Meguiars Ultimate Compound

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Originally Posted By: qwertydude
Originally Posted By: The Critic


The finish quality of M101 really varies. I've personally seen it scour soft Tesla paint after only 1 pass with a polishing pad, but on harder clears, it seems to finish out great.

I know that you are not a fan of diminishing products, but after using M101, Menzerna FG400 feels like a medium polish in comparison...


I did recently buy a bottle of M101 since a coworker wanted me to polish his car before a sale. I usually use these opportunities to try out a new product. They buy me the product I want to use and they get a free detail and I get to keep the rest. That's usually the arrangement I make.

After using it on some similar paint and knowing his paint condition on his Pontiac G6, I don't think I'll be using M101. Too aggressive. It's going to be simply clayed and polished with D151 since he's selling it. And the headlights will be cleared with the M101 on a polishing pad.

Considering I keep my cars in good condition I rarely ever have to use M105 on a detail except on faded headlights where it sees regular use and by hand on the odd paint etching. M101 probably will mostly be used for that too or for polishing some fiberglass items that have faded where I know M105 tends to clog and dust too much.


Did you try M101 on a foam pad, or on a mf/wool pad?

On a foam pad, the cut is fairly intense but is manageable. But when it's used with MF cutting discs or wool, you can get into trouble very quickly...
 
Just got some scratches out of my neighbor's hood with Scratch 2x...not bad... MUC would likely have done better in finishing the last bit of scratch there, but 2x is what's in my trunk so that's what my neighbor got...

wuvd.jpg
 
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Looks good. I bet if you really work the Scratch X 2.0 you could get the remainder of that out. Or Step up to Ultimate Compound. I can almost guarantee It'll remove that by hand. Or at the very least round off the edges enough to make them essentially invisible.

A cotton terry rag folded over works especially well when removing scratches compared to a microfiber or foam applicator.
 
Well I got my Polisher along with the following:

Meguiar's Ultimate Compound
Meguiar's Ultimate Polish
Meguiar's Ultimate Liquid Wax

Meguiar's 6.5-Inch Soft Buff Foam Cutting Pad
Meguiar's 6.5-Inch Soft Buff Foam Polishing Pad
Meguiar's 6.5-Inch Soft Buff Foam Finishing Pad
Meguiar's X3070 4" Soft Foam Applicator Pads

My plan is to wash the car and start off by using UC in small areas (tape off sections), just to see how it does.

I suppose I should clay bar the car as well.

This is my first time using these products, any tips or advice?
 
I used Megs UC to remove some dealer-prep scars a few weekends ago. There were some clear coat scratches I could easily feel with my nail (in a few, small spots). I used UC by hand, it removed them all. I was very impressed.
 
Originally Posted By: kkreit01
I used Megs UC to remove some dealer-prep scars a few weekends ago. There were some clear coat scratches I could easily feel with my nail (in a few, small spots). I used UC by hand, it removed them all. I was very impressed.


Sounds like this stuff should work some magic. Do you do anything special? Or just applied in small sections and buff out before it dried?
 
UC is a very good off the shelf product. Even on paid details, I use it. It flat works in a lot of cases. In most cases, it finishes really nicely. I go with UC first and then step up to the Meg's MF system if needed. BTW, for those who haven't tried it, the MF system is pretty amazing, and the pads work well with other polishes and compounds.
 
Originally Posted By: Swift101


Sounds like this stuff should work some magic. Do you do anything special? Or just applied in small sections and buff out before it dried?


Small sections, and buff before dry. Otherwise it's not coming off without more work. I'd recommend a 12" by 12" section to compound/buff when first getting started and familiar with your setup. Once you know how it does on your car's paint and how fast you can comfortably move, expand out.
 
So I finally got to use this.... it worked as well as expected. The vehicle had never really been detailed over 205k miles and nine years of baking under the southern US sun.

What I learned is that it seems to have an adequate amount of cut for anything short of mild oxidation. Even against that it would work if you're patient and take a lot of extra time, but I think I would have been best served by using something more aggressive.

Anyway, I started with an Nanoskin Autoscrub, moved to Megs UC, then Megs UP, and finished it with an application of Optimum Spray Wax. It took about eight hours total, but a lot of that time was spent experimenting and learning as it was my first mechanical detail.

The car looked dramatically better when I was finished, and I can't wait to do the GTI and Camry.... although the GTI shouldn't show a huge difference because it's been garaged and well cared for.
 
Originally Posted By: Mykl
So I finally got to use this.... it worked as well as expected. The vehicle had never really been detailed over 205k miles and nine years of baking under the southern US sun.

What I learned is that it seems to have an adequate amount of cut for anything short of mild oxidation. Even against that it would work if you're patient and take a lot of extra time, but I think I would have been best served by using something more aggressive.

Anyway, I started with an Nanoskin Autoscrub, moved to Megs UC, then Megs UP, and finished it with an application of Optimum Spray Wax. It took about eight hours total, but a lot of that time was spent experimenting and learning as it was my first mechanical detail.

The car looked dramatically better when I was finished, and I can't wait to do the GTI and Camry.... although the GTI shouldn't show a huge difference because it's been garaged and well cared for.


What machine did you use? Ultimate Compound should be able to cut through just about anything even up to heavy oxidation. I guess it depends on what your definition of heavy oxidation is but short of paint that's turned completely rough and matte, and I can clear up yellow headlights by hand, with Ultimate Compound I'd say heavy oxidation doesn't even present much challenge to Ultimate Compound.
 
Originally Posted By: qwertydude
What machine did you use? Ultimate Compound should be able to cut through just about anything even up to heavy oxidation. I guess it depends on what your definition of heavy oxidation is but short of paint that's turned completely rough and matte, and I can clear up yellow headlights by hand, with Ultimate Compound I'd say heavy oxidation doesn't even present much challenge to Ultimate Compound.


The cheap one from Harbor Freight with Optimum microfiber cutting pads. UC would cut through the light oxidation and leave a nice finish if I spent extra time on the panel, what I mean to say is that I would have prefered to use something that cut more aggressively, because it seemed like the UC needed a lot of extra time to get through it.

However... because it was my first machine detail my technique was probably less than perfect.
 
I think you should work on your technique. The thing is with those heavy cutting compounds you do risk doing quite some damage especially if you're going to use a microfiber pad as those are already more aggressive.

With microfiber pads you should be priming them completely with polish. Initially they take more polish to prime. I usually run 4 thin lines across making a big asterisk on them all the way across the face.

Spread it out quickly across the small section you're working on and then work the polish on a medium-high setting with firm but not hard pressure, since microfiber works faster you should be able to see the results quite quickly. I think if the Ultimate Compound isn't cutting it's because on a microfiber pad you're not using enough of the compound.

Now really important with them is after every section they need to be cleaned, or at the least brushed out. This is where Ultimate Compound might not be the best match for microfiber as it's very oily and tends to stick and clump on the fibers vs dusting. People hate when polishes dust but when polishes do dust that means it's a lot easier to keep a pad like a microfiber clean, the stuff easily blows or brushes out.

Microfiber is very sensitive to extraneous dirt particles which could cause curly-q shaped scratches and deep swirls. This means cleaning every panel immediately before polishing with spray detailer and also ensuring any panels to be polished were properly decontaminated with clay.
 
Originally Posted By: qwertydude
I think you should work on your technique. The thing is with those heavy cutting compounds you do risk doing quite some damage especially if you're going to use a microfiber pad as those are already more aggressive.

With microfiber pads you should be priming them completely with polish. Initially they take more polish to prime. I usually run 4 thin lines across making a big asterisk on them all the way across the face.

Spread it out quickly across the small section you're working on and then work the polish on a medium-high setting with firm but not hard pressure, since microfiber works faster you should be able to see the results quite quickly. I think if the Ultimate Compound isn't cutting it's because on a microfiber pad you're not using enough of the compound.

Now really important with them is after every section they need to be cleaned, or at the least brushed out. This is where Ultimate Compound might not be the best match for microfiber as it's very oily and tends to stick and clump on the fibers vs dusting. People hate when polishes dust but when polishes do dust that means it's a lot easier to keep a pad like a microfiber clean, the stuff easily blows or brushes out.

Microfiber is very sensitive to extraneous dirt particles which could cause curly-q shaped scratches and deep swirls. This means cleaning every panel immediately before polishing with spray detailer and also ensuring any panels to be polished were properly decontaminated with clay.


This answers some questions I had.

At first I was using quite a bit of compound per panel. It was leaving behind a thin film that would smudge when I ran my finger across it, so I thought I was using too much and backed off on the amount for the rest of the car. However, that portion turned out better than the rest of the car, for which I used a lot less UC per panel.

When I reduced the amount of UC I had done so because I thought I had gummed up the pad, which I guess was wrong. I did purchase a brush specifically for cleaning the pads as I went and used it after every panel. I used a total of two pads for applying UC across the entire vehicle.

I'll buy some foam pads for the next car I do (probably the Camry). There are so many options I wasn't sure which one to go with for the products I was using so I just went with a brand I knew that I liked with a product that I found good reviews for.

In other words, I had reached a point where I was tired of reading and just wanted to go do something and learn.
 
Here's my take on the matter –

- MF pads vary in aggressiveness. But as a whole, you can count on them being more aggressive than foam. I find that MF pads are better for the compounding step than foam pads on hard paints. If used on soft paints, you will need to do a middle-step (after compounding) with a medium polish and light cutting pad to remove the haze or tick marks before you can move onto the finishing step. On hard paints, I often see MF cutting discs finish LSP-ready in one step.

- The MF pads from the various mfgs are usually designed as a system. I know that the Meguiars one and the Optimum ones were. They were developed hand-in-hand with that manufacturer's compounds and polishes. If you change either the product or the pad, you are taking the combination into your own hands.

With that said, Jason Rose at Meguiars was very adamant about priming the MF cutting discs with D300 before using them, but YMMV. (For instance, I just compounded a car tonight with Menzerna FG400 and MF Cutting Discs and did not do any priming at all. More on that below)

- Brushing MF pads doesn't work too well. Shop air is really your best. This is why I'm not a fan of MF pads if you do not have access to shop air – as qwertydude mentioned, they are very sensitive to paint debris and will leave tick marks if they are not well-cleaned...especially on soft paints. This is what a used MF pad will look like after one 18x18” section.

Untitled by thecritic89, on Flickr

But no worries -- just blow it out with shop air and the fibers with fluff back up, and the debris will be gone.

- As far as product usage goes, take a look at my pictures below. I used to coat the entire pad surface, but I found that to be a big waste of product as it never made much of a difference in finish or in cutting ability.

Feel free to do what works for you, but this is how I approach it:

Used MF pad:

Untitled by thecritic89, on Flickr

Used foam pad, open-cell:
Untitled by thecritic89, on Flickr

New foam pad, open-cell:

Untitled by thecritic89, on Flickr

Again, this is what works for me. It may not be in technical agreement with some literature or theories. I also usually use new (or washed) foam pads slightly damp with non-diminishing products so that I do not need to use QD.
 
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Thanks for the tips! Since I'll probably continue to use the Megs products for the next couple of details, at least, I'll look into a few foam Megs pads and see how that works.

Thanks for the examples with pictures of how much product you're putting on the pads. That's helpful to see.
 
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