Well I finally got the 7424 and the full arsenal of lake country pads...and now I'm in the process of chosing my products.

After hearing rave reviews about menzerna stuff, I'm curious to try out their new Super intensive polish finished off by their new 106ff. However, I've read varying reviews that these products, since intended for scratch resistant clearcoats, weren't really well suited for softer clearcoat finishes. Now I'm not quite sure how the clearcoat is on my flamenco black pearl 97 CL, but I heard most older acuras shared a softer clearcoat.

I've read that some are having problems with gumming/pc skipping when using sip and 106ff in conjunction with softer clears. Should I be worried? Or should I be looking towards a different product? The car has pretty moderate swirling especially on the rear bumper and trunk that I'd like to address...as well as having the deepest shine possible.

Any suggestions, or should sip and 106ff do me just fine?

I was thinking of using danase glaze after the 106ff and possibly Red Victoria wax as an lsp.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

If you read that much as cons I'd go with something else.

The clear on my TL is not even remotly close to the hardness of the VW I had.

As for the wax .. I'd pass .. not worth the money ..

 

^^ thanks for the input

any counter-suggestions for me as per swirl removal pure polish and waxes? I do kind of want to keep the budget for this as low as possible...as sip and 106ff are pretty darn spendy compared to other products, as is victoria red

 

106 is a finishing polish, but since it works so well and Honda paint is so soft, it should work fine as your main polish. I don't think you'll need SIP at all, but without seeing what condition the paint's in...... Pics?

What you can do to adjust the cut is to use different pads. Start with a white pad and see how well that works with 106. Not enough cut? Move up to an orange pad. If that doesn't work, try it with a yellow pad.

Basically, you want to start with the least aggressive combo first. Then evaluate and adjust accordingly.

If you want something not as expensive as Menzerna, take a look at the Optimum or Poorboys polishes..... Good stuff there too.

 

thanks much for the info!

well, my paint does have pretty heavy swirling mainly on the rear trunk lid as well as some pretty big scratches on the front and rear bumpers where some kids were playing And it's pretty much covered head to toe with swirling under all the dressings from over 10 years of abuse.




I stay on top of the paint and wash weekly and NXT wax every other month, but the car has never recieved a claying or 'the works' since it came off the showroom floor in 97. My parents had the dealer shoot it with 2 extra coats of clear when new so I'm not really worried about cutting too deep into it.

So you think the 106ff would be enough to get into most all the imperfections with more aggressive pads? I just want to make sure I do everything right the first time as this'll be my first real detail ever

thanks again

 

From what I've read, 106 was designed for the harder clears. As stated above, the clear on most US and Japan vehicles are not as hard as European cars. US manufacturers have recently started using a harder clear. IMO, Optimum and PB work just as well Menzerna...and less expensive.

 

Optimum by a landslide.........
I do have some Poorboys SSR1 on sale if your interested.
If it was me? Optimum Compound and Polish, call it done..........With orange and White, call it done......Seal up with a nice sealant like UPP, or SC Nano Seal......

 

Patrick, sent you a PM

 

wow, great info, thanks!

that's so hard to believe how one product can take care of all of that in one step...and the optimum polish is only like 17 bucks for 32 ounces.

how is the shine/depth of optimum compared to menzerna and poorboys?

could I expect good results using optimum and following up with dwg?

 

The sealant/wax is what will really bring out the shine/depth. The compounding/polishing is to remove the paint imperfections so that the paint can look good without distractions from the swirls, oxidation, etc.

I use Optimum compound and poliseal and they're really good and easy to use products. I also use Chemical Guys' Diamond Cut line (I hear it's what Poorboys re-labels as their SSR line, but if there's really any truth to that.). Diamond Cut works really good too, but it dusts quite a bit.

Optimum is what I'd recommend first if you're looking for an alternative to Menzerna.

 

Absolutely.......
And yes, Chem Guys reformulates for Poorboys..

 

thanks again for the feedback guys


ended up going with the sfx sonus line polishes 1-3 since I heard they're a lot more geared towards pc's than optimum's polishes are

I'm still debating on the lsp but I think I'm going to try dwg topped off with nxt just to see how that looks

I'll post pics when I get around to machining

 

As for one being "designed" for a PC, im not sure of. What I'am sure of is Optimums work perfectly fine with PC/UDM or rotary. Been tested many a times with a UDM.....

 

Just curious as to where this tidbit of info came from. There are a number of polishes (Menzerna, Poorboys, Hi Temp, Blackfire, CG, Einszett & Megs to name a few) that work well with the PC, UDM, Megs G100/G110 and other similar machines. Basically, it comes down to a personal choice and what works for that individual.

 

It was after reading quite a bit on autopia...the consensus seemed to think sfx was more geared towards pc work while optimum (though it can be used with a pc) tends to take a lot longer to work in with a pc to effectively do paint correction. I guess I shall see how good sonus stacks up when it arrives soon.

I am about to order some dwg from exceldetail, but also wanted to group some more products with my purchase.

Just curious, out of all the tire shine products you carry, which gives the 'wettest' look (I'm bigger on the wet look versus natural sheen) for the longest time? I particularly would like the 'Black Magic' wet look, but black magic has a really short life.

And lastly, any coupon codes?

 

If you want *bling*, give Four Star Ult tire protectant a try. Its pretty wet looking.
"acurazine" is the forums coupon code....

 

thanks much!