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11-16-2011, 02:33 PM | #1 |
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Menzerna Super Intensive Polish/Super Finish
Long story but this may help some others.
After purchasing my Le Mans Blue M3, I'm reminded why I like Silver and White cars so much. I can't believe how soft the BMW clear coat is. If I use a detail spray to wipe a bug off of the hood, I can instantly see marring in the clear coat. I also have a pretty noticeable amount of swirl marks on the trunk that are driving me crazy. I wish I got Space Gray so that all these little imperfections weren't so visible. All of this was fixable and just annoying until I had the worst case scenario for an aspiring detail pro happen. If you aren't from FL or Southern Georgia, you won't understand this, but we have love bugs in May and September/October. Their bug splatter is super acidic and will eat into the paint in as little as a few days, so you have to get them off pretty quickly. They were especially bad this fall. I'm talking having a thousand bugs on your front bumper that have to come off everyday. So I do what I've done for years. When I get home, I get the hose out and spray the bug ridden area down and then wipe the fresh bugs off with one of those perforated yellow mits. Since the car is going to get destroyed the next day and you can't just wipe down the semi-clean, wet BMW because the paint is so crappy, I just pull it in the garage and let it dry. I've done this hundreds of times with my other cars and have had no problem. Well two days later I pull the car out to do a proper wash and I have water spots all over the hood from the water that wasn't wiped off. I thought this was odd. It's never happened to my other cars, and I just chalked it up to the darker paint and figured they wash right off. Well they didn't. I'm talking hundreds of very visible former water beads imbedded in the clear coat. I still figured, no big deal. I'm due for a clay/polish/wax in the next week or two. Fast forward a few weeks, and I clay the hood. The spots don't come out. I then use Griot's Polish 3 that has always done well for me. THE SPOTS ARE STILL THERE, HUNDREDS OF THEM! I go down to Polish 2, still there. I use Polish 1, still there! I then go back up to 2 then finish with 3, and the water spots are still there after 4 1/2 hours of work on just the hood. Griot's polish is super hard to get off the car. I look at my wife and say, "I'm selling the car. I can't live with this." I've detailing for no one other than myself and the occasional friend for three or four years. I've been a big Griot's Garage fan as I've always liked complete sets of things. I've probably spent five or six thousand dollars on all kinds of products and equipment, and my cars have looked great. But this BMW, my first, is taking me to school. I've been slowly veering away from Griot as I continue to read Phil's stuff from Detailer's Domain. I always knew Griot wasn't the end all be all and there is no way one company makes the best product for every application, but I was satisfied and liked the way my Griot shelves looked with all of the matching bottles. So I bought Menzerna Super Intensive Polish also known as P083 or SF1500 and Super Finish also known as PO106FA or SF4000. I also bought Orange, Green, Blue, and Black pads as it was time for me to graduate from using a "one application fits all" pad. Holly crap this stuff is awesome! It took me an hour and a half to clay, polish with Orange Pad and SF1500, finish polish with Blue pad and SF 4000, and wax the enitre hood. SF1500 took off the water spots in one pass. To top it off, the Menzerna Polishes wipe off almost as easy as a detail spray unlike my finger bleeding Griot stuff. I'm now back in love with my car again and can safely say that Richard Griot won't be taking the next five grand of my money. Most likely Detailer's Domain will be. |
11-16-2011, 04:13 PM | #2 |
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Great story.
Griot's products are pretty good as a whole and easy to purchase: they sell a lot of nice little things, have great customer service, and a great return policy. They're a stand-up company that truly back's their products 100%. That being said... Their target market are weekend warriors / old school car guys that are looking to step-up their collection by purchasing one or two items at a time. The people that are truly dedicated and do research to get the right results will find the true professional grade products work much better much quicker. This isn't always as convenient, as Griot's products are at one single location, and all have the same labels, while getting the right professional products might end in you going to multiple online vendors, and ordering from 2-5 different manufacturers. Phil and the good folks over at Detailers Domain have made a reputation of stocking quality products and having great customer service and fast shipping. It's nice to hear of your positive experiences with them, and I'm glad to hear your car is looking outstanding. |
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11-16-2011, 04:30 PM | #3 |
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Menzerna SIP and Super Finish are great products. They allow you to do a lot of paint correction with little work. You'll find a lot of detailers use these products.
But always be careful when polishing as you are removing small amounts of clear coat every time you do it. If you do it too often and/or aren't careful, you'll burn through the clear and permanently damage your paint. |
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11-16-2011, 06:56 PM | #4 | |
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11-16-2011, 06:59 PM | #5 | |
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11-16-2011, 07:01 PM | #6 | |
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11-16-2011, 07:06 PM | #7 | |
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11-16-2011, 09:04 PM | #8 |
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Yeah it's Silverstone, and it's been my guinea pig car. I swear that car doesn't have a swirl mark on it at 109,000 miles. BMW has 4,000 miles on it. Would you use a Boar's Hair brush? I used a brush, and I think that may be the culprit for the marring.
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11-17-2011, 04:01 AM | #9 |
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SIP FTW! I love that stuff!!!
Great story.
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11-20-2011, 02:56 AM | #10 |
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Awesome! I've used that same combo on several cars and it seems to work quite well.
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11-21-2011, 09:51 PM | #12 |
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Yup I am in love with Menzerna! I used to use zaino, then switched to poorbrothers but menzerma is absolutely the best and easiest to finish down and wipe off. Their sealant is also awesome-the acrycli spray on sealant has looked fabulous!
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11-21-2011, 10:02 PM | #13 |
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I really don't like M105. For whatever reason we don't get along and I have a lot of trouble getting it off the paint. Cuts well, but much prefer the Menzerna stuff for ease of cleanup
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11-21-2011, 10:38 PM | #14 |
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105 is a stronger compound and will cut faster, but the work time is limited to around 3 passes in my experience. To combat this I use a detail spray on the pad along with it, and that seems to remedy it most of the time. Keep in mind though, SIP will leave a nicer finish after use than 105 will, but both will most of the time require a finer polish regardless depending on that pad used.
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11-22-2011, 01:43 PM | #15 |
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105 is a much stronger compound than the SIP polish. It works faster, dusts more, removes more defects, and leaves a hazier finish.
SIP is sometimes used to follow up 105 to further refine the finish leaving you with only one step after SIP to go, namely 106. order of operations: depending on clear coat (read vertically) 105.....105 SIP......203 106.....85rd Something like a surfbuf pad and 105 will leave a super jacked up finish, but it clears up relatively easy. YOU HAVE TO # STEP ANY PAINT IF USING SURBUF IMO. Orange and 105, you might be able to get through and have a suitable finish with 203 and a white or hydrotec tangering pad, or even 106 and a black pad on some paints. SIP and 106, thats a killer two step combination though, which reminds me I need to get a new bottle filled with SIP ASAP. |
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