Meguiars Ultimate Polish - cloudy / hazy: user error?

[Calendyr]

1. work in shade... 2-3 passes... if at all, not working the product enough I assume
Unless you are working a huge area, the product should not be drying by only doing 2-3 passes. And so you should have no issue removing it. One thing I have seen in the past is cars having a super thick layer or wax on them and the thing that was hard to remove was the wax, not the polish. It is possible for your car? If that is the case, the polish is not correcting anything, it's just buffing the wax and the scratches you are seeing might be already there and now showing with kess wax to fill them.

2. already switched to foam
Good, this you see a difference?

3. yes... and as stated, by removing it, adding fine scratches as there are really sticky spots where UP does not want to get off...
...this forum is full of posts from users having issues removing UP... I guess it works fine on some paints, and not good on others (maybe the soft ones like mine)
I have not used Ultimate Polish enough to comment on that. I never had bad experiences with it but I have one used a single bottle of it. It is possible it's not compatible with some paint, but I doubt it is the case. This product offers some of the best lubrication in a polish and does an amazing job. Again, I am thinking your issues might be comming from something already on the panel, not the polish itself.

as stated, will switch to M205 with foam pad... if that's still not good, will switch to something like HD Speed...
M205 is a great product but I think it is very similar to UP. If you decide to switch, HD speed will have more cut, and it also leave montang wax behind as short time protection. If you wanted to use a long duration sealant or nano-ceramic coating as a last step product (for protection) it would not be a good choice. If you are ok with a wax as a last step product, I am sure you will like Speed.

 

[Finick]

For what it’s worth, m205 and UP both scour the crap out of my paint.

Spent forever trouble shooting, but at the end of the day another product saved me a lot of frustration.

Griots perfecting cream, hd polish+, pinnacle advanced swirl remover/finishing polish all produce a beautiful haze free finish on my paint.


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[TTQ B4U]

For what it’s worth, m205 and UP both scour the crap out of my paint.
Spent forever trouble shooting, but at the end of the day another product saved me a lot of frustration.
Griots perfecting cream, hd polish+, pinnacle advanced swirl remover/finishing polish all produce a beautiful haze free finish on my paint.

factory paint or respray? UP/M205 is not at all known for producing rough results even on soft paint. Could be a number of things including contaminants still in/on the finish prior to polishing, pad make up, pad condition, etc. Glad it worked out for you in the end but my money is on the pad and then perhaps the paint.

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

UP/M205 is not at all known for producing rough results even on soft paint.

Not true. I agree with the OP, these polishes do not do well with soft paint, IMO. Even Mike Phillips has stated this. YMMV.

 

[TTQ B4U]

Not true. I agree with the OP, these polishes do not do well with soft paint, IMO. Even Mike Phillips has stated this. YMMV.

Keep in mind, M205 is a very non-aggressive product. When launched it was targeting the OP's exact scenerio, frsh paint. and was designed as a follow up to M105 and the swirls it left when used with a rotary buffer. That's the exact market these products targeting.

M205 is not a diminishing abrasive product and thus my hunch still stands that it's likely an issue around needing to "work clean" as Mike says. By that I mean, he's abrading the paint and the impurities with M205 and perhaps working M205 too long. What happens is M205 this turns into a residue of spent product with the lubricants having been absorbed and worked-off and the polishing of the clear leaves the abraded clear coat as a build-up between the pad and the finish, thus you're no longer "working clean" you're instead working dirty and with no lubricants/solvents. I see this most when people over-work the products being used. Not saying that's the case here, but it's possible and IMO likely.

Micro-marring issues like this can be seen on more than just soft paint too. My Audi was "hard paint" but still scratch sensitive. Pure blacks also show this more than metallics or lighter colors but it doesn't necessarily mean those other colors are also not soft or scratch sensitive. Work M205 on it too long and yes, you'll see micro marring even on Audi's hard paint.

• My steps in this case would be to change the pad more often or change to a lighter pad
• Change up the technique. Just because a product doesn't "finish well" doesn't mean it's the product, it's also related tot he pad and amount of pressure on the pad. If you're ever Jeweled a finish with a refining polish you'll notice that the amount of pressure is often less than the weight of the buffer itself. IMO that's why so many people think that forced rotational units aren't best.......it's because they are heavier. Lighten up the pressure as you finish the final two passes on any polish.
• Lastly, yes, switch up product. Always more than one way to skin a cat.

M105/UC are designed to remove upwards of #1200 grit with ease. M205/UP are designed to clear up the haze left by them. Both work well on cured paint of course, but they were targeted at fresh paint when launched. Mike would know more specifically of course as they were his babies to launch.

Here's M205 on fresh black Audi PPG Paint 2 days after getting it back. Compounded with M101 on Purple Wool, Polished with M205 on green lHexlogic Pads then re-polished and sealed with HD's 505 with White Hybrid Force Pads all using a FLex 3401. I probably could have skipped 205 and just used the 505 but I didn't/don't know how it would finish out the compound work I did so I used it more as a refining polish and silicon free sealant.

People have also said that D166 doesn't finish well on soft black either. It won't if you work it too long or use dirty pads as it's a pretty good AIO that well of course, is removing clear coat. However, if you keep a clean pad and finish out with a light touch, it finishes out flawlessly.

Here's Soft Lexus Paint with a more aggressive Green Rupes Pad on a Mille. Key here was to swap pads every panel or two. I went through a ton of pads and ended up finishing with yellow pads as I ran out of green ones. Key was also to lighten up the pressure when finishing the last two passes. These techniques helped allow for a super fast cut and a beautiful finish from an aggressive AIO saving me a lot of time. This job didn't take long at all.

 

[itsgn]

Try using it with a foam pad. Microfiber can haze paint.

^^ As above. I'd also add that you should use a better quality, higher gsm towel for polish wipedown, because the one I see in the video seems to be a cheap, very low gsm towel to me. If you still experience hazing even with that, you can try using some lubricant, like a 20-30% IPA solution or CarPro Eraser to ease the wipe down of the residue and allow you to do it with essentially minimum pressure.

Oh, and btw did you clay and compound the paint before going to the polish phase with UP? I not, then maybe you still have contaminants embedded into the paint and/or a degraded top coat layer, that interferes with your polish process, and which you need to remove before you can expect to get decent results.

 

[Finick]

factory paint or respray? UP/M205 is not at all known for producing rough results even on soft paint. Could be a number of things including contaminants still in/on the finish prior to polishing, pad make up, pad condition, etc. Glad it worked out for you in the end but my money is on the pad and then perhaps the paint.

Factory paint, freshly clayed and passing the baggie test, and I broke out new pads once I started having issues.

Things I tried:

- M205 and UP on Megs burgundy, yellow, and black pads.
- Tried priming the pad, not priming the pad, 2-5 dots of product
- Speeds 3-5, trying 2,3, and 4 passes on each separate speed
- Varying pressures, from just the weight of the machine to like.. maybe 5lbs of pressure, enough to feel firm

Nothing resolved the ridiculous amounts of micro marring at all. When Mike Phillips sent me some Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover I just assumed that my paint didn't like SMAT abrasives, because it finished down gloriously. Since then though, Griots Perfecting Cream and Polish+ both produce beautiful results, without me ever second guessing them.

No idea what would give me such issues, but the megs polishes just didn't work on my paint at all, and I don't really know what else I could have tried differently. I've tried M205 on a bunch of cars since my first experience with it, and it just always disappoints me compared to the other polishes I've used. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the mostly full quart of the stuff I still have, lol.

 

[dlc95]

Factory paint, freshly clayed and passing the baggie test, and I broke out new pads once I started having issues.

Things I tried:

- M205 and UP on Megs burgundy, yellow, and black pads.
- Tried priming the pad, not priming the pad, 2-5 dots of product
- Speeds 3-5, trying 2,3, and 4 passes on each separate speed
- Varying pressures, from just the weight of the machine to like.. maybe 5lbs of pressure, enough to feel firm

Nothing resolved the ridiculous amounts of micro marring at all. When Mike Phillips sent me some Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover I just assumed that my paint didn't like SMAT abrasives, because it finished down gloriously. Since then though, Griots Perfecting Cream and Polish+ both produce beautiful results, without me ever second guessing them.

No idea what would give me such issues, but the megs polishes just didn't work on my paint at all, and I don't really know what else I could have tried differently. I've tried M205 on a bunch of cars since my first experience with it, and it just always disappoints me compared to the other polishes I've used. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the mostly full quart of the stuff I still have, lol.

How many passes?

 

[PaulMys]

I thought UP worked pretty good.

It was just a real b!tch to remove.

 

[Finick]

How many passes?

Started with 2, then 3, then 4. Had sections taped off eventually, varying pressures and pad types as well.

I have to assume my paint just doesn’t agree with megs polishes for whatever reason. The same process/polishing pad and 2/3 passes with Perfecting Cream or Polish+ finishes down haze free.


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[Eldorado2k]

I’ve never fully polished [meaning the entire vehicle] the Kia because it hasn’t needed it, but in the test spots I’ve done [I machine polished 1 of the doors and a test spot on the hood] the door turned out just fine, however the test spot on the hood resulted in the same exact thing Finick has described. M205 w/Lake Country Black Foam Finishing Pad scoured the living crap out of the paint on the hood. There’s gotta be something different between the paint on the hood compared the the rest of the vehicle and whatever it is it results in a complete nightmare when it’s polished.

After carefully diminishing the swirls the polisher made I’ve never tried to polish it again and hope I never have to... But if I ever do I’ll keep the Perfecting Cream in mind because there’s no way on earth M205 can do it on that paint.

 

[WRAPT C5Z06]

If you're Kevin Brown, you can get M205 to finish perfect on soft black paint. It really requires a lot of special technique, but it can be done. Meanwhile, there's other polishes out there that will finish nice on soft black paint with a lot less technique required.

 

[dlc95]

If you're Kevin Brown, you can get M205 to finish perfect on soft black paint. It really requires a lot of special technique, but it can be done. Meanwhile, there's other polishes out there that will finish nice on soft black paint with a lot less technique required.

Personally, if I can't use a product out of the bottle, and get the desired result, I prefer to just use a product that can do the job.

It is for that reason that I always take a selection of diminishing abrasive finishers with me.