CarPro Essence or Reflect

[RaskyR1]

Hello everyone

Can I use Essence after Reflect? Which has more cut and gloss?
Or is it like HD Polish and Speed where one can be followed up by the other or is that not necessary?

Or simply does Essence replace Reflect as a finishing polish? I know its an AIO but will be using both soon and need to know if I'm doing anything unnecessary or certain steps would be redundant. My objective is primarily gloss with swirl removal and lsp as secondary.

Essence is said to have the same abrasives as Reflect, just less of them. So Reflect can cut more and still finish down very well. Essence having fillers in it can still cut, bit it also enhances the gloss even further.

IMO they should NOT be treated as the same and deciding which to choose should depend on your or your clients intentions. I mainly use it as a primer prior to coating, meaning I fully finish the paint down prior to using it and it adds gloss and saves me from having to do an IPA/Eraser wipe down. It can also be used as an AIO or finishing step, just be aware of it's ability to fill and be sure your client is aware of that too. Using it as an AIO with a MF pad can yield some pretty impressive results, but I'm certain it's filling in faint DA haze as MF pads rarely finish totally free of DA haze IME. I'm testing this on my own vehicle now to see if and when the fillers wear off and reveal any haze. If it lasts up the the claimed 1 year durability I will be very impressed.

[hdez]

Can you please enlighten us on the optimum methods to achieve the best results with it? TIA.

Check the CarPro US site, on the Essence product page, in the description tab, there's a lot of FAQ regarding the product and how to achieve best results.

[Mike@ShineStruck]

What I want to know is what everyone is charging for using Essence when offered as an AIO
I pretty sure i dont want to offer both 3d Speed and essense at 200
I have both Essence and reflect but haven't played with reflect die to stupid winter... 1 More month to go lol

[Zubair]

Okay, so been using Essence with the Carpro Gloss pads, as well as LC HD Orbital Orange and results were decent. However Essence on MF pads seemed to work better from a shine or gloss point of view. Also Essence on the Rupes yellow pad worked better than very soft pads to extract more gloss. So far to my eyes it seems as if Essence prefers firmer or more abrasive type pads. What are your thoughts?

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

Okay, so been using Essence with the Carpro Gloss pads, as well as LC HD Orbital Orange and results were decent. However Essence on MF pads seemed to work better from a shine or gloss point of view. Also Essence on the Rupes yellow pad worked better than very soft pads to extract more gloss. So far to my eyes it seems as if Essence prefers firmer or more abrasive type pads. What are your thoughts?

Yes I tried essence, on a microfiber finishing pad, and a white rupes foam finishing pad, they enhanced the gloss but left a ton of damage behind.

A polishing pad or foam cutting pad is the way to go.

Also are you using a microfiber cutting pad with essence ? Is it leaving micro marring ? Are you trying to do a one step with essence ?

[Zubair]

Yes I tried essence, on a microfiber finishing pad, and a white rupes foam finishing pad, they enhanced the gloss but left a ton of damage behind.

A polishing pad or foam cutting pad is the way to go.

Also are you using a microfiber cutting pad with essence ? Is it leaving micro marring ? Are you trying to do a one step with essence ?

Yes Megs MF cutting and a one step. I work on hard German paints, Merc,Bmw,VW,Audi mostly. Used it with soft foam pads as previously mentioned on an Audi RS3 and a Porsche Boxster S and both paints the results were not as wow as far as gloss is concerned and Rupes Yellow or MF worked better. So I tried it on my GTi, hard paint again and MF or Rupes Yellow won again.

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

Yes Megs MF cutting and a one step. I work on hard German paints, Merc,Bmw,VW,Audi mostly. Used it with soft foam pads as previously mentioned on an Audi RS3 and a Porsche Boxster S and both paints the results were not as wow as far as gloss is concerned and Rupes Yellow or MF worked better. So I tried it on my GTi, hard paint again and MF or Rupes Yellow won again.

If it's leaving no marring , of course that's the best route to go! Especially since it cuts faster.

Did you use Essence and a MF cutting pad on any black or dark colored cars and you couldn't see any marring ?

That must of been some rock hard clear! A polishing pad would probably take forever if that's the case

[Calendyr]

I used it on black dts Cadillac with light swirls and some deep .I used a micro cutting pad and essence on a griot da on speed 4 or 5 in some sections.I primed the pad pretty good and started ,you really have to work this product in until it fully dissipates leaving you with a very slick smooth glossy finish,I mean glossy like a 10 hr correction look.went to wash it after to apply a lsp the water just runs off like a traditional coating job.so to keep it all in the family I chose to apply essence by hand ,can be a pita but it's worth it at the end.when applying by hand use very little on a app pad and work it in like a coating you will see it dries so fast when applied to metal ,you have to level out any high spots of product or it can or will be a pita to remove by hand.essence has limitations I find it works great on a new cars 1 to 2 years that needs to be amped up.Its not a solo product that will correct everything.last week used it on a 14 350 z which had moderate swirls and gave me from 1 to 10 a 6 on filling and correcting and a 10 for gloss,and used it in the blazing sun with 1 micro cutting pad to do the whole car with no trace of hazing or light marring.Topped it off with Meg's sealer.

I don't know if you have seen the video posted on the forums about a week ago where the guy tries Essence with various pads. The clear winner for using Essence was a polishing pad on a DA.

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

I don't know if you have seen the video posted on the forums about a week ago where the guy tries Essence with various pads. The clear winner for using Essence was a polishing pad on a DA.

That was me

https://youtu.be/48OL5Egs6Bw

There's the video.

To me the polishing pad looked better overall in person , it didn't pick up much on the cam.

Every car and paint is different tho, but working with this product , I kind of figured out, a polishing or cutting pad is the way too go with essence.

That paint on the Ford in the video wasn't rock hard of the softest either, it was just moderate, and I tried 2 finishing pads, microfiber finishing , and foam finishing (white rupes) and they enhanced gloss but left a ton of defects behind!

(Sorry for the poor editing in the video I posted it before I went to detail fest, and I didn't have the time or experience to trim and edit, when I get back I will edit it asap)

[Calendyr]

What I want to know is what everyone is charging for using Essence when offered as an AIO
I pretty sure i dont want to offer both 3d Speed and essense at 200
I have both Essence and reflect but haven't played with reflect die to stupid winter... 1 More month to go lol

I am in the process of re-doing my packages for this year. I decided to offer Megs Paint Reconditioning crème as my first level correction (pretty much the same as HD Speed) and Essence as the second level.

In terms of price, I will charge 3 hours plus 50$ for that specific step since I will do an IPA wipedown before Essence then use Reload as a LSP on top of it. Compared to 3 hours for PRC since product is cheap and I will top it with Meg's Express Spray wax which is also cheap.

So for me, 50$ more for that product over a normal AIO.