I think about stuff all the time, and I kinda thought of this, and I want to know if others might or might not agree.
I decided to spend the last year learning how to use the Meguiar's products. I had a couple reasons for this. First, they are readily available. Second, IMO they form a "base line"; since they are readily available, everyone knows how they work and what they look like, so they would serve as a common point of reference. "Better than Meg's" and "not as good as Meg's" would be more commonly understood than "better than MulletWax".
Along the way, I learned a lot about how the products actually work; how an abrasive level of "6" for DACP is not the same thing as a "6" for #1 Medium Cut Cleaner, why #7 is hard to remove if you don't follow instructions properly, how all the different last stage products work (and Meg's has a lot of them!), stuff like that. I've produced some results that I think I can be justifiably proud of, particularly the black Audi...
And of course you're all sick of this one by now, but I'm not...
And I've decided that my initial postulate, that Meg's could serve as a common reference, is flawed.
My new postulate is, I could have chosen any product line, and produced the same results. I could have chosen 3M. Mother's. Poorboys. Griot's. They're ALL good, and used properly will give excellent results. Meguiar's has one tremendous advantage in that you can find a Meg's product for just about anything, short of taping off your car and painting it for you. I happened to pick Meguiar's, for the reason above: common availability. What I learned wasn't how to use Meg's, exactly, but how to take time, and how to be careful, and how to remember what I used in some situations so that I could repeat the results (at one point I accidentally created a 1/4" spot of bare metal in the middle of my hood; I defy anyone to find it without close inspection). I've achieved results with Meguiar's that I feel cannot be bettered by using a different product. Absolutely they could be equalled, but not bettered. Therefore, the concept of a baseline product is wrong.
THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT EVERYONE SHOULD USE MEGUIAR'S! It is to say, learn completely how to use the products you like to produce superior results! Understand their actions. For example, Souveran paste, P21S, S100 all are beauty waxes, where the protection is average (4 weeks) for a wax, but the "pop" has limited durability. But, the reason you chose them wasn't for the protection (or else you'd have picked something else). So for best results (ie, maximum beauty) use them frequently (a characteristic offset by their ease of use). If you are hooked on Zaino, learn the ins and outs of the Z line, so that you're not standing there staring at it wondering why it doesn't look like the cars you saw on the internet.
So, in the words of Jack Anderson, channeled through Mike Phillips, "Find something you like and use it often." I'll add the words, study it. When it doesn't work, figure out why, because it's been working for other people (ie, work DACP to the end, or it won't polish out well). It's about learning what to use and how to use it, but when you know why it works, the lights go on.
Tom
I decided to spend the last year learning how to use the Meguiar's products. I had a couple reasons for this. First, they are readily available. Second, IMO they form a "base line"; since they are readily available, everyone knows how they work and what they look like, so they would serve as a common point of reference. "Better than Meg's" and "not as good as Meg's" would be more commonly understood than "better than MulletWax".
Along the way, I learned a lot about how the products actually work; how an abrasive level of "6" for DACP is not the same thing as a "6" for #1 Medium Cut Cleaner, why #7 is hard to remove if you don't follow instructions properly, how all the different last stage products work (and Meg's has a lot of them!), stuff like that. I've produced some results that I think I can be justifiably proud of, particularly the black Audi...
And of course you're all sick of this one by now, but I'm not...
And I've decided that my initial postulate, that Meg's could serve as a common reference, is flawed.
My new postulate is, I could have chosen any product line, and produced the same results. I could have chosen 3M. Mother's. Poorboys. Griot's. They're ALL good, and used properly will give excellent results. Meguiar's has one tremendous advantage in that you can find a Meg's product for just about anything, short of taping off your car and painting it for you. I happened to pick Meguiar's, for the reason above: common availability. What I learned wasn't how to use Meg's, exactly, but how to take time, and how to be careful, and how to remember what I used in some situations so that I could repeat the results (at one point I accidentally created a 1/4" spot of bare metal in the middle of my hood; I defy anyone to find it without close inspection). I've achieved results with Meguiar's that I feel cannot be bettered by using a different product. Absolutely they could be equalled, but not bettered. Therefore, the concept of a baseline product is wrong.
THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT EVERYONE SHOULD USE MEGUIAR'S! It is to say, learn completely how to use the products you like to produce superior results! Understand their actions. For example, Souveran paste, P21S, S100 all are beauty waxes, where the protection is average (4 weeks) for a wax, but the "pop" has limited durability. But, the reason you chose them wasn't for the protection (or else you'd have picked something else). So for best results (ie, maximum beauty) use them frequently (a characteristic offset by their ease of use). If you are hooked on Zaino, learn the ins and outs of the Z line, so that you're not standing there staring at it wondering why it doesn't look like the cars you saw on the internet.
So, in the words of Jack Anderson, channeled through Mike Phillips, "Find something you like and use it often." I'll add the words, study it. When it doesn't work, figure out why, because it's been working for other people (ie, work DACP to the end, or it won't polish out well). It's about learning what to use and how to use it, but when you know why it works, the lights go on.
Tom
