what is the best finishing polish "hands down" in your opinion???

[fastfreddy]

Are you referring to essence plus for coated cars?

[fastfreddy]

Can these both be used on ceramic coated cars? How about PPF?

[DFB]

I'm a huge fan of Carpro Reflect, it seems to fly under the radar a bit though. It's very nice to work with, no dust and a super easy wipe off.

[DUBL0WS6]

Technically an AIO would be considered a finishing polish as well. Several of those are well regarded for standard paint. That would make more sense than a dedicated finishing polish in a lot of cases, especially driven cars.

[jvanseeters]

I have a 2014 Nissan 370Z in red. I just did a full cut and polish and I used Menzerna FG400 to cut and level the paint. Then I used CarPro Essence in a two stage process. I used Essence with a polishing pad. Then I redid the entire vehicle with a black finishing pad, again using CarPro Essence and used a very high speed but zero pressure to sort of "burnish" the paint to a very high gloss. I had no problem using Essence twice although yes, some of the first part may have been removed by the additional layer of polishing but in my opinion it just continues the polish from the first time and continues to fill and remove hairline scratches and love marks but brings up the gloss by using the high speed and no pressure and letting the polishing (on speed 5) burnish the paint to a super gloss. I then used Polishangel Escalate lotion (on a CarPro Gloss Pad) which is their finish and jeweling polish which has a very fine abrasive designed to jewel the paint to the highest gloss possible. The finish is absolutely stunning. Whenever I take the car out people just stare or point at the car, or stop and ask how old it is, or they don't see the 370Z much anymore, etc. My vehicle looks like it's brand new. It even smells new inside. It's only got less than 20,000 miles on it after ten years. And it looks better than new. My vote is CarPro Essence all the way. If you really want the ultimate trio. I would go with the CarPro Trio. CarPro Fixer, CarPro Reflect, and then Car Pro Essence as your primer and finishing/jeweling polish. The Essence has resins and fine abrasives to jewel and polish out those last little imperfections that Fixer and Reflect didn't happen to abrade off. I would definitely recommend using the CarPro GLOSS PADS with the Essence polish. I don't use Essence Plus as it's just a strictly gloss enhancing polish with no abrasives at all and uses chemicals to clean the paint and create a slight increase in gloss. The + version to me isn't worth it. Stick with the original Essence which does have fine abrasives (which you want to create that intense gloss) and also resins that can semi-permanently fill in those minute imperfections to create a super glossy and very smooth and silky finish. I love that above Essence. It creates a smooth finish, especially after Fixer and Reflect. It's a long process doing three separate steps but it's worth every minute spent polishing. Just keep all your polishers and pads organized on a table so you can easily switch from one to the next. I used an SPTA 5" long throw polisher along with a Flex PXE-80 for my smaller polishing duties. Those two polishers did a fantastic job. If you are looking for a very smooth polisher in the 5" long throw (Enthusiasts and weekend detailing enthusiasts), that SPTA is well worth it. I got it on Amazon on a deal and paid like $200 for the entire kit and it came with everything you need to polish a vehicle including the pads. I wouldn't recommend using the SPTA pads, get some Car Pro SPIDER pads off of Sky's the Limit detailing and you will have a stellar combo to polish your vehicle to absolute perfection! Like the singer Corey Hart once said "I wear my sunglasses at night" "So I can, So I can, Look at my car in the garage at night"! Seriously though, if you get the CarPro Fixer, Reflect, and Essence. That's the ticket to super gloss! I have super soft paint and that combo works perfectly.

[Setec Astronomy]

Like the singer Corey Hart once said "I wear my sunglasses at night" "So I can, So I can, Look at my car in the garage at night"!

Showing your age, man, back when MTV had music videos.

[Karl_in_Chicago]

I have a 2014 Nissan 370Z in red. I just did a full cut and polish and I used Menzerna FG400 to cut and level the paint. Then I used CarPro Essence in a two stage process. I used Essence with a polishing pad. Then I redid the entire vehicle with a black finishing pad, again using CarPro Essence and used a very high speed but zero pressure to sort of "burnish" the paint to a very high gloss. I had no problem using Essence twice although yes, some of the first part may have been removed by the additional layer of polishing but in my opinion it just continues the polish from the first time and continues to fill and remove hairline scratches and love marks but brings up the gloss by using the high speed and no pressure and letting the polishing (on speed 5) burnish the paint to a super gloss. I then used Polishangel Escalate lotion (on a CarPro Gloss Pad) which is their finish and jeweling polish which has a very fine abrasive designed to jewel the paint to the highest gloss possible. The finish is absolutely stunning. Whenever I take the car out people just stare or point at the car, or stop and ask how old it is, or they don't see the 370Z much anymore, etc. My vehicle looks like it's brand new. It even smells new inside. It's only got less than 20,000 miles on it after ten years. And it looks better than new. My vote is CarPro Essence all the way. If you really want the ultimate trio. I would go with the CarPro Trio. CarPro Fixer, CarPro Reflect, and then Car Pro Essence as your primer and finishing/jeweling polish. The Essence has resins and fine abrasives to jewel and polish out those last little imperfections that Fixer and Reflect didn't happen to abrade off. I would definitely recommend using the CarPro GLOSS PADS with the Essence polish. I don't use Essence Plus as it's just a strictly gloss enhancing polish with no abrasives at all and uses chemicals to clean the paint and create a slight increase in gloss. The + version to me isn't worth it. Stick with the original Essence which does have fine abrasives (which you want to create that intense gloss) and also resins that can semi-permanently fill in those minute imperfections to create a super glossy and very smooth and silky finish. I love that above Essence. It creates a smooth finish, especially after Fixer and Reflect. It's a long process doing three separate steps but it's worth every minute spent polishing. Just keep all your polishers and pads organized on a table so you can easily switch from one to the next. I used an SPTA 5" long throw polisher along with a Flex PXE-80 for my smaller polishing duties. Those two polishers did a fantastic job. If you are looking for a very smooth polisher in the 5" long throw (Enthusiasts and weekend detailing enthusiasts), that SPTA is well worth it. I got it on Amazon on a deal and paid like $200 for the entire kit and it came with everything you need to polish a vehicle including the pads. I wouldn't recommend using the SPTA pads, get some Car Pro SPIDER pads off of Sky's the Limit detailing and you will have a stellar combo to polish your vehicle to absolute perfection! Like the singer Corey Hart once said "I wear my sunglasses at night" "So I can, So I can, Look at my car in the garage at night"! Seriously though, if you get the CarPro Fixer, Reflect, and Essence. That's the ticket to super gloss! I have super soft paint and that combo works perfectly.

[dlc95]

I noticed there was an updated version of Meguiar's Ultimate Polish at Auto Zone last week, so I picked up a bottle and tested it against the current bottle in my stash. They seemed similar, but the current version seems to have a different consistency. Performance wise it seemed identical, without re-depositing sticky residue on the finish.

If I didn't think the polishing oils would interfere with the wax, sealant, and coating I use it would absolutely be my favorite finishing polish. It's great at one steps in a more aggressive pad, and I've used it plenty of times where I wasn't able to finish out with another product.

I polished my mom's car with it yesterday to test with my protection products. I'll know better in time if I can confidently use it with them. I'm probably overthinking it though.

I've been mainly using Optimum Hyper Polish or 3D AAT502 / ONE and hold them in the same regard as Ultimate Polish. The advantage they have is no "trade secret polishing oils", and they don't stain trim! But I LOVE the results and user experience of Ultimate Polish over anything else I've ever used

[Uncbrs]

I noticed there was an updated version of Meguiar's Ultimate Polish at Auto Zone last week, so I picked up a bottle and tested it against the current bottle in my stash. They seemed similar, but the current version seems to have a different consistency. Performance wise it seemed identical, without re-depositing sticky residue on the finish.

If I didn't think the polishing oils would interfere with the wax, sealant, and coating I use it would absolutely be my favorite finishing polish. It's great at one steps in a more aggressive pad, and I've used it plenty of times where I wasn't able to finish out with another product.

I polished my mom's car with it yesterday to test with my protection products. I'll know better in time if I can confidently use it with them. I'm probably overthinking it though.

I've been mainly using Optimum Hyper Polish or 3D AAT502 / ONE and hold them in the same regard as Ultimate Polish. The advantage they have is no "trade secret polishing oils", and they don't stain trim! But I LOVE the results and user experience of Ultimate Polish over anything else I've ever used

Is this the M200 one released earlier this year? It's on sale right now for $26 and everything I keep reading about it says the same as you - great pad dependant polish and big improvement over M205. It's had very little hype, which is usually a good thing.

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