Crazy Meguiar's consumer lineup

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imported_Aurora40

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I went to Wal-Mart today to see if they had Mother's or Meg's on clearance. No such luck. But they do have a wide array of Meguiar's consumer products that I've never seen before. There is a leather cleaner/conditioner in a red consumer bottle. It's called "one-step leather" or something. So now they have the GC leather clean/cond, the rich leather spray version of that, this new non-GC version, and they also had a foaming aerosol version of the rich leather. Add to that the leather wipes and it is crazy! And people find their pro lineup confusing! I guess they come out with lines of products and then want to do something different, but they don't want to leave the people who already use some lineup behind. So they just come out with more and more stuff. Clearly, you just need to use what you like. There are way too many choices (and this is just one of like 50 brands) to ever possibly try everything, let alone form a meaningful impression of them all.



I also noticed the cleaner/wax is new and improved, claiming to have better swirl removal ability and longer lasting protection. The Quik Wax also claims to be deeper and darker than before.



And I noticed that Turtle Wax still sells that polishing compound and rubbing compound in those flat round cans. They look like they are overstock from the 80's. Who buys that stuff?



Wal-Mart also carries Clay Magic. I had no idea. I thought the nearest place to get it was an AutoZone 30+ miles away. Oh well. I'll have to try it out sometime, though. You get a 100g bar and 12 oz. of lube for $10. That's pretty good. It says on the package to try it every time you wash your car for that perfect shine. I found that a little surprising, but I guess for a lot of people, that would mean use it like 4 times a year...



As long as I'm rambling, I tried out Poorboy's Natural Look, Meg's #40, and Pinnacle V&R protectant on 1/3's of my dash yesterday. So far I can't tell any real difference. The Poorboy's seems slightly shinyer but that may just be an illusion. The Pinnacle and Poorboy's both smell better than the Meg's, although the Meg's has a sort of new car chemical smell if that's your thing. Someone posted the Poorboy's smells like cherry in their review, but to me it smells like almond extract or marzipan. It smells yummie, though. I might have to buy the Pinnacle one of these days (I just have a sample) because it really seems to leave a nice muted look. I don't think it really cleans, though, but that's not a problem.



I guess this post was really out there. Sorry about that. :o :wavey
 
I don't know if this is true or not, but from what I've heard, Meguiar's is starting to lose its professional business in favor of Retail. Hard to imagine, but sure enough, it seems like they're coming out with lots of "new" consumer level stuff, but nothing new in their professional line. Whereas, 3M is coming out with new professional products all the time....adjusting its compounds and polishes to match current trends in automotive paint.
 
Well, the Body Shop Pro line is fairly new, and the whole Detailer lineup is new. And I think they do make changes to their stuff. But they don't call it Fine Cut III or something to make it as obvious. The Cuts (Fine, Med, etc) now have buffered abrasives, whereas they didn't before. So they have tweaked that stuff.
 
Aurora40 said:
....There is a leather cleaner/conditioner in a red consumer bottle. It's called "one-step leather" or something. So now they have the GC leather clean/cond, the rich leather spray version of that, this new non-GC version, and they also had a foaming aerosol version of the rich leather. Add to that the leather wipes and it is crazy!
Click to expand...
Tell me about it! Also, they still carry their Medallion Leather Cleaner/Conditioner. :p



I just wish the Wal-Marts up here were as well stocked.... sigh.
 
Aurora40 said:
Well, the Body Shop Pro line is fairly new, and the whole Detailer lineup is new. And I think they do make changes to their stuff. But they don't call it Fine Cut III or something to make it as obvious. The Cuts (Fine, Med, etc) now have buffered abrasives, whereas they didn't before. So they have tweaked that stuff.
Click to expand...



Then why do they no longer recommend using it by hand?



Maybe I used the wrong word when I said “professional products�. I was referring more to the professional OEM trade (i.e. Automotive dealers and repair shops) which is what Meguiar’s and 3M target with their so-called “body-shop safe� products. Although a lot of detailing pros use PI-II, PI-III, Meguiar's BSP....etc., remember, these products are specialized more for body-shops and OEMS. Sorry if I didn’t differentiate properly between this vs. professional detailers.



The company that utilized the term (or should I say marketing jargon) "buffered-abrasives" early on was 3M. But this “diminishing-abrasives technology� really isn’t anything that’ll impress body-shops or OEMs because they all know that it’s just marketing jargon and that all good quality compounds have diminishing abrasives as long as it’s used properly. Another indication, IMO that Meguiar’s is abdicating the professional OEM trade to 3M.



I’m not too familiar with their detailer line-up. Engine Kote, APC are all I know. Is it an entire new line-up of compounds and polishes? 3M has their own line of commercial detailing products which are oriented towards detailing pros (not OEM, bodyshops) which are sold in bulk quantity also, but aren’t appropriate for the body-shop (detail polish 108, 208, detail wax 38111 etc).



As far as I know, Meguiar's BSP line-up was created about 8-10 years ago...which to me, isn't all that new.
 
Meguiars BSP line is no more than 5 years old. I began using them when my local Meguiars distributer began stocking them. The BSP line was introduced to chisle away at 3Ms dominance of the body shop market, but I find them better for regular detailing than the Mirror Glaze line. The Detailer line is useless to me because it is made for more the assembly line detail shops that cater to car dealers.



The consumer line? I don't use it, so I don't really pay any attention to it. They do seem to have a plethora of products though.
 
I wouldn't blame them if they were trying to get more into the Consumer Market. Gold Class is a far better product than anything Turtle Wax makes, and yet TW sells more wax than anyone. There's a huge market out there who don't know the difference. IF (and it's a big if) Meguiars could get the public's attention, they could likely take a large piece of TW's market. I just wish they'd do it with professional products. Sell them as "premium car care products". Clearly it's more expensive, but people don't mind when they know they're getting quality to match the price (see also: Nike shoes, Levi Jeans, Honda Cars: all are higher priced than the majority of their product range, but succeed based on a reputation for quality).
 
Intermezzo you are right I have been field testing for Meguires for some time now and they are definitely leaning towards the retail trade. They actually are moving up the ladder quite fast now to put themselves in the top five for auto care within the retail market.
 
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