embolism
04-08-2011, 07:22 PM
Saw this today at club lexus and thought you guys would appreciate it. No idea how accurate it is but sounds good to me:
Hopefully I can chime in with some assistance/help on the Meg's DA system.
I have been (pre) beta testing this system for almost 18 months prior to Meguiar's offically ackwoledging that it does even exist (prior to the soft-launch at SEMA).
As noted above, swirls or scratches are channels of missing clear coat (or paint). The only way to remove swirls (or any paint defect that penetrates the surface) is to remove all of the paint that is above the deepest level. This creates a new, smooth surface.
So what advantages does the new DA microfiber system have over more traditional polishing systems?
First lets look at the liquid component, the compound. Meguiar's D300 compound uses similar abrasives to those originally used in M86 So1o Polish and later perfected with Meguiar's M105 Ultra Cut Compound. These abrasives are ultra fine (think as fine as a finishing polish that is fully broken down, SUPER FINE). Where as a tradtional compound will start with a large abrasive that fractures apart (becoming finer and finer) D300 uses a very fine abrasive that cannot fracture apart any further. In terms of aluminum oxide, this would be called the 'cyrstal'.
This is important because a compound (or most polishes) require a certain amount of friction (speed/time/pressure) for the polish to break down, otherwise you could be left with some pretty bad marring. So you have to work the polish through a cycle to get the best, most even finish. With D300, because the abrasives are so fine, you are constantly polishing the surface. You don't have to wait for the abrasives to break down in order to get a high quality surface, its available right from the beginning.
This is because most polishes/compound level paint by inflicting their own scratches, which clumsily become finer and finer (and the surface more level) as the abrasive breaks apart. D300 takes very fine (but a lot of them) bites of the paint as it polishes the paint down.
However, because we are dealing with very fine abrasives, you will not quite get that initial aggressive cutting action of more aggressive compounds. However you are left with a far better finish, that in some cases may be wax ready. That ultimately makes D300 (or M105 or M86) more aggressive then the finishing polishes is the sheer number of abrasives. You are final polishing, but at a much much quicker rate, if that makes sense.
But the liquid is only one part of the system, and M105 has a been around for a while, and people are already familar with how the unique abrasive system is benefical.
So what specifically makes the microfiber pads more aggressive/better than foam pads when used on a DA?
The simple fact that foam pads are very inefficent on a DA. Much of the orbital motion of the machine (the tiny wax on/wax off circles) is absorbed by the foam (like a bowl of Jello jiggling on itself). As much as 80% of the orbital motion is simply absorbed by the flexing and twisting of the pad as it fights against two points of friction. The pad's contact patch with the paint as well as with the backing plate. This is why a foam pad gets warm on a DA (and the backing plate interface gets hot) and why the paint gets hot on a rotary.
Since a lot of the orbital action is absorbed in the pad, we are left with a slow turning rotary to do the work. Using a thinner pad will increase the effectiveness (This is why a 7/8th inch thick pad will act more aggressive then a 1 1/4 inch pad). Think of applying wax with a foam applicator by hand in tiny circles. If the pad was thin, it would fit right into the nook of your fingers and glide across the paint. Going to the other extreme, if the applicator was a 1 foot thick, you would have a hard time getting it to move across the paint by doing tiny circles. It would probably sit stationary on the paint as the foam twisted as you spun your arm in tiny, furious circles. Unless you pressed down really hard and compressed the foam. This is the same reason that a lot of pressure has to be added to a DA when using foam pads.
The microfiber disks however, take the orbital motion of the machine and use it their advantage. Because the nap of the fiber is short, the orbital motion twists the fibers over as it spins. Much more of the orbital motion is transfered to the paint, since less is absorbed in the short piles of microfiber. This also has a unique advantage in that it (by exposing all of the sides of the microfibers) dramatically increases the surface area of the pad. Much like a head of hair has more surface area then a bald head.
This increase in surface area allows for far more abrasives to worked at the same time, compared to the flat surface of a foam pad. In testing we found that a microfiber pad will hold roughly 8 times the abrasives as the surface of a medium PPI foam pad, and actively engage about 2times as many at a given time. You have twice the abrasives (at all times) cutting on an equally sized microfiber pad (and 4 times as many clean abrasives waiting to cut) as you do with a foam pad.
And since we are relying on the orbital motion and microfiber pad to expose a lot of abrasives to the paint in an efficient manner, it makes sense to use a non-diminishing abrasive polish (like D300) that will allow a huge concentrating of ultra fine abrasives to gently (but quickly) remove paint defects.
Cliff notes: Foam pads hinder the orbital motion of the machine, microfiber pads amplify it. By having as many as two times the abrasives working in a more efficient manner, you have the potential to remove material at least 3 times as fast while maintaining a high gloss finish.
Microfiber DA compared to a rotary.
The main advantage of the microfiber DA vs. a rotary is in the fact that the microfiber DA pad is going to have a far greater surface area (per equal pad size) of the pad working and expose far more abrasives to the paint. A rotary will always only utilize the surface of the pad, because it's motion is linear. However a rotary uses far greater force (the outter edge of a 6 inch pad exceeds 30 mph at 1800 rpm), so while it is less efficencent in its use of abrasivse, it is using them with far greater force.
Also the faster you spin a rotary, the more leveling for you are creating from the pad (whether foam or rotary). This is because centrigal force is going to pull the spinning pad outward. Take a ball tied to a string and spin it above your head. If you spin it lazily the string will have a lot of slack; if you really whip it around the string will pull very taut. A rotary that is spinning at 1500 rpm is going have a stiffer pad surface (which creates more leveling potenital) then a DA spinning at 200 RPM, even if the same pad is used.
In many ways the DA is capable (when used efficiently) of polishing better, faster, and more effectively then using a rotary polisher BUT when it comes to the ability to quickly remove material, the rotary is king.
You can remove sanding marks with the DA Microfiber System (I have removed 1500 grit marks 2 years ago), but not as quickly as I can with a rotary polisher/wool pad/compound.
However I can remove the residual compounding marks faster with the DA and leave a near LSP (or LSP) ready surface much faster with the DA system.
That said I started off as a rotary guy, I was named one of the best detailers in the country by Autoweek Magazine, and I have had cars win best in class, best paint, best in show at some of the most heavily judged concours events in the world. I know how to spin a rotary, and for a long time I considered the DA a beginner tool that was incapable of creating the quality of finish that I could with a rotary.
However in working with this system, and learning about pad dynamics, abrasives, losses, etc I have learned more about polishing than I even knew existed. Today I use my DA as much as my rotary, and feel I can produce a better result now, then I did when I was winning best in show awards using only a rotary.
Hope this helps.
__________________
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/classic-motoring_2082_2400090 (http://www.properautocare.com)
Todd H
Classic Motoring Accessories
Hopefully I can chime in with some assistance/help on the Meg's DA system.
I have been (pre) beta testing this system for almost 18 months prior to Meguiar's offically ackwoledging that it does even exist (prior to the soft-launch at SEMA).
As noted above, swirls or scratches are channels of missing clear coat (or paint). The only way to remove swirls (or any paint defect that penetrates the surface) is to remove all of the paint that is above the deepest level. This creates a new, smooth surface.
So what advantages does the new DA microfiber system have over more traditional polishing systems?
First lets look at the liquid component, the compound. Meguiar's D300 compound uses similar abrasives to those originally used in M86 So1o Polish and later perfected with Meguiar's M105 Ultra Cut Compound. These abrasives are ultra fine (think as fine as a finishing polish that is fully broken down, SUPER FINE). Where as a tradtional compound will start with a large abrasive that fractures apart (becoming finer and finer) D300 uses a very fine abrasive that cannot fracture apart any further. In terms of aluminum oxide, this would be called the 'cyrstal'.
This is important because a compound (or most polishes) require a certain amount of friction (speed/time/pressure) for the polish to break down, otherwise you could be left with some pretty bad marring. So you have to work the polish through a cycle to get the best, most even finish. With D300, because the abrasives are so fine, you are constantly polishing the surface. You don't have to wait for the abrasives to break down in order to get a high quality surface, its available right from the beginning.
This is because most polishes/compound level paint by inflicting their own scratches, which clumsily become finer and finer (and the surface more level) as the abrasive breaks apart. D300 takes very fine (but a lot of them) bites of the paint as it polishes the paint down.
However, because we are dealing with very fine abrasives, you will not quite get that initial aggressive cutting action of more aggressive compounds. However you are left with a far better finish, that in some cases may be wax ready. That ultimately makes D300 (or M105 or M86) more aggressive then the finishing polishes is the sheer number of abrasives. You are final polishing, but at a much much quicker rate, if that makes sense.
But the liquid is only one part of the system, and M105 has a been around for a while, and people are already familar with how the unique abrasive system is benefical.
So what specifically makes the microfiber pads more aggressive/better than foam pads when used on a DA?
The simple fact that foam pads are very inefficent on a DA. Much of the orbital motion of the machine (the tiny wax on/wax off circles) is absorbed by the foam (like a bowl of Jello jiggling on itself). As much as 80% of the orbital motion is simply absorbed by the flexing and twisting of the pad as it fights against two points of friction. The pad's contact patch with the paint as well as with the backing plate. This is why a foam pad gets warm on a DA (and the backing plate interface gets hot) and why the paint gets hot on a rotary.
Since a lot of the orbital action is absorbed in the pad, we are left with a slow turning rotary to do the work. Using a thinner pad will increase the effectiveness (This is why a 7/8th inch thick pad will act more aggressive then a 1 1/4 inch pad). Think of applying wax with a foam applicator by hand in tiny circles. If the pad was thin, it would fit right into the nook of your fingers and glide across the paint. Going to the other extreme, if the applicator was a 1 foot thick, you would have a hard time getting it to move across the paint by doing tiny circles. It would probably sit stationary on the paint as the foam twisted as you spun your arm in tiny, furious circles. Unless you pressed down really hard and compressed the foam. This is the same reason that a lot of pressure has to be added to a DA when using foam pads.
The microfiber disks however, take the orbital motion of the machine and use it their advantage. Because the nap of the fiber is short, the orbital motion twists the fibers over as it spins. Much more of the orbital motion is transfered to the paint, since less is absorbed in the short piles of microfiber. This also has a unique advantage in that it (by exposing all of the sides of the microfibers) dramatically increases the surface area of the pad. Much like a head of hair has more surface area then a bald head.
This increase in surface area allows for far more abrasives to worked at the same time, compared to the flat surface of a foam pad. In testing we found that a microfiber pad will hold roughly 8 times the abrasives as the surface of a medium PPI foam pad, and actively engage about 2times as many at a given time. You have twice the abrasives (at all times) cutting on an equally sized microfiber pad (and 4 times as many clean abrasives waiting to cut) as you do with a foam pad.
And since we are relying on the orbital motion and microfiber pad to expose a lot of abrasives to the paint in an efficient manner, it makes sense to use a non-diminishing abrasive polish (like D300) that will allow a huge concentrating of ultra fine abrasives to gently (but quickly) remove paint defects.
Cliff notes: Foam pads hinder the orbital motion of the machine, microfiber pads amplify it. By having as many as two times the abrasives working in a more efficient manner, you have the potential to remove material at least 3 times as fast while maintaining a high gloss finish.
Microfiber DA compared to a rotary.
The main advantage of the microfiber DA vs. a rotary is in the fact that the microfiber DA pad is going to have a far greater surface area (per equal pad size) of the pad working and expose far more abrasives to the paint. A rotary will always only utilize the surface of the pad, because it's motion is linear. However a rotary uses far greater force (the outter edge of a 6 inch pad exceeds 30 mph at 1800 rpm), so while it is less efficencent in its use of abrasivse, it is using them with far greater force.
Also the faster you spin a rotary, the more leveling for you are creating from the pad (whether foam or rotary). This is because centrigal force is going to pull the spinning pad outward. Take a ball tied to a string and spin it above your head. If you spin it lazily the string will have a lot of slack; if you really whip it around the string will pull very taut. A rotary that is spinning at 1500 rpm is going have a stiffer pad surface (which creates more leveling potenital) then a DA spinning at 200 RPM, even if the same pad is used.
In many ways the DA is capable (when used efficiently) of polishing better, faster, and more effectively then using a rotary polisher BUT when it comes to the ability to quickly remove material, the rotary is king.
You can remove sanding marks with the DA Microfiber System (I have removed 1500 grit marks 2 years ago), but not as quickly as I can with a rotary polisher/wool pad/compound.
However I can remove the residual compounding marks faster with the DA and leave a near LSP (or LSP) ready surface much faster with the DA system.
That said I started off as a rotary guy, I was named one of the best detailers in the country by Autoweek Magazine, and I have had cars win best in class, best paint, best in show at some of the most heavily judged concours events in the world. I know how to spin a rotary, and for a long time I considered the DA a beginner tool that was incapable of creating the quality of finish that I could with a rotary.
However in working with this system, and learning about pad dynamics, abrasives, losses, etc I have learned more about polishing than I even knew existed. Today I use my DA as much as my rotary, and feel I can produce a better result now, then I did when I was winning best in show awards using only a rotary.
Hope this helps.
__________________
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/classic-motoring_2082_2400090 (http://www.properautocare.com)
Todd H
Classic Motoring Accessories