whats better for starters

[fork]

I think I may go with the pb line, thanks for the help budman. Although I think there is a good chance that the pbs stuff is the chemical guys because if you look at their website, there are very similar products that all happen to be the same colors.

[budman3]

Well you can't judge a book by its cover. This debate has gone on for many years and some people really get bent out of shape about it. It doesn't matter what a product looks like, or if it looks like another product, as long as you are satisfied with the results, that is all that matters. I happen to use the SSRs and get great results with them. Are they the same color as other products? Yes, are they the same as the others? No.

And here is where I'm getting my info from ... directly from Steve, the owner of Poorboy's World, who posted this on another detailing forum:

A) there are limited suppliers of raw material in the entire world for car care products..so yes there will be similar products under different names

B) chemists like most of you do not stay at the same job forever, they make stuff and move on ....some take their formulas with them too...big surprise

For me I went the same route as David..I wanted to make my own stuff but most companies only wanted to re-label their stuff...I wanted a say in the final product and wanted to be able to tweek them as i saw fit.
My chemist did work for "the big company" and was very unhappy that his boss's would order cheap ingredients and make his work look shabby. This often led to him having to do the same work many times over to make a product usable. For someone who is inventive and creative it is very dissappointing and frustrating.
Yes he made many of the products that are used in bulk all over the country and under many names.
He decided he could not do it any longer and just by my luck I found him when he was just getting ready to open his own place. We discussed the use of only the very best chemicals and solvents available and that neither one of us would allow cheap ingredients to be substituted at any time in any of our products. "I'd rather not make a product for a while than use a sub-standard ingredient" is what he told me.(Professional Polish was off the market for over 6 months once because of this). We agreed and have had a very good relationship since. Many of the products he knew how to make already, needed revision to some degree. I wanted products that could be used in the SUN and also by almost anyone. The stuff he had couldn't...I was sent numerous samples of products one at a time to test and revise with him (as I'm not a chemist either David, but i did have 20+ years experience using products professionally). As some of you remember we only started with 5 products..it took a long time to get those 5 as I wanted them...
To make a long story short ...yes there will be similarities in products and their looks, but using them will quickly tell you they are not the same. It's no different in colas..all companies have the access to the same nuts , water and carbonation but few of them taste the same....

I don't have a lot of experience with XMT line but from what I've used, they aren't anything horrible and are well liked on this forum. However, if you read on other forums, some products are liked and talked about more than others. It's just the nature of this online world. The only way to truely know if you like a product is to try it out yourself. Hopefully this'll help you out ... and be sure to make your order soon, you'll wonder why you haven't done it sooner .

[blk45]

Originally Posted by budman3

I don't know your source for the CG info but that surely isn't a credible source and is simply false information.

There are a few guys on Topia that constantly post this whenever Steve's products are mentioned. That's probably where he saw it.

[longneck]

i'm in the same boat.want to purchase pc and waxes and or sealent,along with some other things,cant decide on prouducts or best value

[budman3]

Originally Posted by blk45

There are a few guys on Topia that constantly post this whenever Steve's products are mentioned. That's probably where he saw it.

My post from Steve was also on Autopia ... some people will always believe what they think is true .... It's funny how the members over there will talk falsely about this when its proven on the site that CG does not make PB products... but of course they don't listen.

Longneck- Really anything you buy on Autogeek is worth the money. AG is one stop shopping for all detailing supplies. I imagine that 80% of my detailing supplies are available at AG, and I'm sure that most members here would be close to the same. Just take a few hours and read up on past posts and the products that you read about the most, are probably good choices. Since you are new, the easiest thing to do might be to just 'go in blind', not worry about specific products and see what you like. And then if you are dissatisified with one product or two, you know where to improve in the future because if I say I like "Polish A", you may hate it and like "polish C". The only way for you to know is to try it out and as I said above, you won't be disappointed .

[sneek]

umm Meguiar's.

Over the years I still have yet to find anything better than Meguiar's on a single stage. On clears I love optimum and 1Z, but...single stage I can't suggest anything else but Meguiar's.

[detailgod]

Originally Posted by sneek

umm Meguiar's.

Over the years I still have yet to find anything better than Meguiar's on a single stage. On clears I love optimum and 1Z, but...single stage I can't suggest anything else but Meguiar's.

just curious what has megs so high on your list for ss paint?

[Jimmie]

Originally Posted by budman3

You can't go wrong with the PB kit. You get an aggressive polish to remove some swirls (SSR2.5) and a final polish to clean up the paint after (SSR1) and Natty's as a great wax. Plus S&G and S&W are great products as well. Poorboy's Spray and Wipe is a waterless wash ... it may sound weird at the beginning but once you get used to it it'll amaze you.

You may want to add in a sealant for additional durability, something like Four Star Ultimate Paint Perfection (UPP), Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant, PB EX, Klasse SG, Duragloss 105, etc. Also, the Camaro sounds like it has oxidation and it'd be best if you got a paint cleaner to clean that oxidation off before polishing. Klasse AIO or PB Pro Polish would be the paint cleaners of choice for that job.

I'm not sure if you are thinking about the Porter Cable kit or not but make sure you get a few spare pads, especially when working on the Camaro. Since it is single stage, the paint will transfer on your pad and you'll want to keep your pads clean / change them out when they get dirty.

. There are many that consider the PB kit the best bang for the buck. You may also want to add a little more pad cleaner.

[sneek]

Originally Posted by detailgod

just curious what has megs so high on your list for ss paint?

The look is just ..."right". You may disagree, but I think that the look that their polishes leave a better warmer finish. Not sure if anyone will agree with me, but Optimum can't give you that look on single stage.

[detailgod]

Originally Posted by sneek

The look is just ..."right". You may disagree, but I think that the look that their polishes leave a better warmer finish. Not sure if anyone will agree with me, but Optimum can't give you that look on single stage.

i was just asking. cause you were the only one i have seen to have a preference for SS paint versus CC paint. i dont use megs so i cant disagree.