Choices, Choices, Choices.....

[DetailnByDustn]

Need some help deciding who has the best products for the money, I just bought the mothers line of professional polishes, compounds, and glazes but want in the future to try and buy some new materials.



Currently using a PC, Yellow, White, and Blue css foam pads



Any Suggestions? Ive seen a lot on Zaino, Manzerna, and Optimums products! Weight in if you got any information on any of these products.



Respond with some format like below:



Best for swirl remover, little scratches-



Best for medium scratches-



Best for polishing or final wax-

[DM101]

Best for swirl remover, little, medium scratches - Menzerna Power Finish PO 203

Best for polishing - Red moose Glaze RMG

Best for final wax - CMW Car. Moose Wax



This will give you a awesome finish.

[stiffdogg06]

There isn`t a BEST polish/compound/LSP out there. EVERYONE has their own personal likes and dislikes. Look through click N brags. Search and find out what people are using. Buy it, use it, if you like it great, if not, there you`ve went through the process of elimination.

[cptzippy]

Ditto what stiffdogg06 said. I don`t have a lot of experience with a lot of different products (if that makes sense). However, it seems that I`ve discovered two things vicariously, virtually, and IME.



1) You can get pretty decent results with any good product.



2) Each paint reacts differently to different products. There are so many variable with hardness, condition, color, and type of paint. For broad example, single stage will `like` different products that the ceramic paints Merc uses. Certain LSPs will bring out more depth, some more shine, some more protection. What combination do you want for the car in question? do you want more depth or a dark red? shine for a white? protection for a dd in Buffalo?



So to totally not answer your question - it depends

[DetailnByDustn]

Ditto what stiffdogg06 said. I don`t have a lot of experience with a lot of different products (if that makes sense). However, it seems that I`ve discovered two things vicariously, virtually, and IME.



1) You can get pretty decent results with any good product.



2) Each paint reacts differently to different products. There are so many variable with hardness, condition, color, and type of paint. For broad example, single stage will `like` different products that the ceramic paints Merc uses. Certain LSPs will bring out more depth, some more shine, some more protection. What combination do you want for the car in question? do you want more depth or a dark red? shine for a white? protection for a dd in Buffalo?



So to totally not answer your question - it depends

It depends on my customer cars, most of them are darker colored cars that are semi abused with little scratches and never get waxed but once every year

[RaskyR1]

Ditto what stiffdogg06 said. I don`t have a lot of experience with a lot of different products (if that makes sense). However, it seems that I`ve discovered two things vicariously, virtually, and IME.



1) You can get pretty decent results with any good product.

2) Each paint reacts differently to different products. There are so many variable with hardness, condition, color, and type of paint. For broad example, single stage will `like` different products that the ceramic paints Merc uses. Certain LSPs will bring out more depth, some more shine, some more protection. What combination do you want for the car in question? do you want more depth or a dark red? shine for a white? protection for a dd in Buffalo?



So to totally not answer your question - it depends

That pretty much sums it up right there. The key is finding a product that works with your style of polishing, as well as your budget. It`s also a good idea to have a few different polishes on hand for those PITA cars with touchy paint.



Rasky

[DetailnByDustn]

That pretty much sums it up right there. The key is finding a product that works with your style of polishing, as well as your budget. It`s also a good idea to have a few different polishes on hand for those PITA cars with touchy paint.



Rasky

What do you use?

[DetailnByDustn]

I guess I might just try zainos Ive heard a lot about it

[SuperBee364]

Unfortunately, you can`t just say Product X is the best compound, etc. It would be nice to only have to keep in stock one copound, one medium polish, one light polish, and one finishing polish, but it just doesn`t work that way; on some cars, product X might work great, but on another car, it falls flat. The more cars you do, the more you`ll see this, and the more products you`ll end up getting to make sure you have all your bases covered.



Even with the new M105/M205 combination, which is as close to a two-products-fits-all as you can get, there are cars that it simply won`t work on. They are still my "go to" products (the first to be tried), yet there are some instances where other products work better.

[DetailnByDustn]

Unfortunately, you can`t just say Product X is the best compound, etc. It would be nice to only have to keep in stock one copound, one medium polish, one light polish, and one finishing polish, but it just doesn`t work that way; on some cars, product X might work great, but on another car, it falls flat. The more cars you do, the more you`ll see this, and the more products you`ll end up getting to make sure you have all your bases covered.



Even with the new M105/M205 combination, which is as close to a two-products-fits-all as you can get, there are cars that it simply won`t work on. They are still my "go to" products (the first to be tried), yet there are some instances where other products work better.

How do you know when to use a product with a type of paint? test it?

[SuperBee364]

How do you know when to use a product with a type of paint? test it?

Yup, exactly. SWAG to start. I start out with a small section on either the hood or roof, as the horizontal surfaces are usually in the worst condition. I`ll try out product/pad combos until I have the entire process figured out for that particular paint, from compounding (if required) through finishing.



*Most* of the time, the compounding step (if needed) is usually PFW and M105 by rotary. But again, there are exceptions. On soft paint, that`s just too harsh of a combo, so I would then try PFW and SIP. If that`s too much, I`d switch to IP. If I know that the paint is soft (pretty much a gaurentee on Hondas and Subarus), then I start out at the very bottom, with something like IP and an orange foam.



I try to keep the following products on hand, as they *generally* will get the job done on most cars...



1. Compounds: Menz Power Gloss, Hi-Temp Extreme Cut, M105, Optimum Hypercompound and Optimum Compound.



2. Medium Polishes: Menz IP, Menz SIP, M205, Optimum Polish, Hi-Temp 357 Magnum





3. Light Polishes: Menz IP (it`s a light polish on hard paints, and a medium polish on soft), M205 (this one goes cross-category, too), PO106FF, 1Z Hoch Glanz, Optimum Polish (another cross over), PO106FA, Ultrafina



4. Finishing or Jeweling polishes: Menz FPII, PO85RD, Ultrafina

[RaskyR1]

What do you use?

My go to polishes are usually Meguiar`s, but I also have most of the Menzurna line as well as the 3M stuff.





You don`t know what`s going to work best until you do a test spot on the paint.

[imported_sal329]

You have yellow and white LC pads, no orange? I would say M105, M205, P203, SIP, 106fa, 85rd, Prima Swirl are all great to have handy

[DetailnByDustn]

Yup, exactly. SWAG to start. I start out with a small section on either the hood or roof, as the horizontal surfaces are usually in the worst condition. I`ll try out product/pad combos until I have the entire process figured out for that particular paint, from compounding (if required) through finishing.



*Most* of the time, the compounding step (if needed) is usually PFW and M105 by rotary. But again, there are exceptions. On soft paint, that`s just too harsh of a combo, so I would then try PFW and SIP. If that`s too much, I`d switch to IP. If I know that the paint is soft (pretty much a gaurentee on Hondas and Subarus), then I start out at the very bottom, with something like IP and an orange foam.



I try to keep the following products on hand, as they *generally* will get the job done on most cars...



1. Compounds: Menz Power Gloss, Hi-Temp Extreme Cut, M105, Optimum Hypercompound and Optimum Compound.



2. Medium Polishes: Menz IP, Menz SIP, M205, Optimum Polish, Hi-Temp 357 Magnum





3. Light Polishes: Menz IP (it`s a light polish on hard paints, and a medium polish on soft), M205 (this one goes cross-category, too), PO106FF, 1Z Hoch Glanz, Optimum Polish (another cross over), PO106FA, Ultrafina



4. Finishing or Jeweling polishes: Menz FPII, PO85RD, Ultrafina

I`m pretty new at buffing in general Ive been using a porter cable for about a year and a half and rather not risk my customers paint when it comes to a high powered rotary.

[DetailnByDustn]

You have yellow and white LC pads, no orange? I would say M105, M205, P203, SIP, 106fa, 85rd, Prima Swirl are all great to have handy

Correct I bought the minimum types of LC pads for the three steps in paint corrections, I didn`t have a lot of money at that time and still don`t