Best of both worlds

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Pete L

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Looking for a system that will work with both my vehicles. The first is a restored/garaged 66 GTO (black) with a 10 year old 2 stage finish. Looked like a black mirror when new. It has very slight oxidation and a few swirl marks from hand waxing on a hot day. The second vehicle is my daily driver, a 2007 Dodge Ram (metallic blue). This has moderate oxidation, water spots and minor scratches. I'm pretty much set on purchasing the Flex3401. The pads I'm looking at are the Lake Country Force line. For compounds- it's between Meguiar's 205/105 and the Wolfgang's 3 combos. Need some help in fine tuning the pad and compound choices. Is the Wolfgang's worth almost 4x the price?
Thanks in advance
Pete
 
You're definitely on the right track! The paint on your two cars isn't all that different.

I think M105/M205, and some black, white and orange Force pads will give you a well-rounded kit!

I like to keep the "fine tuning" of pads simple and to a minimum: compound with orange pads, polish with white, and wax with black.
 
I would go with the Wolfgang system as the 105 can be a bear to work with (dries out quickly and dust a lot). Look into Griot's polishes, very user friendly.
 
You can not go wrong with M105/205 combo. Been using it for years. Recently switched to Clearcut Then the Essence twins to finish. Only problem with M105 is the dust. But they work great.


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What a great start. You can't go wrong with Meg 105/205. That being said, IMO from 1st hand experience when I compared the 2 is look into Menzerna FG400 and the Super Finish 3500/3800. That is my go-to compound/polish. I have the Flex 3401 too! If you are looking at Wolfgang's is the reason why look into Menzerna. BTW, Jesscar is Menzerna for the US.

Just a thought. I hope I made you even more confused!...LOL
 
If looking for a true "system", I'd go with Griot's BOSS creams and pads.

Each cream has the corresponding pad color right on the bottle. Takes the guess work out of it if you are just getting into the machining process.

Couple that with the incredible performance of the products, and you have a winning combination.
 
Thanks for the advise. I'm probably going to stick with a carnauba wax for the garaged car (I've had good luck with Mother's products) and a sealant for my truck which lives outside. Any recommendations there? Again, it's my daily driver that stays outside.
Thanks again
Pete
 
Griots Boss creams and pads

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Posting here in hopes of future pics of your GTO... this forum sends alerts for threads you post in, right?
 
I'd swap the M105 for M100.

Or,

Menzerna 400, 2500, and 3500.
 
Menzerna 400 compound and 3500 polish with 5.5 force pads
I would do 6 orange, 5 white and a black to lay down sealant.
You will need a 4 3/8 backing plate or you can spin down the stock 5.5
 
Anyone else out there using the Menzerna products. Read the product info and it sounds pretty good. Is this made by the same people who make the Wolfgangs products?
 
If I'm not wrong Menzerna makes the Wolfgang polishes on their request. So very a like products but not rebranded polishes. Menzerna is a big in polishes and have made a lot for it's devolopment of abrasives. Jescar has the Menzerna USA part and have done the sealant powerlock for them. Know have Jescar made their own line of polishes. Sure it's some of the Menzerna technology in it but as Wolfgang not a rebranded polishes.

The Menzerna has a great line of polishes where FG400 and PF2500 and SF3500 stands out the most. With the SHC300 heavy cut compound as a compound to reach for the most severe defects. They are quite heavy on polishing oils which gives you great lubrication and working time. And suits a direct driven orbital polisher like Flex 3401vrg well cause of that. The downside would be when working with ceramic coatings you have to be a little more safe that you have removed them before application. I like the Sonax polishes Cutmax and the Cut & Finish and Sonax EX04-06 or Sonax Perfect Finish. Which is easy to work with and gets awesome results. There are alot of great abrasive technology polishes to chose from these days. Gyeon or Carpro or Pinnacle or 3D HD are some brands that are great. Meguiars has good abrasives too but there is more easy working polishes out there not.

As for sealant you have alot of awesome products to chose from. Some that comes to mind is the Menzerna Powerlock and Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant and Sonax Polymer Net Shield and Polish Angel Master Sealant is some that comes to mind.
 
6od said:
Posting here in hopes of future pics of your GTO... this forum sends alerts for threads you post in, right?
Click to expand...


Yes, the forum will send you an e-mail alert BUT you must "subscribe" to the thread.

To subscribe to a thread, locate the text link that reads,

Thread Tools

Click on it and a drop down box will appear, click on Subscribe to thread. This will take you to an option box and from there click on

Instant E-mail Notification


And anytime someone posts to this thread you'll get an e-mail notification. You can un-subscribe the same way.


:)
 
Pete L said:
Anyone else out there using the Menzerna products. Read the product info and it sounds pretty good. Is this made by the same people who make the Wolfgangs products?
Click to expand...

I believe so.

What's nice about the Menzerna line, is how effective they are. The compound cuts, the medium polish does some nice correction, and finishes like a fine cut, and the fine polish will finish down on just about any paint, leaving a show car gloss behind.

There have been times where my go to polish wasn't finishing right. A situation where even the medium cut 2500 took care of even more paint defects, and finished to a high gloss. That's how nice those Menzerna abrasives are.
 
Finally got to it. I ended up using Menzerna 400 with a LC Force Orange pad and finished with Menzerna 3500 on a LC Force White pad. I used a sealant as my final step. The Flex 3401 is an awsome tool. Well built, feels good and took on a full days work like a champ. I followed Mike Phillips instructions from the AG link and could not believe how well the job turned out. I don't think my paint ever looked this good. (even when new) This was a time consuming process, but I had the time set aside knowing that in advance. Pictured are before and after photos of the driver side rear door. I had high expectations going into this, but was blown away. Now... just waiting for cooler weather before taking on my GTO.

2007 Dodge Ram 1500 before
/Users/petelucas/Desktop/IMG_1640.jpg

2007 Dodge Ram 1500 after
/Users/petelucas/Desktop/IMG_1641.jpg
 
I have no idea why these photos are upside down, but you get the idea. I would not have believed my paint would turn out this good.
 
Great work!

Nice that you are satisfied with the products you chosed going with. The Flex and Menzerna and Lake Country is high end products that leaves great finish.
 
Pete L said:
I have no idea why these photos are upside down, but you get the idea.

I would not have believed my paint would turn out this good.
Click to expand...

I think it’s due to the angle of how you hold the phone when taking a picture.

Here you go, I flipped them...

Before

a55e0e3409297d3c584e5d8e3e1945ef.jpg



After

c3ab26c62c9125fd326ef0b7da14f48f.jpg



Thanks for the follow-up!

:)


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