necessarily just as good as his materials dictate him. The 3M Trizact did a perfect-awful work. The guy thought that it was perfect, his skills were good enough and so did I. I was sceptical though, because of the time/cut/finish factor, but anyhow, I accepted the results. I was wrong.

I`m pretty sure that the unstable filler has compromised the durability of the 845. But I love polishes because of their honesty (like Menzerna, Optimum, FK), and not because of a deceiving illusion.

[pogo123]

I`m pretty sure that the unstable filler has compromised the durability of the 845. But I love polishes because of their honesty (like Menzerna, Optimum, FK), and not because of a deceiving illusion.

This is an important fact to remember for the times when we do need to use a glaze or a product that has fillers. As you stated, It will definitely compromise the durability of your LSP so you would have to reapply it (and the glaze) more often.

[Djmigs]

3M stuff I find caters to body shops and painters, moreso than Meguiar`s generally does. So if he`s a paint and body guy, of course he`s going to prefer 3M. For us "detailers," for the most part we`re going to prefer Meguiar`s (at least, I sure do).

i agree......