Carpro Essence disappointed

psynx

psynx

New member
I been out of the loop lately with new products and all. recently I had a customer come to me for a coating job, and most of the time i use Cquartz UK edition. So i heard about essence and essence+ right before i stopped being active on forums and such. So i looked into it researched a bit and figured this stuff will save me some time with the semi permanent filling abilities and best of all no wipe down needed with eraser after polishing. Vehicle was a 2017 Chevy Tahoe and the paint was in decent condition so i figured maybe a 1 step should suffice. (HD adapt is usually my go to for 1 step) So i tried essence with a couple different pad combinations and it worked best with megs MF cutting pad but still required quite a bit of passes and re doing some areas. Overall I was really disappointed with the results and its performance. I ended up having to do compound and followed by essence on a couple of panels just to speed up the process.


Well since i been out of the game for about a year or so, anyone has any recommendations with essence or feedback on it. pad combinations and such. i used it again today on my personal Audi and it had light marring from washing it but nothing crazy and i tried essence once again only to disappoint me again. My conclusion is that its more of a jeweling polish not so much correction and filing.
 
If you were going so far as to use a MF pad to cut, id say you were working outside its intended use. Treat it more as a fine polish/primer. I think this is just a case of unrealistic expectations
 
hey welcome back!

some people have had better results using it twice with cutting and then finishing pad

it`s not really intended for compounding so you may have just pressed its limits going "off label" a bit

i was big on adapt last year and generally adapt + cutting pad then essence on gloss pad = just right for most of my applications
 
I used essence this past weekend to prep some black wheels for Gyeon Rim. Cleaned up the swirls and marring 1-2-3 with a Rupes yellow pad.

Was happy and would use again. Essence is more of a finishing polish and has very little cut, but it sure does amp up the gloss.
 
Agree with others, paint hardness does affect its utility. On my hard Ford paint, no joy on filling light marring on metallic white paint. Need to try again with long throw (don`t have yet) to see if that will help as foam pads don`t really do anything on this paint for some reason. Gotta love 10 years of Texas sun on a vehicle.
 
As other folks have stated Essence is a polish not a compound. Not knowing the condition (extent of swirls etc.) possibly the paint needed a light compound first.

I use Essence as a finishing polish all the time (use very little and be sure the vehicle is in the shade) and for light swirls and very minor correction it works great.

For me I use it on all the paint to add gloss, do minor fill and remove the need to use Eraser on the paint before applying a coating. For me this is a big time saver.

I like using Essence with a Rupes 21, 5" backing Plate & Megs mf cutting discs. It does a great job with that machine, BP, pad combo. What combo did you use?
 
ShaneB said:
If you were going so far as to use a MF pad to cut, id say you were working outside its intended use. Treat it more as a fine polish/primer. I think this is just a case of unrealistic expectations
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I came to the same conclusion after trying it a 2nd time. My personal vehicle (audi) only had micro marring from washes and bad roads here in my town. So I figured with a heavy polishing or regular polishing pad from BnS should get the job done and it didn`t :(
I`ll give it one more shot before I decide to trade it. My Honda has super soft paint and if it doesn`t work on that, then I don`t think it`s a product for me
 
IIRC - Essence works fine for me in combo with a DA and Megs mf disc.
Actually, I believe I remember Carpro demonstrating Essence using using a Rupes 21 with a Megs mf disc.
 
Merlin said:
IIRC - Essence works fine for me in combo with a DA and Megs mf disc.
Actually, I believe I remember Carpro demonstrating Essence using using a Rupes 21 with a Megs mf disc.
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This is exactly the combo I had some success with on that new Tahoe
 
I too was disappointed with Essence. Tried all the combos. It is a great concept, but seemed to fall short on delivering results as described. It is now sitting in a cabinet, wondering how to make it a profitable product to use. I really wish i had better results. Just being totally honest and not trashing anyone.
 
DKumarm3 said:
it all depends on the paint hardness on soft paint essence works great.
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So true, soft paint is where Essence really starts to stand out from the crowd, thus showing us why it truly is a finishing polish.

@psnyx, when using Essence on your Honda, you need to clean the heck out of your pads, as in after every other 2`x2` section. This will reduce marring and allow the Essence to work optimally. Using a finishing pad will yield good results.
 
TheMeanGreen said:
So true, soft paint is where Essence really starts to stand out from the crowd, thus showing us why it truly is a finishing polish.

@psnyx, when using Essence on your Honda, you need to clean the heck out of your pads, as in after every other 2`x2` section. This will reduce marring and allow the Essence to work optimally. Using a finishing pad will yield good results.
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I clean my pads after every section. Compressed air for mf pads and brush on my foam pads.

@ 512 detail
The only reason I had high hopes was from watching the demo video. The guy used a Megs mf disc on a black car with wash marring which is what my audi had and didn`t fill or touch them (micro marring) paint isn`t rock hard either
 
psynx- Sorry to hear it didn`t work out, must`ve been frustrating. I`ve never used Essence, but some sorta-random thoughts follow anyhow:

-Different people get different results and I never pay any attention to demo videos in the sense of what *I* should expect
-Using Finishing Polishes to do significant (big range there, depending how that`s defined...) correction gets lots of attention but IMO it`s not a truly viable approach for most people/situations
-I clean my pads (including MF) *MUCH* more frequently that "once per section"; I spend as much time cleaning pads as I spend polishing, maybe more
-I don`t work 2 x2 sections; switching to *much* smaller areas was one of the best changes I`ve ever made
-Correcting my Audi/GM clear has always required a genuine compound
 
Accumulator said:
psynx- Sorry to hear it didn`t work out, must`ve been frustrating. I`ve never used Essence, but some sorta-random thoughts follow anyhow:

-Different people get different results and I never pay any attention to demo videos in the sense of what *I* should expect
-Using Finishing Polishes to do significant (big range there, depending how that`s defined...) correction gets lots of attention but IMO it`s not a truly viable approach for most people/situations
-I clean my pads (including MF) *MUCH* more frequently that "once per section"; I spend as much time cleaning pads as I spend polishing, maybe more
-I don`t work 2 x2 sections; switching to *much* smaller areas was one of the best changes I`ve ever made
-Correcting my Audi/GM clear has always required a genuine compound
Click to expand...



Fine, 576 square inch sections.
 
TheMeanGreen- Heh heh heh :D

For some reason I really *do* do a lot better working little areas at a time, but then it was different with a rotary even for me.
 
Accumulator said:
psynx- Sorry to hear it didn`t work out, must`ve been frustrating. I`ve never used Essence, but some sorta-random thoughts follow anyhow:

-Different people get different results and I never pay any attention to demo videos in the sense of what *I* should expect
-Using Finishing Polishes to do significant (big range there, depending how that`s defined...) correction gets lots of attention but IMO it`s not a truly viable approach for most people/situations
-I clean my pads (including MF) *MUCH* more frequently that "once per section"; I spend as much time cleaning pads as I spend polishing, maybe more
-I don`t work 2 x2 sections; switching to *much* smaller areas was one of the best changes I`ve ever made
-Correcting my Audi/GM clear has always required a genuine compound
Click to expand...
what i meant is that i always clean my pads after every pass, i could not be done with that area but every time i pull the pad away from the paint i clean the pad. Kevin brown taught me about that to avoid transferring clear coat thats embedded in the pad to avoid micro marring while finishing on soft paints
 
Just goes to show different people get different results with the same combination of pad and polish. Essence and a microfiber cutting pad on a Rupes machine (21, 15, Mini) works wonderful for me. I`ve used the combo on hard BMW and GM paint and not so hard Nissan paint prior to coating. Did you do a test spot prior to doing the whole car? The combo should work fine on hard Audi paint. The microfiber pad heats up the Essence quickly breaking the chemicals down. Essence is Reflect with SiO2 compounds mixed in. Reflect is a good finishing polish on its own. Mild scratches and marring should be easily repaired by Essence.
 
psynx- Ah, OK...my bad and I stand corrected, misinterpretted (obviously :o ). So it sounds like *that`s* not the issue.

And yeah, Kevin and I are on the same page with regard to the need to keep `em clean, which can be a challenge when using the KBM where the pad has so much product on/in it.
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
Just goes to show different people get different results with the same combination of pad and polish. Essence and a microfiber cutting pad on a Rupes machine (21, 15, Mini) works wonderful for me. I`ve used the combo on hard BMW and GM paint and not so hard Nissan paint prior to coating. Did you do a test spot prior to doing the whole car? The combo should work fine on hard Audi paint. The microfiber pad heats up the Essence quickly breaking the chemicals down. Essence is Reflect with SiO2 compounds mixed in. Reflect is a good finishing polish on its own. Mild scratches and marring should be easily repaired by Essence.
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I love reflect. thats usually my go to polish on my personal vehicles when its time to top off on a new coat of wax( im a wax addict)

Accumulator said:
psynx- Ah, OK...my bad and I stand corrected, misinterpretted (obviously :o ). So it sounds like *that`s* not the issue.

And yeah, Kevin and I are on the same page with regard to the need to keep `em clean, which can be a challenge when using the KBM where the pad has so much product on/in it.
Click to expand...
I think it was more me not explaining myself well enough hahaha.
 
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