New Menzerna FG 400 - One-Step Show Car Makeover
New Menzerna FG 400 - One-Step Show Car Makeover
New Compound!
Menzerna USA just introduced their brand new Fast Gloss 400, part number FG 400), to their line of compounds and polishes and this new compound is supposed to be able to cut like a compound but finish out like a polish. Now that's a lot to ask from a single product but it looks like they have a winner on their hands and this new compound blew me away.
Here's the highlights...
Long buffing cycle - the product stays wet on the surface as long as you're working it.
Zero dusting - I experienced zero dusting while buffing out a 1957 Chevy which is no econobox.
Easy wipe-off - This product wipes off incredibly easy which is important because if a product wipes-off hard this tires you out plus increases the risk of re-introducing toweling marks via struggling to get the residue off the paint.
Excellent defect removal - I used this compound with only a foam polishing pad and achieved 98% defect removal out of what appeared to me to be a fairly hard clear coat finish.
Super clear, high gloss finish - I saw no DA Haze or micro-marring from this product.
Restored 1957 Chevrolet Belair
Here's my project car, a very beautiful 1957 Chevy Belair with a paint job in dire need of decontamination, polishing and waxing.
While the owner had a lift, for the higher horizontal panels I opted to work outside with the car part in the shade and part in the sun and the Menzerna FG 400 worked just as well in the sun as it did in the shade. Good news for mobile detailers.
Here's the process I used with pictures and comments...
First step, wipe the exterior clean
Just moved the car off the lift and out of the garage to wipe it down and remove any
loose surface dust. As a practice I don't wash classics and antiques as it's not a good practice to introduce water into places you cannot reach to dry as this can cause a rust issue.
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Baggie Test then Nanoskin Autoscrub Pads
After wiping the paint clean I did the baggies test and the paint literally felt like #120 grit sandpaper. The contaminants were on all the body panels so I used a Nanoskin Autoscrub pad on a Porter Cable 7424XP to decontaminate every square inch of the paint. For a lube I used Pinnacle Clay Lube.
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Test Spot = Menzerna FG 400 with the Lake Country 6.5" Hybrid White Polishing Pads on the Flex 3401
I did a Test Spot using a tape-line on the front of the hood and then inspected using my Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light and the results were a clear, high gloss finish that was silky smooth to the touch and all swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation was removed. After confirming the combination of the Menzerna FG 400 with the Lake Country 6.5" Hybrid White Polishing Pads on the Flex 3401 on speed 6 was giving me the results I wanted I proceeded to buff out the entire car using this combination.
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Embedded Dirt - Paint Staining
You can see the white pad is now a brownish gray color and that's the embedded dirt coming off and out of the paint. When paint is stained with embedded dirt it blocks your view of the true color of the paint. Compounding and polishing remove embedded dirt and restore a bright looking finish.
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Moved the car inside
After buffing out all the higher portions of the body panels we moved the car onto the lift to make buffing out the lower portions of the vertical panels easier.
Cleaning your pad often
After each panel I buffed, I would clean my pad to clean off,
- Removed paint via abrading it with the compound
- Compound residue
These two things build up on the face of the pad and it's important to clean them off often to make buffing easier and more effective as well as ensure the residue is easier to wipe off. Plus you don't want to add fresh product to spent product as it dilutes the fresh products and contaminates the process.
Holding a microfiber towel into the face of the pad while running the polisher to remove residue off the face of the pad
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Forced Rotation = Working faster and more effectively
With the Flex 3401 Forced Rotation Dual Action Polisher you can tackler larger sections than you could with a PC style tool and thus do a better job faster. Plus no risk of swirls like there could be with a rotary buffer.
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Speedy Prep Surface Towel
After I buffed out the entire car I then used a Speedy Prep Surface Towel to remove the contaminants off the fender skirts as these also felt contaminated.
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Menzerna FG 400 + a 5" Hybrid White Polishing Pad
Next I machine polished the paint on the fender skirts using a 5" Hybrid White Polishing pad with the Menzerna FG 400 on the Flex 3401. The smaller pad on the smaller backing plate made it much easier to work the long thinner panel that makes up these classy looking skirts.
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More to come...
:D
Re: New Menzerna FG 400 - One-Step Show Car Makeover
Continued...
Chemically Strip Paint
For my LSP I'm going to use GTechniq EXO and per the manufacturer's instructions the paint needs to be chemically stripped to remove any and all polishing oils, or any other substances that could affect the bonding of the EXO Hybrid Coating to the paint. For this I'm going to use Wurth Clean-Solve and a clean, soft microfiber towel.
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Gtechniq EXO
After I carefully prepped the paint by chemically stripping it I then applied the Gtechniq EXO using a clean, soft microfiber towel.
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Coat and Wipe One Panel at a Time
After applying the Gtechniq EXO to a single panel I would then carefully use a clean, soft microfiber towel to wipe off any excess. You only want to work one panel at a time because if you have any excess product on the panel and you don't wipe it off soon enough it will dry and harden and become difficult to wipe off.
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Applying Gtechniq EXO to the fins...
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Applying Gtechniq EXO to the passenger side door...
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Applying Gtechniq EXO to the front of the hood...
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Carefully wiping any excess off...
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Coating the skirts...
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Attention to Details - Cleaning and dressing the wheels and tires
Since I didn't wash this car the wheels and tires were still dirt so to complete a "just detailed look" to the entire car I used Pinnacle Signature All Purpose Cleaner to wipe the wheels, hubcaps and tires clean. Then since the owner had Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel I applied that for the dressing.
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Now we're ready to move the car off the lift and take some beauty shots...
:)
Re: New Menzerna FG 400 - One-Step Show Car Makeover
Re: New Menzerna FG 400 - One-Step Show Car Makeover
Re: New Menzerna FG 400 - One-Step Show Car Makeover
Lots of buzz about FG400 and I thank you for taking the time for this very thorough review. The results speak for themselves. I can't wait for my FG 400 order to arrive.
Re: New Menzerna FG 400 - One-Step Show Car Makeover
I was very impressed with all the features of this new compound, that said, this is just one car and thus one "paint system", I'll need to buff out a few more cars including some factory baked-on clear coats to get a real feel for it's capability.
I also need to use it with rotary buffer and both wool and foam pads...
I have a black 1964 Catalina that I think has been repainted with a basecoat/clearcoat finish, (fingers crossed), and if it does then I'll test out the FG 400 on black paint.
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:xyxthumbs:
Re: New Menzerna FG 400 - One-Step Show Car Makeover
Which Meguiars product would you liken the cut of the new Menzerna FG-400 to Mike - similar to M105?
Re: New Menzerna FG 400 - One-Step Show Car Makeover
Quote:
Originally Posted by
addysdaddy
Which Meguiars product would you liken the cut of the new Menzerna FG-400 to Mike - similar to M105?
I'm not ready to make a correlation yet. If you notice, I used a white foam polishing pad for the entire process as I only wanted to do one machine process by design. So buffing out one car with one gentle type of foam pad is not enough hands-on experience to make any judgments.
One judgment I did make was that on this paint system, the white hybrid polishing pad with this new aggressive compound removed the swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation and finished down like a finishing polish.
Not bad for an aggressive compound AND it was easy to buff with and easy to wipe-off, two features that people really like in a compound.
The even bigger picture news...
Even better news is the paint now looks incredibly glossy and the owner loves the results...
:)
Re: New Menzerna FG 400 - One-Step Show Car Makeover
Thanks Mike, anxious to hear your comments on the FG-400 compound once you've had a chance to thoroughly test it. Appreciate the update.
Re: New Menzerna FG 400 - One-Step Show Car Makeover
Here's the walk-around video...
Menzerna Fast Gloss Compound on a 1957 Chevy Belair
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBHEh0anxNw&hd=1]Menzerna Fast Gloss Compound on a 1957 Chevy Belair - YouTube[/video]
:)
