King320

Im getting ready to do some serious swirl mark removal on my black clk. I have a Porter Cable buffer on the way with the white and yellow pads. My swirls are numerous and the car is black (i just bought it used). I'm planning to wash with Dawn, then polish out the swirl marks, use some sort of means to try to minimize other scratches (Scratch-X and Zaino Z-5, other recommendations?), so thats the context these polishes will be used in. Recommendations very much appreciated. I'll post the results.

fkong777

Scratch X by hand
or Color X with DA polisher
then #20 speed glaze with DA polisher
Then NXT.

pa28pilot

I think the Z-5 is a good idea. I recently tried it for the first time on my old water spot-etched 300E, and it really does minimize the appearance of swirl marks and water spots.

After a good swirl mark remover, I bet Z-5 would look excellent.

Buellwinkle

Scratch-X is meant to be put on my hand only. It will likely gum up your pads. Use a commercial polishing product (check google to find a place to buy from). I use Malco Rejuvenator and it's amazing stuff. Also check out Meguiars #83 DA Polish, it works just as good. Use a clean yellow pad and set the DA buffer to 3 (Lowes has this for $99 now, woohoo) As for #9, it's ****, don't use it, won't do anything except splatter. I've never found a consumer product that even comes close to commercial/professional products. I wonder why Meguiars has such great products for pros but sells such poo retail.

Before you even buff, but after the wash, use a clay bar to get the surface contaminants off or you will be causing more swirls. Use lots of clay lube/detail spray or it will smear on your car and keep folding the pad over onto itself as it gets dirty. You would be suprised at the stuff that comes off, even after a thorough washing.

When using the PC buffer, set it on #3 and put about 4-5 lbs pressure so the pad is squished about half way and work the pad flat against the metal and move very slow (it takes a lot more effort to generate heat vs. a rotary, a price you pay for safety). Less is more with polish. Put too much on and you will be wearing it. Use about an 1/8" bead in a circle near the edge of the pad and then blot it on different parts of the area being polished to spread the product, minimize splatter. One last bit of advice, never, ever have the buffer on when it's not pressed against something, it may shread and throw the pad off the unit. Always start and stop the device while it's pressed against the car.

Mike Phillips

#9 Swirls Remover 2.0 is a very, very light duty cleaner/polish and best results are achieved when used with a rotary buffer. Because modern clear coats are very hard as compared to traditional paint, often time is you have swirls to remove, you will need something more aggressive than the #9 such as the #83 DACP.

As far as retail products go, Meguiar's Consumer Line is formulated for easy of use by hand while still deliver excellent results. Many of the product in our consumer line can be used with a PC or a OB, but non of them have the cleaning power any of our compounds, paint cleaners or cleaner polishes have in the Pro Line. That's because the Professional line is formulated for Professionals with typically a high skill level that also have a lot of experience using machine applied products. If you choose the correct Consumer product and use it correctly, you can still achieve stellar results. I try to demonstrate this ever Saturday at our Detailing Classes but the results achieved by hand can never equal the results achieved by a machine such as the dual action polisher.

Mike

HotRodGuy

To chime in on what buell has said. I rarely get anything to come out at speed 3. I usually apply #83 at 4.5-5 and #80 4-4.5

But that's just me. Mess around a little bit and find what works best for you personally. Also, w/ the DA I do use a good amount of product, but try not to get it overly saturated. I've never really experienced a splatter problem w/ the DA, but again, that's just me


and i've started the machine w/o it being on something and everyonce in awhile the pad will fly off. But i've never seen or heard of the pads shreading

David N.

Buell, have you found the Malco products good for use via PC, or are they mainly rotary only polishes?

Thanks.

Kar don

dont touch the 83, difficult to use on mercedes paint. Give menzerna intensive polish a shot... you will be pleasantly surprised. Hey mike, anything you can do about my basically new meguiars pad that separated?

Mike Phillips

Hi Al,

How were you using it? What speed?

Meguiar's doesn't recommend using any of our pads on the dual action polisher over the 5.0 speed. If the Velcro has separated from the pad for a legitimate reason, then call our Customer Care Hotline and tell them what happened and they'll send you a new one. Tell them I sent you.

Mike

HotRodGuy

I haven't had a problem w/ 83 and MB paint. If anything it may not be abbrasive enough, but it's definately not difficult to use.

TOGWT

I could not think of anyone who could provide a better answer to this.
It must be a very difficult thing for Megs chemists to formulate 'foolproof' consumer products ( and I will say they get closer than most) liquid sandpaper (polishing compound) and an over zealous hand or machine application by an inexperienced user would be, to say the least disastrous
JonM

Kar don

yea i was using it at speed 5.0, i never use anything faster... i have never had any other of my pads separate. Thanks Mike.

wblynch

I had a new Meguiar's 8006 pad come all apart after using it on only 4 cars. It was being used with #83 at a speed of 5 on the PC 7336.

What's worse is that the velcro on the backing plate has weakened and will now barely hold a pad.

I just threw that 8006 pad away figuring $10 wasn't worth making a big deal about.

I guess I'll try the Sonus DAS backing plate and foam pads next. I like the way they wrap around the edges of the backing plate, giving a little more insurance against accidentally damaging anything with unintended contact.

revstriker

Is this a change of heart? On the "How to: buffing out swirl marks with a Porter Cable Buffer " post (sticky) you highly recommended this. I Purchased #83 (was planning on using it in Jan when I get some free time) based on this recommendation.

Kar don

haha scott, sorry about that. Yea I will update that thread, to me DACP isn't as good as the newest stuff out there.... I prefer menzerna intensive polish now. That said I wouldn't throw out the DACP it just may require a little more time than the menzerna.

AMG4Me

Alboston is that Menzerna Intensive Polish?

Jack Mitchell

As Buellwinkle suggested, I also use clay bars but prefer final detailing with Mothers. Soon I will be receiving the full nine yards from Zaino.
I have purchased a buffer but will not use this. I brought back the fine finish on the black 560SEL as it has never looked before. I went with the Maguire’s fine cut and basically stripped off the clear coat. Note: this effort took in excess of 200 hours. I am only glad that I was the one to do this; amazing results.

Try this on for size: clay bar your car and then clay bar the windows inside and out, you will be amazed on how clean they will be – there is nothing finer than the bare hand for a virtually perfect finish presentation. This truly works better than anything, try this out.

The S55 is Obsidian black and not even remotely close to the quality of paint of the 560SEL. I am considering stripping off the clear coat on this as well.

Regards, Jack