Wolfgang 3.0 Duo - Quickie test / long review

[budman3]

As many of you know, Wolfgang reformulated their swirl removers with help from Menzerna. I don’t have a whole lot of experience with Menzerna (PG, IP, FP, 106ff, 85u) but I have had better luck with some than others, especially with a PC or UDM. Meghan generously sent me some to sample out and I was able to do some quick testing this past weekend. The new Wolfgang 3.0 swirl removers come in the typical high quality Wolfgang bottles and don’t have any artificial smells to them. I could tell right off the bat that these are professional products in the Wolfgang bottle. Since the products are still new, I wasn’t 100% positive on how to use them and what techniques worked the best. Just a warning, the paint on the Jeep is very poor with clear coat cracking sporadically across the hood. You can see it in the pictures after the rotary and TSR3.0.

Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover 3.0:
The bottle said that this is a strong polish / compound that will remove a lot of defects yet finish out like a final polish. I can’t argue that point yet, a moderate amount of swirls were removed with no micro marring at all. It left a nice finish. I did use it with a rotary and UDM, hoping it would be more user friendly than Menzerna via UDM.

This first set of pictures is after using the swirl remover with a UDM and a 6” Lake Country CCS polishing pad. I did not know how much product to use and the first picture shows how much I used on the first panel to prime the pad. I did not use any water or pad conditioner ahead of time. Well to say the least, this was too much product. The polish spread very nicely and I worked it in for a very long time with light to no dusting. I never did get the polish to go translucent so I tried wiping it off and it was very difficult. It was obvious that I used too much product and I was paying the price. Even though I used too much product and it didn’t get broken down all of the way, there was no marring. Trying to find the right amount, I moved onto a new panel with less product and primed the pad with Pinnacle Pad Conditioner (3 pea sized dots). This worked better but was still slightly difficult to use. Here are the pictures:

Amount used on fresh pad:


Panel before:


After


Less product used on new panel:



Before:


After (noticed slightly more dusting this time around):


I have learned that Menzerna products work a lot better via rotary so I treated the Wolfgang polishes the same way. The TSR3.0 was used with a 6.5” Lake Country CCS polishing pad. I used a lot less to prime the pad this time around as well. To say the least, I am impressed after using it with the rotary. I used it on two sections of the hood (only one is pictured) and learned less is more with this polish. I will have to change out the Pinnacle Pad Conditioner for straight water for my next test session to see if that helps. Removal of the polish was a lot easier than with a UDM but it was still ‘grabby’.

Amount used on fresh pad:


Panel before (notice cracking):


After:


Again, most of the defects left in the paint are permanent due to a junky paint job on the hood.

[budman3]

Wolfgang Finishing Glaze 3.0
I did the same sections above with the same machines but this time around with the Finishing Glaze on a 6.5” Lake Country CCS finishing pad. I was expecting this product to lightly polish and clean the paint, and add some gloss and or protection like typical glazes – not the case, this is purely a final polish. I don’t have anything to say about application or removal, everything worked nicely. I still prefer to use the rotary than UDM but the UDM was fairly effective (moreso than TSR3.0). What really surprised me was the amount of correction done by the Finishing Glaze with a finishing pad. I did not polish the front lip of the hood, which left me a perfect spot for 50/50 shots of the correctional abilities of this product.

I sectioned off the hood to see if I could tell any differences (which I did not except on the front lip):


Here is the FG3.0 on the UDM:


After the UDM and finishing pad 50/50:


After the rotary and finishing pad 50/50:


And the rest are pictures from the rotary side (which impressed me the most)








Let me know if you have any questions or comments. This was just a night session to try and get familiar with these products. I wanted to pass along my initial feelings of the products knowing that they are fresh to the market. Over time I will get more pictures and hopefully hone my techniques with these products and report back on their effectiveness then. Thanks for looking .

[Streetlife]

Thanks for the conducting a test budman3. I just received my two bottles from Meghan. I am a newbie with a rotary and the edge 2000 pad set, considering i've only used my rotary once this duo sample came at the perfect time. I Loveeeeee Autogeek.

[killrwheels@autogeek]

it appears you also show some additional gloss and reflection in the after pics. Your thoughts ???

[budman3]

It's hard to tell with this paint in its condition. Under the halogens and after both steps the rotary side was very clear and the flakes looked great. It wasn't overly glossy but the finish was very nice.

[budman3]

To bump this thread, I will add a few more pictures to show how great the Wolfgang TSR3.0 actually is. The above review was my initial impressions but now that I have several details with the Wolfgang Duo under my belt, this review is more accurate, IMO. I have used the duo with various machines, pads and weather conditions. Many think that TSR3.0 is identical to SIP but after reading the horror stories of SIP, I find it very hard to believe. TSR3.0 is a breeze to use. The only issues I have had with the TSR3.0 was via D/A in the above review when it was 45 degrees in the garage. Since then I have used it when it was hot, hot and humid, very humid and when it was cool. Not once was it difficult to work with.

Anyways, onto the pictures. The vehicle in the pics will have an appropriate thread in the future, so take this as a tease. The paint is single stage BTW. I used only TSR3.0, UDM, and 4" LC light cut pad.

Taped up for 50/50 shots, notice the marring:


Spread on speed 4:


Worked in on speed 6:


Flashed and ready to be removed (<2 mins):


Removed:


50/50 shots:




Zoomed in:

Not bad for a product that will remove that marring yet leave a darn near LSP finish ...

[alain]

Budman3 did you primed the pad with the product only or you use something else like pinnacle conditionner and how much product you use on a fresh pad and how much a pad that as been primed...Thanks!

[budman3]

When using a rotary polisher I primed the pad with a mist of 50/50 alcohol and water. When the pad begins to 'gunk' up, mist more alcohol and water and wipe off the pad with a terry cloth towel. All that is needed product wise is a few dabs of polish around the pad - varying with pad sizes and machines. With a DA and 4" pads I used 2 dabs of product. With a rotary I used a 2-3 inch line on the paint and picked it up with the machine. On a 5.5 or 6 inch pad I'd put 4-5 dabs. And generally with a fresh pad (with any product) I'll apply some polish, slightly more than I'd normally use, and smear it on the paint in a small area to try and get polish around the entire pad. Hopefully this helps you.

[94LT1]

Now when u say alcohol u mean like rubbing alcohol???

[budman3]

Originally Posted by 94LT1

Now when u say alcohol u mean like rubbing alcohol???

Yeah, isopropyl alcohol. It's quite convenient to prep pads, quickly clean pads and to remove any oils after polishing.