Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Plus Four, Supersport & Plus Six (CX & CXV Generation Vehicles) Finishing / polishing paintwork

Afternoon All.

Ordinarily, and as I understand it, one should never use a traditional automotive paint polish on a lacquered paint finish. To date I have used a light cleaning style polish that gives a good shine and water repellence, i.e. free of any cutting compound.

All that being said, I have seen many Morgans with lacquered (metallic) paint finishes which are polished to a mirror finish.

May I ask, (and I understand this thread may assume the same sort of context as oil and tyres, i.e. contencious), what do owners of metallic paint finishes (lacquered coating) use for a best finish / protection?

If its protection with a deep shine you want then I would recommend Meguiars NXT Tech Wax, you can also purchase the wax in liquid form.

I was told many years ago not to confuse polishing with waxing. My understanding is that best practice is to use say a clay bar and your chosen polish to get the paint/lacquer free from surface oxidation, swirl marks etc. Then it's waxing which produces that high gloss you are seeking. My Roadster is a "solid" colour so I don't have that to consider, but I keep the paintwork on my metallic blue Fiat Spider (with clearcoat) waxed -- you can see the effect with water beading. There are lots of detailing sites on the Internet which cover these processes in depth.

I have Autoglym Lifeshine on one of my cars, been there for a year and seems to create an easy clean situation..

I bought a caravan wash/wax for our motorhome and used it on the Morgan when I ran out of Meguires once. It was so good I didn't bother with Meguires again. I've been using it for the last 3 years now and it's fantastic stuff.

What is the name of the product you mention?

Andy,

Modern car paint's will 'except' all manner of waxing, cutting and polishing (and that includes using fine wet and dry sand paper and orbital polishers!).

As I worked in the Automotive Accident Repair Industry for a number of years, you will be 100% OK to use a modern polish like: Autogylm - that has a light cutting compound to it. However, I would always apply a Wax afterwards.

Mark

https://youtu.be/XnggbciND4Q

This is what is used in the Automotive Refinish Professional world, you will not
See eBay polishes and wax's in Professional Body & Panel shops, the Maguires
are usually saved for the DIY market.

Note: when he goes to the Finishing/ Glaze process the colour of the Mop head
changes from Yellow to Black, he should of explained why !!

Yellow is hard Compounding Head for cutting, Black is soft polishing head for finishing.

When we visited them a few years ago, the guys at Maguiars were refreshingly open about the differences and intended market for their professional vs personal products, I was genuinely impressed.

According to their presentation, the professional market is all about delivering the required level of finish for the lowest unit cost of product dose per application in the shortest possible time, whereas the enthusiastic amateur is more focused on getting the best possible result and really doesn't mind spending a bit more time or using a bit more product to get it.

So the professional products are not 'better' than the amateur products, they are designed to be used in a different way in a different environment and they said that amateurs nearly always got a better result when using the products designed for them.

Clever marketing or Brain Washing, which ever one prefers.

As a supply of the Professional range i am confident i could
persuade an amateur to use the Professional product where as
I doubt very much Maguiars could convince the Professional to
use their product. Just my opinion and 45 years in the game.