Compound recommendation for a body shop :)

Hey everyone. I detail sometimes for myself, just to keep my car looking good. But i learned polishing by taking over the polishing job at my father's body shop.

We are currently using Presta Ultra Cutting Cream, and i really dont like it much. It dusts alot, the working time is really short unless you flood the pad, and it really doesnt correct much.

I have a
DD Orange
DD Grean
DD Blue
LC Light cutting pad
3M compounding pad

Presta Ultra Cutting Cream
Menzerma SIP
3M Machine Polish
Prima Amigo
CC Gloss Enhancer

And tons of others i dont feel like listing so the pads arent an issue. Everything I've bought with my money to make the cars look good after they leave.

I want to try to make it as close to perfect as possible, so you pros dont complain about the way the car looks after it leaves the body shop.

Well i looked at CG Compounds which i havent heard anything about. Menzerma, also i just ordered a sample of 105 so i will be trying that shortly. But i want to hear what you guys think. I need something agressive and that takes car of 1500 and 2000 grit quickly.

 

I really enjoy using Scholl's S03+ (Heavy Cut). Awesome cut and finishes down well. And the scent doesn't hurt either.

Oh, and whatever you do, stay away from the Scholl's S0 (Extreme Cut).

 

I would say M105 fits the needs of what you're looking for, especially if you're compounding out sanded areas a lot.

 

i can never find Scholl products.

And yeah i look forward to trying 105 out, it will most likely be on my car

How about menzerma??

 

+1 for M105. However, I have had success using Presta and 3M in the past. Occasionally I will break out the Mark V compound for serious oxidation and scratch removal. The Mark V cuts like crazy but, there is a lot of dusting.

 

can you guys please post links. Some of this stuff i have never seen or heard of.

And as I said i really do not like Presta. It dusts, very short working time.


And the 3M i would also like to try. However if i like 105 then i wont try 3m for a long time.

 

Menzerna would work too but it may be too expensive. As a body shop I'm guessing you want to keep your costs low so something like M105 compared to Menzerna PG would work better because its cheaper and performs up to par imo. those are my 0.02.

You can pick up those products from our forum sponsors. check that out on our home page. Depending on where you are located there are a variety of suppliers available to you. Phil @ Detailers Domain, ken (911 Fanatic) @ autowerksexclusives are all there to help you out. shoot them a pm.

 

Whether Presta, Power Gloss or M105, it seems if they cut well they dust like crazy and in the case of M105, have short work times. I mistakenly grabbed the wrong squeeze bottle when using M105 once and added some Optimum Polish to the M105 impregnated pad. It dusted less, worked longer and cut as well, IME. A dab of OP when using M105 is now my recipe. Still, when compounding you're going to have dust and need to rewash the vehicle to remove it when you're done. Nature of the beast, IMO.

The only decent cutting compound I've used that doesn't dust and has longer working time is the new Optimum Hyper Compound Spray. I have very limited experience with it, merely gave it a tryout with a variety of pads on my DD after I pulled it out of the box. Seems to cut well, little to no dust, nice work time and it appeared to cut well with a cutting pad and finished nice with a finishing pad. Not that you'd normally use a finishing pad with a compound, I was just experimenting. YMMV.

TL

 

Meguairs M105 is best compound i have used and a lot of ppl like it, it does better job then Menzerna powergloss, finished a lot nicer too and in many cases you can do Menzerna 106 right after with great finish

 

So i ordered a sample of 105 off of Detailed Image since they were having their sale, last week.

And i finally had a chance to try it today. OMG best product i have ever seen.

My boss is a real non believer. We used to use Presta lol.
Well no more. I even let him try it on a fender panel after i had wet sanded it. And oh boy what a difference it makes.

I am buying a gallon haha.

Thank you Detailed Image for supplying a wonderful product at such a low price. I love this Columbus Day sale.

 

There is no need to thank detailed image...they dont sponsor this board anymore.

I love M105. It cuts better then Menz PG, and it finishes much better. If I need more correction than M105/surbuf pads can offer, Ill wetsand.

 

I have to say with surprising results that Ardex 1000 compound followed by Ardex 2500 polish works really well on fresh and factory paint. So if you can get Ardex stuff in your area, it's cheap and works well. It might be a little messy but not as bad as 3M compounds are.

 

are you referring to ardex 1000 as in ardex alpha grit? either way, i've used both products at my job pretty extensively and do not like either. we've since switched to the 3M line, but nonetheless, i've found the ardex compound to be much too gritty and aggressive. plus it dries up much too quickly. as far as the 2500 polish, i think its junk. its good for a quick once over for the dealer hack job, but its mostly fillers and has little actual corrective ability. it does spread around nicely though with the rotary.

 

Thank you guys. I already purchased a gallon of 105 and 205 through DI.
also lots of reading up of other peoples write ups.

Cannot wait to put these two to work. I want to make sure that when cars leave our shop they are polished very nicely so i just went with 105 since everyone has been saying nothing bad good things about it.

 

I do love M105 and 205. Having said that, I also love Presta UCCL. I had some of the UCC and it dusted a lot more. The UCCL is equivalent to the M205. Keep the pad clean and that will go a long way to diminishing your dust. Do it every panel if you need to. Depends on the paint. I have turned some great results using it.

 

oh wow, great to see I'm not the only one using it. I thought UCC would be an equivalent to 105 though?
and yes it does dust more then 105. its not really that big of a deal though since i do have to wash the cars afterwards either way.
however i do like the 105 more because of that non-deminishing quality. If you work in UCC for like a minute its gone unless you flood the pad with compound or really spray on your QD.
105 has a much longer work time.

I found that after you fully break down the UCC it leaves a greasy oil look on the paint and that really hides whatever you have left to polish. That grease is very difficult to wipe away.
Actually same thing with the 105. So i went out and bought some IPA.. i will need to start doing IPA wipe downs to get the best results and to make sure i get everything.

I also see a lot of body shops using wool pads to polish? any insight on that? is it faster or better or what?
I use my 3m compound pad and then various Uber pads to polish.

 

I haven't used it a lot yet but for what I have used it on it worked well for me. The 1000 seemed to cut quicker then 3M compound ( whool pad ) and didn't leave as much of those whool pad/compound scratchs that 3M did. I know Ardex isn't the greatest stuff to use, just thought I'd mention it for a quick cheap alternative.

 

The one I have used a lot is the Ultra Cutting Creme Light. The UCC I only tried once. I honestly don't remember my thoughts using it (I had a small, small sample to try). The UCCL is actually quite nice to use. For heavier cutting, stay with M105.

 

I personally like the M105 and M205 they leave a great finish and if you want to follow it up with Menzerna PO85RD to bring out maximum gloss. But for bodyshops using the Meguiars combo should yield great results each time and since you can get it in the gallon that is also a big plus.