Compound/Glaze/Polish Shootout

[Flatlander]

Hey everybody, I recently had the opportunity to do some testing of a few products on a "temporary" car I had for the weekend. I took a ton of pics and made two videos of the project. I'd like to thank the Academy and my lovely wife for allowing me time to complete this project. I am NOT a professional (detailer at least) and I have never done a review before so take it easy on me. I do render some opinions but they are mine and mine alone and I am offing them up for discussion. I may have used poor technique but I'm learning so here goes...

Wash: ONR
Clay: Megs fine clay with Megs detail spray as lube
Wipe: CarPro Eraser
* Additional wipe down after each compound was removed (not glazes) with Eraser to remove any oils.


Condition of the pain on this car with just 10k miles!

Ugh!!

Every square inch of the car was like this! So I got out some products and went at it!

The Contenders:

COMPOUNDS: (in no particular order)
Menzerna FG-400
Menzerna IS 1500
Meguire's Ultimate Compound (UC)
Meguire's Microfiber Correction Cutting Pad with D300 compound
BlackFire Scratch Resistant Compound
Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover (WGTSR)

GLAZES/POLISHES: (no particular order)
BlackFire Gloss Enhancing Polish (BFGEP)
Wolfgang Finishing Glaze 3.0 (WGFG3.0)
Klasse AIO (KAIO)
Duragloss 101 (DG101)

For this test I used my FLEX 3401 DA polisher (the only one I have) with an Orange CCS Constant Pressure pad for the compounds and a White LC Hybrid Power Finish pad for the Glazes/Polishes.

I started with three compounds on the Trunk(boot) lid:

Menzerna IS 1500

Pad Primed with BlackFire Advanced Pad Conditioner
Ready to Go!

Done!

A good Wipe!

Boom! Nice result.

Meg's D300 with MF cutting Pad

Before. Again, the whole car was exactly like this!

Primed and ready...

Done!

After an Eraser wipe. Not as clear as the Menzerna IS 1500 IMO.

BlackFire SRC

Before

I cleaned the pad and rung out as much water as I could and got ready for the next spot

As you can see the pad had some water left in it (splatter)

And after a wipe...WOW! I'm getting cocky now!

*When you watch the video you'll hear me say that I used two heavy/moderate pressure passes and two light pressure passes with each product. That's not accurate. Actually, I used FOUR heavy/moderate pressure passes and four light pressure passes for each product with VERY slow arm movement.



Next, I moved to the hood(bonnet) and worked with…

Menzerna FG-400,

Before

After (it dried up a little bit as well)

A bit hazy for me

Megs UC

Before

and after ( I thought I worked it pretty thoroughly)

A little hazy

Cont'd Below...

 

[Flatlander]

Shoot out Continued...


and WGTSR.

My sample size (free!)

Worked...

After...Nice!

Of all the compounds I tried, I preferred the BlackFire SRC the best. In my hands, with little experience, that was the product that achieved the best correction and left a finish that I could have easily gone to a LSP from. My experience with my own car (2012 BMW 535) and my wife's (2010 Audi A5) was that all clear coats were made with diamond dust and you needed to LEAN on the paint to correct anything. This Chrysler 200 (2013?) was easy to correct so I guess the CC was pretty soft (or I'm just THAT good!).

Compound Conclusion:
#1 BFSRC
#2 WG TSR
#3 Menzerna IS-1500
#4 Menzerna FG-400
#5 Megs D300
#6 Megs UC


*Note about the Meg's products: I have read a lot of reviews and show n' shines where the detailer has used these products and achieved wonderful results. For me, this time, on this paint, I couldn't get a great result. Probably user error. I believe their products are sound and with some more experience I probably will achieve better results.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNGcTFqiXXo]Compound Shootout - YouTube[/video]

On to the Glazes/Polishes...

BlackFire GEP

White Hybrid polishing pad

Done!

The reveal..

DG101

After. Nice shine, lots of swirls....

KAIO

Before:

Done!

After the wipe. Some correction.

WGFG3.0

Before...

After:

WOW!

For the Glaze/Polishes I used, in my hands, I preferred the BlackFire Gloss Enhancing Polish. I was amazed with the amount of corection/filling/hiding accomplished with 4 heavy and 4 light passes on a White Hybrid pad! The WGFG3.0 was a CLOSE second with really nice gloss and a lot of apparent correction/filling/hiding. I think the videos show it pretty well. The KAIO and DG101 are note really meant to hide /correct swirls (I think) but I had them laying around and thought they might offer some perspective.

#1 BFGEP
#2 WGFG3.0
#3 KAIO
#4 DG101

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siKJYF26dXM]Glaze Shootout - YouTube[/video]

Well, I hope this helps someone learn a bit about these products. Thanks for reading!

- Mike

 

[Seth@NWCDetailing]

Shoot out Continued...


and WGTSR.

My sample size (free!)

Worked...

After...Nice!

Of all the compounds I tried, I preferred the BlackFire SRC the best. In my hands, with little experience, that was the product that achieved the best correction and left a finish that I could have easily gone to a LSP from. My experience with my own car (2012 BMW 535) and my wife's (2010 Audi A5) was that all clear coats were made with diamond dust and you needed to LEAN on the paint to correct anything. This Chrysler 200 (2013?) was easy to correct so I guess the CC was pretty soft (or I'm just THAT good!).

Compound Conclusion:
#1 BFSRC
#2 WG TSR
#3 Menzerna IS-1500
#4 Menzerna FG-400
#5 Megs D300
#6 Megs UC


*Note about the Meg's products: I have read a lot of reviews and show n' shines where the detailer has used these products and achieved wonderful results. For me, this time, on this paint, I couldn't get a great result. Probably user error. I believe their products are sound and with some more experience I probably will achieve better results.

Compound Shootout - YouTube

On to the Glazes/Polishes...

BlackFire GEP

White Hybrid polishing pad

Done!

The reveal..

DG101

After. Nice shine, lots of swirls....

KAIO

Before:

Done!

After the wipe. Some correction.

WGFG3.0

Before...

After:

WOW!

For the Glaze/Polishes I used, in my hands, I preferred the BlackFire Gloss Enhancing Polish. I was amazed with the amount of corection/filling/hiding accomplished with 4 heavy and 4 light passes on a White Hybrid pad! The WGFG3.0 was a CLOSE second with really nice gloss and a lot of apparent correction/filling/hiding. I think the videos show it pretty well. The KAIO and DG101 are note really meant to hide /correct swirls (I think) but I had them laying around and thought they might offer some perspective.

#1 BFGEP
#2 WGFG3.0
#3 KAIO
#4 DG101

Glaze Shootout - YouTube

Well, I hope this helps someone learn a bit about these products. Thanks for reading!

- Mike

Every aspect of this review provided good knowledge for any detailer out there. Good review Mike! In the process of learning paint correction for my business and this definitely gives me a good understanding of the products to use! Much Appreciated :xyxthumbs:

 

[AutowerxDetailing]

Awesome!!! :dblthumb2:

This is a fantastic, unbiased, well put together comparison of some great products.

The one thing I noticed is it looks like with the D300 the pad is way too saturated with product. When I prime a MF disc the individual fibers almost look dry and stand up on end and are just pink in color because of the color of the compound. Then I add 2 or 3 drops for working product. If the MF pad becomes too saturated with product, spent paint, etc. it will give very poor correction. This could be why it did not correct as well as it should have.

Again, amazing work and thanks for the review. Some of the products you listed are on my short list to try out. rops:

 

[Wheelzntoys]

Great review, what is your best combo for you personal vehicle?

MF with FG400?

 

[quiksilver_ben3]

rops: Quality review!

I do think with the D300 section, your pad was primed with too much product. Leading to a little less cut.

Another example of Wolfgang finishing glaze being able to correct all on its own.

 

[swanicyouth]

Nice work. Thanks for doing this. Ive also found the Wolfgang stuff to work really well on an orange pad and the FG on a white.

 

[c5errr]

i have used a sample size of wolfgang finishing glaze
and let me tell ya it removed a deep scratch

and for meguiars UC its a great product but it doesnt provide as much correction for ceramic paints as menzerna or blackfire

 

[BillE]

NICE JOB!

That's as lot of work you've done for 'us'...THANK YOU!

Bill

 

[BobbyG]

For someone that's not a professional and never done a product review you hit this one out of the park my friend! rops: rops: rops:

The testing, documentation, and review were thorough and well documented. I like the way the testing and results easily flowed together and were easy to read.

Hazing

Hazing is very common with courser grades of compounds and it quickly and easily removed when cleaning up with a finer polish and pad.

Meguiar's DA Correction System

Some here have expressed disappointment when using Meguiar's DA Correction pads with the Flex 3401 and this may be partly due to the forced rotation.

Conclusion

All in all, this thread is chuck full of great information, test plan, and outstanding results. Anyone who's interested in a great how-to in order to hit the ground running would benefit from this reading... rops:

 

[cgreen1120]

Let me start by saying this was a great review. You took your time to document all aspects of the test which is critical to understanding the final data.
It may be in the video but I didn’t catch the year, make, model and color of the car. This helps when we do a search on forum threads for information on a project that we may be working on. Mike may have a form for doing product test reviews but I haven’t seen it yet. I have not created one myself only because I don’t do enough corrections and have enough products to test.
My day job (Project Engineer for CNC Machining) requires me to do testing on a daily bases. Every part I look at is different in geometry, tolerance and material. I must then decide on the appropriate machine tool, work holding, cutting tool, tool path, feeds and speeds. In most cases I can rely on my experience to at least get the job going and then refine the process as I go but there are those that require extensive research just to get an understanding of what I dealing with. Machining 440A stainless steel is very different than machining 6061 T6 aluminum. Way, Way, Way different.
I said all that to say this, those of us that want to understand how to achieve the best possible finish on our projects must first understand what we are working with. I have found that each automotive manufacture uses a very different paint process and products. They even very the products and processes from model to model. The paint on the metal is different than the paint on the plastic and any more variables that I don’t even know at this time. What works well on your BMW produced in Germany may not work well on mine that was produced in Spartanburg SC because they use a totally different process and product. (Not a fact, just an example.) Maybe our reviews should focus more on the paint system used and what products and technology work best on them. For this we would need a lot better cooperation from the automotive and paint industry.
I have started to do more research on automotive manufactures and their paint systems to get a better understanding of how to get started on a simple correction. This is not an easy task. It’s almost like they don’t know there are folks like us out here that give a darn about the paint and appearance of our daily drivers. They will let you know in a heartbeat what oils to use in you automobile but when you ask what abrasive technology to use on your paint they look at you like you just stepped out of a space ship. I have spent as much as 3 hours doing test spots with different machines, machine speeds, pads, products, amount of product, arm speed and all the other things I could think of. This is very time consuming and at times frustrating. Relying on experience will only get us so far. In the metal machining world, technology of part material, cutting tools and geometry change every day and I see the same thing in the automotive detailing world. Microfiber DA pads have only been out for a short time and Meguiars M101 just hit the shelf. I see different machines with different types of rotation and amount of through in its orbit. The list goes on and on. The automotive industry is great at selling us on the drive train system and the motor heads out there can tell us every engine and transmission GM ever produced and what vehicle and year it was used in but if we ask about the paint, well, you get the point.
I understand that 85% of the people out there don’t see what we see or they don’t even care until it comes time to sell, trade or just plain have their eyes opened. For those of us that do have our eyes open, all of this information would be greatly appreciated. Mike Phillips, the Auto Geek support team and the members of this forum do a tremendous job and service to our community and our passion. You sir are contributing in great fashion and I applaud your work.
WOW what a rant that was. I feel like Tom Cruise in “Jerry Meguire” “It was just a mission statement!”

Craig

 

[rlloyd]

Great reviews! Thanks for doing this. Gives me some info I can use right now.

 

[Flatlander]

Thanks a bunch guys! I tried to emulate some of the other reviews I have seen here. The car was a dark blue 2013(?) Chrysler 200. It was a rental for the weekend. I think they was it with a Scotch-Brite!
- Mike

 

[ihaveacamaro]

Mike, just went through the compounds part of your review and gotta say what an amazing job! This has got to be one the best first reviews I have ever seen! In fact, you probably don't know who he is as he is hardly on AG anymore, but a user named CEEDOG had reviews that were very much like yours.... and most people would agree that his reviews were the best anyone could read. Period. Great job!

I find with Megs stuff, unlike most other polishes/compounds, it doesn't liked to be "worked" in. In your post, you said it was 4 heavy passes and 4 light passes, so 8 total passes in all. Next time you try it, I would try one place with 2 heavy passes and 2 light passes, and one place with 3 heavy passes and 3 light passes. You might find one of those to work out better :dblthumb2:

 

[Flatlander]

Mike, just went through the compounds part of your review and gotta say what an amazing job! This has got to be one the best first reviews I have ever seen! In fact, you probably don't know who he is as he is hardly on AG anymore, but a user named CEEDOG had reviews that were very much like yours.... and most people would agree that his reviews were the best anyone could read. Period. Great job!

I find with Megs stuff, unlike most other polishes/compounds, it doesn't liked to be "worked" in. In your post, you said it was 4 heavy passes and 4 light passes, so 8 total passes in all. Next time you try it, I would try one place with 2 heavy passes and 2 light passes, and one place with 3 heavy passes and 3 light passes. You might find one of those to work out better :dblthumb2:

Thank you! Coming from the infamous "ihaveacamaro" that is quite a compliment. I am familiar with CEEDOG and love his reviews. Maybe he'll chime in too! Let me know how the NOVA thing turns out!
- Mike

 

[ihaveacamaro]

Thank you! Coming from the infamous "ihaveacamaro" that is quite a compliment. I am familiar with CEEDOG and love his reviews. Maybe he'll chime in too! Let me know how the NOVA thing turns out!
- Mike

You got the detailing bug, and now just wait, you're starting to get the review bug too! I honestly think half of my anticipation for a product being shipped is so I can do some kind of test or review on it lol :buffing:

Ah, well my mistake, glad you are familiar with CEEDOG's reviews, they are amazing. I can honestly say this review is as good as one of his!

I will let you know about Nova, I felt pretty good coming out of there, but I can only hope everything works out now

Btw, my dad's Benz is in for repair, and he got a rental Benz. The paint condition was absolutely horrible! Man, these rental cars are totally swirled out messes!

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Mike,

Incredibly well written review with detailed pictures and documentation of your work and findings. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it over my morning cup of coffee.

-Mike

 

[Flatlander]

Mike,

Incredibly well written review with detailed pictures and documentation of your work and findings. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it over my morning cup of coffee.

-Mike

Glad I could help you enjoy the coffee! Isn't that morning cup the best?!
- Mike

 

[Flatlander]

i have used a sample size of wolfgang finishing glaze
and let me tell ya it removed a deep scratch

and for meguiars UC its a great product but it doesnt provide as much correction for ceramic paints as menzerna or blackfire

Yes, I was really impressed with the WG products as I had never used them before.

 

[spiralout462]

What a great read! Thanks for the effort! I have some experience with a couple of the products tested. The Wolfgang Finishing Glaze is my go to polish for my truck and it's super soft paint. I may be wrong but I believe it is more of a polish than a glaze. AG says it has no "fillers" but it abviously has some oils so IDK. All I know is it creates impressive clarity and gloss on the few paint systems that I have experience with. Keep the reviews coming!