Review: Meguiar's D166 Ultra Polishing Wax by Mike Phillips

[Cruzscarwash]

How is the D166 compared to meguiars M66? Both are cleaner wax but which will perform better?

I have and use Meg's 66, Meg's 151 and Meg's d166

I would also place them in the order for less cut to more cut and longevity as well. Meg's new d166 is really on an entirely new level of AIO compared to the older two megs was offering

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[MJL1966]

Thanks Mike. Very good info!

[ShoNuff]

Hi Mike,
First time posting here. I’m starting to get down a rabbit hole of products. I’m not a detailer, just for home use. I already have a bottle of Meguiars Ultimate Compound so I thought I’d look into Polish and Ultimate Wax but then I saw this product and wondered if I should just save myself a bunch of time

I have a Metallic Blue 2018 Tesla Model 3 that looks great but I noticed swirl marks on the hood and trunk from the beginning and I’ve noticed some water spots in the last couple months. I’d love to do a little better for those swirls if possible, get rid of the water marks and then have my car shining and protected from there and not have to do it all the time. Any help would be appreciated!

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Mike,

First time posting here.

Welcome to AutogeekOnline!

I remember approving your pending account yesterday.

I’m starting to get down a rabbit hole of products. I’m not a detailer, just for home use. I already have a bottle of Meguiars Ultimate Compound so I thought I’d look into Polish and Ultimate Wax but then I saw this product and wondered if I should just save myself a bunch of time

Meguiar's Ultimate Compound uses great abrasive technology. I talk about abrasive technology probably more than any other topic on this forum. I find that most guys and/or detailers THINK the most important thing when it comes to polishing paint is THEM. That is them and their technique. That's because I think most detailers, (not enthusiasts), tend to be the Alpha Make type, so they think the reason a car looks so great is because of how great they are. But I can take someone that has NEVER used a polisher and show them how to get flawless, swirl-free show car results on any car their very first time. And this type of person has ZERO technique except for what they just learned.

It is the abrasives that touch the paint first, not the person. And in fact - the person is the MOST REMOVED factor from the process. My article here shows this,

Abrasive Technology - THE most important factor when it comes to polishing paint

In this picture you see the thing touching the pain first is the compound.
Next is the pad
After that the machine
Last is the person

The person is the MOST REMOVED factor from the process.







But yeah, Meguiar's Ultimate Compound is good stuff. I was working at Meguiar's when M105 and M205 were introduced and Ultimate Compound is the little brother to M105 and SwirlX is the little brother to M205. Here's my article on these two products.

Meguiar's Ultimate Compound History






Without seeing your car - my guess is Ultimate Compound is too much for light swirls on Tesla paint.

I would steer you towards the Ultimate Polish followed by the Ultimate wax if you ever want to use a multiple step process.

I have a Metallic Blue 2018 Tesla Model 3 that looks great but I noticed swirl marks on the hood and trunk from the beginning and I’ve noticed some water spots in the last couple months. I’d love to do a little better for those swirls if possible, get rid of the water marks and then have my car shining and protected from there and not have to do it all the time.

Any help would be appreciated!

Meguiar's D166 Ultra Polishing Wax is what is called one of these terms,

• Cleaner/Wax
• Cleaner/Sealant
• AIO

They all stand for the same thing, that is a product that will do three things in one step.

1. Compound
2. Polish
3. Seal

The primary difference amongst ANY of these types of products is,

• How aggressive or non-aggressive they are.
• What they use for protection ingredients.

Otherwise no matter what the name, they all fall into the generic category called Cleaner/Wax.


I have only used the D166 a few times and that was when it first came out. I used it on the custom paint on my own truck and thought it worked pretty good. I also used it in one of my 3-Day Detailing Bootcamp classes and again - it worked very good.


My concern is that many people say that the paint on Teslas is very soft. While I would like to trust this blogosphere consensus, I have also see so many people on the Internet state that the PPG Ceramiclear paints are "ROCK HARD" of which I 100% totally disagree.

So it's hard for me to trust other people's judgment without knowing the experience level.


The only way to find out if this product and the abrasive technology it uses will work to your expectations on the factory paint on your Tesla is to get some and test it. You can get it in a 16 ounce bottle for about $18.00

Meguiar's D166 Ultra Polishing Wax

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Mike,

First time posting here. I’m starting to get down a rabbit hole of products. I’m not a detailer, just for home use.

Before going any further... do you own any type of polisher and if "yes" what kind?

[DMW]

I've used D166 with an orange Lake Country pad on my Flex 3401 on a '14 Black Tesla, and it came out great. It is soft paint and this combo works quite well. I plan to do it again this or next weekend as I have another customer with a red Tesla coming in.

Here are some pics from that job

David Warnke on Instagram: “This was my first Tesla. The paint was in pretty good shape already but I took it to the next level with this detail”

[Mike Phillips]

I've used D166 with an orange Lake Country pad on my Flex 3401 on a '14 Black Tesla, and it came out great.

It is soft paint and this combo works quite well.

I plan to do it again this or next weekend as I have another customer with a red Tesla coming in.

Wow!

Looks great David. Thanks for adding to this thread.

[Calendyr]

D166 is my goto product for paint polishing. It's a great product. Doesn't dry out on you while working, wipes off easilly, has good ability to correct defects yet finishes very well, protection is supposed to be in the 6 months range which rivals good stand alone polymer sealants.

I usually use a foam cutting pad with it. Most cars I see have a lot of deep swirl marks and in my experience using a polishing pad would take way too long to remove enough swirls to satisfy me. One of the youtube channels I watch suggests using a microfiber cutting pad with AIOs. I have seen him do it and it came out amazing. A few passes removed all the swirl marks and finished without haze.

Unfortunatelly since I re-opened for the 2019 season on April 1st, I haven't done any polishing without going to Ceramic Coating afterwards so I have not had the chance to test D166 on Meguiars Microfiber cutting disks... but I am sure the opportunity will come soon enough

[ShoNuff]

Before going any further... do you own any type of polisher and if "yes" what kind?

Mike, thanks for your response! No, I do not own a polisher. To go back up to your previous post you're saying the Ultimate Compound is maybe too abrasive for my type of car possibly because of "soft" paint? You then mention that the Ultimate Polish and Ultimate Wax would be good ideas for me if I want to do a multi-step process. Or if I don't, go ahead with the Ultra Polishing Wax. Is that correct or am I misreading.

And yes, I was going to ask if doing this by hand is ok.

[ShoNuff]

I've used D166 with an orange Lake Country pad on my Flex 3401 on a '14 Black Tesla, and it came out great. It is soft paint and this combo works quite well. I plan to do it again this or next weekend as I have another customer with a red Tesla coming in.

Here are some pics from that job

David Warnke on Instagram: “This was my first Tesla. The paint was in pretty good shape already but I took it to the next level with this detail”

Thanks for the pics and the reply, DMW! Mine is a Blue Metallic Model 3 and it's only 8 months old to me. But I want to protect it now and get the water marks and swirls out. I just don't want to do anything that takes away from the paint nor do I mind spending time doing the Polish and Wax vs an AIO. I guess it depends on what's the "smartest" path.