Bewildered

[SilverSurfer]

Dear Megs,

My car cleaning products collection without a doubt consists mainly of Meguiar's products, and rightly so. However, the array of products you produce makes my head swim.

It seems to me that there must be products on the professional side of the aisle that we lowly consumer types might be able to use to our advantage. Obviously such products that are made to be applied by one of those high speed buffers don't interest me, but there might be others that can be applied by hand or orbital buffer that I'm missing out on.

If there is such a thing, what would be the BEST selection of products from your entire line to use on my driving machine. Perhaps the "bests" would have to be divided among the categories of durability, shine, ease of application, or the like.

Have you folks ever thought of some kind of product rating system to make selection a little easier on us dummies?

[Mike Phillips]

Hi SilverSurfer,

Well, to start with, this forum is an attempt to make things easier for Meguiar's users by giving them a place to ask question and read experiences that others have posted.

We would like to think this is a step in the right direction.

As to a list of top products drawing from the entire Meguiar's selection of products, that's only hard to do because everyone's personal preferences and skill level vary so widely.

Locating and obtaining products in the Professional Line and the Detailer Line can also be difficult, thus the reason I wrote this little how-to article,

How to locate Meguiar’s Professional & Detailer products in your hometown

What kind of cars do you own? and what are your general car care goals?

Mike

[SilverSurfer]

Vehicles:

2001 Monte Carlo (black) [ungaraged wifemobile]
2002 Intrigue (bronzemist) [garage kept]
1992 Grand Am (dark red garnet) [ungaraged-my car]

Looking for excellent shine and reasonable, but not spectacular durability.

Need the stuff it takes to bring back decent looks to the badly neglected Grand Am and to get rid of the water spots (and keep them from returning) on the Monte.

Intrigue is doing swell without much attention mainly because it doesn't see the light of day very often.

Via email a while back a Meguiar's person straightened out my confusion on your tire care products by rating them on the basis of shine and durability. That was a tremendous help and strongly influenced my buying decision next trip to Advance. That's what I'm looking for on the polish and wax products.

[Mike Phillips]

Hi SilverSurfer,

It can be hard to recommend one product over another because with the right technique anyone can get great results with any of the Meguiar's products in both the Consumer Line and the Professional line.

From the Consumer Line,

*
* Quick Clay System for removing bonded contaminants
* ScratchX for a Paint Cleaner by hand, Deep Crystal Paint cleaner for use with an Orbital or a PC
* Deep Crystal Polish for use by hand or machine
* Deep Crystal Carnauba Wax, Gold Class, or NXT for protection.

From the Professional Line,

* #9 Swirl Remover 2.0 for either hand or machine application for cleaning and polishing the paint. For more aggressive cleaning by hand, go with ScratchX, for more aggressive cleaning by machine, go with #83 DACP

* Final polishing, #81 Hand Polish
#26 Hi Tech Yellow Wax, #98 Medallion Premium Paint Protectant, or #16 Professional Paste Wax for protection.

Or... mix and match a little from both lines.

Did this help? or hurt?

Mike

[SilverSurfer]

You've helped clear up some of my confusion that's for sure.

Just a little more specific in the professional/consumer "mix and match" vein would be real nice. Or even which ones are in the same league.

The Medallion product particularly intrigues me. Is it your very best? It's cost is certainly right up there?

Thanks for sticking with me on this.

[tguil]

SilverSurfer,

Welcome and be careful. This site may be dangerous to your billfold and your free time.

Last summer I started out like you did and now I have a couple of hundred dollars worth of Meguiar's products, some exotic stuff called Blackfire from another company, a Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher, a new Makita rotary polisher, foam pads, microfiber bonnets, and a whole bunch of microfiber polishing cloths and towels.

I'm also polishing and waxing my two trucks and two motorcyles more often than I ever have before. Heck, I even wax my John Deere tractor. All of my toys look so darned good that I just have to keep them that way 100 percent of the time.

Fortunately this is a pretty safe obsession. I can't afford to see a "shrink" since all of my spare cash has been spent on detailing stuff.

You might want to stick pretty much with the professional line and get it from an autobody supply house or order it directly from Meguiar's if you can't get it at Advance, but that is pretty much up to you.

I've used both the Medallion Premium Paint Cleaner and the Medallion Preminum Paint Protection. They seem to be a good working pair. I think that they would be a good start. You also might want to consider buying a Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher. It makes detailing fun and does a great job of making vehicles look their very best.

Tom

[SilverSurfer]

Tom,

It's too late. I've already gone over the edge with Meguiar's products and MF stuff. Still eyeing a PC, however.

I also am now keeping my vehicles cleaner than ever before and doing it the right way. Long gone are the days of pouring some Tide or dishwashing detergent in a bucket and having at it.

Thanks very much for your insight. It's much appreciated.

[tguil]

SilverSurfer,

If you buy a PC (and they are definitely worth the money) go with #83 DACP and NXT on your Grand Am and Monte Carlo and perhaps Medallion Premium Paint Cleaner and NXT on your Integra. You may end up using the DACP on the Integra too.

DACP and NXT seems to be the most popular combination on this forum and it is my personal favorite. It's darned near "magic".

Tom

[SilverSurfer]

Tom,

OK. That's good information to have. Gives me more confidence in trying a combination that has a solid backing from many users.

Now, if I can convince the Missus that a new PC would be a good investment to help keep HER Intrigue (not Intrepid) looking like a new one . . .

[tguil]

SilverSurfer,

Oh well, they both start with "Intr..."

Here's an excellent site for information on the pc.

http://www.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=47

It's darned near impossible to mess up using one.

Tom

[SilverSurfer]

Tom,

Very interesting and useful article. Thanks for the reference.

Looks to me like pads and the like could be quite an expense on top of the PC's cost.

[tguil]

SilverSurfer,

You could probably start out with a five inch backing plate and one 6.5 inch cutting pad, two 6.5 inch polishing pads and one 6.5 inch finishing pad. You'll not really need the microfiber bonnets. Both Meguiar's and Classic Motoring Accessories http://www.properautocare.com/ are good sources of pads, etc. I like both the CMA pads and the Meguiar's pads. On this forum folks tend to prefer the Meguiar's pads. I bought my pc from CMA as well as my first set of pads. I bought my most recent pads from the Mequiar's website.

Tom