Foam or MF pad with Hyper Polish?

[LeFou]

I'm pretty much a newb at paint correction with a machine, and could use some good advice from this community (I have an introduction post up if you want to know more details on my background). I have a new (to me) bright red BMW Z3, and as soon as my AG package arrives next week I plan on doing a full 3 step correction on its paint. I live near Meguiar's headquarters, and so I know from taking their class and doing a demo on my car that its paint is pretty hard. My plan so far (after washing and claying the car) is to:

1) Compound with D300 on Meg's MF pads (I know from class that this works well on my car)
2) Polish with Optimum Hyper Polish
3) Seal with either Opti-Seal plus OCW or Black Light plus v7

My primary question is, with this approach, which pads should I use with the Hyper Polish? I'm trying to choose between LC Tangerine HT pads and the Optimum MF polishing pads. From my limited experience I like the ease-of-use and reputed durability of MF pads, but I've also read on these forums that MF pads don't necessarily finish well and can leave micro-marring, which kind of scares me off a little. What say you?

And as a follow-up question, if I use the tangerine pads, how many do you think I'll need?

Any feedback or suggestions on pad selection or technique would be welcome and appreciated. And feel free to chime in too on what pair you like better, OS and OCW or BL and v7.

Thanks!
Brian

[Chris@AutoCleanse]

Why not just use there finishing polish with there MF PAD, its a good system and it does not micro mar if used correctly. If your going to use opti coat you are going to have to do a alcohol wipe down anyways and you can see for yourself if it micro marred or not. Not saying I know it all but I have had good results with meguairs DA MF system. Do a test spot first and see how it looks with the hyper polish also, and make your decision from that.

[68bowtie]

Im using the hyper polish right now as we speak on my chevelle and I love it. Im using a LC hybrid white polishing pad and it works great. I personally would cut with the MF and polish with foam u get better results that way. That's from my personal experience.

[camaro2ssblack]

I got great results using the mf pad on my chevy clear. No micro marring...

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Im using the hyper polish right now as we speak on my chevelle and I love it. Im using a LC hybrid white polishing pad and it works great. I personally would cut with the MF and polish with foam u get better results that way. That's from my personal experience.

I agree. A foam pad will finish out better than a mf finishing pad.

I say use the tangerine pad with the polish instead of finishing with the mf disc.

[LeFou]

Thanks for the replies so far guys. If I go with the tangerine foams, how many do you think it will take to polish out my car? Is three enough (the Z3 is pretty small)?


Why not just use there finishing polish with there MF PAD, its a good system and it does not micro mar if used correctly. If your going to use opti coat you are going to have to do a alcohol wipe down anyways and you can see for yourself if it micro marred or not. Not saying I know it all but I have had good results with meguairs DA MF system. Do a test spot first and see how it looks with the hyper polish also, and make your decision from that.

I don't have the full Meg's MF system, just the cutting pads and D300. I wanted more flexibility in choosing my polishes and lsp's. I already owned some decent waxes before.


I got great results using the mf pad on my chevy clear. No micro marring...

That's good to know. Searching through the forums, I didn't see a lot of pictures of results after using the Opt MF pads. Is your chevy paint pretty hard?

[Chris@AutoCleanse]

Depends how often you want to clean them? Do you want to do the whole car or clean as you go. Pad washer or brush? It just all depends

[john b]

if you got the pad then try it or do a 50/50 with foam vs mf on your paint

[LeFou]

Im using the hyper polish right now as we speak on my chevelle and I love it. Im using a LC hybrid white polishing pad and it works great. I personally would cut with the MF and polish with foam u get better results that way. That's from my personal experience.

68bowtie, do you finish with HP on your white pad or do you use something else afterwards?

[camaro2ssblack]

Thanks for the replies so far guys. If I go with the tangerine foams, how many do you think it will take to polish out my car? Is three enough (the Z3 is pretty small)?



I don't have the full Meg's MF system, just the cutting pads and D300. I wanted more flexibility in choosing my polishes and lsp's. I already owned some decent waxes before.



That's good to know. Searching through the forums, I didn't see a lot of pictures of results after using the Opt MF pads. Is your chevy paint pretty hard?

I havent polished tons of cars but I have been told the clear is hard.

[68bowtie]

68bowtie, do you finish with HP on your white pad or do you use something else afterwards?

Nope just HP then BFWD.

[Johny B]

I agree. A foam pad will finish out better than a mf finishing pad.

I say use the tangerine pad with the polish instead of finishing with the mf disc.


:iagree:

[LeFou]

Thanks again everyone—looks like I'll be using the tangerine foam pads. I might pick up an Opt MF disc and try a side-by-side comparison, though I've been buying so much stuff lately I don't know if it's worth it.

How many foam pads do you guys usually go through we polishing a whole car? I don't have a pad washer, I'll just be cleaning mine on the fly using terry or mf towels.

[mg6045]

Thanks again everyone—looks like I'll be using the tangerine foam pads. I might pick up an Opt MF disc and try a side-by-side comparison, though I've been buying so much stuff lately I don't know if it's worth it.

How many foam pads do you guys usually go through we polishing a whole car? I don't have a pad washer, I'll just be cleaning mine on the fly using terry or mf towels.

read the post's I wrote at the bottom of this thread. it basically answers your same questions.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/61022-advice-needed-first-detail-bmw-335i-bsm-2.html

[LeFou]

Thanks mg, the info in that post was exactly what I was looking for.

On a side note, I swung by the Chemical Bros headquarters in LA on Sunday and picked up some Blacklight and V7 for cheap. Nice to have that option when I'm too impatient to wait for an autogeek shipment. It's a bit like Candyland being at the CG mothership.