Meguiars Vs. 3m Trizact sanding disc ?

[cobraa]

I haven't worked a lot with 3m trizact pad but I tried the 5000 grit this week-end and felt like my 5000 grit was fine to do the whole car. However, I went throught 3-4 pad of Meguiar #3000.

I know the lower the grit the higher chance of going through more disc, but I'm wondering if still the 3m are a little more durable than Meguiars disc ?

thanks.

[Mike Phillips]

I've used a lot of both but I've never really tracked if one brand lasts longer than the other.


The primary difference that I know of), between the two styles of sanding discs are,



3M Trizact
Trizact dics start sanding immediately.

Meguiar's Unigrit
Unigrit discs have a break in time where the medium that emboidies the abrasives must break down a little to expose the abrasives and then they start cutting.




Here's a paragraph from my article written in 2010,

Damp-Sanding Tools, Tips and Techniques by Mike Phillips




B.I.T.E.

This is key remember… BITE which stands for Break-In Time Efficiency

New discs SKIM the surface until they break-in. A brand new disc requires anywhere from 2-4 passes to break-in before maximum cutting efficiency is reached. This has to do with physical process taking place on the surface of the paint and a physical process taking place on the surface of the paper.

Top coat hardness is a huge factor and unknown variable between cars and effects how fast or how slow a disc will break-in. During the manufacturing process, the Unigrit abrasive particles are embodied in a slurry which hardens into a solid medium and this medium offers a controlled rate of break-down.

Efficient cutting is seen when the water slurry on the surface is whitish in color. This is an indicator of clear paint particles suspended in the water film on the surface.

During break-in, the disc goes from skimming to biting or abrading... your job?

Pay attention to the task at hand.


This circles back to monitoring how much water you're using because a lack of whitish appearance to the water could mean the disc is either,

• Not broken in yet
• Too much water on the surface resulting in hydroplaning
• The disc is spent or used-up, that is the majority of abrasives have been worn off the face of the disc

The appearance for all three of the above is clear water on the surface, so pay attention to the amount of water on the surface and how much area you've used each disc to sand and the concentration or lack thereof of the whitish appearance to the lubricating water.

[Mike Phillips]

Here's another excerpt from my article, (it's very in-depth)




Water Volume?
Damp-sanding is using only a few mists of water. Meguiar’s new Unigrit Sanding and Finishing Discs MUST be used wet but not over-wet. All you need is a mist or two of clear water to the face of the pad and a few mists of water to the surface to be sanded. Damp-sanding should not be a wet-mess on the car, or on the ground surrounding the car.

• Too much water will hyper-lubricate the surface and reduce cutting action.

• Too little water will increase cutting, clog disc and wear disc out prematurely.

Unigrit Sanding and Finishing Discs are always used wet. Use water only - no sanding lube (soap).


Use a clean water source - no soap or sanding lube



It's safer to error on the side of caution and use an extra mist or two of water until you get a feel for the right balance for your environmental conditions. Temperature, humidity, airflow, affect all machine sanding process including the Unigrit Sanding System so there can be no hard and fast recommendations. Practice makes perfect.

VITALLY IMPORTANT
It's vitally important that you stay focused on the amount of water you're using when damp-sanding because if you use too much water and your disc hydroplanes, you can mis-read this to mean the disc is spent of used-up and no longer cutting.

If the disc is in fact still good and you throw it away because you used too much water then you waste a good disc and these are not inexpensive.

Remember, it's not wet sanding it’s damp-sanding

[Mike Phillips]

Another difference, with 3M Trizact you use a little soap in your water as a lubricant. With Meguiar's Unigrit they recommend you don't use any soap. I think that lubricant is built into the medium.

[Mike Phillips]

Here's a full damp sand, cut and buff Matt and I did back in 2010....


1956 Chevy Bel-Air - Dampsanding, Cut & Polish




We started at 9:16AM, and finished around 9:42AM. Under 40 minutes to damp-sand an entire car this big, and we only used (2) sanding discs (1 each)!



Here's a few shots I took with a Canon Rebel T1i

Here I'm using a small piece of detailing clay stuck to the hood to give my camera something to focus on and the using the flash to expose the swirls. Without the clay, a quarter or nickle, or my finger the shot would come out all fuzzy because the camera wouldn't be able to focus directly on the surface.







This is a very nice 1956 Chevrolet Belair but the paint was thrashed...



Damp-Sanding with Meguiar's Unigrit #3000 Unigrit Finishing Discs



Matt and I used 2 discs to sand down the entire car...



Here's Matt damp-sanding the roof...



Hey Matt, I have to leave now... something suddenly came up...











Normally you would want to wipe off the sanding sludge as you work around the car but it makes for a more cool photo to leave all the sludge on the car. Here we've wiped the car clean and we're ready to start compounding.



#3000 Grit leaves a flat sheen that's easily buffed out...





All finished in around 8 hours with two guys working in the garage... you know, 2 Guys Garage... in Autogeek's Show Car Garage...

















Parting shot...

Time to close down Autogeek's Show Car Garage...

[cobraa]

great stuff Mike. I will look into it more deeply tonight but guess I will stick with meguiars since they are cheaper ( the sanding disc are really cheap, just need to buy a backing plate at 10$) Vs. 3m.