Thank you Mike for the welcome.
You can see TW's exact words here in the comments section on THEIR channel:
YouTube
They state "compound"
Wow. That's really aggressive. I've had to remove our BLACKFIRE Pro Ceramic Coating but was able to remove it using only a polish and it was on the paint like super glue. Put it this way, I could not rub it off with itself or a solvent. I had to abrade it off but still - only used a fine cut polish.
Over the years, my training and experience in the online forum world, (sometimes a tick nasty), I've honed my writing skills and ALWAYS pick and choose each and every word I use publicly specifically and purposefully.
Maybe they don't have a Mike Phillips writing their video scripts or any wording for any other social media touch points? I've found my writing skills to be a real asset and strength for Autogeek (and previously Meguiar's) when compared to any peer or competitor.
There is value to real-world experience, even when it comes to writing accurate information.
Turtle Wax's target audience would seem to be the consumer as that is who buys most of their products. This is how they get throughput and the large sales. They talk about "easy" which I feel does not align with how you address detailers (they do things that require more skill).
I simply keep things real. My background is detailing since before this thing called the Internet and to this day I continue to detail cars. As simple as it may seem, actually doing the thing I "talk" or in this case, "type" about, keeps my writhing and speaking fresh and above all accurate.
I see a lot "dialog" in various communications including newsletters where the words used by the writers are simply not accurate and my guess is a lot of what is said and typed comes from people that don't actually have a background in detailing and probably don't even really detail entire cars. There's something to be said and value for being the real-deal.
IMHO the process you described below may be simple for any detailer reading it, but above the scope of what a consumer (even on the enthusiast level like me) understands are is comfortable doing. And what about doing everything you stated on PPF? TW states to put this product on everything: glass, plastic, PPF. Many cars have partial or full PPF these days. Even they say not do polish on PPF film in those comments.
I would consider myself as an enthusiast level consumer. TW's ideal candidate for this product. A consumer like me has really dumb questions, like "How do I even know if this is polished off enough that its removed so I don't go further than I need to?" With COATINGS, reviewers and marketing typical speak of the importance of paint prep, decontaminating, etc. I find that lacking so far with the reviews and videos of this product. The product seems a bit more advanced than that, and more along the lines of something like CQartz.
And back to being a word guy, when you say "you" - you're referring to Turtle Wax, not me specifically? I have not described how to do anything in this thread.
I would settle with "it can be removed without a polisher with our polish by hand" This would seem to align with the ease of use for consumers more.
I completely agree.
"WE" in the online detailing world may have "polishers" but a large company should not "assume" Joe Consumer also owns a polisher or polishers.
And the ability to remove a consumer grade product using a quality polish by hand would be understandable - if said product had to be removed. If it MUST be remove by machine an also by machine using a true COMPOUND - this is a jump from enthusiast to professional in my opinion.
3 reasons why,
1: It should not be assumed everyone owns a quality polisher. By quality polisher, a Porter Cable is the minimum. Some type of old school orbital for $35.00 at Walmart doesn't qualify. A person would also have to have the right pads for this tool or any tools that works as good or better than it. (The PC is pretty much an entry level free spinning random orbital polisher. It's a great tool, but still entry level).
2: Anyone that reads my articles or replies to this forum, or has taken a class that I have taught - knows a talk a LOT about
abrasive technology. And by this I mean - there's GREAT abrasive technology and CRAP for abrasive technology. There is no in-between. Things with abrasive technology, that would include compounds polishes and cleaner/waxes or AIOs, they either work or they don't. By this I mean, they can either remove a defect without leaving their own defect or they can remove defects but leave behind their own defects in the place of the original defects. Abrasive technology has come a long way but there's still junk on the market. To assume the average consumer knows this stuff or owns products that use great abrasive technology is back to
assuming.
3: From my article -
Clearcoats are thin by Mike Phillips - both consumers and professionals alike should always try to use the least aggressive option when working on factory car paint for ANTYING because it's so thin to start with.
My guess is - whoever chose the word compound simply meant polish or a "light" abrading product, not a hardcore body shop compound. Especially for a spray-on product.
The good news is, if this new Turtle Wax product really requires a true compound to remove it completely that's a testimony to how tough it is and how strong of a bond it creates to your car's paint.
My guess is - it can be removed simply by using a fine cut polish, by hand or when using a simple free spinning, random orbital polisher.
I have not used it or any of the new products yet. I think we have them in the warehouse, but I've been a tick busy shooting B-roll video for all the segments we shot at My Classic Car last week and even this morning and again tomorrow.
Always busy...
Besides, that, I'm not a "YouTube Influencer" so I was not invited to the grand reveal of these products. I think I was filming with Dennis Gage at the time anyway. Not a bad gig if you can get it. Maybe some day I'll move up the ranks to become an influencer? To date I'm just a blue collar working class dog with more hard-core accurate how-to information shared publicly longer than anyone else in this industry that's still breathing.
I would also settle for
"Don't worry about this so much. After 8 months just apply another product on top of this after an IPA wipe down. You would probably only get an extra week or two of endurance if you applied to bare paint. Other products will bond to other products and people worry too much about this"
I agree with the above and it's probably accurate. I'm 100% confident the chemist behind these new products know what they are doing and created formulas for Joe and Joanne Consumer. We in the online word tend to take things very literal as we should but that doesn't mean these product not only work as advertised but are also EASY to use.
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