Meguiar's Ultimate Compound History

[Mike Phillips]

Meguiar's Ultimate Compound History (http://tinyurl.com/y6vt3dm7)


Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and SwirlX

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/715/Ultimate_Compound_SwirlX.JPG


Notes

The 1974 Mercedes-Benz 450SL (http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?23202#ta5QiAiFk6Wx3m6x.97) on the label of Ultimate Compound was detailed at a Thursday Night Open Garage or TNOG class taught by me.

The 1991 e34 BMW M5 (https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/wet-sanding-cutting-buffing/21469-rids-feathersanding-highly-specialized-technique-mike-phillips.html) on the label of SwirlX was personally detailed by me for the 2002 Bimmerfest in Santa Barbara.




The backstory....

When it comes to Meguiar's and other large companies that offer multiple lines for multiple markets, i.e.

Professional Line for the refinishing industry
Detailer Line for the reconditioning industry
Consumer Line for the enthusiast market
Marine Line for the boat detailing world


The products are formulated more specifically for their intended use and their intended user.

It's assumed that anyone working in a body shop has a higher skill level when it comes to machine polishing paint than the person first starting out washing and waxing their Ford Focus.

As such, the Consumer Line, Ultimate Compound, is formulated for ease of use by the masses while still accomplishing the task the name on the bottle says it will tackle.

I find UC much more user-friendly for the average person than M105 and most important, if UC doesn't remove the defects you're trying to remove then chances are very good they're too deep to safely remove using any compound and as a follow-up it's time to start looking at how the deeper defects are being inflicted into the paint and stop the problem at the root cause.

Just to note... the car on the label of Ultimate Compound is one of the many Extreme Makeovers I head up while working for Meguiar's and in charge of the TNOG's also known as The Thursday Night Open Garage classes. Most people don't know that when I started the Thursday Night Open Garage classes they were actually on Wednesday nights and then I moved them to Thursday nights. It is also the TNOGs that I first met Michael Stoops as before he worked for Meguiar's he attended many of the TNOG's.


Here's some pictures showing the Mercedes-Benz on the label of Ultimate Compound.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/Ultimate_Compound_Mike_Phillips_005.jpg


http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/Ultimate_Compound_Mike_Phillips_006.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/500/Ultimate_Compound_Mike_Phillips_004.jpg




Meguiar's Ultimate Compound

Note: The graphic artist at Meguiar's removed the Mercedes-Benz emblem off the hood to make the car appear more generic.


http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/715/medium/Ultimate_Compound_Mike_Phillips_001.jpg




Here's that Mercedes-Benz looked like when it first arrived to the shop...

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/715/Ultimate_Compound_Mike_Phillips_002.jpg

After....


http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/715/Ultimate_Compound_Mike_Phillips_003.jpg




My Thursday night guys did the Mercedes, I personally did the BMW

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/715/Mike_Phillips_SwirlX_Before_After.jpg



Before

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_before1.jpg

I compounded the entire finish before starting the below process to remove the shallow scratches and expose the deep scratches.


Process

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600tapedoff1b.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_nikkensandpaperpieces.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600feathersandingrightside-med.jpg


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_feathersandingcloseup1.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600testing84compound-med.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_bmwsidebyside2.jpg


http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_bmwbeforeandafter.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_feathersanding1.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_hoodshotafteroutside11.jpg

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_hoodshotafteroutside2.jpg



Meguiar's SwirlX

Note the graphic artist at Meguiar's actually toned-down the horrendous swirls you see in the before pictures. They also removed the BMW emblem off the hood to make the car appear more generic.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/715/SwirlX_Mike_Phillips1.jpg



Kind of cool to have two cars, one I was in charge of and one I detailed end up on millions of bottles of Meguiar's products.


There's a little car detailing history for the Car Detailing Coffee Table Book.


:xyxthumbs:

[Paul A.]

Be proud, Mike, be very proud! I love hearing the history of some of the detailing world's products, processes, tools, people etc.

[fightnews]

Thanks Mike, what do you put those little pieces of sand paper ON? Did you guys use anything after the ultimate compound on the red car?

Was the red car single stage paint?

I'mean thinking of going over my car on the drivers side doors with ultimate compound 1 more time to ease up on some of the Orange peel. I know everyone says you have to wet sand it to get rid of it but I know for a fact I cleared it from my 2 favorite panels. The strongest thinget I used was m101 on a griotz finishing microfiber pad. And I didn't even have my flex or G15 back then.


I'm pretty confident that I can do it. I'll take some pics to prove it. Is it safe to assume that the clear coat is thick if the panel has orange peel on IT? Orange peel is globs of clearcoat right?

[Natron]

SWEEEET. Thanks.

[dlc95]

Thank you, Mike!!

Love the historic aspect of the industry.

By any chance would you know when the original Porter Cable 7424, and the Flex 3401 VRG were introduced to market?

[natewood70]

Thanks for sharing, Mike!

[LEDetailing]

Those Ultimate Compound and Swirl-X bottles must be the pride of your Meguiar's collection.

Never thought of compounding/polishing the light scratches to expose the deeper RIDS. Only makes sense. Leaves that much more clear/paint for the next RIDS to be compounded. Great advice/article as usual.

[JustJesus]

AWESOME!!!

Huh, so those cars on the bottles are the real deal and not some photoshopped examples!!!! Coolness.

Thanks for sharing this!

Mike, for real. Get a book written on the "history" of detailing, or paint correction, etc. I'd buy the first book off the press.

[dlc95]

AWESOME!!!

Huh, so those cars on the bottles are the real deal and not some photoshopped examples!!!! Coolness.

Thanks for sharing this!

Mike, for real. Get a book written on the "history" of detailing, or paint correction, etc. I'd buy the first book off the press.

Me too!

[VISITOR]

UC has been a proven product and i will always have a bottle in my arsenal, even if some knock it because it's a consumer product...

[Klasse Act]

UC has always done what I've asked of it and it's usually available at your local auto parts store, so if your almost out you can get it ASAP!

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

[Sharply Dressed]

That has to be an awesome feeling of pride you feel. Proud to say I trained with you at Detail Fest

[bodidly]

UC has been a proven product and i will always have a bottle in my arsenal, even if some knock it because it's a consumer product...

Here Here!

[dlc95]

UC has been a proven product and i will always have a bottle in my arsenal, even if some knock it because it's a consumer product...

I wish it came in a larger container. I'd be all over 32oz bottles of UC/UP.

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks Mike, what do you put those little pieces of sand paper ON?



My the tip of my index finger.





Did you guys use anything after the ultimate compound on the red car?



Don't remember off hand which polish but "yes" definitely did something. The good news is that all 28,000+ posts I made on MOL are still there and with a little help from Google you can find the thread for the extreme makeover on the Mercedes-Benz and the BMW.





Was the red car single stage paint?



The give-away is both the age of the car and how the paint had turned whitish. Single stage paints turn white when they oxidize and while clearcoats do oxidize they oxidize much more slowly than single stage paints. Clearcoats are known for getting swirls. I have an article on this topic here,

The practical differences between single stage paints and a clear coat paints (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/21924-practical-differences-between-single-stage-paints-clear-coat-paints.html)






I mean thinking of going over my car on the drivers side doors with ultimate compound 1 more time to ease up on some of the Orange peel. I know everyone says you have to wet sand it to get rid of it but I know for a fact I cleared it from my 2 favorite panels. The strongest thinget I used was m101 on a griotz finishing microfiber pad. And I didn't even have my flex or G15 back then.



You can decrease orange peel from compounding only, I have a picture that shows this from back in the 1990's and an article on this topic here,

Can orange peel be removed or lessoned by just machine compounding? (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/wet-sanding-cutting-buffing/50534-can-orange-peel-removed-lessoned-just-machine-compounding.html)


I forogot I wrote the above article. :dunno:






I'm pretty confident that I can do it. I'll take some pics to prove it. Is it safe to assume that the clear coat is thick if the panel has orange peel on IT? Orange peel is globs of clearcoat right?



I'm sure you can improve it. And I would say that from experience, if it's a repaint then "yes" lots of orange peel can mean lots of paint.

I've seen and experienced factory paint jobs with orange peel that were very shallow. So be careful. As I like to say,


Words cannot describe the heart-sinking feeling when you discover you've buffed through the paint -Mike Phillips



:)