3M products not recommended?

[jackychai]

I have searched the forum for a while already but I have not seen much threads that's related to using 3M polishing products.

Is it because 3M is not good enough? I have seen my mechanic's mexican helper uses the 3M and got pretty good result. ( and I still have plenty of 3M's product which I bought long time before I join this forum...)

Thanks for your info, guys.

[bsirbu]

3M makes nice polishes and waxes. From what I remember with the polishes though, you need to use a rotary to get the best results and at my experience level I'd rather use a DA. Their Perfect-it lineup gives you a wide range of usage for a wide range of scenarios. Couple it with the right pads and there isn't much you can't do with them. Many of the members on this forum have had great success with Meg's, Menz, Opt, and Pinn products which are much easier to use and more forgiving. To each his own though.

[FUNX650]

The 3M company was founded over 100 years ago on the basis of, and is synonymous to: abrasives.
Sure, they've branched out into other venues over the years, but their car care products are known and used world-wide...
Many of their car care products are 'body-shop safe'

As it is with some other brands identification-systems (number-ing, for example), 3M's may take awhile to decipher.
But, as with other brands...contacting 3M's 'help-centers', including some auto paint supply brick&mortars, will provide the Rosetta Stone

3M's Finesse-it and Perfect-it line-ups, along with Imperial Hand Glaze are ones that I most often use...

-Finesse-it II Finishing Material...(item#05928)
-Imperial Hand Glaze...(item#05990)
-3M's Perfect-it (3000) Ultrafine/Ultrafina (runs neck 'n' neck with Menz' 4500, IMO.)
-Perfect-it Show Car Wax...(item#39026---Liquid; item#39526---Paste)
And...
-3M's 'sanding paper/discs'...Usually the: go-to's for damp/wetsanding needs




Bob

[dougaross]

A good sealant 3M Performance Finish

[Conan]

A good sealant 3M Performance Finish

I definitely agree! For me it outperforms the more popular wax/sealants. Very good shine, beading and quite durable.

[Mike Phillips]

Most of their compounds and polishes, if not all of them state in the directions they are for use with a rotary buffer.

No mention or recommendation for them to be used with popular DA Polishers.


The key to any detailing product line when it comes to surface enhancement is the abrasive technology and when it comes to using products with dual action or orbital polishers the most common problem is micro-marring or DA Haze or Tick Marks, which are all different terms for the same problems and this is a scratch pattern inflicted into the paint by abrasive technology that does not work with DA Polishers.


See here,

The difference between Rotary Buffer Swirls, Cobweb Swirls and Micro-Marring

Tracers Tracers - RIDS - Pigtails - Cobweb Swirls - Rotary Buffer Swirls - Holograms - Water Spots - Bird Drooping Etchings - Micro-Marring


Micro-Marring - Tick-Marks - DA-Haze

These three terms are pretty much the accepted terms for a scratch pattern left in some paints from the oscillating and rotating action from a compound or polish and a buffing pad when applied using a DA Polisher.

Unlike Cobweb swirls or Rotary Buffer Swirls, the scratch pattern instilled by a dual action polisher is made up of millions of tiny scratches, some are curved or circular but some are straight, like a small tick mark you would make with a pencil if you were keeping track of a count of some type.

Tick Marks are a sign that either the paint is on the soft side, so easily scratched or the pad and compound or polish you're using are too aggressive to finish out without leaving a mark.

In most cases Tick Marks can be removed by re-polishing with a different pad and product combination.









3M is now making a bigger push into the "enthusiast" market so it could be they are now bringing out surface enhancement products, (compounds and polishes), that their chemists have formulated to be used with the oscillating action of DA polishers.

[jackychai]

thanks for all the great replies. now i understand more.

the reason i asked because i still have some 3M polishes left so i want to finish using them first.

And i borrowed a DA from my friend and tried to use it. after just a few passes my hands are numbed.... haven't get used to tgeb vibrations yet...