New here - With a polish question

[lllElementlll]

Hello. I’m new to the board and have spent a lot of time reading over the last month. Tons of great stuff on here! Thanks to all of the people who have provided such a wealth of information. I have spent the last 10 years of my career in IT and was surprised to find that there was an arena that uses as many (if not more) three letter acronyms! :grinno:



I have a PC 7336 (sweet deal at a local Lowes, $73 for the last one in the box:up ) and am about to place my first order of non-OTC detailing supplies. I think I have made my decisions (which I can post if anyone is interested) on everything but the polish. I have it narrowed down to 3 lines:



Menzerna

Optimum

Presta



I plan on getting a medium(ish) cut compound, a fine cut compound and a polish. I have 3 cars to do. One Japanese import with dark green metallic original paint, one domestic with white original paint and a repainted domestic with a metallic blue that is in terrible shape (oxidized and scratched on the top surfaces). I think (hope) that I will only need the medium cutter for the last car.



My question is this: Are any of these polishes better suited for a beginner? By that I mean easier to work with, dry more slowly, easier to tell when the polish is broken down, less dusting, etc.



I had my choices narrowed to the Menzerna and the Optimum until I read this post about Presta, which is available locally.



Any other advice would be appreciated. Sorry for the book on my first post!:chuckle:



Also, sorry if this is in the wrong forum. I took my best guess.



Aaron

 

[velobard]

Welcome! I've played around with both Optimum and Menzerna and for my money, I'll invest in the Menzerna from here on. Never tried the Presta so i can't speak to that. Unless you have some *serious* correction to do, you should be fine with Intensive Polish and 106FF. Now keep in mind that Blackfire SRC is the same thing only with a little more lube to make it more user friendly. The SRC is easier to get in the US and is available in smaller quantity. A little Menzerna (or Blackfire) goes a long way. Because of that and the effectiveness of the polish, the price difference between them and Optimum isn't as drastic as it seem on the surface. It's not that Optimum makes a bad polish, not at all. It's just that IMO Menzerna outshines them and gets the job done much quicker. To me, that's important to a beginner to help avoid the frustration factor.



FWIW, I recently read that the Lake CCS pads work better than some, such as Edge, with Menzerna. I don't have any CCS pads, but now I'd like to get a couple to try out.

 

[lllElementlll]

Thanks, Velobard. Can you speak to the dusting of either? BTW, I have a friend that just took a spill on his bike that would appreciate your avatar! :lol

 

[velobard]

Thanks, Velobard. Can you speak to the dusting of either? BTW, I have a friend that just took a spill on his bike that would appreciate your avatar! :lol

Well, a little dust after it's worked in well isn't necessarily evil. That's *one* way to let you know you're done working it. The worst I've personally used is SSR, but some people have great success with that. I got my small bit of 106FF in a swap and I *think* it might have been an older formula or perhaps the "industrial" formula where conditions are more controlled. It did dust a little easier than I like, but I quick working it when it did and had a fantastic finish. IMO, since you're worried about dusting and are just getting started, you should consider going with the Blackfire SRC version at first. That's specifically altered to give it a longer work time. Unless I can get my hands on some 106FA when it's time to order again, I'll probably buy some SRC.



It's been awhile since I played with Optimum, but IIRC it worked reasonably well before it dusted and gave decent results, but it just didn't measure up to the mark set by Menzerna.



Tell your friend I've taken my share of turns playing Superman off my bike. Usually it happens on the trail and I get up laughing, but I can speak from experience that it's not exactly a good idea on asphalt. Since I have an office job everyone asked if my wrist surgery last fall was due to carpal tunnel. Ummm, no, I was out playing on my bike again.