Clearkote Question

bluemoon

New member
I have been using Clearkotes VM, RMG, and CMW more and more because those products are so easy to use, give great results and don't stain trim. But now it is time to find a more agressive polish. My car had to be repainted after a hail storm and I have swirl marks that came with the new paint job free of charge. I have used Megs #83 and have removed some of them with a pc and a polishing pad on 6, but not all. After talking to Everett from Clearkote he provided me the order of agressiveness of his polishes using a machine. He stressed the "machine" word.

VM (lightest)

RMG (this surprised me so I did a little side by side test with VM and Everett was right)

Bluemoose

Compound Moose (most agressive)

Everett's suggestion was to try Bluemoose, although it is quite agressive it is not as agressive as Compound Moose. But doing a search it seems that people like the way Compound Moose finishes out and Blue Moose will leave marring. For those of you who have used both, which one did you think did a better job on swirls and left a better finish or are they about the same? I realize I will have to go over the finish again with a milder polish, but if one will leave a nicer finish to work with why not use it.

Thanks for your help. :)
 
Scott, Thanks for the information, it is greatly appreciated. Also a tremendous job on the MB in the thread you attached.

If you haven't already tried this, you might try a side by side test of VM and RMG with polishing pads and see what one gets rid of more light swirls. I didn't believe Everett when he told me that RMG is better on swirls with a machine on most paints than VM. So he said do a side by side test and call me back. I called him back to tell him he was right and I was wrong.
 
bluemoon,



A side by side test of the swirl "removal" abilities of VM and RMG doesn't necessary decide which is more aggressive. Granted I've used neither product (I have both coming from Danase on Monday) but as I understand it RMG has better filling abilities than VM. This would give the appearance of aggressiveness. Did you do an IPA wipe down to confirm that the swirls were actually removed?



Mike
 
mbkintner said:
bluemoon,



A side by side test of the swirl "removal" abilities of VM and RMG doesn't necessary decide which is more aggressive. Granted I've used neither product (I have both coming from Danase on Monday) but as I understand it RMG has better filling abilities than VM. This would give the appearance of aggressiveness. Did you do an IPA wipe down to confirm that the swirls were actually removed?



Mike

I did not do an IPA wipe down. This was just a little expierment I did for fun after my conversation with Everett.

As far as RMG just being a glase only, the product description does read from Clearkotes website.

Is designed to improve the reflective gloss of painted and plastic surfaces, Removes minor paint defects, wet sanding marks, oxidized paint and overspray, Contains no abrasives. Is wax and silicone free.

This is a copy and paste from thier website

So the product is claimed to remove minor paint defects.

I just thought I would mention my conversation I had with Everett and my informal test that resulted from that conversation. Somebody else might want to have some fun playing around with these polishes to see what they find. :)
 
bluemoon said:
I did not do an IPA wipe down. This was just a little expierment I did for fun after my conversation with Everett.

As far as RMG just being a glase only, the product description does read from Clearkotes website.

Is designed to improve the reflective gloss of painted and plastic surfaces, Removes minor paint defects, wet sanding marks, oxidized paint and overspray, Contains no abrasives. Is wax and silicone free.

This is a copy and paste from thier website

So the product is claimed to remove minor paint defects.

I just thought I would mention my conversation I had with Everett and my informal test that resulted from that conversation. Somebody else might want to have some fun playing around with these polishes to see what they find. :)



There's the key phrase.



Lot's of products throw around words like "remove", "correct", and "polish" but in fact they hide with fillers instead of doing real correction. Zaino would be a perfect example of this. I'm not implying that either are bad products, I use Zaino products and like them and my RMG order is on it's way.



RMG applied by machine will do some very minor correction with the right pad but it's the pad that is doing the work. RMG is merely acting as a lubricant. Applied by hand I suspect the results would be merely from filling.



One again my thoughts based on information I've gleaned from the forums. I've not used RMG yet.
 
I think you get the best of both worlds by mixing VM and RMG 50/50, aka Pink Moose. Light correction and stunning depth and wetness.
 
Scottwax said:
I think you get the best of both worlds by mixing VM and RMG 50/50, aka Pink Moose. Light correction and stunning depth and wetness.

Ive used this as a go-to for cars that need a slight cleanup for atleast 1yr and have to agree its a GREAT combo! (thanks for thinking it up and sharing. :woot: )
 
Scottwax said:
I think you get the best of both worlds by mixing VM and RMG 50/50, aka Pink Moose. Light correction and stunning depth and wetness.

Funny you should mention that. I did 3 test spots, 1 with VM, one with PM and one with RMG. I could clearly see the differance in all 3 polished areas. The spot that I used RMG left the fewest visable swirls. The spot that I used PM on had slightly more visable swirls, and the spot that I used VM on had more visable swirls than both RMG and PM. I also thought that thier was a notcieable differance between the Pink Moose section and Vanilla Moose section in reguards to depth and wetness with the Pink Moose having more, and only a slight differance between the Pink Moose and RMG sections in that reguards.

Everett asked that I give them a try and see what happens, so I did. If you have the time and opportunity to do a little test, I would be curious to know what you expierienced.





mbkintner As far as what ingrediants are in RMG and if they are designed to hide or remove swirls would be a good conversation to have with Everett at Clearkote either with a phone call or email. My phone call with him I asked wich product to use to "remove" swirls that I had. After he sked some questions he recomended trying RMG and to be willing to do 2 or 3 applications and then Blue Moose, only if RMG was having no effect, and I was expecting him to say either VM or Compound Moose. I told him that everything I read said that RMG was not for removing swirls and his response was "That is what others have said, I never said that". In my follow up conversation with him he reiterated that his mildest polish he makes was Vanilla Moose, followed by the Red, then the Blue and Compound Moose was the most agressive.
 
I've got to admit, I'm a little skeptical. This sounds the exact opposite of everything I've read but who am I to argue; Everett should know best.



Scottwax, what's been your experience when it comes to the aggressiveness of VM and RMG?
 
My understanding of RMG when it came out was it had very little corrective ability so I have only used it with a finishing pad. I'll have to use it with a polishing pad and see how it works out.
 
I did have another conversation with Everette @ Clearkote a couple of weeks ago and I did ask him about RMG having abrasives. He did say that RMG does contain what he called "nano" abrsavises. According to Everette, RMG will lower the high points of paint and as the polish breaks down, some filling will also take place. He also said that it may take 2, 3, or even 4 applications to get the results you like. In the few expierments I did, RMG seemed to work well on the minor swirl marks you get from washing/drying, or minor hazing left after using a compound, but more significant or deeper scratches will need a more powerful polish.

Your results may vary, but for me, I like the results I get with RMG better than with VM on swirls. I still like VM however, it has worked well for me today on some tar I was trying to get rid of :)

I would like to also like to thank Scottwax for his advice on using Compound Moose. The stuff does work great deep swirls. Use half of what you usually use, work it until it clears out, and it finishes down real nice. Great advice. :) :thx
 
Great info, Bluemoon! Really fills in the blanks, and just shows - you think you know something very well. We're always learning!



Did you get a chance to try Blue Moose?
 
I have absolutely no luck with CK stuff , BUT Everett is great !!! I don't know what I do wrong but get marginal results. Granted it looks shiney but never seems durable. My best judge is other strangers I run into at the store / gas station , ect... when people stop me ask what I use ect...
 
I did not try Blue Moose yet. I just recently tried the Compound Moose and it did get rid of some body shop installed buffer marks/swirls from a recent repaint.
 
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