For the past two days I’ve been doing some side by side comparisons of 3M SMR, Klasse AIO, Blackfire GEP, and P21S GEPC on a 27 y.o. car with very neglected OEM orange paint.
I did three groups each with three test areas. All three groups are the same vertical panel.
Groups #1, 2, and 3 got a Dawn wash
Group #1 got clayed and SMRed
Group #2 got only SMRed
Group #3 got no further prep.
Groups #1, 2, and 3 got a Z-7 wash
Area 1a, 2a, & 3a got AIO
Area 1b, 2b, & 3b got GEP
Area 1c, 2c, & 2c got GEPC
Half of each area in each group got 3M IHG
All areas got spritzed with Z-6 and wiped down to get rid of oils
Conclusions at this point:
The claying did not affect the final shine, but it sure did make the surface feel squeaky smooth!
SMR makes a tremendous improvement in the final shine.
Both AIO & GEP are about equally aggressive, GEPC is very mild.
If I gave SMR a rating of 100, then AIO and GEP would be about 40, and GEPC is at 10 for polishing.
IHG does no polishing, but does improve the final shine by a very small amount. IMO that’s because it fills the very fine marring left by the polishes.
Next I quit playing with the unclayed groups and focused on group 1a, 1b, & 1c.
Area 1a got Klasse HGSG
Area 1b got BF 2 AFPP
Area 1c got Zaino Z-1 & Z-5
Conclusions at this point (one layer of sealant):
Zaino & Blackfire are about equal. Z has a little more “sparkle� and BF2 has a little more “depth�
Klasse is behind both Z and BF2 in both sparkle and depth.
I’ve applied a second coat of sealant, but won’t buff until tomorrow.
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I’ve also been playing for the past couple of weeks with these products on my Jet Black roadster which has 30+ coats of Zaino on top of a clayed, SMRed, GEPCed, and IHGed base. I used several test area, played with layering compatibility, looked for ease of use, swirl filling/hiding, sparkle, depth, etc.
Far from final conclusions on this one:
Klasse dropped out quickly, much harder to buff off and 3rd place in shine - but it seems to layer okay with the others.
BF GEP and AIO are about equal in swirl hiding/filling and far ahead of Z-5.
With BF2 it is easier to get a smooth & even coat than with Z-5/ZFX or Z-2/ZFX and that makes it easier to buff off and you use a lot less product.
BF2 leaves a very slight oily film which is only visible in bright sunlight. It comes off with a little wiping with a QD or distilled water.
I’ve also played a very little with topping both Zaino and BF2 with Souverän Liquid. Much better depth - no other conclusions for awhile.
For your soft painted hood I’d highly recommend that you stay away from the PC - - use a microfiber applicator and 3M SMR, top that with P21S GEPC by hand, top that with IHG by hand, wash with Z-7, then 2 coats of Z-5/ZFX and a final coat of Z-2. Although Mr. Z says that you can do the layering right away if you use ZFX instead of Z-1, I recommend that for these first three coats you wait for 2-4 hours before buffing, and another 4-6 hours before applying the next layer.
Good luck!
