Used M95 for the first time today...

[SuperBee364]

Heavy compounds have always been a pain in the butt. They leave hazey paint, swirls, holograms, dust alot, etc. etc. Out of all the heavy compounds, my favorites were HTEC cut with OP, and MPG. MPG dusts like crazy, doesn't cut as well as most, but it has a decent working time and finishes off pretty well.



Then along comes Meguairs with M105 and M95. There's been a ton of info here about M105, but not much about M95.



Megs says that M95 cuts as well as M105, but works like a "traditional compound"; you have to work it til it breaks down and goes clear, where as with M105, you are *extremely* limited on working time.



My car has some pretty good defects on the horizontal surfaces that came with the car at no extra charge. I've resisted going after them until today. I just couldn't let that brand new bottle of M95 sit there on the shelf...



So I grabbed a PFW and got after it. I was truly impressed. M95 really *does* work like a traditional polish. You gotta keep working it until it goes clear. At 1500 RPM with a PFW, that works out to about a minute or slightly more. If you stop too early, you won't get the finish that M95 is capable of giving. Which is, to say the least, impressive. M95 doesn't seem to have quite the cutting power as 105 does, but it leaves every bit as good of a finish, if not better. As unbelieveable as it may seem, M95 finishes down as well as SIP does. And it's much easier to use, too. It isn't a replacement for SIP, though, it has waaaay more firepower to it than SIP does. It would definitely be overkill on medium defects. Meg's rates this a 12/12 on their cutting scale.



I skipped the usual finishing wool today, as I wanted to see how good the results would be if I went right from M95 to PO85RD on a red foam pad. I wanted to see if such a gentle jeweling polish/finessing pad combination would be able to clean up successfully after M95. I always do 2 applications of jeweling polish. After the second application, I pulled the car out into the sun for a thorough inspection. No swirls, no holograms, no haze. Nothing but perfectly corrected gloss. So at least on this car's CC, going from M95 right to the most gentle jeweling process worked perfectly.



Meguairs just blew all the other heavy hitters out of the water. IMHO, M95 and M105 have re-defined the heavy compound category and set the new standard. Guess I'll put all the other bottles of compound down in the storage room.

 

[maesal]

Great review SuperBee !! I'm going to compare M95 and M105 in my next detail, I can't wait !!

 

[russde]

Thanks for the review. I've been thinking about picking up some M95 specifically because of the extra work time. Living in the high desert with ZERO humidity cramps most polishes work time. That's why I haven't grabbed any M105, if most folks say the work time is short, it'll be measured in fractions of a second here.

Hope that the 95 will work as long as HT .357 which is the 'heavy' I've been using. I will say that I used some of it today and the finish on .357 is pretty darn good considering how well it cuts.

Cheers,

Russ

 

[SuperBee364]

Thanks for the review. I've been thinking about picking up some M95 specifically because of the extra work time. Living in the high desert with ZERO humidity cramps most polishes work time. That's why I haven't grabbed any M105, if most folks say the work time is short, it'll be measured in fractions of a second here.

Hope that the 95 will work as long as HT .357 which is the 'heavy' I've been using. I will say that I used some of it today and the finish on .357 is pretty darn good considering how well it cuts.

Cheers,

Russ

Russde, that's exactly how Salt Lake City's weather is. Normal humidity here ranges from 7 to 13 percent and 4420' above sea level. Really dry. I only get about 35 seconds out of .357 Magnum (with a PFW pad) unless it's cut with some OP. M95 has more cut than .357 Magnum... actually, it has quite a bit more cut than High Temp Extreme Cut. I was getting about a minute of working time with the M95, and it wasn't limited by it drying up; it was that the polish had gone clear, broken down, and was ready to be wiped off. It hadn't even started to dry yet.

Great review SuperBee !! I'm going to compare M95 and M105 in my next detail, I can't wait !!

Thanks, Maesal, I hope you find it a pleasure to work with as well.

 

[bwalker25]

@Supe - do you really like PFW that much? Could in your opinion is PFW and M95 via UDM be a formidable heavy correction combination with 2 passes to take out most of anything that a DA polisher is capable of?



big ? I know but whats your take?

 

[blk45]

it leaves every bit as good of a finish, if not better. As unbelieveable as it may seem, M95 finishes down as well as SIP does.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I found that 95 finishes the same as 105 as well. Megs supposedly said that it wouldn't, but it did for me. I understand people mixing Optimum with 105 if they already have it, but that is why I recommended 95 instead, for people that don't. No guess work.

 

[SuperBee364]

@Supe - do you really like PFW that much? Could in your opinion is PFW and M95 via UDM be a formidable heavy correction combination with 2 passes to take out most of anything that a DA polisher is capable of?



big ? I know but whats your take?

Yeah, I really do like PFW that much. It's just a great pad. Lot's of cut, runs cool, is easy to use, finishes well. You just can't ask for much more than that out of a pad. The only thing I don't like about PFW is they wear out too fast.



I really don't know about using it with a DA, though. Maybe someone around here has tried it?



As long as a UDM could break the M95 down properly (and I *think* that it could), it would be capable of some pretty impressive correcting. Very similar to M105, but without the learning curve.



Before M105 and M95 came along, using really aggressive polishes with a DA didn't work very well. Heavy compounds would leave terrible compounding haze and marring (when used with a DA) that was then *extremely* difficult to remove using a DA. In some cases, impossible. The only way to get them out was with a rotary. This kinda limited the amount of effective correction you could do with a DA. M105 and M95 have changed that drastically. They finish down better than most medium weight polishes do, and far far better than any of the other heavy hitters. You don't have to worry about instilling compounding haze that would then be impossible to get out.



With M105, the pad that you use with it doesn't really play a huge part in how much correction you get. Some, but not alot compared to other polishes. A white foam LC pad gives you *almost* the same correction as a heavy twisted wool compounding pad. However, the foam pad will finish *much* nicer with M105 than the wool compounding pad will.



I'm hoping that M95 works the same way. If it does, then don't worry too much about using the PFW on a DA. Just grab a white or black LC foam pad and use M95 with it. You won't be sacrificing much correction (and M95 has sooooo much cut that losing some of it isn't a bad thing), and it'll finish down nicer than a wool pad, anyway.



I'm gonna mess around with M95 and the PC on Tuesday... I'll try a bunch of different things and let ya know.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I found that 95 finishes the same as 105 as well. Megs supposedly said that it wouldn't, but it did for me. I understand people mixing Optimum with 105 if they already have it, but that is why I recommended 95 instead, for people that don't. No guess work.

Yeah, there were some (on this board and others) that said it finished down the same, others said 105 did better. I totally agree with you on this. It finishes down just as well as 105 does. Not quite as much cut, but the finish is there for sure. And I *love* the no guess work part. There is absolutely no learning curve to this polish. If you can use a buffer, you can use this polish. There's nothing different about it at all, and it is *super easy* to use. No sling, no dust, no hopping, skipping, spitting, easy to remove, good working time, doesn't flash over too fast. No guess work at all.



Cutting 105 with OC did make it handle much more like a traditional polish, but it sacrificed how well it finishes off.

 

[Bert]

I'm hoping that M95 works the same way. If it does, then don't worry too much about using the PFW on a DA. Just grab a white or black LC foam pad and use M95 with it. You won't be sacrificing much correction (and M95 has sooooo much cut that losing some of it isn't a bad thing), and it'll finish down nicer than a wool pad, anyway.



Yeah, there were some (on this board and others) that said it finished down the same, others said 105 did better. I totally agree with you on this. It finishes down just as well as 105 does. Not quite as much cut, but the finish is there for sure. And I *love* the no guess work part. There is absolutely no learning curve to this polish. If you can use a buffer, you can use this polish. There's nothing different about it at all, and it is *super easy* to use. No sling, no dust, no hopping, skipping, spitting, easy to remove, good working time, doesn't flash over too fast. No guess work at all.

Could you give a comparison of the relative cut of 105 versus 95 versus SIP all on the LC Purple Foamed Wool Pad?



Then could you give a comparison of the relative finishing of 105 and 95 versus SIP on the LC Purple Foamed Wool Pad?



If 95 has less cut than 105 but finishes down so nice, I am wondering if it could replace SIP? Or is the difference in cut too much for 95 to replace SIP?

 

[imported_Picus]

Awesome, more money to spend right? I guess I should try 105 first.

 

[SuperBee364]

Could you give a comparison of the relative cut of 105 versus 95 versus SIP all on the LC Purple Foamed Wool Pad?



Then could you give a comparison of the relative finishing of 105 and 95 versus SIP on the LC Purple Foamed Wool Pad?



If 95 has less cut than 105 but finishes down so nice, I am wondering if it could replace SIP? Or is the difference in cut too much for 95 to replace SIP?

That right there is the problem. At least it is on the rotary. Meguairs polish aggressiveness scale goes from 1 (least aggressive) to 12 (most). Both 105 and 95 are 12's on the scale. These are *aggressive* polishes. The biggest of the big guns. M105 is capable of removing *1200 grit* sanding marks in less than ten seconds. Oy.



Now of course they aren't going to be nearly that aggressive when used with a PC. How aggressive they are, I don't know yet... yet. I'm gonna find out for sure, but a SWAG would be that you'll probably get at least as much cut (or a bit more) with 105 or 95 on a PC as you would get with a rotary using SIP on PFW.



Most of the time, I use SIP with PFW, and I've used M105 and 95 with PFW now, too. As incredible as it seems, 105 and 95 finish every bit as well as SIP does. That's using PFW for all of em. Still to be tried: 95/finishing wool and 95/finishing foam.



It'll be interesting to find out exactly how well the new Megs twins cut with a PC. It might very well be able to replace SIP *for PC use only*. Skipping SIP and going with one of the Megs for go-to correction is just too big of a jump on the rotary. If Menzerna Power Gloss is a hand grenade, M105 and M95 are nuclear warheads. SIP would be a BB gun.

 

[SuperBee364]

Awesome, more money to spend right? I guess I should try 105 first.

The good news is that 95 is *cheap*. Should I go ahead and order ya some??

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Heavy compounds have always been a pain in the butt. They leave hazey paint, swirls, holograms, dust alot, etc. etc. Out of all the heavy compounds, my favorites were HTEC cut with OP, and MPG. MPG dusts like crazy, doesn't cut as well as most, but it has a decent working time and finishes off pretty well.



Then along comes Meguairs with M105 and M95. There's been a ton of info here about M105, but not much about M95.



Megs says that M95 cuts as well as M105, but works like a "traditional compound"; you have to work it til it breaks down and goes clear, where as with M105, you are *extremely* limited on working time.



My car has some pretty good defects on the horizontal surfaces that came with the car at no extra charge. I've resisted going after them until today. I just couldn't let that brand new bottle of M95 sit there on the shelf...



So I grabbed a PFW and got after it. I was truly impressed. M95 really *does* work like a traditional polish. You gotta keep working it until it goes clear. At 1500 RPM with a PFW, that works out to about a minute or slightly more. If you stop too early, you won't get the finish that M95 is capable of giving. Which is, to say the least, impressive. M95 doesn't seem to have quite the cutting power as 105 does, but it leaves every bit as good of a finish, if not better. As unbelieveable as it may seem, M95 finishes down as well as SIP does. And it's much easier to use, too. It isn't a replacement for SIP, though, it has waaaay more firepower to it than SIP does. It would definitely be overkill on medium defects. Meg's rates this a 12/12 on their cutting scale.



I skipped the usual finishing wool today, as I wanted to see how good the results would be if I went right from M95 to PO85RD on a red foam pad. I wanted to see if such a gentle jeweling polish/finessing pad combination would be able to clean up successfully after M95. I always do 2 applications of jeweling polish. After the second application, I pulled the car out into the sun for a thorough inspection. No swirls, no holograms, no haze. Nothing but perfectly corrected gloss. So at least on this car's CC, going from M95 right to the most gentle jeweling process worked perfectly.



Meguairs just blew all the other heavy hitters out of the water. IMHO, M95 and M105 have re-defined the heavy compound category and set the new standard. Guess I'll put all the other bottles of compound down in the storage room.

After using M105 for the first time this weekend (see this thread: http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-brag/107420-1957-ford-f-100-a.html#post1128741) I almost wish that I had read this review before buying it. Not that I regret buying and trying the M105, its just that I found it to be a PITA to work with!



So, you don't say it flat out, but it seems to be implied: do you prefer the 95 over 105?

As I mentioned in the other thread, I found that 95 finishes the same as 105 as well. Megs supposedly said that it wouldn't, but it did for me. I understand people mixing Optimum with 105 if they already have it, but that is why I recommended 95 instead, for people that don't. No guess work.

Although I haven't tried 95, my experience with 105 leads me to believe that this is very good advice.

Yeah, I really do like PFW that much. It's just a great pad. Lot's of cut, runs cool, is easy to use, finishes well. You just can't ask for much more than that out of a pad. The only thing I don't like about PFW is they wear out too fast.

I have three more PFW pads (currently only have two) coming from ADS. The PFW made all the difference in the world when I switched to it from yellow cutting foam! PFW pads = :woot:

 

[Mindflux]

Oh goody! This is nice news, although I didn't have gumming problems with my test run of M105.. but then again I was indoors in a controlled climate working on my wine fridge. ha ha.



I've got the itch to do up my fiancee's Protoge 5 which is a disaster in itself.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

I definitely had gumming problems with the M105.

 

[imported_themightytimmah]

I definitely had gumming problems with the M105.

It's a real pad wrecker. Try hosing out your pad and spinning dry after *every* 2x2 panel. Made a 100% difference for me in ease of use and final results. Dry spurring alone didn't seem to get all the compound out of the pad.



Once you get the hang of it though... oh man. This stuff literally makes me giddy with glee after years of PowerGloss, HTEC, OHC, Extra Cut...one miserable compound after another.

 

[SuperBee364]

After using M105 for the first time this weekend (see this thread: http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-brag/107420-1957-ford-f-100-a.html#post1128741) I almost wish that I had read this review before buying it. Not that I regret buying and trying the M105, its just that I found it to be a PITA to work with!



So, you don't say it flat out, but it seems to be implied: do you prefer the 95 over 105?



Although I haven't tried 95, my experience with 105 leads me to believe that this is very good advice.



I have three more PFW pads (currently only have two) coming from ADS. The PFW made all the difference in the world when I switched to it from yellow cutting foam! PFW pads = :woot:

Rob, I'm sorry to hear 105 gave ya fits. Sorry... but not surprised. It gives *everyone* fits. From the most experienced pros to the new guys, the stuff is just a huge PITA to learn.



Yeah, *right now*, I prefer M95 over 105 by a long way. However, I'm going to keep working with the 105 until I get it down, because it is just such a *huge* timesaver. It might not seem like it now, but when you can get to the point where you're only spending ten seconds per compound application, you'll see the time savings. M95 takes *at least* one minute of buffing per application. M105 saves you 50 seconds per application. Now that you've seen how long it takes to buff a car with a rotary (an exterior only full correction detail takes me between 8-12 hours), you can see how the time savings would be worth putting in the effort to learn how to use 105.



The only drawback I can find to 95 is that it seems to be just as hard on pads as 105 is. These two compounds are really making me see the value in spending 130 bucks on a plastic bucket with more plastic inside of it: either the Universal Pad Washer or the System 2000 pad washer. Some of the time saved with 105 is lost to pad care and the additional time it takes to remove the residue. Some additional expense is incurred with having to remove it with QD, too. Overall, though, the time savings is still there and more than offsets the drawbacks.



I'm glad to hear that you like the PFW so well. Truth be told, if I had to choose just one pad to use from here out, I'd choose the PFW over my beloved white finishing wool.



I threw all my yellow foam cutting pads away. Yellow LC foam never really agreed with me. It didn't add *that* much more correction over the orange or green, and I couldn't ever get the yellow to finish down very well no matter what polish I used with it. Holograms and swirls like crazy from the yellow. I'd take *any* type of wool over the yellow LC foam.



Now that PFW is available in 3.5" size, I even threw my four inch orange pads away. (They were worn out anyway).

 

[SuperBee364]

It's a real pad wrecker. Try hosing out your pad and spinning dry after *every* 2x2 panel. Made a 100% difference for me in ease of use and final results. Dry spurring alone didn't seem to get all the compound out of the pad.



Once you get the hang of it though... oh man. This stuff literally makes me giddy with glee after years of PowerGloss, HTEC, OHC, Extra Cut...one miserable compound after another.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one so excited about these two new compounds. They really change things for the better.

 

[imported_gators241987]

Ahh, Im glad you liked 95. I'll say it again, it is far and away my favorite heavy compound. So much easier to use than 105.

 

[imported_gators241987]

Rob, I'm sorry to hear 105 gave ya fits. Sorry... but not surprised. It gives *everyone* fits. From the most experienced pros to the new guys, the stuff is just a huge PITA to learn.



Yeah, *right now*, I prefer M95 over 105 by a long way. However, I'm going to keep working with the 105 until I get it down, because it is just such a *huge* timesaver. It might not seem like it now, but when you can get to the point where you're only spending ten seconds per compound application, you'll see the time savings. M95 takes *at least* one minute of buffing per application. M105 saves you 50 seconds per application. Now that you've seen how long it takes to buff a car with a rotary (an exterior only full correction detail takes me between 8-12 hours), you can see how the time savings would be worth putting in the effort to learn how to use 105.



The only drawback I can find to 95 is that it seems to be just as hard on pads as 105 is. These two compounds are really making me see the value in spending 130 bucks on a plastic bucket with more plastic inside of it: either the Universal Pad Washer or the System 2000 pad washer. Some of the time saved with 105 is lost to pad care and the additional time it takes to remove the residue. Some additional expense is incurred with having to remove it with QD, too. Overall, though, the time savings is still there and more than offsets the drawbacks.



I'm glad to hear that you like the PFW so well. Truth be told, if I had to choose just one pad to use from here out, I'd choose the PFW over my beloved white finishing wool.



I threw all my yellow foam cutting pads away. Yellow LC foam never really agreed with me. It didn't add *that* much more correction over the orange or green, and I couldn't ever get the yellow to finish down very well no matter what polish I used with it. Holograms and swirls like crazy from the yellow. I'd take *any* type of wool over the yellow LC foam.



Now that PFW is available in 3.5" size, I even threw my four inch orange pads away. (They were worn out anyway).

Have you tried the So1o pads? I really like them. Ive used PFW twice, but after using the So1o pads, I dont think I will go back anytime soon. Anyone others thoughts on them?

 

[SuperBee364]

Have you tried the So1o pads? I really like them. Ive used PFW twice, but after using the So1o pads, I dont think I will go back anytime soon. Anyone others thoughts on them?

I haven't, cause I'm pretty thoroughly invested in PFW's. I think I have about ten of them now, and I've worn out a bunch, too. It's one of those "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" things. And I'm dead comfortable with this pad. I know exactly what it's gonna do. Comfortable like an old pair of jeans.