Looking for an aggressive replacement for my 3M Compound

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Danspeed1

New member
Hello,

In detailing my personal vehicle this past week, I ran into the first time, in a long time where my compound really met its match. I have a 2009 CTS-V in Tri-Coat Red. The clear on this car was rock hard and heavily scratched and marred. I didn`t even take before and afters because I thought this was going to be a, two pass and done sort of deal. It certainly wasn`t! I started by busting out the M105 with my DA on orange; quickly moved to my Rotary when nothing changed. That didn`t help either. Swapped out the foam for wool. It started to knock it down but was taking forever. Switched over to 3D ACA500 which is my usual go to for quick results. Nope. At the back of my detailing cabinet sat a 1/4 full container of 3M Perfect-IT Extra Cut Rubbing Compound 06060. This was the last stand, and thankfully this product has never let me down. It did a great job getting the finish ready for a few polishing stages. Car looks great, finish is perfect, AND MY BOTTLE IS EMPTY :unsure:. I went online this afternoon to order a new bottle in case I run into this issue again, and to my surprise... I think its been discontinued. I was looking for some replacement options, but I am not sure what direction to look. I know my ACA500 is pretty aggressive so I want to keep something on hand thats a little more brutal, but I am not sure what that is. Please advise.
 
Dan said:
I`m not up on the latest but M101 even gets minor scratches off glass for me.
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While I haven`t tried it on glass...that`s what I would have posted had Dan not beaten me to it. M101 *works*. In fact, better take it easy on that Tri-Coat lest you reduce it to a Bi-Coat ;) Yeah, really. And FWIW, while no compound has ever finished out OK for me, M101 doesn`t leave all that much hazing as long as you don`t use a crazy-aggressive pad (which is *NOT* necessary anyhow, no matter how hard the paint is).
 
M101 rarely gets attention but it`s a great product. I`ve even did very light spot work with it by hand. That impressed me.
 
Have had great success with the old M105 and M205, way, way, back when they first came out.. On a variety of all the American, British, German, and a few Italian vehicles, an Airplane, and one huge boat...

Had a good amount of experience with the 3M compound/polish line, when I was working as a Painter in an body and paint shop..

M105 had to be the compound on a really dirty, never corrected airplane with a beautiful paint job that had aged forever, before they called me.

I used M105 with the Lake Country Purple Foam Wool Pads, my Makita Rotary and a backing plate for 5" pads on the tricky places, and 6" plate and pads on the long, forever, tail and oh yeah, don`t forget to do the underside of all that wingspan and tail...Oh, and all those Rivets !!!! :) Pad killers.... :) Finished all of it with M205 and Lake Country White foam pads, to a blinding gloss in the sun..

M105 finished down pretty great alone, using a lot of moisture sprayed on as I went, and working the compound all the way to - nothing...

Don`t know your process with your D/A or your Rotary, so I can`t comment on why you had the issues, etc., with that paint... I only use Rotary Power...

Another great paint corrector for me is Optimum Hyper Polish... It will continue to cut until you stop the machine... It finishes down really great way faster than M101/105, and depending on how the paint is and the scratches depth, it may be another option....

Hope you are using a good, reliable paint thickness gauge and know how to measure in microns... :)
Dan F.
 
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Anyone try Scholl`s Concepts High Performance Cutting Compound S3 Gold XXL?
From what I have read about it, it was designed for hard clear coat finishes.
Another compound to consider is Menzerna`s Heavy Cut Compound 400.

If someone comes up with a value and measurement term for the hardness of a clear coat finish surface, let me know.
Rock-hard is a subjective term and assessment. I am am looking for a definitive and quantifiable number relating to a measurement term or title, similar to Mohs, Rockwell, or Shore.
Like CO 100, "CO" meaning Captain Obvious and 100 being like front windshield glass and zero(0) being like the gloss black of a Bentley that supposedly scratches or swirls just by breathing on it... Well, I tried.
 
So Bentley is like BMW jet black? Better keep it in the garage often and never drive in bad weather
 
A detailer in my area recommended feynlab A50 super heavy cutting compound. This product works magic. 6-8 passes on the Rupes DA using a megs wool pad. Zero dust, is clears out swirls, scratches, and to an extent RIDS very effectively. If you have to do any light wet sanding, this product with save your back, and literally trim down your polishing time by at least half. I was sceptical until I tried it. Not cheap, but it does the job and really saves on multiple passes. I go straight from A50 to a finishing pad and final polish (I have not tried the feynlab final finish, but plan to when my Menzerna runs out).
 
Lonnie said:
Anyone try Scholl`s Concepts High Performance Cutting Compound S3 Gold XXL?
From what I have read about it, it was designed for hard clear coat finishes.


Another compound to consider is Menzerna`s Heavy Cut Compound 400.
Click to expand...
I`m a big fan of Scholl Concepts. I have several of their products.

Yes, I`ve used S3 Gold XXL. Very impressive compound. Much prefer it to M105. Very good cut on hard clear, long work time, no dust, and great finish.
 
Lonnie said:
Anyone try Scholl`s Concepts High Performance Cutting Compound S3 Gold XXL?
From what I have read about it, it was designed for hard clear coat finishes.
Click to expand...
Yes, I`ve tried it several times. Very good cut, long work time. Finish not too bad.
 
I have 10+ heavy compounds from multiple brands, from megs to rupes.

The other day I finished a s/s black Toyota Prado. Super hard paint with bad scratches and swirls. I tried all my heavy compounds (with rotary/wool) in sequence and was frustrated by the speed/results.

As an experiment, I tried TW One and Done compound (such a snappy name 🙄).

I was blown away. It cut almost twice as fast (no exaggeration) and deeper. And the finish was better than the other compounds, less dust (almost zero), very loooong work time.

On this paint, it blew all the opposition away. Not even close. I can now believe the claim that it can remove up to 1000 grit.

It`s now going to be my first compound I`ll reach for.

I know that different paints respond to different compounds differently. But this TW is now my go-to compound.

YMMV.
 
I wrote a long reply here about TW One and Done. But it deleted it somehow and can`t be bothered re-writing it.

Short version - best compound I`ve tried compared to 10+ heavy compounds I own.
 
Alfisti said:
I wrote a long reply here about TW One and Done. But it deleted it somehow and can`t be bothered re-writing it.

Short version - best compound I`ve tried compared to 10+ heavy compounds I own.
Click to expand...
Alfisti
You are NOT the first to have their long forum post "deleated" by the Autopia software. Apparently, you can remain only so long logged in without selecting something within the forum like you are still actively logged in; IE, it will time you out while it will not log you off, the response box the software generates asks if you want to continue, but it will not let you continue with your long, typed in post. It should automatically "save" your work, but it may not always do that.
My work-around is type a long response in MS-Office Word, save it now-and-then, and when finished within the Word Document, log-on to the Autopia Forum, Start a new topic within the sub-form tab of choice along with the Topic Title, and then Cut-and-Paste the text from the saved Word Document (You DID give it a text name when you saved it within your computer or smart device?)
Yes, an extra step, but it beats "loosing" your typed text, and if you are like me, it takes a LONG TIME for me to type anything, so this is one way to avoid that frustration.

My "other" workaround was to type the text in a new Started Topic box, post it periodically, then use the "Edit Post" tab at the bottom right, to continue typing in the post box, and then select "Save Changes" tab at the bottom of the post box, and continue to do this over and over. Unfortunately, someone can view you half-typed New Started Topic before you do the Edit Post/Save Changes thing and wonder "Where is the rest of this response?"
While this "works" it can leave some Autopians in the lurch as to what you are talking (typing) about. Lesson learned.....(OK, I still do this a lot in responses! Shame on you, Captain Obvious)
 
I write messages in Notes first all the time then paste them here. I love how iOS saves what I write either on my phone or iPad and makes it available on both devices
 
I don`t know why Alfisti`s post was deleted. It said it was deleted by poster and for all I know it is some type of time-related issue. The post was still there, I undeleted it and it is now visible. There was also a 2nd post that had been deleted. It too, is now visible.
 
GearHead_1 said:
I don`t know why Alfisti`s post was deleted. It said it was deleted by poster and for all I know it is some type of time-related issue. The post was still there and is now visible. There was also a 2nd post that had been deleted. It too, is now visible.
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Hey! You`re right! It`s magically reappeared. :D

Btw, your ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ on your signature used to be my signature on whatsapp.
 
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