M105 Removes Swirls from Denali (Pics)

[Rob Tomlin]

I detailed my sister in laws Denali quite some time ago but never got around to posting about it and my impressions of M105.



It should be noted that this Denali is not well cared for. It stays outside 24-7. It goes to the local car wash. It was a real mess, full of swirls everywhere, and some RIDS as well. I knew I would need something fairly aggressive in order to get rid of them, so it was a perfect chance to use M105.



I used a rotary polisher and purple foamed wool. The working time with M105 is a drawback in my book. I had to continue going over the same area repeatedly as I re-primed the pad. I did seem to get better with more practice, but this stuff just isn't easy to work with.



Results? Very good. But man, this GM paint is HARD!! Like I said, it took several passes to get the paint where I wanted it to be.



I followed with Menzerna SIP and 106ff. Topped off with Opti-Seal.



This detail job took longer than any other that I have ever done. I love the way M105 finishes, yet, I can't say that it saved me any time over using another aggressive compound.



Here are a few pics showing the swirls etc:

Hood:

Scratches:

This is what the clay bar looked like after doing just the hood:

 

[Rob Tomlin]

One more shot of the swirls under the halogens:

Then some pics of the end results (and LOTS of work):

Flakes a poppin!!

 

[Rob Tomlin]

I wish I had time to take better pics for the "after" but I had run out of time and was in a big hurry to get the vehicle back to my sister in law. I didn't get pics of the hood, for example, which show how well M105 did at getting rid of the scratches, though it did not remove them completely. You can still see some swirl/scratch in the last picture.



In summary, I kind of have a love/hate relationship with this product. It flashes very quickly and you have very little working time. I had to go over each section at least 3 times to get rid of all the swirls.



The final results were very good, but I can't say that I really felt that I saved any time or effort by using the M105. I've also used it on a friends truck, with very similar results.



Overall a very good product that obtains very good results, but you still have to work for it!



I knew going in that this was going to be a lot of work, but I also knew that the reward was going to be rather big too, because I knew that under all those nasty swirl marks was a beautiful dark metallic green paint job that was just waiting to show its true colors!

 

[superchargedg]

You did one hell of a job on her car and i still cant get the m105 down yet either.

 

[RitcheyRch]

You did an awesome job.

 

[dmw2692004]

great work!



just out of curiosity, how much m105 were you using on the pad? I noticed that you need to user a lot more product all the time with m105 and m205.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

You did one hell of a job on her car and i still cant get the m105 down yet either.

Thanks, and yes, it is a difficult product to "get down". The results are so good though, I don't plan on giving up.

You did an awesome job.

Thanks Ritchey.

great work!



just out of curiosity, how much m105 were you using on the pad? I noticed that you need to user a lot more product all the time with m105 and m205.

Thanks, and great question! The truth is that I experimented quite a bit with how much to use. I went through several pads, and I used different amounts often to see what worked best. I really didn't think using more helped. It just seemed to gum up the pad quicker!



In the end, I just used a fairly small amount, and had to keep applying more after it dried out...repeatedly.

 

[SoFreshSoCean]

Great job man, did you use a rotary or a da?

 

[imported_fishbonezken]

WOW! Great job, the difference is night and day. How long did the detail take you?

 

[Midnight Shark]

What about using a more aggressive pad? On my Dodge durango, the swirls were as bad as the green Denali. I used a yellow cutting pad with the 105 and I didn't have to reapply several times. About 4-5 passes on the same panel with some moderate pressure took out a good chunk of the swirls which I then finished off with the 205 on an orange pad.

 

[Thomas Dekany]

Excellent result there!!!!! That truck looks so good now. :2thumbs::2thumbs::2thumbs:



I wonder what it looks like today.

 

[Accumulator]

Rob Tomlin- Nice work! Noting that I used M105 for the serious correction on *my* DenaliXL, I can appreciate what it took to do the job.



Three passes via PFW/rotary doesn't sound bad to me, sounds a bit more effective/efficient than my 7006/Flex 3401 combo (which I used to get it to the "only residual RIDS" point before switching to orange pads).



(Hmmm...my approach sounds similar to what midnight shark used.)



FWIW, I'd used other combos on the same Yukon previously, and the M105 worked a lot better than, say 1Z PI. The M105 even got some stuff that ebpcivicsi hadn't corrected using Diamond Cut and twisted wool (hey, I bet I was more willing to get really aggressive with my truck than he was ).



Isn't it something how the flake really shows up after an aggressive correction?!?



I do think that sometimes M105 really *is* a bit mild for what we're trying to do with it. I mean, it does cut, but it's not like say... 3M Extra-Cut. Some of the guys here doing OMG-makeovers are using more aggressive products than M105. But IMO M105 is about as potent as the average person oughta be working with.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Great job man, did you use a rotary or a da?

Thanks. As stated I used a Rotary with a PFW pad.

WOW! Great job, the difference is night and day. How long did the detail take you?

LONG! Probably over 20 hours. Like I said, it was the longest detail I have ever done. It was a lot of work.

What about using a more aggressive pad? On my Dodge durango, the swirls were as bad as the green Denali. I used a yellow cutting pad with the 105 and I didn't have to reapply several times. About 4-5 passes on the same panel with some moderate pressure took out a good chunk of the swirls which I then finished off with the 205 on an orange pad.

I did try other pads, including some of the foam cutting pads from Mequiars. Did not work well for me at all. In fact, I was downright disappointed with them. The PFW worked much better.



What I would like to have tried would have been a more aggressive wool pad.

Excellent result there!!!!! That truck looks so good now. :2thumbs::2thumbs::2thumbs:



I wonder what it looks like today.

Thanks, and yes, you are asking the right question about what it looks like today. Despite my pleas, the vehicle is still parked outside 24-7, and they still go to the local car wash. It still looks better than it did before I detailed it, but it needs to be polished again, that's for sure.

 

[Accumulator]

..



I did try other pads, including some of the foam cutting pads from Mequiars. Did not work well for me at all. In fact, I was downright disappointed with them. The PFW worked much better.



What I would like to have tried would have been a more aggressive wool pad.

Ah, interesting.



I wonder how the Meg's burgundy wool cutting pad would work, or maybe that black wool everybody's currently raving about :think:

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Rob Tomlin- Nice work! Noting that I used M105 for the serious correction on *my* DenaliXL, I can appreciate what it took to do the job.

Thanks! So, you agree that the clear coat on these is very hard?

Three passes via PFW/rotary doesn't sound bad to me, sounds a bit more effective/efficient than my 7006/Flex 3401 combo (which I used to get it to the "only residual RIDS" point before switching to orange pads).

You know, you are right. This is the problem when you wait a year before posting results like this! The more I think about it, I am sure that it was more like 4-5 passes.



It was a lot of work, but there is no denying that the results were great.

(Hmmm...my approach sounds similar to what midnight shark used.)



FWIW, I'd used other combos on the same Yukon previously, and the M105 worked a lot better than, say 1Z PI. The M105 even got some stuff that ebpcivicsi hadn't corrected using Diamond Cut and twisted wool (hey, I bet I was more willing to get really aggressive with my truck than he was ).

That's good to know.

Isn't it something how the flake really shows up after an aggressive correction?!?

Yes! Like I said, I knew this was going to be a LOT of work, but I also knew that the difference was going to be HUGE because it is beautiful paint, and the swirls were just horrible.

I do think that sometimes M105 really *is* a bit mild for what we're trying to do with it. I mean, it does cut, but it's not like say... 3M Extra-Cut. Some of the guys here doing OMG-makeovers are using more aggressive products than M105. But IMO M105 is about as potent as the average person oughta be working with.

I think that is a good point. This paint was pretty bad, so that has to be taken into consideration. I just thought it might cut a little quicker than it did.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Ah, interesting.



I wonder how the Meg's burgundy wool cutting pad would work, or maybe that black wool everybody's currently raving about :think:

I have another aggressive detail that I will be doing in the next 3-4 weeks, and I am going to try and have those exact pads available when I do it!

 

[imported_DJBAILEY]

The Megs yellow Solo light cutting wool pad works great with M105. Definately more cut than the PFW. I've only had to pull out the heavy cut burgandy wool pad a few times and that was only for a panel here and there that were really neglected.

 

[Accumulator]

The Megs yellow Solo light cutting wool pad works great with M105. Definately more cut than the PFW. I've only had to pull out the heavy cut burgandy wool pad a few times and that was only for a panel here and there that were really neglected.

Ah, thanks for posting that. I'm still feeling my way with regard to pads for really aggressive M105 applications.

..you agree that the clear coat on these is very hard?

Oh yeah...right up there with my Audis. I tried to do the tight spots in the jamb of the rear hatch by hand (with M105 and pieces of orange pads), and I gotta admit I simply gave up after an hour or so



After I got to the "residual RIDS" point, I spent *forever* on those, contantly tempted to just wetsand them but the clear's too thin for that....

I just thought it might cut a little quicker than it did.

Heh heh, I was sure thinking that myself on mine You can't imagine how long I spent on it.

 

[gmblack3]

Great work Rob!



A few options you may consider for the heavy correction you have coming up:



1. Rotary with wool pad/M105. Difference is priming the wool pad with M105 and using low speeds. I have not used this method, but Billy has here.



2. Surbuf pads with a PC/M105. I have not picked up a rotary since the start of this year (except to spin dry pads) for any of the corrections that I have done.



Kevin has posted most of his info on these methods here.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

The Megs yellow Solo light cutting wool pad works great with M105. Definately more cut than the PFW. I've only had to pull out the heavy cut burgandy wool pad a few times and that was only for a panel here and there that were really neglected.

Thanks, I will have to pick up the yellow Solo wool pads.