Intro
I was afraid of publishing this review. First, it will be judged by the best detailers in the world. Second, I always follow my old man's many advices, and one of his advices is 'if you don't have anything good to say, shut up and listen'; but I think I have something interesting to say this time. Third, I keep seeing nice reviews about Vettes, Porsches, BMWs, and my review is about a humble Fiat Punto. Fourth, I also see nice environment in the pictures, like grassy sidewalks and nice neighboorhoods, but my surroundings are ugly, since I work in an old part of town, with sidewalks covered with weeds, cigarette butts, dog poos, and there are a lot of bums in the streets and an occasional crackhead asking for money, which always scares 'tha hell outta me'. But the rent is cheap, 400USD for around 2500 sq. ft., with 127V, 230V and 380V availability. It has been a mechanic shop since 1940's, and I had to replace wires, tiles, paint the walls, floor etc. I also have to seal the doors every night because of roaches, but I'm not afraid of roaches, I'm afraid of the yellow scorpions that come after the roaches, I already found two little bastids here. Not to mention the rats. But here I am, detailing in a 400 thousand city in Brazil, in a poor, humble, old neighborhood.
Big Menzerna Fan
First of all, I'm a big Menzerna fan. As you can see below, this is my Menzerna line up.
The Menzerna PL is missing from this picture
I always try and buy other products and brands as well, and try to keep an open mind, like Meg's 83/101/205, Sonax Abrasive and Nano, Carpro Fixer and Reflect, and Optimum (I haven't tried them yet), and keep wondering if I should try HD polish.
But I keep returning to Menzerna. I say to myself, "Nah, too dusty", "nah, to much filler on it", "nah, unimpressive", "nah, too watery" and so on.
Therefore, when big Menzerna launched the 3 in 1 and the 300, my mouth was watering, I was frantic, I looked like my daughter looking at the Apple site the specs about the IPhone 6 (she has the 4S). So, I bought two liters of 300 and one of 3 in 1. The 300 I already used in a silver Santa Fe, I can give details about it later, and the 3 in 1 I received five days ago. I needed a car to test it!
The Customer
A customer, a lovely couple in the late twenties, came up in my shop with a very swirled, full of holograms and buffer trails black Fiat Punto 2010. I looked at it and said 'Holy Cow', and the customer said it was a work of a detailer done a year ago. The customer also followed the detailer progress in his car, since he is also a car buff, and he told me that the detailer had cut with a foam, and polished with a double sided wool in a rotary. Then he applied some Teflon wax I wouldn't dare to ask the name of it.
I told him that the detailer should be polishing stones in a penitentiary, and we laughed about it, but I regretted as soon as I said, since the detailer is just a guy trying to make a living with a lack of knowledge and proper technique.
The customer said he could bring the car on Friday 9AM, and get the car back at 4PM Saturday, since it is the only car he had and he wanted to use to go somewhere at 5PM. We started to discuss about the price, and he started to bargain and said he is hard working guy etc, which reminded me the Queen song 'he's just a poor guy from a poor family, ...".
But then the customer told me that he "heard that I'm good at fixing black cars", which made me feel flattered, and he hit a sweet spot in my heart. I said OK, I will polish it, but I won't touch the interior, wheels, engine bay nor vacuum clean it, since it is a huge fix and the time is short, and I work alone, and the money is not quite right. He agreed, and left the car this Friday.
After washing and claying, I thought about putting the car in a container and send it to Mike at Florida so eight pairs of skilfull hands would take care of it a Boot Camp. I also remembered one of his phrases, I'm always remembering his catchy phrases, "the only valid test is in a black car", so I decided I would test my Menzerna 3 in 1 that arrived few days ago, as an AIO due to the time restraints, and try the new "Tato Technique" that a learned couple days ago with my sponsor/mentor/AGO human branch in Brazil and really good friend Rafael "Tato" Senzi.
Would the M3in1 be able to correct this mess, and with such a poor polisher operator?
Before Shots
The Tato AIO Technique
Originally developed for Menzerna 4000 or 4500, it consists in using a 3401 with hybrid pads, white and black mostly (but even orange can fit in depending on the car paint hardness). Really slow passes, 5 passes with strong pressure, but instead of wiping out the product in the panel, YOU LEAVE IT THERE, clean the pad (in my case I only use compressed air), put four drops and start to work again over the remaining product. You do three more passes with pressure, and the last two no pressure at all. Amazing! Man, I was eager to try the 3 in 1 and the new Tato Technique. More details with the man himself.
The Weapons of Choice
Flex 3401
Three white hybrid pads
Menzerna 3 in 1
LAE 36, a Brazilian Chemical Stripper (if there is such a word)
IPA 15%
Back up
Menzerna 2500, 3000 and 4000
MF finishing pads, cheap Chinese pads
Orange and black hybrid pads
Rupes 21 and Rupes mf finishing pads
The car
Black Fiat Punto 2010, with 100k kms
Paint medium to soft
Heavily neglected, swirled, and full of holograms and buffer trails
Nasty touch ups
Poor repaint job in the two right doors, with early signs of clearcoat failure
Poor clearcoat spray procedure in the repainting job, apparently cheap clearcoat brand and lousy professional work
Very thin Clearcoat all over, thanks to the previous detailer and to FIAT (do they make thin Clearcoat these days)
Lots and lots of stone chips, specially in the hood
Bird droppings marks
Corners with the typical marks of rotary misuse
RIDS
Initial Impressions
I started without doing spot test, I just went half of the hood with my 3401 white hybrid and the Tato Technique.
I started to work the 3 in 1 and thought "wow, I can work this product forever", the 3 in 1 can be worked what seems to be indefinitely, what a product, it catched my attention right away. Thin and a bit oily, I did the Tato technique, removed the product, which is a bit hard to remove, leaving a thin film, so I had to use LAE and IPA to do a complete removal.
The M3in1 cut like a charm, and left a glossy finishing. Very glossy for an AIO. It was ready, I couldn't believe it! It wasn't a work to be exhibited a SEMA, or to be really proud of, RIDSless, but it was a huge improvement if you compare to the original condition. Finally I used an AIO that is a real AIO. I made the other half of the hood, and then I did another four passes in the entire hood, to level it up.
The funny about this car is that the hood wasn't as bad as the doors, usually the hood is worse than the doors, but looking closer with a magnifying lens I saw like really tiny dots, tiny depressions, an indication that the clearcoat is thin and shallow and the paint is starting to show up. I felt really glad I didn't use a harsher, more abrasive product and procedure in this car, or this 'car bomb' would blow in my hands.
The Tato Technique in action
The result
The right side
With the time running out, I went to doors that had been repainted. Tato technique, but this time I pushed the envelope a bit, and did six passes strong pressure, then cleaned the pad, four drops and did more two strong, two medium and two with no pressure. IPA and LAE, to see the real result and to completely remove the film, and done.
The repainted part was hazier than the rest, so just to check if it was a product problem, a lack of cut, I grabbed my rupes with mf and Menz 2500 and did few passes at the troubled spot. No visible improvement. I was lucky that the owner went to the shop to check what was going on, I showed him the troubled spot and said that I would leave it this way, since I don't know if behind this hazed clearcoat, if I remove it, I will hit the repainted paint itself. He agreed and I went on. Menzerna 3 in 1 passed the test so far.
The LC Hybrid taking its toll
Lousy Repaint job and poorly done Clearcoat spray
A lousy touch up
The left side
It was worse than the the right, so Tato Technique again, but this time I pushed even further, I made like fourteen passes and used a small variant, left the product on the panel TWICE, but the third series of pass I used a fresh pad. Done! To tell you the truth, the back left door I lost account of passes, since It was really hot, I was dripping sweat and I was thinking about some problems that I felt like a polishing zombie for few minutes, dettached from reality for a while.
Roof, trunk and bumpers
The roof I did it with the usual wipe-off-after-you-polish technique, and it came good. But I was really impressed with my buddy's procedure, and the way 'it married' to the 3in1. Since it wasn't so bad, I left this way. Time was running short, let's keep on moving.
Trunk and bumpers I did as the hood, no additional info.
Final results, unfortunately on a cloudy day
These pictures are without the sealant
Finally I used Menzerna Power Lock sealant, and delivered to the customer on time, who was happy with the results and paid me in cash.
Far from perfect, but quite an improvement from the original condition
A small Cell Phone movie I made:
Before
http://youtu.be/QLG4h1bmu-Y
After
http://youtu.be/WCdfHKlYc_4
Final conclusions
The Menzerna 3 in 1 is the best AIO I've laid my hands on. A mature, extremely well developed product. A killer, especially on a Flex with hybrids. Long working time. Economical. Glossy, really glossy. IMHO, bullseye, I will be using it and buying it again for sure! Oh, I already did it, since I feel I will be using a lot, especially with the cheap/one pass clients.
Of course it can't be compared to the traditional two passes polishing style, like FG400 and SF4000, and two type of foam densities, but it gets pretty close.
And conditions on harder paints and other DAs and pad systems, yet to be determined (I'm planning trying with Rupes with Rupes MF, we shall see).
The only cons I see is a bit hard removal, but I believe that it is a collateral effect of long working time, and the Tato Technique, since it will diminish the already thin abrasives, therefore the spreading and the adherence to the paint is more intense.
And maybe a bit, a very tiny bit, of needing more cut. But who am I to tell Menzerna what to do? I bow and kneel to Menzerna.
It looks like that the 3in1 is a PP Ultra with some FG400, and the PP Ultra is a Menzerna SW with SF4000.
I really hope you guys enjoyed reading, and pardon for typos or possible english mistakes. Sorry for the picture quality, cell phone low light quality, I promise I will have a dedicated camera for the next one. I wrote it as I watched the Superbowl game on TV, I don't know much about American football, but I can tell you this: what a game, eh? RPM
PS: I already used the 3in1 in another car, a black Ford Ecosport 2010 severely contaminated with white paint spray, cooked for seven months so it adhered strongly to the paint, and thanks to Mike's help I used the clay pad in a PC. It got really really hazed after that, though very smooth, and I used Flex 3401 with orange this time, since the white wasn't cutting enough, and I also hit the 5 speed, Tato Technique, and voilá, AIO again! Sorry, no pics, the customer picked up the car at 9PM.
I was afraid of publishing this review. First, it will be judged by the best detailers in the world. Second, I always follow my old man's many advices, and one of his advices is 'if you don't have anything good to say, shut up and listen'; but I think I have something interesting to say this time. Third, I keep seeing nice reviews about Vettes, Porsches, BMWs, and my review is about a humble Fiat Punto. Fourth, I also see nice environment in the pictures, like grassy sidewalks and nice neighboorhoods, but my surroundings are ugly, since I work in an old part of town, with sidewalks covered with weeds, cigarette butts, dog poos, and there are a lot of bums in the streets and an occasional crackhead asking for money, which always scares 'tha hell outta me'. But the rent is cheap, 400USD for around 2500 sq. ft., with 127V, 230V and 380V availability. It has been a mechanic shop since 1940's, and I had to replace wires, tiles, paint the walls, floor etc. I also have to seal the doors every night because of roaches, but I'm not afraid of roaches, I'm afraid of the yellow scorpions that come after the roaches, I already found two little bastids here. Not to mention the rats. But here I am, detailing in a 400 thousand city in Brazil, in a poor, humble, old neighborhood.
Big Menzerna Fan
First of all, I'm a big Menzerna fan. As you can see below, this is my Menzerna line up.
The Menzerna PL is missing from this picture
I always try and buy other products and brands as well, and try to keep an open mind, like Meg's 83/101/205, Sonax Abrasive and Nano, Carpro Fixer and Reflect, and Optimum (I haven't tried them yet), and keep wondering if I should try HD polish.
But I keep returning to Menzerna. I say to myself, "Nah, too dusty", "nah, to much filler on it", "nah, unimpressive", "nah, too watery" and so on.
Therefore, when big Menzerna launched the 3 in 1 and the 300, my mouth was watering, I was frantic, I looked like my daughter looking at the Apple site the specs about the IPhone 6 (she has the 4S). So, I bought two liters of 300 and one of 3 in 1. The 300 I already used in a silver Santa Fe, I can give details about it later, and the 3 in 1 I received five days ago. I needed a car to test it!
The Customer
A customer, a lovely couple in the late twenties, came up in my shop with a very swirled, full of holograms and buffer trails black Fiat Punto 2010. I looked at it and said 'Holy Cow', and the customer said it was a work of a detailer done a year ago. The customer also followed the detailer progress in his car, since he is also a car buff, and he told me that the detailer had cut with a foam, and polished with a double sided wool in a rotary. Then he applied some Teflon wax I wouldn't dare to ask the name of it.
I told him that the detailer should be polishing stones in a penitentiary, and we laughed about it, but I regretted as soon as I said, since the detailer is just a guy trying to make a living with a lack of knowledge and proper technique.
The customer said he could bring the car on Friday 9AM, and get the car back at 4PM Saturday, since it is the only car he had and he wanted to use to go somewhere at 5PM. We started to discuss about the price, and he started to bargain and said he is hard working guy etc, which reminded me the Queen song 'he's just a poor guy from a poor family, ...".
But then the customer told me that he "heard that I'm good at fixing black cars", which made me feel flattered, and he hit a sweet spot in my heart. I said OK, I will polish it, but I won't touch the interior, wheels, engine bay nor vacuum clean it, since it is a huge fix and the time is short, and I work alone, and the money is not quite right. He agreed, and left the car this Friday.
After washing and claying, I thought about putting the car in a container and send it to Mike at Florida so eight pairs of skilfull hands would take care of it a Boot Camp. I also remembered one of his phrases, I'm always remembering his catchy phrases, "the only valid test is in a black car", so I decided I would test my Menzerna 3 in 1 that arrived few days ago, as an AIO due to the time restraints, and try the new "Tato Technique" that a learned couple days ago with my sponsor/mentor/AGO human branch in Brazil and really good friend Rafael "Tato" Senzi.
Would the M3in1 be able to correct this mess, and with such a poor polisher operator?
Before Shots
The Tato AIO Technique
Originally developed for Menzerna 4000 or 4500, it consists in using a 3401 with hybrid pads, white and black mostly (but even orange can fit in depending on the car paint hardness). Really slow passes, 5 passes with strong pressure, but instead of wiping out the product in the panel, YOU LEAVE IT THERE, clean the pad (in my case I only use compressed air), put four drops and start to work again over the remaining product. You do three more passes with pressure, and the last two no pressure at all. Amazing! Man, I was eager to try the 3 in 1 and the new Tato Technique. More details with the man himself.
The Weapons of Choice
Flex 3401
Three white hybrid pads
Menzerna 3 in 1
LAE 36, a Brazilian Chemical Stripper (if there is such a word)
IPA 15%
Back up
Menzerna 2500, 3000 and 4000
MF finishing pads, cheap Chinese pads
Orange and black hybrid pads
Rupes 21 and Rupes mf finishing pads
The car
Black Fiat Punto 2010, with 100k kms
Paint medium to soft
Heavily neglected, swirled, and full of holograms and buffer trails
Nasty touch ups
Poor repaint job in the two right doors, with early signs of clearcoat failure
Poor clearcoat spray procedure in the repainting job, apparently cheap clearcoat brand and lousy professional work
Very thin Clearcoat all over, thanks to the previous detailer and to FIAT (do they make thin Clearcoat these days)
Lots and lots of stone chips, specially in the hood
Bird droppings marks
Corners with the typical marks of rotary misuse
RIDS
Initial Impressions
I started without doing spot test, I just went half of the hood with my 3401 white hybrid and the Tato Technique.
I started to work the 3 in 1 and thought "wow, I can work this product forever", the 3 in 1 can be worked what seems to be indefinitely, what a product, it catched my attention right away. Thin and a bit oily, I did the Tato technique, removed the product, which is a bit hard to remove, leaving a thin film, so I had to use LAE and IPA to do a complete removal.
The M3in1 cut like a charm, and left a glossy finishing. Very glossy for an AIO. It was ready, I couldn't believe it! It wasn't a work to be exhibited a SEMA, or to be really proud of, RIDSless, but it was a huge improvement if you compare to the original condition. Finally I used an AIO that is a real AIO. I made the other half of the hood, and then I did another four passes in the entire hood, to level it up.
The funny about this car is that the hood wasn't as bad as the doors, usually the hood is worse than the doors, but looking closer with a magnifying lens I saw like really tiny dots, tiny depressions, an indication that the clearcoat is thin and shallow and the paint is starting to show up. I felt really glad I didn't use a harsher, more abrasive product and procedure in this car, or this 'car bomb' would blow in my hands.
The Tato Technique in action
The result
The right side
With the time running out, I went to doors that had been repainted. Tato technique, but this time I pushed the envelope a bit, and did six passes strong pressure, then cleaned the pad, four drops and did more two strong, two medium and two with no pressure. IPA and LAE, to see the real result and to completely remove the film, and done.
The repainted part was hazier than the rest, so just to check if it was a product problem, a lack of cut, I grabbed my rupes with mf and Menz 2500 and did few passes at the troubled spot. No visible improvement. I was lucky that the owner went to the shop to check what was going on, I showed him the troubled spot and said that I would leave it this way, since I don't know if behind this hazed clearcoat, if I remove it, I will hit the repainted paint itself. He agreed and I went on. Menzerna 3 in 1 passed the test so far.
The LC Hybrid taking its toll
Lousy Repaint job and poorly done Clearcoat spray
A lousy touch up
The left side
It was worse than the the right, so Tato Technique again, but this time I pushed even further, I made like fourteen passes and used a small variant, left the product on the panel TWICE, but the third series of pass I used a fresh pad. Done! To tell you the truth, the back left door I lost account of passes, since It was really hot, I was dripping sweat and I was thinking about some problems that I felt like a polishing zombie for few minutes, dettached from reality for a while.
Roof, trunk and bumpers
The roof I did it with the usual wipe-off-after-you-polish technique, and it came good. But I was really impressed with my buddy's procedure, and the way 'it married' to the 3in1. Since it wasn't so bad, I left this way. Time was running short, let's keep on moving.
Trunk and bumpers I did as the hood, no additional info.
Final results, unfortunately on a cloudy day
These pictures are without the sealant
Finally I used Menzerna Power Lock sealant, and delivered to the customer on time, who was happy with the results and paid me in cash.
Far from perfect, but quite an improvement from the original condition
A small Cell Phone movie I made:
Before
http://youtu.be/QLG4h1bmu-Y
After
http://youtu.be/WCdfHKlYc_4
Final conclusions
The Menzerna 3 in 1 is the best AIO I've laid my hands on. A mature, extremely well developed product. A killer, especially on a Flex with hybrids. Long working time. Economical. Glossy, really glossy. IMHO, bullseye, I will be using it and buying it again for sure! Oh, I already did it, since I feel I will be using a lot, especially with the cheap/one pass clients.
Of course it can't be compared to the traditional two passes polishing style, like FG400 and SF4000, and two type of foam densities, but it gets pretty close.
And conditions on harder paints and other DAs and pad systems, yet to be determined (I'm planning trying with Rupes with Rupes MF, we shall see).
The only cons I see is a bit hard removal, but I believe that it is a collateral effect of long working time, and the Tato Technique, since it will diminish the already thin abrasives, therefore the spreading and the adherence to the paint is more intense.
And maybe a bit, a very tiny bit, of needing more cut. But who am I to tell Menzerna what to do? I bow and kneel to Menzerna.
It looks like that the 3in1 is a PP Ultra with some FG400, and the PP Ultra is a Menzerna SW with SF4000.
I really hope you guys enjoyed reading, and pardon for typos or possible english mistakes. Sorry for the picture quality, cell phone low light quality, I promise I will have a dedicated camera for the next one. I wrote it as I watched the Superbowl game on TV, I don't know much about American football, but I can tell you this: what a game, eh? RPM
PS: I already used the 3in1 in another car, a black Ford Ecosport 2010 severely contaminated with white paint spray, cooked for seven months so it adhered strongly to the paint, and thanks to Mike's help I used the clay pad in a PC. It got really really hazed after that, though very smooth, and I used Flex 3401 with orange this time, since the white wasn't cutting enough, and I also hit the 5 speed, Tato Technique, and voilá, AIO again! Sorry, no pics, the customer picked up the car at 9PM.
