Greg Nichols said:
Has anyone else seen what happens when you IPA after a 105/205 polishing?
I've spent the last few days noticing that 105 and 205 look outstanding, until you wipe them down with 91% IPA, then slight marring shows up. I took some photos I'll upload soon.
My technique was the KBM, using PFW (rotary), Megs 2.0 burg and black pads (RO). I messed around with my methods but get marring no matter what.
I'm stoping short of saying these two fill defects until further notice...........
Cheers,
GREG
New to this forum...hope it's OK I chime in?
If you had defect free results before an IPA wipe down, and you had defects revealed after the IPA wipe...then your logical conclusion is the defects were temporaily masked. An IPA wipe does not generate the kind of micro defect a DA tool will create, nor does any type towel. If you do enough DA polishing, you know what a DA haze looks like. It's unique and unmistakable.
I'll get to filling defects in a minute, but first a comment about the DA haze.
DA haze is a defect produced by a combination of several variables in the DA polishing process. The top coat hardness, tool speed, user downward pressure, liquid formula, number of passes, and pad type...to name a few. If you get a DA haze, it is a rush to judgement to say it is the fault of the polish. The fact is, when you experience a DA haze on a car, you are likely to get a DA haze with a wide variety of liquid/pad combinations. A DA haze says more about the paint than any other variable, although the other variables play a role. You will come across paint that will DA haze no matter what you do, even with the softest pad with a non-abrasive wax. I estimate that 20-30% of the paint you will polish on is susceptible to DA hazing. And if you have already drilled down to your most mellow liquid/pad combination...you need to switch to hand application to finish out defect free. Simple as that.
Filling of defects...the topic has two facets. One has to do with the realities of any product application, and the other has to do with the product itself.
1) I believe on the black limo you experienced filling. I'm not alarmed nor surprised by this. Happens all the time...to you...to me...and to others who polish cars. Many applications of a compound, polish, or wax can result in filling...even if the product was not intended to fill at all. Any product can do it. You can take a polish and apply a drop on the paint of 10 cars, smash each drop down to a flat even layer of polish, and then wait until dry. When you wipe the polish residue off each car...what will you find? You will find 2-3 cars have no difference from the surrounding paint. 3-5 cars will have darkening of color and hiden defects on that spot, and the rest may have significant darkening of color and major hiding of defects. This will happen with a wide variety of products including compounds, polishes, and waxes. Now...you have taken the variable of machine or hand application out of the equation. And the result was filling and not filling...same product, but spread out over 10 different paints. With an IPA wipe down, most of the spots on the 10 cars reverted to their same look as the untreated paint. When you add in the variable of machine application on those same 10 cars...you will also expreience a spread of filling and non-filling results over the 10 cars...same product. Every product, any brand, has the potential for hiding defects. Which is why some kind of IPA or glass cleaner wipe down is recommended on a spot check bases before waxing a car. So why is it that the same product can result in filling on some cars and not on others? It's a combination of variables that will make your head spin.
2) Some products fill because they were designed to do so. All manufacturers of car care products know exactly what ingredients they need to put in a product to get it to hide paint defects. It's actually basic chemistry and not very difficult to create a product intended to hide. Some ingredients can actually be described as durable fillers, and hide defects more robustly than others. As a product developer, detail enthusiast, and long time detailer myself...I don't like any filling properties in a compound or subsequent polish. These are two polishing steps I hope to have "what you see is what you get" results. Waxing can hide defects, I'm OK with that. We, Meguiar's that is, believe that most professional detailers feel the same way. Which is why you will not find the ingredients of M105 or M205 to include intentional fillers.
Here are the honest facts on product development for Meguiar's in the polish category...
- We know a product will not generate the same result consistently on every car, every time.
- So, we build the product to do what we hope it will do on every car, every time.
- Then we do hundreds of global products tests in multiple climates with mulitple users. The most we can possibly accomplish with time and resources.
- With hundreds of test results, we plot them on a graph. It should calculate out to a bell curve that supports 75% or more positive matches to the target performance.
- If it doesn't, the product is rejected and we are back to development work.
I can tell you that our product performance pre-market validation for M105 and M205 were the strongest results we have achieved with any product for many years.
Getting the first bottle sold to detailers is easy. But detailers like yourself will not conitnue to buy a product that does not deliver on it's claims. Our product claims are based on a bell curve however. Which means not all users will accept the performance of the product. And some users will find the product does not perform the same all the time. But this is the reality of polishing products. We didn't create that world, we just live in it.
Our sales of M105 and M205 are beyond our wildest expectations. Which means someone besides me likes the stuff.
Sorry for the long post. I guess the main take away is to think of results in terms of a bell curve and not an experience on one or two cars. And to be mindful of the many other variables impacting your results. Unfortunately, it's not a simple matter of kicking the liquid product to the curb when you have an unexpected or undesireable result.
Sincerely hope this information helps,
Jason