SSR2.5 vs. IP - The Showdown (w/pix!)

I

imported_animes2k

New member
Noting a question in another thread about PB's SSR2.5 vs Menzerna IP (and FP2 as a finish) I decided to take the beat-up black 1993 Corrado's hood for a spin. It's got some reallly bad swirling and much deeper marks that aren't going to come out (note the obvious acid rain/exposure pitting, even after a lot of polishing...), so I thought it'd be a good specimen.



Photo sets of in-betweens, personal conclusions at the end...

What I Started With

A few photos of the offending hood after washing and a light claying:

b1.jpg




b2.jpg




bf.jpg




What I Did

Divided the hood into 4 sections (going left to right, standing in front of the car):

  1. Menzerna IP / Rotary (1200rpm)
  2. SSR2.5 / Rotary (1000rpm - had to slow it to avoid flashing)
  3. SSR2.5 / PC (6)
  4. Menzerna IP / PC (6)



I used a clean orange light cutting pad for each product.



The Photos - After One Pass

Menzerna IP / Rotary

ip1.jpg




SSR 2.5 / Rotary

sr1.jpg




SSR2.5 / PC

ssrPC.jpg
 
Now for the fun part:

ISO 50/50 Wipe Down

Menzerna IP / Rotary

ip2.jpg




SSR 2.5 / Rotary

sr2.jpg




SSR2.5 AFTER wipedown (PC)

ssrPCISO.jpg




IP AFTER wipedown (PC)

ipPCISO.jpg






After FP2/White Polishing Pad

FP2 / Rotary (IP panel) (1200rpm)

fp1.jpg




FP2 / Rotary (SSR panel) (1200rpm)

fp2.jpg




FP2 / PC (SSR panel) (6)

fp3.jpg




FP2 / PC (IP panel) (6)

fp4.jpg
 
After RMG + Souveran - Gloss/Reflection Shots

IP/FP2/Rotary -- slight camera shake! doh!

re1.jpg




SSR2.5/FP2/Rotary

re2.jpg




SSR2.5/FP2/PC

re3.jpg




IP/FP2/PC

re4.jpg






Conclusions

  • All product/machine combinations yielded satisfactory results, while without a doubt, the IP/FP2/Rotary combination yielded the highest level of gloss, depth and paint correction.
  • SSR2.5 APPEARS to correct more and give a deeper gloss than it actually does, as the ISO wipe-down reveals. Follow SSR2.5 with an ISO wipedown to ensure swirls are removed to your satisfaction.
  • FP2 and a white polishing pad will easily clean up any rotary buffer swirls or holograms.
  • The PC takes a lot longer to get similar results to the rotary and even then does not give good results in comparison, with a single pass. Gloss is improved, light swirls are reduced, but paint correction is minimal. Slight hazing is also still present, even after working products adequately.



A fun fender shot (not included in above comparitive testing)

gotta love that orange peel...

fender.jpg
 
animes2k said:
SSR2.5 APPEARS to correct more and give a deeper gloss than it actually does, as the ISO wipe-down reveals. Follow SSR2.5 with an ISO wipedown to ensure swirls are removed to your satisfaction.
Click to expand...



I saw this coming...
 
animes2k said:
SSR2.5 APPEARS to correct more and give a deeper gloss than it actually does, as the ISO wipe-down reveals. Follow SSR2.5 with an ISO wipedown to ensure swirls are removed to your satisfaction.
Click to expand...



Thats exactly my experience.
 
Looks to me like the IP worked better in all cases. I personally was disappointed in SSR2.5, it seamed to not correct any swirls, but add more and when followed with a lighter polish it came out better, but still disappointing. BTW I used via pc at speed 5-6 with green pad (propel) and I worked it for a long time. Maybe I was doing something wrong?
 
I didn't see any "After" pictures of the panels polished with IP and SSR 2.5 via the PC. Only the end results. Do you have any of the intermediate pictures for those panels?
 
I would say that yes, IP is better than SSR 2.5, especially when used with a rotary. With the PC, I'd say they're a lot closer and would probably go with the 2.5 just due to cost.



With the rotary, the IP cut more, worked better, finished better and doesn't fool you into thinking you've done better work than you actually have.



thanks everyone for the input and tom - I THINK I have photos of the post-polish, pre-finish with the PC, but the results are essentially very similar to one another. Both of the PC'd panels are about identical with the IP *just* edging out the SSR...



Next up:

Optimum vs. IP :)
 
Can't wait to see Optimum vs. IP. I was already pretty sure IP was > SSR 2.5, but used 2.5 mostly due to cost w/ PC as you mentioned. I too dislike that it seems to have fillers, or fools you into thinking it's done more than it has. Optimum doesn't seem to do that and the compound has good cut and finishes really nicely. I await your results!
 
Man, this sort of s*ucks.



I did my hood two weeks ago with IP and FP (via PC) and did not think the polish worked fast

enough on my swirls. Finally, last week got the Optimum polish and gave that a try (again with

PC). I really like the polish but it did not work fast enough for me either (did a 2x2 panel

for over 5 minutes). Finally did it with SSR2.5 and SSR1. Fast and great results.

Now you dudes are telling me that I should have wiped down with 50/50 iso-alcohol and I would

have been not-so-pleasantly surprised.



I did the SSR2.5 and SSR1 last year on my car. I did notice that some swirls came back this year.

I thought may be they were due to my car cover and my not so stellar washing/waxing techique.

Perhaps half of them were just covered up by SSR - I am sure I have introduced the other half.

I am such a loser, baby!
 
I found that the IP/FP2 combo with PC gave adequate results with the orange light cut pad. If I had been serious about really removing the swirls, I probably would have hit the panel at least once, maybe twice more. That's the way it is with the PC and bad swirls, though. I might also have chosen a 4" pad for the job.



I've got another vehicle I intend to do testing on where I believe the underlying paint is in generally better condition, so after cleanup it should provide a better surface (as opposed to this, which has some severe scratches and pitting that are repaint-worthy).



I used SSR2.5 as my main cleanup polish on my extreme detailing entry a couple months ago and have indeed noticed swirling "coming back to life" even though I know the car doesn't see a lot of harsh washes. I'm just about out of 2.5 and have lots of IP and Optimum, so I don't think I'll be ordering more 2.5 any time soon.



FWIW, I've used 2.5 by hand to noticably reduce severe scratches - so it does have some good polishing capabilities and it has a place in my arsenal, just not as a mainstay for machine polishing.
 
I've been reading lately that ssr's have fillers and are some what covering up swirls. I don't know if I believe this. I normally don't do iso wipe downs but last week I did after using ssr 2.5 with a cutting pad to remove swirls on a black car. I wanted to see if this was the case. Not so. After 2 applications with 2.5 and a cutting pad the swirls were gone. After two iso wipe downs the paint was still clear :think: . So I'm not sure if I believe all this talk about ssr's containing fillers. I guess what does it matter if it works for me and I'm happy with the results. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
DSVWGLI - by no means am I saying that SSR can't remove swirls or won't remove swirls, but that it simply requires that you make sure you've worked it long enough, well enough and just plain enough that you've removed your swirls.



My test was done with a single pass of each product. It APPEARED that the SSR had done more than it had in my single pass - that's what the ISO wipe-down revealed.
 
animes2k said:
DSVWGLI - by no means am I saying that SSR can't remove swirls or won't remove swirls, but that it simply requires that you make sure you've worked it long enough, well enough and just plain enough that you've removed your swirls.



My test was done with a single pass of each product. It APPEARED that the SSR had done more than it had in my single pass - that's what the ISO wipe-down revealed.
Click to expand...



I understand. I guess i've never tried just one pass to see what a product will do. One of the reasons I like ssr's is the work time it gives you it won't flash to quick, especially ssr 3 which finishes to a nice shine as well.
 
Ya, I like SSR3 too - it can leave hazing but it will remove some serious swirls if you give it time. Actually, I like them all, you just need to be aware that they can fill swirls, which might mean they will re-appear over time.
 
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