Little info sent to me from 3M

Alan,
Thank you for contacting 3M. We appreciate your interest in our products.

There is no difference between the Ultrafina Polish sold in Europe vs. the
Ultrafina we sell here. It is directly imported from our manufacturing
site here in the USA, The products are identical.

Regarding the pads, they are basically the same (meaning they are
manufactured to the same specification). The difference is the country of
origin for the foam. The USA version has foam that is made in America, the
European version is manufactured with foam made in Europe, It is slightly
darker in color - that is the main difference. It would not make sense to
ship foam across the ocean.

Thanks for the inquiry.


Steven J. Tarnowski
AAD Technical Service
3M Automotive Aftermarket Division
3M Automotive Aftermarket US car cars auto autos automobile automobiles automotive care product products perfect trizact duramix detail detailing protect protects protection stripe striping clean cleans cleaning repair repairs repairing fix fixes fix
1-877-666-2277


this is what I was told before also when I called and talked to a Tech advisor...

so to clear the air they are the same...just cheaper here is all...

Al

 

Good Info AL, definitely go with the Made in USA.

 

I have suspected this all along.. same story is true with the UK vs USA Menzerna variants

Thanks for confirming this and passing along

 

Hi Al,
Thanks for sharing your findings. I thought there were VOC compliancy differences, but apparently not.

Did they say anything about producing 6 inch UF pads in the US?

 

When I talked on the phone with them on 2 things..the foam backing plate and the pads also...

the foam backing plate is in review by marketing to see whether its a profitable product here...also they are considering a 6 in pad market..if the pads come into play then the plate will also...

remember that they are sales geared to body shops and not detailers per say...but they seen a possible market for the products named in the future...they must read the forums as it was stated the pads may come out for the Flex..and is so a plate for the rotary will follow if market is good

Al

 

But Al, it's so much cooler when you're using the UK-imported 3M! You can use that as an upsell when quoting a customer!!!

 

Hmm that's interesting, I believe carlos experianced the pads being different with 3M. Maybe he'll chime in with more info, i could be totally thinking of something else.

 

after seeing a few threads with the mention of 3Ms blue UF pad (uK) ..i googled the pad here in the US and the two pads seem to be identical..

AL..thanks for taking the time to post the informatiom..

 

I haven't seen the blue 3M pads at the auto body supply store yet. Other than that, I wouldn't doubt its the same.

 

the color is a bit lighter on the US pads....the UK ones are the same color as the trizact pads...

Al

 

the darker pad is the trizact pad you mention 3m list the 2 pads on their US site as well

 

Great info Al. Thanks for digging that up.

 

Great info Al, thanks for posting it.:thumb:

 

Thats interesting, I have heard that the lubrication used is different due to VOC compliance.

 

thanks for the info Al

 

Man, I'm so glad I got some of each!!!!!! insert sarcasm here!

 

Very interesting info Al...:thinking: :thinking: but maybe it's just me and my wacky ideas but it just seems to feel different when you use the UK version vs the US version...hmmm..maybe it's just me :crasy:

Even the pads have way different bite to them, they both feel soft but the UK version really has a superior bite to the blue polishing pad the US/Canada 3M offers...mmmm..this is very interesting.

But yes your right, 3M is completely geared up towards body shops..man it's incredable how well 3M has promoted there products in body shops, very impresive indeed...but hopefully us detailers will get enough attention from 3M to start brining the same UK products to US/Canada.

Thanks for sharing that info with us Al, very interesting indeed eace:

 

interesting info indeed.

 

Thanks for the info Al really appreciate you getting to the bottom of this.

 

wow looks like I will be trying 3m shortly then