Newbie needs HELP choosing the right polish!

[Dan]

But by looking at many Newb posts, it is clear to me that Meg should do something about how they market and label their products. The numbers don’t mean much and even the names don’t properly describe the product well. Even a chart with relative abrasiveness or recommended uses would be good.



Oh, well...good thing there’s Autopia.org to sort things out.:2thumbs:

Agreed, they do have something (the abrasive scale) but they claim those polishes are for professionals. For the DIY crown they have ultimate compound and swirlx.

 

[Mike_Phillips]

Just to note, I picked up the Brinkman Swirl Finder Light at Pep Boy's here in Florida over the weekend for $30.00 and Pep Boy's in California also carried them.



I checked Advanced and Walmart here in Florida over the weekend and neither store carried them. I also picked up the Brinkman Halogen light and while it works a little it's not near as good as the Xenon light.



To anyone reading this, if you don't have a Brinkman Xenon Flashlight, if it were me I would get one ASAP, you never know when something's going to be discontinued and for the money, these flashlights can't be beat for checking our work or even helping you to get a customer.



I bought two while I was at Pep Boys, one for the AG garage and one for keeping with me in my car. You can use these lights to show people the swirls in their car's finish if you don't have bright sunlight, or if the car is inside and can't be moved into bright sunlight and this can sometimes help you to get a new customer because often times people don't know what swirls are let along their "baby" has them.



It's definitely a "must have" tool.

 

[Mike_Phillips]

#3 was designed to be used by machine, even a rotary. By hand or PC (even a flex) 5/7/etc all work fine. I have never used #3 so I can't comment on how it performs. I have used 80/7/9 and heard good things about 5.

M03 Machine Glaze is a machine applied, non-abrasive polish that near as I can tell came out anywhere from the 1920's to the 1940's, it's really hard to find out information on these products as most people that would have those answers are no longer with us.



Even though it's designed for use with a rotary buffer you can still use it with any machine and by hand. When I used to work at a lot of the World or Wheels shows and GoodGuy's Shows, I met lots of old-timers that loved and preferred to use M03 by hand.



You use it just like you would use M07, that is apply, work in and over a section and then wipe it off, you don't let it dry.



On the MOL forum I created a forum group called, Blast From The Past where I would post pictures of many of the antique Meguiar's products in my collection, here's a few pics of some M03 with the Green Label, (kind of a mystery behind the green label old Megs products).





#3 Machine Glaze - Green Label

This is a unique bottle in that the front label and the cap have a unique green color instead of the usually black color. Don't have a lot of information about why the color green was used for this particular run of bottles so we'll just let the pictures do the talking.

And here's a few pictures of M03 from the 1960's or 1970's in the "Cylinder" bottles after plastic was invented. Before plastic was invented most of the Meguiar's products came in glass bottles.

 

[White lexus 23]

that is crazy. i would love to... Excuse me i would Absolutly love to see the place where they manufacture meguiars products. i would Love love love to work there too. i know thats not everyones dream job. But hey it would be somthing i would love to do.

 

[Accumulator]

Mike Phillips- Hey, I just noticed that M03 was OKed for *plastic* surfaces! If you have an old cylindrical bottle of M05 around I'd sure love to see a pic of *its* label. [Accumulator kicks self for not saving all those old bottles from long ago....]

Even though it's designed for use with a rotary buffer you can still use it with any machine and by hand. When I used to work at a lot of the World or Wheels shows and GoodGuy's Shows, I met lots of old-timers that loved and preferred to use M03 by hand.

Yep, count me among those M03 users. While it's not as user-friendly as M05 (gee, what is?!?) or quite as impressive looking an M07, it's still great by hand/PC/whatever. It's my second favorite Pure Polish (after M05).

Just to note, I picked up the Brinkman Swirl Finder Light at Pep Boy's here in Florida over the weekend for $30.00 and Pep Boy's in California also carried them...It's definitely a "must have" tool.

I bought one of those Brinkman Dual-Xenons a while back and I gotta say I'm not as impressed with it as you and, apparently, most people are :think: Rather than thread-jack I'll hold my thoughts for some other thread, but I will say that OK, for what it costs the Brinkman Dual-Xenon is worth having around.



Note that the incandescent trouble lights I'm always raving about are even cheaper, but they're a lot less user-friendly too.

 

[fins&chrome]

Just to note, I picked up the Brinkman Swirl Finder Light at Pep Boy's here in Florida over the weekend for $30.00 and Pep Boy's in California also carried them. It's definitely a "must have" tool.

Made a quick check and it seems that it’s also sold under the Noma brand. Looks identical to me.

 

[scary bill]

...

That is tons of cool info. I, for one, am glad to see you posting more around here.



I figured M03 would be fine by hand and all, just haven't tried it. I guess after I found M07 I stopped looking for *my* glaze. Although I did get (and love) some Danase Wet Glaze.





Those antique bottles are really cool. :bow