Your favorite MF Pad compound

[statusdetailing]

Lately I've been going through a bunch of different post about MF pads.

It's hilarious to see older post from guys (myself included :o) bashing these pads. Man, I hated these things at first!:dunno:

Now, most of the same guys are singing the praises of these things and use them almost exclusively for all their compounding. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I can honestly say that my rotary is almost never used now. I am definitely getting better, and more importantly, more consistent results. On top of that, I am using WAY less product overall. I'll go out on a limb and say that I've probably cut my compound usage in half, compared to wool or foam pad compounding.

I am mostly using m105, D300 and m100 (if I can get away with it, for cost saving reasons), on a Meg's MF cutting pad to do my compounding step. I find myself leaning towards 105 for cutting ability and ease of cleanup. It tends to dry out a little bit, which allows the compressed air to really do its work.

With 105, you do eventually reach a point at about 1/2 way through a car, where the fibers become saturated. Visibly, it may look fine, but the product starts to haze and stick to the paint like concrete after this point. This can also be due to slight heat buildup behind the pad. Because of this, I've found that rotating 2-3 mf pads works best for the cutting step, and that's actually pretty common with all 3 compounds that I've used.

All that said, and now that MF pads have been out for a while and gained the respect of many reputable detailers, what is you favorite compound?

Things to consider:

-Cutting ability
-Ease of cleanup
-Finishing ability
-Working time
-Level of dusting

Like I said, I'm getting mind blowing results with 105, but I have a feeling there's something better. . .that will put me just that much more on the cutting edge. I've been considering FG400 and M101.

So what is your favorite compound and why?

Go!

[kaiten408]

FG400. I don't get 'wowed' too often by products, but after receiving my first set of MF pads I tried them out on a silver Camry that had quite a few scratches on it from dogs and cats jumping on it.

Hit it with FG400 and the new MF pad...scratches were completely gone and the finish was excellent. Granted this was a metallic silver color, not some soft jet black paint, but I was impressed none the less.

So to more specifcally answer your question:

Cut is excellent IMO, cleanup was quite easy with very little dust, the finish came out perfect for me on metallic silver, but I imagine I would need to follow on some softer paints. As for working time, I think that I could've worked it for much longer on the paint without it drying, but I didn't need to. So not sure what the max time would be.

[zerix]

FG400. I don't get 'wowed' too often by products, but after receiving my first set of MF pads I tried them out on a silver Camry that had quite a few scratches on it from dogs and cats jumping on it.

Hit it with FG400 and the new MF pad...scratches were completely gone and the finish was excellent. Granted this was a metallic silver color, not some soft jet black paint, but I was impressed none the less.

So to more specifcally answer your question:

Cut is excellent IMO, cleanup was quite easy with very little dust, the finish came out perfect for me on metallic silver, but I imagine I would need to follow on some softer paints. As for working time, I think that I could've worked it for much longer on the paint without it drying, but I didn't need to. So not sure what the max time would be.

Oddly enough my first time with FG400 was with soft Jet Black paint on my dad's 2003 M5. Paint was in horrible condition and it did an amazing job removing all the defects and only left very faint micro-marring with the Megs MF Cutting. I followed it up with a Orange LC Flat Pad w/ Sonax 3/6 Nano Polish and it cleared the paint up to perfection. I tried a White pad first but it wasn't quite clearing up everything, an Orange pad did the trick. We were stunned with the results of this two-step.

As far as working time, you can work it just about as long as you want, I did 6 section passes on 5.5 or 6 speed and the results were fantastic. It does dust some but it's not TOO bad, if you do a whole car I would be prepared to wash it down again after compounding/polishing to remove all the dust. I actually 1 stepped my car (99 Estoril Blue M3) with FG400 with an Orange Pad, I didn't find a need to polish out the car, it's extremely hard to see defects in the first place with metallic blue paint and it was already in great condition.

[Pureshine]

FG400,D300 are the too I use mostly cause they work for me 90% of the time. I mix a little 105 sometimes to get a little more cut.

[statusdetailing]

FG400,D300 are the too I use mostly cause they work for me 90% of the time. I mix a little 105 sometimes to get a little more cut.

Does 105 cut harder than FG400?

Do you like FG400 better than 105?

[zmcgovern45]

IME M105 cuts better than FG400 on MF pads... compared to M105, I find FG400 to play nicer with softer paints, but I prefer to use FG400 on orange foam pads.

Anyway - my favorite product to use on the MF pads is "M405"... a mix of D300 & M105. This greatly improves the working time and nearly eliminates the dusting of M105. If you've never done it, you're missing out.

I typically prime the pad with D300 and then use M105 as my working product. I will mix in a couple of drops of D300 every couple of sections too.

[Inzane]

Oddly enough my first time with FG400 was with soft Jet Black paint on my dad's 2003 M5. Paint was in horrible condition and it did an amazing job removing all the defects and only left very faint micro-marring with the Megs MF Cutting. I followed it up with a Orange LC Flat Pad w/ Sonax 3/6 Nano Polish and it cleared the paint up to perfection. I tried a White pad first but it wasn't quite clearing up everything, an Orange pad did the trick. We were stunned with the results of this two-step.

As far as working time, you can work it just about as long as you want, I did 6 section passes on 5.5 or 6 speed and the results were fantastic.

What polisher were you using? GG6, Flex 3401, Rupes, PC? Thanks.

[KillaCam]

D300 and M100 sound like they perform well of mf pads. I need to use up my 105 bottle first though..

[statusdetailing]

What polisher were you using? GG6, Flex 3401, Rupes, PC? Thanks.

GG6 and a pc with 3" pads. Switching to Rupes in the Spring (only to reduce vibration). This is just my personal opinion, but I believe that the supposed results you can achieve with a Rupes compared to a GG6 and MF pads, is probably negligible and mostly hype.

I'm sick of sore and numb hands though, so the GG6 has to go!

[statusdetailing]

GG6 and a pc with 3" pads. Switching to Rupes in the Spring (only to reduce vibration). This is just my personal opinion, but I believe that the supposed results you can achieve with a Rupes compared to a GG6 and MF pads, is probably negligible and mostly hype.

I'm sick of sore and numb hands though, so the GG6 has to go!

Yeah...I'm dumb. Just realized that the comment wasn't directed to me. :bolt:

[statusdetailing]

IME M105 cuts better than FG400 on MF pads... compared to M105, I find FG400 to play nicer with softer paints, but I prefer to use FG400 on orange foam pads.

Anyway - my favorite product to use on the MF pads is "M405"... a mix of D300 & M105. This greatly improves the working time and nearly eliminates the dusting of M105. If you've never done it, you're missing out.

I typically prime the pad with D300 and then use M105 as my working product. I will mix in a couple of drops of D300 every couple of sections too.

I've actually been experimenting a little with "M405." I will give it a more serious go on my next correction as see what happens.

Have you used 101 with mf pads? There is a ridiculous amount of hype surrounding that product. I need to get ahold of a sample of it somewhere.

[zmcgovern45]

I have not used M101... yet.

[Inzane]

Yeah...I'm dumb. Just realized that the comment wasn't directed to me. :bolt:

Nah, that's quite alright. I'm interested in hearing everyone's opinion on the various polishers so your reply is perfectly welcome. Thanks. I'm currently wrestling with the decision of what's next for myself. I still have just my old original pre-XP PC7424 and am considering an upgrade.

For some it seems that the Flex vs Rupes is almost splitting hairs, so the real decision for me I see is: GG6 vs. Flex/Rupes. The GG6 is much more affordably priced and if it is enough of an improvement over my old PC and can give me 90%+ of the correction ability that I could get with a Flex/Rupes then it almost sounds like a no brainer.

I'm just a hobbist/enthusiast, not a professional. I don't detail for money (at least, haven't yet) and my exposure is limited to just my own vehicles and perhaps the odd relative's car here or there, so far.

[Gsrjake]

ive only used adams 2 step so far with mf pads, i wanna use m105, m205, then try thr fg400 down the road, just so expensive right now

[JSou]

Wolfgang Uber, FG400, M101, HD Cut have all worked great for me on MF pads.

D300 with a M105 as Zach suggested, was A+ on a Benz I polished.

Looking to try more compounds just because I love trying new products.