3M SMR troubles!

T

tjharvey

New member
I purchased 3M SMR, Meguiars #7 Glaze and S100 paste wax and figured I would hit a few spots with SMR to begin with. What a nightmare! I put a big 500watt work light on the area and went to work. I was applying it by hand with a 100% cotton towel. All it seems to do is create more swirls and dull the paint even more!! I went over it with Meg #7 glaze but it still looks duller than it did. I'm thinking that SMR just isn't meant to be applied by hand or something. I'm going to give it a try with a rotary buffer at around 1000RPM and a 3M polishing pad. Hopefully this will help? I am trying to get the paint to look flawless and my car is only 4 months old! The only thing I can think of is if my towel just isn't good anymore and it is scratching the paint?



I dawned the car today to remove the existing Zaino, which I wasn't too happy with on black. I was hoping S100 would do the trick.



Also, how many coats of the #7 glaze should i put on before topping with S100?



Any input is appreciated.
 
did you work the smr in? the first time i tried smr i did it by hand and i wasn't satisfied with the results. then i got a pc and got much better results. be careful with the rotary, you could do more damage than good.



i used the s100 paint cleanser before i applied s100 and was impressed with the result. i've also used #7 under blitz but it seemed to wear off after a few days. i think you'll find the s100 wax very easy to use.
 
blkcaz06 said:




I dawned the car today to remove the existing Zaino, which I wasn't too happy with on black. I was hoping S100 would do the trick.



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Dawn will NOT remove Zaino, never!



You will need isopropanol or alcohol to do that job.



The SMR realy must be worked in .



Christiaan
 
The reason most of us have PC's is because we tried it by hand. Everyone should try polishing by hand at least once just to be able to appreciate the PC. There are still decision to make which pad and which polish but there is really only one PC.
 
Woah - just a few things here (sorry for echoing points already raised by others):



-how are you using the SMR? You have to really rub it in for a (pretty) long time by hand. Stopping too early may lead to swirls. Also, be careful how you use a cotton towel. Often if the towel is only a few layers thick it's all too easy to concentrate too much pressure in a few spots with your finger tips and you can cause bad scratches (even if you use MF). For this reason, people more often like to use foam pads or at least foam-backed terry pads, which distrubute the pressure more evenly.



-what kind/brand towel is it and where is it made? Many cheap Indian/Pakistan made towels say "100% cotton" but either aren't or are just hopelessly coarse...



-Dawn won't strip off Zaino. Did you have Zaino on this car before attempting this? If so, it's a very real possibility that the swirling and dulling you created is not in the paint at all, but just in the layers of Zaino just getting all beat up.



-unless you're already a pro with the rotary I would not EVER attempt using it to fix this. There is probably a hand-applied solution.



-a retail pre-wax paint cleaner will also strip off Zaino as well as alcohol.



-you really only need 1 even coat of #7, but do a second one if it makes you feel better.



-Welcome to Autopia :)
 
Try using foam applicator pads as suggested. If you're ending up with a dulled surface or with less of a gloss factor than before you applied the SMR (by hand) then you may not be working it long enough or you might be leaving residue behind or both. You might also want to be careful that your work light isn't causing the SMR to dry up pre-maturely. Just a couple ideas.
 
If you want to get an incredible look go back to the motorcycle store and get S100 Gloss Enhancing Polish. Put that on first after removing the Zaino, then use one coat of #7. It will give a great gloss.
 
Glaze over the wax??



VV



mrdetailer said:
If you want to get an incredible look go back to the motorcycle store and get S100 Gloss Enhancing Polish. Put that on first after removing the Zaino, then use one coat of #7. It will give a great gloss.
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ROFL. I skimmed too fast. Thought he meant the wax, not the cleanser. Thanks for setting me straight :)



VV



v85097 said:
I think he meant the glaze over the polish but in any case you'd want to wax over the glaze.
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