3M Ultrafina pad... Educate ME!

E

E300Diesel

New member
Hey guys/gals....



I've been reading in recent and various posts regarding the use of the 3M Ultrafina (blue finishing) pad usage.... I know that Todd TH0001 uses this in all of his artisan level work.



I am opening this thread to shed some light on why is this pad so coveted by many a experienced detailers on this forum. As a newbie I have quite a ways to go as far as knowledge and technique. I myself have a blue LC CCS 6.5" pad that I have used and will use more extensively via my Makita to "burnish" or "jewel" the surface to restore maximum gloss. Is the Ultrafina finer of a pad regarding it's composition and construction than others?





Thanks!
 
michakaveli said:
Hey guys/gals....



I've been reading in recent and various posts regarding the use of the 3M Ultrafina (blue finishing) pad usage.... I know that Todd TH0001 uses this in all of his artisan level work.



I am opening this thread to shed some light on why is this pad so coveted by many a experienced detailers on this forum. As a newbie I have quite a ways to go as far as knowledge and technique. I myself have a blue LC CCS 6.5" pad that I have used and will use more extensively via my Makita to "burnish" or "jewel" the surface to restore maximum gloss. Is the Ultrafina finer of a pad regarding it's composition and construction than others?





Thanks!
Click to expand...





UF will work with the blue/red/gold just fine.
 
I tried both versions of the US Ultrafina pad. They are both eight inch pads, one of which is "dished out" where the backing plate goes, the other is just a standard waffle weave flat pad. They are great finishing pads, for sure. But I hate big pads. So I switched to my six inch red Edge 2000 waffle weaves, and could tell zero difference in the way Ultrafina performed. I ended up giving my UF pads to a friend.



I've used UF with many different pads....LC's, Megs Soft buff, Soft Buff 2.0, 3M's, Edge. All of them seemed to produce an equivalent finish, but some would load up and sling much faster. You want a squishy pad (like the 3m, Edge red, LC red) if you want to minimize sling. And with UF, who *doesn''t* want to minimize sling?
 
^^^

SuperBee gave me the pads and I LOVE THEM. I've used a blue LC and Red LC and I still think the UF pads are better. I don't know the PPI of the UF but it seems to high. I don't get as MUCH sling with them as I do with the blue and red.



I know you can get smaller UF pads if you want.



Merry Christmas,

GREG
 
tdekany said:
I don't understand how you guys get sling from UF.:laugh::laugh::laugh:
Click to expand...



Thomas...I was always under the impression that if you got sling with UF you were using it properly. At least that is what I saw on the 3M UF video.
 
Thats what the video shows. It also seems to be a guideline on how much to use. Never had any problems when it doesn't sling but made sure there was a film on the paint. It also doesn't sling until the RPM are higher, like 1800.
 
Ok..... It's gonna sound stupid, but from reading some of these posts I am understanding that there is an UF pad and an actual product (i.e. polish) ?
 
Greg Nichols said:
^^^

SuperBee gave me the pads and I LOVE THEM. I've used a blue LC and Red LC and I still think the UF pads are better. I don't know the PPI of the UF but it seems to high. I don't get as MUCH sling with them as I do with the blue and red.



I know you can get smaller UF pads if you want.



Merry Christmas,

GREG
Click to expand...



Yeah, but you gotta get them from the UK; they aren't available here in the US. Phil got a secret stash of them last spring, but he sold through them fast. I think you had to know a secret hand shake to get them from him, too.
 
D&D Auto Detail said:
I think PakShak has the 6" pad.
Click to expand...
Yes, Ranney has both the 6" blue UF pad, the 6" grey/black, and the coveted 5" 3M backing plates:



3M Automotive Products



They aren't cheap, but as Supe mentioned that stuff has to come from the UK.



I talked to some 3M reps this past August and they indicated that 3M is considering selling the 6" pads in the U.S., but it wasn't something that was going to happen very soon.
 
Eliot Ness said:
Yes, Ranney has both the 6" blue UF pad, the 6" grey/black, and the coveted 5" 3M backing plates:



3M Automotive Products



They aren't cheap, but as Supe mentioned that stuff has to come from the UK.



I talked to some 3M reps this past August and they indicated that 3M is considering selling the 6" pads in the U.S., but it wasn't something that was going to happen very soon.
Click to expand...



Thanks for that link. It's all coming together now.... Polish and pad :-)



How does the 3M Perfect-it III Ultrafina SE Polish #50383 compare to Menzerna's Micro Polish PO 87MC?
 
D&D Auto Detail said:
I think PakShak has the 6" pad.
Click to expand...



Eliot Ness said:
Yes, Ranney has both the 6" blue UF pad, the 6" grey/black, and the coveted 5" 3M backing plates:



3M Automotive Products



They aren't cheap, but as Supe mentioned that stuff has to come from the UK.



I talked to some 3M reps this past August and they indicated that 3M is considering selling the 6" pads in the U.S., but it wasn't something that was going to happen very soon.
Click to expand...



Very cool. I had no idea PakShak had the smaller UF pads in stock. There's a very important difference in the product descriptions between the six and eight inch pads, though. Has me wondering if they're the same foam or not.



From the six inch pad page: 3M Perfect-it III Ultrafina SE Finishing Pad #50388, 6 inch



"[FONT=arial, helvetica]The 3M Perfect-it III Ultrafina SE Finishing Pad #50388 has a very mild cutting action"



From the eight inch page: [/FONT]3M Perfect -It Ultrafina Foam Polishing Pad #05733, 8 inch



"[FONT=arial, helvetica] Use with 3M Perfect-It 3000 Ultrafina SE (SE = Swirl Eliminator) #06068 or #06069 as paint finishing step as paint finishing step

* Extremely soft foam pad."[/FONT]



Is there anyone around here that has both pads? If so, are they made out of the same foam? The eight inch pad is the very softest, squishiest foam I've felt, although it *does* feel like the same foam as the red Edge2000 foam. Greg Nichols and I can vouch for the fact that the eight inch 3m pad and the six inch red Edge wave foam pad with UF *will* finish down completely hologram free (with a rotary) on the very softest paints you can find.



michakaveli said:
Thanks for that link. It's all coming together now.... Polish and pad :-)



How does the 3M Perfect-it III Ultrafina SE Polish #50383 compare to Menzerna's Micro Polish PO 87MC?
Click to expand...



Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the UF part #50383 is the UK version. I've never used it. But the US version, 06068, rocks. It has much more correcting power than PO87MC, and leaves *almost* as good of a finish. It really is hard to beat 87MC for the absolute maximum glossy finish (especially if you have the rather significant amount of time needed to bring it to it's best), but UF comes close, has much more correcting power, is easier to use, and much faster.
 
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