I recently had a difficult time taking care of my Buddies 2007 Shelby GT as he had silver stripes painted on his black car. I actually stopped moving forward as I could not get the results I wanted when compounding. This was with Menzerna FG400. The body shop (I know the guy) had me contact the Sherwin Williams rep (who supplied the paint and clearcoat) and suggested I try the 3M Perfect-it line of products to accomplish the detail.

So I called a vendor that specializes in 3M and he suggested the products in the title. These are all from the Perfect-It line. I let the vendor know that these 3M products were mainly designed for a rotary which I do not use. He indicated that my Flex 3401 should be no problem as it is a hybrid DA (forced rotation). So over the weekend I decided to try these products on my ride as I wanted to make sure if I screw up it's just my ride. So here are my thoughts and opinions on the 3M vs Menzerna FG400 and SF4500.

So all these products were used by my Flex 3401 and all were at Speed setting 5 to approximate the 1200 - 2000 RPM range of a rotary.

3M 36060 Compound: 6.5" Lake Country Orange Hybrid Pad. I did not use it much as my ride had very little deep scratches so take this with a grain of salt. It appeared to cut deeper than Menzerna FG400 from what I could gather. Less passes faster results. But as I said before; I really did not have anything to really work on. So is it better than FG400...my guess yes since it is not DAT it has more cutting abilities than FG400 and it could correct faster. Additionally, the vendor said this was designed to handle the new hard clear coats on new vehicles.

3M 06064 Machine Polish: 6.5" Lake Country White Hybrid Polishing Pad. This is an overall good polish. The big negative is that this was very dusty. Even spritzing on the pad did not help much. Additionally, it dried very quickly and the dry areas were difficult to remove. A damp MF Towel took care of that. That is what I did for the rest of the detail. Is it better than SF4500 IMO no. However, it has more cutting ability than SF4000/4500 and may be too much for a black car which I have. Even though it looked great and MOST people would just move to the LSP. I know most of us AGO people would do more and this is what I did. Is it better than SF400/4500....No. In fact, for future corrections I will probably be using SF4000/4500 as a my go-to polish.

3M 06068 Ultra Fine Polish: 6.5" Lake Country Gold Hybrid Pad. This is where the vendor told me that he would refund the money if I did not like this product. Even though this product was designed for a rotary he said it should be fine with the Flex 3401. People, this is where I was completely IMPRESSED. This is a "jeweling" Polish and all I can say is WOW!!! This product is INCREDIBLE. If you want to take your ride to the next level include this product as your final polish...especially if you have a BLACK (or any) colored car. Is this better than SF4000/4500? ABSOLUTELY! This product goes on wet and stays wet. No dusting whatsoever. Very easy to remove with a MF cloth. Additionally, you do not need to make many passes. This is like spit shining your ride. I have pics that I took, however, I am having download issues. I will post the pictures as soon as I fix this.

So if there is anything that I gained form this is the Ultra Fine Polish. This will be in my detailing process from now on. I would gather the compound product will be used for the deep scratches. But I will be using FG400 more often as most rides are not that bad. The 3M compound would be used if someone keys a car and this would be used for after the wet sanding process.

The 3M polish...I will be using SF4500 more often. If you use the 3M polish on lighter colored car (silver, white, yellow, etc) that will be fine. On a Black or dark colored car, you will have to use the 3M Ultra Fine Polish as the final step. Additionally, this dusts more than SF4500 and it dries rather quickly and more difficult to remove than SF4500.

3M 06068 Ultra Fine Polish: I will be adding this to my detailing process no matter what color the car is. This stuff is INCREDIBLE!! The depth and shine it leaves is awesome. I cannot comment if this product could be used with a Rupes or a Boss as I do not have one. My guess...I think it could with the proper technique.

I will add pics once I can. Take care and have a great day!