Trouble with Perfect-It Swirl Mark Remover

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Black240SX

New member
I tried out my new PC today, but it did not go as well as I had hoped. I intended to use Megs 83 DACP and 80 Speed Glaze, but could not find the Speed Glaze anywhere. Instead, I ended up with 3M Perfect-It Swirl Mark Remover for Dark Cars, which the clerk said was easier to use.



My car is black and has 12 years worth of daily-driving swirl marks. I got it ready for polishing by washing and claying.



I tried the 3M SMR first, using a polishing pad. The result was lots of hazing and no swirl mark removal. In fact, I removed the fillers that it left with alcohol and found the paint to be worse than before I started. I quickly concluded that it was not going to remove my swirl marks and got out the DACP.



DACP works great! It was easy to use and quickly removed the swirls. It did leave the paint hazy and there seemed to be a bunch of tiny swirls, but the results were a big improvement. I'm not sure if I should have gotten a better finish just from the DACP or not.



Once I finished with the DACP, I tried to use the SMR to remove the hazing. I experimented with using more or less of it; more or less pressure; more or less time; etc. I could not get good results from it. I ended up using Scratch-X by hand to bring up the shine.



When I was done, the paint was much better but there are a bunch of scratches which I think were made when I was using the SMR. I can't be sure; they may have been there all along but gone unnoticed amongst all the swirls.



What was I doing wrong with the 3M SMR? Or is it not good to use with a PC? :nixweiss
 
Which pads are you using? Maybe your speed wasn't high enough or your pad isn't doing any cutting. I use Megs SMR2.0 at 4 and a green propel pad (lite cut) and I get a very nice gloss.
 
3M SMR is very mild and will not remove very deep swirls as you expected. It mostly will fill it up. I think you may have to go for PI-III Machinge Glaze for light swirls removal or RC for deep swirls. These do not have any fillers in. It's the real deal.
 
I was using a Meguiars polishing pad, and tried speeds 3 through 5.



I really wasn't expecting the 3M SMR to remove the swirls; that's why I bought the DACP as well. What I don't understand is why the SMR caused so much hazing. I was expecting a ready-to-wax finish from it.
 
The 3M is designed for the rotary not a PC. I could never get it to work right with a Cyclo.



It will give you good results with the Rotary.
 
Just a thought but 12 years of surface marring removed with an SMR and a PC seems to me a little ambitious. If you donâ€â„¢t have a rotary I would definitely try a more aggressive polish



Moderate to Heavy Swirls = 3M Perfect It II Fine Cut Rubbing Compound and cutting pad

Minor to Moderate Swirls = 3M Perfect It III Machine Glaze and polishing pad

JonM
 
Ron: I was suspecting I was not breaking down the 3M SMR.



TOGWT: I'm using DACP to remove the swirls with good results. But I need something to follow that to bring up the shine.



I'll try again to find some of the Speed Glaze.
 
I checked all over town and could find neither the Megs Speed Glaze or 3M Machine Glaze. It looks like I'll have to order some.



I'm feeling very sorry for myself now. I have a new toy but can't play with it. :(
 
Dent's & Details said:
The 3M is designed for the rotary not a PC. I could never get it to work right with a Cyclo.



It will give you good results with the Rotary.
Click to expand...





On my bottle of 3M SMR it says it's excellent for hand use. If you can use it by hand you can use it with the PC. If SMR was made for a rotary only I don't think they would be recommending it for hand use. I use it with a PC no problem.
 
Yeah I realize that now. I was thinking about the Foam Pad polishing Glaze.



I still find the 3M to work best with the rotary. I think there are much better products designed for the PC that Black240 could buy.
 
Dent's & Details said:
Yeah I realize that now. I was thinking about the Foam Pad polishing Glaze.

Click to expand...



Foam Polishing Pad Glaze is 3M SMR in a 32 oz bottle. It's the same stuff sold in a bigger bottle.
 
Black240SX said:




What was I doing wrong with the 3M SMR? Or is it not good to use with a PC? :nixweiss
Click to expand...



3M SMR I think sucks by hand or machine. Its full of fillers and has very little bite. I haven't used it in 3 years. I don't even use it to remove hazing anymore, I use 3M PI III Machine Glaze for that (excellent all-around polish). Its a true step down from DACP (or 3M FCRC) with regards to its aggressiveness and a good polish to remove hazing and fogging from DACP. SMR is too far away from DACP or FCRC in terms of abraisivness to work for your application.



The only app I could see SMR working for is brand new cars with very few surface imperfections.



edit: looks like I just mirrored Tanat98 - but he is 100% correct (and so is TOGWT).
 
blackcaraddict said:
3M SMR I think sucks by hand or machine. Its full of fillers and has very little bite. I haven't used it in 3 years. I don't even use it to remove hazing anymore, I use 3M PI III Machine Glaze for that (excellent all-around polish).

Click to expand...





You are not the first person to say this about 3M SMR. I find it interesting that this product that "has very little bite" can haze up paint like Black240SX had happen to him.





I agree with you about 3M Perfect It Machine Glaze. I like it very much by hand and PC.
 
I'm actually planning on using 3M Perfect It Machine Glaze on my car this weekend to prepare for AIO and SG. Should I be able to go directly from 3M PI III to AIO, or will I need to use a finer product between the two?
 
BigO said:
I'm actually planning on using 3M Perfect It Machine Glaze on my car this weekend to prepare for AIO and SG. Should I be able to go directly from 3M PI III to AIO, or will I need to use a finer product between the two?
Click to expand...



You can go right to AIO, MG is not too aggressive but is still effective at removing swirls without hazing or fogging.
 
BigO said:
I'm actually planning on using 3M Perfect It Machine Glaze on my car this weekend to prepare for AIO and SG. Should I be able to go directly from 3M PI III to AIO, or will I need to use a finer product between the two?
Click to expand...

MG will leave a nice finish that you can go right to AIO with. It's one of my favorite polishes. For more severe defects I use PI III RC followed by MG.
 
I don't see what all the fuss is about 3m SMR. This w/e i tried out my PC 7424 for the first time. I applied some 3M SMR (have had the same bottle for 4yrs in the garage) with the "white" polishing pad - did the whole car @ about 4(speed). i noticed very slight hazing. THis was on a Carbon Black 2002 M3. The paint has some light swirls and light scratches. It helped out the scratches minimally, but helped the swirl considerably. It really did polish to a brilliant shine. Afterwards i applied 2 coats of AIO with the finishing pad. Followed up with S100. Overall i am pleasantly satisfied. i agree with most that this is not an aggressive polish, but on a well maintained car (category which many of us on this board fall in), who needs that?
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playmakr- Welcome to Autopia!



Glad to hear the 3M SMR works well for you, but far too many people are disappointed with it for me to recommend it. It won't work for me because all but one of my vehicles have paint that's *far* too hard for it to do *anything* on without using the rotary. When I *do* want something that mild, there are similarly mild products I'd much rather use, both with and without fillers. But it's all about what works for *you* so I sure won't suggest that you try something else.



BigO- Unless you have some *very* unusual paint, you'll be fine going straight from the MG to the AIO, I do it all the time. Just make sure you work the MG until it's almost dry, it's mild, but it does still need to break down.
 
I got some #80 Speed Glaze today and am going to try it out right now. Wish me luck; I'll report back later with the results.
 
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