Which one would you use???

[row011]

Hey all

Was originally thinking of buying Lakecountry pads to repair my old cars paint.

Now im tossing up between Surbuf and the Meguiars Microfiber cutting pads.

Has anyone tried both and would be able to shed some light on which one I should buy?

Basically I will be attempting to get the paint on my old red car looking fine before I sell it, and I am planning to use my Festool FEQ RO 150 and combine this with some good quality polish (open to suggestions on what to buy).

Any comments appreciated.

 

[James K]

What kind of car? Single stage paint or BC/CC? Has it been repainted before? What condition is the paint in?

Personally I really like the Megs setup. It is very user friendly and has a quick learning curve. You can get very nice results from it.

 

[row011]

Thanks for your reply James

The car is about 10 years old and I would say the clear coat is still there, although the bonnet doesnt have a clear coat as it was re-sprayed by a local panel beater. The car is a nissan pulsar sss

Condition of paint: Light to Medium scratches and swirls throughout. Besides this the paint itself prob not too bad in condition.

 

[LegacyGT]

the MF system is designed for modern OEM clear coat paint, I would suggest you look at surbuf and foam pads.

 

[row011]

the MF system is designed for modern OEM clear coat paint, I would suggest you look at surbuf and foam pads.

Someone recenetly suggested I use Surbuf over the foam, so it sounds like a pair of Surbuf 6.5 inch is the way to go? Is there a good light polish that will take care of the scratches and not leave swirl marks? A friend said I should try zaino pc.. dont know what to try is there a product that acts like the pc? I dont know if Im allowed to say zaino here? Sorry if not but I dont know what to choose or buy as there are so many products.

thanks again.

 

[LegacyGT]

Someone recenetly suggested I use Surbuf over the foam, so it sounds like a pair of Surbuf 6.5 inch is the way to go? Is there a good light polish that will take care of the scratches and not leave swirl marks? A friend said I should try zaino pc.. dont know what to try is there a product that acts like the pc? I dont know if Im allowed to say zaino here? Sorry if not but I dont know what to choose or buy as there are so many products.

thanks again.

Post some pictures of what you are trying to correct, and you will get a lot of responses.

 

[weavers]

I haven't tried surbuff with a polish. always a compound, my understanding is that its more aggressive than lc orange pad and even purple wool.

I use Surbuff pads and lake country hydro pads, and CCS pads with megs ultimate compound and m205. I get great results. To me its important to have a simple system. I don't like that CCS has a dozen different pads, I seem to have six different colours and they rarely get used. I really like my system and it works well for me. I would love to try the megs MF system, but just won't buy it because of the cost and I already have a good buffing system.

If I were starting all over again with buying pads, it would be a coin flip between surbuff/hydro and megs MF system.

 

[reality33]

n the mindset of using the least aggressive method first, I would go with the foam pads first and see what your results are. If you need the more aggressive method then try the surbuff pads.

Japanese cars tend to have softer paint, So I would be trying a white pad first with maybe some Menzerna final polish and see how that goes.

 

[MCA]

Thanks for your reply James

The car is about 10 years old and I would say the clear coat is still there, although the bonnet doesnt have a clear coat as it was re-sprayed by a local panel beater. The car is a nissan pulsar sss

Condition of paint: Light to Medium scratches and swirls throughout. Besides this the paint itself prob not too bad in condition.

This part will be key. IMO, 10 years old is not old at all but you do have to be careful as existing clear coat might be thin in some areas (especially panel edges). Also, if the bonnet was re-sprayed without clear coat then you will need more pads than normal as there will be paint transfer to the pads. I have never done a car that was re-sprayed without a CC but I do not believe you want to use that pad on several panels.

 

[row011]

Hey all thanks so much for your replies.

Ill double check and see if there is a CC on that bonnet. Good point about it needing more pads as the paint will stick onto the pads and wear them out faster.

To: reality33 that Menzerna final polish how would this compare with the Z-PC?

To all: Basically since I will be most likely buying this from the autogeek website or other american sources, I dont want to have to need something else when I start as the postage costs and time to wait will not be worth it.

I will post some pictures of the damage of the paint and hopefully we can narrow down a product

 

[Old Tiger]

What kind of car? Single stage paint or BC/CC? Has it been repainted before? What condition is the paint in?

Personally I really like the Megs setup. It is very user friendly and has a quick learning curve. You can get very nice results from it.

100% agree! Pads are more durable & machine washable too!

 

[Flannigan]

Pics would help us try and figure out what the best approach would be. However lots of valid points have been brought up already. If the clear coat is thin you don't want to be attacking it with Surbuf pads. Regardless of how "safe" a PC is, you can still burn through thin clearcoat with ease. Also, you might not really need the Surbuf pads. They are as aggressive as you can get on a PC, so they really aren't the best place to start. And a final note on the surbufs, you really shouldn't be doing a one step or finishing with them. I know people do, but IME they ALWAYS leave some sort of micromarring, whether it be faint swirls or little hash marks in the paint. IMO you should ALWAYS follow a surbuf pad with a softer foam pad and a finishing polish.

All that being said depending on the state of the clear coat and how hard it is, you might be able to get great results using just foam pads. I would say to get a couple LC orange pads and a couple LC white pads. The orange pads coupled with a compound (M105, Meguiars Ultimate Compound, OPT Compound) should be able to remove the bulk of your defects without taking off too much clearcoat. Then you can follow that up with the white pads coupled with a refining polish (M205, Menzerna 106fa). This should leave you with a pretty much defect free finish that has a lot of gloss and shine.

Now, as far as the MF system goes, its MAJOR strength IMO is the fact that it's a kit and it's pretty much foolproof. It takes all the guess work out of what product to use with what pad. Now this does limit it in some ways, but it also is what makes it so easy to use. If your paint is OEM (very important) I don't see a reason not to give the MF system a try. The cutting pads aren't as aggressive as the Surbuf pads, so you shouldn't have to worry as much about thin clear. Also they GENERALLY finish down better than the Surbuf pads. I've used them on some very soft paint and they left quite a bit of haze, but on most cars I've used them on they leave a very nice finish. then you can just follow it up with the finishing pad and polish and you're good to go.

Hope that helps.

 

[silverfox]

Regarding my own car...I'll never buy a foam pad again after using the new Megs MF pads....but on other types of softer paint, it would be best to have some foam pads as well because on softer paints, even the less aggressive Megs MF finishing disk...could leave hazing.

There is no single answer for this.

 

[James K]

I think the issue with Meguiars saying not to use the MF system on non OEM paint is more of a cover their butt issue, then a performance issue. I have used the MF system on 2 full repaints and 2 with partial repaint, not including my two vehicles which both are partial repaint, without issue. I think it comes down to how well these pads cut and Meguiars not wanting to be held in any way liable if someone burns through their custom paint with the new system.

Just my train of thought though.

 

[row011]

Below some picture I took of the car paint. As you can see some occasional deep scratches and some light to medium swirls all over.

ALSO: The bonnet DOES have a CC, I checked with the Panel Beater

 

[row011]

So Im thinking hit it with the M105 with a Foam pad? And then finish off with the M205 with a Surbuf pad?

 

[john b]

have you done much polishing?

 

[row011]

have you done much polishing?

Never hit it with a orbital polisher, did remove some bore stains on one side with some polish a while ago but, its possible guys who owned it before me attempted to polish it.

 

[row011]

Possibly will the Surbuf Pads used with M105 be aggressive enough? Then finish off with the Foam LC CSS 6.5" pads orange and white? With the M205? I am using my Festool FEQ RO 150

 

[Flannigan]

I think you have that backwards. You would want to start compounding with the M105 and Surbuf pad, and then refine the finish with M205 on a foam pad.