My experience with M105

L

LosGatosJim

New member
I had some water spot etching on the top of my car and hood. I thought I would try M105 and see what I could get out. I was able to improve but not totally correct.

I used a flex 3401 with a meg MF cutting pad. I primed the pad full of M105 and fluffed up with a blast of compressed air.

1st pass looked fine, but on the second pass the polished started to literally disappear. I have watched many videos on M105 and I have not seen this. I tried adding more polish but this kept happening. I was in the shade, not too hot out. On the plus side it did work fairly well and removing the polish with my microfiber was very easy as it was almost all gone.

Any ideas on why this happened?
 
Sound like you may have heated up the pad/surface. Some people like to do a little water spritz to extend the work time of the M105. The other thing is that you need to fluff up the fibers with your compressed air as you are polishing, if they get matted down (I mean you may have wanted to blow the pad between your first and second passes).
 
As Setec said, sounds almost like it dried out, or you dried it out with "fluffing up the pad".

Also as he said, try a spritz of water. Maybe change to 101, has better work time
 
Ronkh said:
As Setec said, sounds almost like it dried out, or you dried it out with "fluffing up the pad".
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Thanks Ron, for emphasizing that, that the fluffing should be done before the polish application, not after.

EDIT: Hold the phone...I obviously needed some more caffeine...OP you are using a MF pad on your Flex 3401? No one seems to like the way the Flex works with a MF pad--that may also be part of your problem. When I first got into using MF pads I had actually bought some for my Flex but wound up never trying them because everyone said the forced-rotation just didn't work well with the MF. So you might want to try switching to a foam pad or wool, even, or using the MF on a non-forced DA.
 
Yes. I used the MF DA version of the pads on my Flex 3401. I've seen people get mixed results with this combo and decided to try it for myself. This combo worked well with Menzerna polish. There was a bit of grabbing on panels that had some give like the top of the car. It took more effort to control the flex with a mf pad than with a foam pad.

I think the M105 polish dried out and dusted and caked into the MF pad. I tried with and without compressed air and before and after adding polish found no difference. I had 6 mf pads so I was able to test a few different things. I sprayed a littler water and that did help keep the polish on the car. All in all a foam pad worked better for me with M105 and the flex.

My car is feels smooth and looks good in the shade. In the sun I can still see many tiny etched water marks on the top of car and hood.
 
some paints dont like the MF pad for me. I will usually switch to an orange pad and the results are smoother polishing with cleaner results
 
A 3401 gets really hot, really fast. Sometimes mine has gotten so hot you can't touch the bolt to change the backing plate. Then you add the Megs MF pad which also gets hot and 105 that works really fast and your product is going to dry up quickly. The only MF pads I like on the 3401 is the Buff & Shine + something other than 105, like D300 or FG400. I would try a LC Hybrid Cutting pad + M101 and see what it does to the etching.
 
Maybe try a shorter work time. I try to not let the M105 get too dried-out (yeah, that can be a challenge and is why some folks don't like the stuff).
 
Forced rotation and microfibre works fantastic for me. The problem is the polish formula. It contains a solvent that dries out quick and overall it's way too dry of a formula
If I can use forced with mf at 14 to 30mm orbit throw with my machines then a flex is no problem

You can spritz water with m105 because it's solvent based, but you can make it more aggressive. However water based as I'm using I can't. It washes out the lubricants and then the polish breaks down to nothing. after 23 years and 130 brands tested, I believe that any polish that is dry all the time, dries real quick or needs water to keep it going is a bad formula and should be replaced with one that films perfectly on every surface and stays moist no matter how long you work it, after all finishing with a moist film is one of the keys to a great finish

Oil in water formula is better than water in oil.
Best polshes start Clear and finish clear, not starting cloudy nd becoming clear near the end
 
IMO the short work time of M105 is not a "problem" at all, though I might not go so far as to call it a "feature". It can force the user to work small areas and to do the correction incrementally. OK, that can be inefficient with regard to time, but *IMO* the pros outweigh the cons in many cases.

And it doesn't "change much" when worked as it doesn't break down. It was the first nondiminishing abrasive product I tried and I found that I vastly prefer that over those that do diminish if only because you can simply *stop abrading* as soon as the goal has been attained.

Eh, guess everybody has their preferences/not but for some reason I found M105 to be a pretty easy product to get dialed-in with. Just wish it had more cut (which is why I finally got M101).
 
I have added water to 105 to make it work and I have also added baby oil (what a mess) when I had a black car that would mar up like mad (flat black, soft Infiniti) Still have nightmares about that paint.
 
Its a good product no doubt but it wasn't the first non diminishing abrasive released
if you want more cut out of it, use super powerful pads.
What pad lineup do you have?

At the end of the day, it's not the speed of correction but how good the finish is that matters most,renny Doyle agrees with me on that one.
 
Detailology Oz said:
Its a good product no doubt but it wasn't the first non diminishing abrasive released
if you want more cut out of it, use super powerful pads.
What pad lineup do you have?
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I can't recall using a nondiminishing product before the M105, but then I don't try all that much stuff as I hardly ever do correction any more.

Yeah, pads always make a big diff though the MF Cutting disks seem t work well. I couldn't begin to catalog my pads, must have dozens of 'em that I've accumulated over the last however-many decades. Heh heh, M105 sure *does* cut when used with some wool pads, but that's not an approach I prefer over M101 on a milder pad, just a personal preference.

I *do* bet that one of the newer pads (the B&S lineup comes to mind) would be worth having, but I might never buy another pad in this lifetime!
 
Accumulator said:
I can't recall using a nondiminishing product before the M105, but then I don't try all that much stuff as I hardly ever do correction any more.

Yeah, pads always make a big diff though the MF Cutting disks seem t work well. I couldn't begin to catalog my pads, must have dozens of 'em that I've accumulated over the last however-many decades. Heh heh, M105 sure *does* cut when used with some wool pads, but that's not an approach I prefer over M101 on a milder pad, just a personal preference.

I *do* bet that one of the newer pads (the B&S lineup comes to mind) would be worth having, but I might never buy another pad in this lifetime!
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There is a pretty big lineup of pads

Denim
velvet
silk
rayon
felt
all sorts of wools including soft polishing wool from new Zealand that's super fine grade. Best in the world along with Tasmanian wool for gentler polishing or paint deep cleaning
surbufs
Microfibre
foams from Europe, Japan, Australia and new zealand oh and american
Spiders, UHS pad

Probably some other pads out there too I forgot to mention
Lots of choice and results achievable

Im a rayon fan. Finish out flawless As does denim ie marring free

The pad and plate IMO are more important than the product
 
M105/M205 used to be the 1-2 punch for polishing paint.

There are a lot if issues with M105. work time, flashing/drying etc.
...and as some have said the M105, megs mf discs and 3401 combo.

The Megs mf discs are designed to go "no faster that 4800 opm"

My first suggestion is to switch away from M105.
If you mist M105 with water to revitalize, prepare to clean nasty splatter!

Have you tried D300? It has less cut than M105 but it's a LOT friendlier.

For heavily swirled paint I might suggest M101 with a Carpro Flash pad.
Same cut as M105 but again a LOT friendlier and it finishes out nice too!

NOTE: Since I switched to M101 I've never picked up the bottle of M105.
 
Merlin said:
M105/M205 used to be the 1-2 punch for polishing paint.


Have you tried D300? It has less cut than M105 but it's a LOT friendlier.
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Yup. 105/205 was my go-to until I ran into the hard clear of PPG on a respray.

I tried out D300 just this last weekend. I was able to do MUCH more with D300 on Megs MF Cut disc with the GG6 on speed 4, than I did with M105 on orange Hex Logic pad with the PC on speed 5. It was like 1 pass can do more than 2-2.5 passes of the old setup.

And OHMYGAWD the D300 wipe off is SOOOOO much easier. And the smell...so good.
 
Merlin said:
D300 is cinnamon and D301 is Blueberry! I'm not sure about D302...maybe vanilla?
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if the blueberry is close to blueberry, the way cinnamon is cinnamony, then count me in for a bottle!!! LOVE blueberry muffins.
Hmm. Vanilla? I like vanilla. That would be interesting.

The Guz said:
Try D300 on the new thin Meguiar's cutting pad. It's a very good combo.
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You mean the Xtra Cut Discs? I was thinking about those.
 
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