Recommend Paint Correction / Compound Products?

NastyGT500

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That would mostly depend upon the 'type' of paint you are dealing with as well as how 'thick' it is. 'Burn through' is dependent upon some of the factors above as well as the type of machine, amount of downward pressure, pad and product, etc you use.

M105 is affectionately known as rocks in a bottle/sand in a bottle, and is a decently aggressive compound. Not something that I would use as a one and done. It would need to finished down with a finishing polish.

I am not familiar with either of the other two products you listed.

IMO, you can not go wrong with the offerings from Griot's, Meguiar's, Menzerna, or the other top tier brands.

You may also want to look into an AIO/All In One product that will provide correction, polishing and some protection in one product. Blackfire One Step is excellent. 3D speed, Rupes UNO, etc.

I also recommend that anyone doing any serious paint correction utilize a Paint Thickness Gauge (PTG) so you have an idea as to how much clear/paint you are working with.

Hope this helps and keep us posted!

Scott
 

Norton

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That would mostly depend upon the 'type' of paint you are dealing with as well as how 'thick' it is. 'Burn through' is dependent upon some of the factors above as well as the type of machine, amount of downward pressure, pad and product, etc you use.

M105 is affectionately known as rocks in a bottle/sand in a bottle, and is a decently aggressive compound. Not something that I would use as a one and done. It would need to finished down with a finishing polish.

I am not familiar with either of the other two products you listed.

IMO, you can not go wrong with the offerings from Griot's, Meguiar's, Menzerna, or the other top tier brands.

You may also want to look into an AIO/All In One product that will provide correction, polishing and some protection in one product. Blackfire One Step is excellent. 3D speed, Rupes UNO, etc.

I also recommend that anyone doing any serious paint correction utilize a Paint Thickness Gauge (PTG) so you have an idea as to how much clear/paint you are working with.

Hope this helps and keep us posted!

Scott
I've used on Adam's polish for many years, but am less pleased with recent reformulations. (I miss their old green/orange/white, or even their orange/white, polish lineups.) Any thoughts on their current (blue/white/purple) offerings?
 

NastyGT500

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Hey Nort, I still thing his current offerings are good for a non-professional. Easy to use, and very difficult to mess up with the color coordinated products.
 

sonicx

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@NastyGT500 I am planning on a ceramic coating Job and planning on doing all the steps this next go around with my gt500 (silver), I done some reading but the paint correction stage what to use vs. not use seems to be like pandora box. Luckily silver or maybe my specific car isn’t marrd to bad that I don’t see a lot besides finer swirling. So is it better to start with a light compound and work more agressive?

I’ve only use the meguiars (black bottle) compound on a yellow / Orange disk pad before… I wouldn’t say it helped it did too much if any.
 

Norton

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@NastyGT500 I am planning on a ceramic coating Job and planning on doing all the steps this next go around with my gt500 (silver), I done some reading but the paint correction stage what to use vs. not use seems to be like pandora box. Luckily silver or maybe my specific car isn’t marrd to bad that I don’t see a lot besides finer swirling. So is it better to start with a light compound and work more agressive?

I’ve only use the meguiars (black bottle) compound on a yellow / Orange disk pad before… I wouldn’t say it helped it did too much if any.
I'm sure Scott will chime-in to correct anything about which I misspeak, but I did this on my black GT500 for years prior to ceramic coating everything. In my experience...

You test your pad & polish on an inconspicuous area of the car, to confirm it achieves the correction you want. If it doesn't, you move to more aggressive pad and/or polish, until you get the result you want on your test patch. When satisfied, you use that method on the rest of the car. If that method is "harsher" than a fine polish, you reverse course and re-polish everything with finer pad & polish to achieve the "perfect" high-gloss you want to "lock-in" with ceramic. The key is to use the least aggressive measures possible that yield the result you want.

Here's a picture of mine at about nine years old and 33K miles on the clock...
20210814_100203.jpg
 

96dreamer

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For a one step product I have had good luck with both 3D one and Turtle Wax 1 and done. Using a Harbor Freight long throw random orbital with a 5" backing plate and orange lake country pad worked great for both polishes. Used the 3d one on a red hellcat and the Turtle Wax on my f350 both before ceramic coating. As for as ease of use I think it's a hard setup to beat. The hellcat had some pretty beat up paint from neglect and a buddy and I did the whole thing in a long afternoon so it did not end up 100% perfect but was a 95% improvement. My truck I spent a good amount of time on and for a dd that sits outside it's perfect enough.
 

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NastyGT500

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I like Pinnacle products.

***MOST IMPORTANT: Always start with the least aggressive method first.***

That being: your 'lightest' chemical/product/compound/polish/pad FIRST. Then work up from there. And as Norton stated, do a test spot and see if you are achieving the desired results.
 

5.0Black

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Couple questions for the OP. You stated that you used Megs "black bottle compound with yellow and orange discs." What was the specific Megs product used? For the yellow and orange pads who made them? How often have you used this combination on your GT500? This would help give an idea to the work you have done to your clear as well as what you have already used with less than ideal results in terms of swirl removal.

My concern is that if you already used a compound with medium to medium heavy pads on these swirls without much of a response in terms of correction than the Pinnacle Swirl remover won't change anything. Silver is a light color that hides imperfections pretty well, what may look like light swirls may not actually be all that light (pending your response to the above).
 
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5.0Black

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Thanks for the information!

I am not familiar with SPTA pads and in doing a quick search I didn’t find that much. What is interesting is that Megs UC should be able to tackle light swirls with something like an LC orange pad. With what I am seeing it leads me to believe one/both of the below:

1. Swirls- It could be that your cars lighter color is masking how deep these swirls are. It could be beyond what Megs UC and/or your pads can do.
2. Pads- Looking at SPTA pads, you own their most aggressive foam pad (yellow) as well as a light polish/wax pad (orange). Could be that your pads are used up/losing performance or it could be pad quality. I don’t mean that last bit rudely, if it came off that way I do sincerely apologize.

How is your pad rotation?

I am curious what Scott has to say on this, but I would say you have the ability to already test “less aggressive” methods. If what you have isn’t working then I don’t think Pinnacle’s swirl remover will do much different. I would try a more aggressive product like Jescars correcting compound or Sonax Cutmax. I think your clear should be fine as the most aggressive product you own is UC.



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oldstv

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Great info here. Scott, would you mind offering your opinion on a decent paint thickness gauge, one that works but doesn't bust the bank.
 

sonicx

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Thanks for the information!

I am not familiar with SPTA pads and in doing a quick search I didn’t find that much. What is interesting is that Megs UC should be able to tackle light swirls with something like an LC orange pad. With what I am seeing it leads me to believe one/both of the below:

1. Swirls- It could be that your cars lighter color is masking how deep these swirls are. It could be beyond what Megs UC and/or your pads can do.
2. Pads- Looking at SPTA pads, you own their most aggressive foam pad (yellow) as well as a light polish/wax pad (orange). Could be that your pads are used up/losing performance or it could be pad quality. I don’t mean that last bit rudely, if it came off that way I do sincerely apologize.

How is your pad rotation?

I am curious what Scott has to say on this, but I would say you have the ability to already test “less aggressive” methods. If what you have isn’t working then I don’t think Pinnacle’s swirl remover will do much different. I would try a more aggressive product like Jescars correcting compound or Sonax Cutmax. I think your clear should be fine as the most aggressive product you own is UC.



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@5.0Black No offense take. No apologies needed. Maybe you’re right the vapor silver hiding more or I need something better? Face Palm. I bought on Cyber Monday pinnacle ( Swirl remover & their polish cream) as I thought it’d be a step better without going too aggressive. Mighta jumped that gun and bought “junk” that ain’t going do squat (is that the case?)

The pads I have I’ve only used 1x so I know they’re not worn. I am using HF Bauers 6” DA polisher / sander. Maybe my settings are off? I am too lazy to dig through the garage to get to the Shelby to pull back the cover til springtime.

Besides 1 scratch on the drivers door (it’s not finger nail deep -lighter) I can’t get it out. The rest of the car is pretty good…. If I shine LED across the paint… you’d see the fine swirl marks which I’d say is probably undetected by 90% of the average joe. But I gotta sorta a mild ADD where I can’t leave things alone too.
 

NastyGT500

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oldstv: I started out with an ebay special. Chinese gauge that worked very well...it was darn accurate too. I compared it to a DeFelsko and it was only off a little bit. So I would go that route to be able to add one to your arsenal.

5.0: as you know, there are so many variables! Pad rotation/speed, downward pressure, amount of section passes, pad type/construction/aggressiveness, but most importantly would be product/chemical/polish/compound choice.

Check this link out, some excellent reading and wisdom from Mike Phillips:

 

5.0Black

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@5.0Black No offense take. No apologies needed. Maybe you’re right the vapor silver hiding more or I need something better? Face Palm. I bought on Cyber Monday pinnacle ( Swirl remover & their polish cream) as I thought it’d be a step better without going too aggressive. Mighta jumped that gun and bought “junk” that ain’t going do squat (is that the case?)

The pads I have I’ve only used 1x so I know they’re not worn. I am using HF Bauers 6” DA polisher / sander. Maybe my settings are off? I am too lazy to dig through the garage to get to the Shelby to pull back the cover til springtime.

Besides 1 scratch on the drivers door (it’s not finger nail deep -lighter) I can’t get it out. The rest of the car is pretty good…. If I shine LED across the paint… you’d see the fine swirl marks which I’d say is probably undetected by 90% of the average joe. But I gotta sorta a mild ADD where I can’t leave things alone too.
It is always good to have good products on hand lol. That being said, I would imagine the swirl remover wouldn't do anything more than UC.

I don't blame you, the scratches are still there. There is a line of removal vs living with the mark. I agree with what others have stated on starting least aggressive and working up, but given you have light to medium products and UC doesn't work you could ramp it up product/pad wise. If you have not done so yet, drawing a vertical sharpie line on your backing plate will help you see pad rotation to adjust as needed. No rotation seen, no correction.

Assuming your speed, rotation, pressure and pads are good my next step would be Jescar's Correcting Compound, but Sonax Cutmax could be a good choice as well as its cut can be varied. In addition to this I would snag a couple megs microfiber cutting pads to test with as a just incase. The difference between Jescar's and Sonax is in the cut as well as finish. Jescar's has truly minimal dusting, good removal ability, and finishes well for a compound. Cutmax is what I grab when Jescar's doesn't cut it (pun intended). Both outperform M105 imo, but the choice is yours on if you want more cut or not. Here are some photos from what I took out from my wifes car with these pairings.

I would wait to see what others say before buying anything else, but both are good choices imo. If neither work, something else is at play.

Cutmax
Before:
Untitled by Sean C, on Flickr

After:
Untitled by Sean C, on Flickr

Jescar's
Before:
Untitled by Sean C, on Flickr

After:
Untitled by Sean C, on Flickr
 
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5.0Black

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5.0: as you know, there are so many variables! Pad rotation/speed, downward pressure, amount of section passes, pad type/construction/aggressiveness, but most importantly would be product/chemical/polish/compound choice.

Check this link out, some excellent reading and wisdom from Mike Phillips:

I have read that one actually! I also have some of his books too, good material for those wanting to take the plunge lol.
 

5.0Black

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