Tips to acheive a flawless finish with M205 and a DA polisher

Another pleasing fact, and quality about Meg's #205.

It is a superb hand polish. Even easier to work with than #7, and the results are defintely eye popping.

I know we guys like hauling out the ole machines, and going at it, but as we all know, there's many areas a machine cannot address.
 
With PO85d I work it for about 1 minute, blow the pad out, reduce speed to 3-4, then work an additional 30 seconds or so. I don't know specifically but I will time myself and report back. There are so many factors involved, such as product amount applied, how saturated the pad is, and working section, but I would estimate that I work some like PO85rd at least 3 times longer.
Do you maintain firm pressure, even on the last 30 seconds with diminishing abrasives?
 
Thanks for the bump! I haven't read this one yet.

Yesterday I detailed my mother in laws 02 Accord. M 205 was an obvious choice for polish since I had very little time with the car.(like always) 2 passes with an LC Flat White pad on a PC DA produced plenty of gloss and enough correction for a daily driver with 200,000 miles and CC failure.
 
(thread bump)
Since Meguiar`s M205 is fully broken down and abraded paint will reduce the quality of finish, you will generally get best results from using a short work time. Polish until the desired result is achieved then stop, generally 20-30 seconds per section.

I assume the "20-30 seconds per section" means per section PASS - correct? I.e, 20-30 seconds to pass the polisher once over the section in overlapping passes. Doing the math for a 2` x 2` section using a 6" pad, this would equate to a hand velocity of approximately 6" per second, which seems VERY fast to move the polisher.
 
Greg2- Noting that I don`t work 2` x 2` areas, nor do I like M205 for that matter....Maybe his "solely for finishing" factors in there, I gather he wasn`t talking about doing correction.

But then I don`t get his "since M205 is fully broken-down..." either, since it`s a nondiminishing-abrasive product that merely dries out.

Eh, what do I know...I`ll be interested to see the Official Response.
 
Thanks Accumulator. I just assumed the "fully broken down" was another way of saying that it comes out of the bottle as "broken down" as it`s ever going to get. :)
FYI, I`m a raw beginner, and have tried Menzerna SF-3500 on a 2017 black Holden Caprice. (in Australia). It worked well (met my expectations, anyway) however the residue was like glue - a hell of a lot of work to wipe it off. Considering trying M205 just as an experiment, but by no means giving up on the Menzerna yet, and am talking to both Menzerna and my supplier.
 
Thanks Accumulator. I just assumed the "fully broken down" was another way of saying that it comes out of the bottle as "broken down" as it`s ever going to get. :)

IMO that`s a good way to look at it, and is why I generally prefer nondiminishing abrasives.

FYI, I`m a raw beginner, and have tried Menzerna SF-3500 on a 2017 black Holden Caprice. (in Australia). It worked well (met my expectations, anyway) however the residue was like glue - a hell of a lot of work to wipe it off. Considering trying M205 just as an experiment, but by no means giving up on the Menzerna yet, and am talking to both Menzerna and my supplier.

OOOH, cool car. Heh heh, your experience there must be why some call it "GLUEzerna".

My view of the worktime for M105/M205 is that "shorter is better". I prime the pad pretty liberally (as per the Kevin Brown Method) and quit before that really short worktime causes it to flash/dry. While that approach generally suits me just fine, it drives a lot of people nuts. Heh heh, there are other things about M205 that drive *me* nuts, but the worktime isn`t one of `em. But that`s just me....You`re used to Menzerna, and something I don`t like about that one is how it needs/is worked a whole lot longer.
 
OOOH, cool car.

It is indeed an awesome car, but sadly, about to go out of production. I`m a chauffeur so I practically live in it. ;^)

Heh heh, your experience there must be why some call it "GLUEzerna".

Interesting - I wasn`t aware of that. Mind you, the most recent reference to "gluezerna" is WAY back in 2005. However, I have seen one or two other reports of users with the same problem as me, with SF-3500/4000. (but there are others who say it is very easy to remove. I notice that Darren (man I love that guy) over on his Auto Fetish YT channel said that SF-4000 is very user friendly, and he recommends it for beginners!)

You`re used to Menzerna


I`m not "used" to anything yet - I`m just starting out, as I mentioned. ;^)
 
Greg2- Ah, Pro Driver, bet you know that car well. Yeah, they`re killing off all the cars like that :(

Heh heh, if the last "Gluezerna" reference you found was from 2005 my almost-old-guy memory isn`t that bad after all :D

I myself don`t fine Menzerna stuff user-friendly, not at all. While it`s a subjective personal preference issue, that matters when I`m the subject ;) Never know what somebody else will like though, and it`s not like any of the major product manufacturers are selling [crap] these days. My best painter loves Menzerna...but then he had a serious "!oops!" on my Jag with it because of that "gotta break it down"-work time, and the damage is forever :( Heh heh, that little incident sure didn`t improve my opinion of the stuff!

For something that *I* find incredibly easy/user-friendly, you might look into the 3D Polish (think that`s it, I can`t seem to keep their "3D" and "HD" lines straight).
 
Thanks Accumulator. I just assumed the "fully broken down" was another way of saying that it comes out of the bottle as "broken down" as it`s ever going to get. :)
FYI, I`m a raw beginner, and have tried Menzerna SF-3500 on a 2017 black Holden Caprice. (in Australia). It worked well (met my expectations, anyway) however the residue was like glue - a hell of a lot of work to wipe it off. Considering trying M205 just as an experiment, but by no means giving up on the Menzerna yet, and am talking to both Menzerna and my supplier.

That`s good to know. Haven`t had that experience yet myself.

I use menzerna sf4000 when m205 starts acting finicky with wipe off. Usually on soft paint.

I had a hard time with sf4000 getting the right amount of polish on the pad. I often had too much, but felt I needed more. However, that created a ton of dust. It was really frustrating considering the great results I`ve seen people get with it.

Once I began with four dots, and reloaded with one or two, everything worked itself off. Wipe off was easier, the buffing experience smoother, better finishing and gloss. The pads I use with Menzerna are the tangerine Lake Country Hydrotech.

It`s now one of my favorite finishing polishes.
 
(small thread bump)
Finally tried the HD Speed - it is indeed much easier to remove than the SF3500. I just gently buffed it away without using any residue remover to assist, which I guess is important because a residue remover would presumably remove the waxes that are present in the HD Speed, defeating the purpose. It didn`t come straight off like it appears to in some YT videos, but I have no complaints - I gently buffed back & forth until it was all gone. The particular job at hand on this first go with this polish was to remove some light swirl marks that I think the body shop left on the panel after painting it, and it worked wonderfully. A reminder that I`m a limo driver doing high miles, and I`m not after perfection, so my standards are probably quite a bit lower than many here. Note that I`m aware that this product will potentially do some amount of hiding rather than full removal, however I`m confident that most of the improvement I`m witnessing is real, because I tried doing three quick passes first, and I could still see some swirls. After doing a few more passes, the swirls were gone completely, at least to my untrained eyes. If it were mainly hiding the swirls, even just one pass would have worked. That`s my thinking, anyway. :)

So, I`ll see how I go long term. I plan to buff lightly and frequently, to remove wash marring only. I will not be attempting to remove RIDs - I`ll leave that to the pros, if/when required.

Just btw, I`m using a very cheap random orbital sander with a 5mm throw, with a soft foam pad that I bought a very long time ago - not in any way state of the art stuff. It`s surprisingly easy to get good results.
 
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