3M Foam Pad Polish

By: Chris Parrish

The 3M polish is 3M Perfect IT Foam Pad Polish (avail. at Napa, Trak Auto, and other auto parts stores)

I use the 3M Polish by orbital or hand and rarely by rotary buffer.

Both ways *must* be done in the shade on a cool paint surface. By cool, I mean not heated by the sun. You might even rinse the paint with cool water from a hose and dry before polishing with the 3M. In my experience the cooler the paint the better the results.

By hand:

Simply apply a small amount (about the size of a quarter) to a cotton diaper or piece of cotton towel and rub back and forth into about a 1' X 1' section using light to medium pressure until it starts to dry out. Then take a second towel and lightly rub back and forth until the polish residue disappears and the gloss comes up. If there are still some swirls visible you can repeat this step until they are minimal. I prefer using a less aggressive product a couple times instead of using a more aggressive product once. After you have done the entire car you can Dawn wash and reapply Z1 and Z5/Z2.

By orbital:

Use a 100% cotton bonnet or foam bonnet and apply the polish in a thin lined growing circle starting from the center and spacing the growing line about an inch from the last round all the way to the edge. Place the bonnet flat on a panel and activate the polisher and begin working the entire panel using light to medium pressure. When you have worked the panel thoroughly then take a clean towel and wipe the residue off in a back and forth motion using light pressure. Then simply move to the next section. When the entire car is done do a Dawn wash and Zaino.

Even though I have loads of experience with a rotary buffer I rarely use one any more. I do virtually all my machine polishing with my Black & Decker 6.5-inch orbital polisher. Don't get me wrong, rotary buffers still have their place, they are simply overused and abused for the sake of production speed in my personal opinion.

Hand application definitely takes more time and effort but it can be done in sections until the entire car is finished. For example, you can do the hood, front bumper and fenders one weekend, then do the doors and quarters next weekend and finish the decklid and quarters the next. If you do it in sections just be sure to Dawn wash and Z1/Z5 the finished section before quitting. I wouldn't recommend running around for three weeks without anything on the paint.

 

Metallic-

Thanks for all of this great info. You basically covered every question I had regarding Zaino.

The only other question I have is this:
Why do you recommend this 3M polish instead of Zymol? I have been using Zymol for a few years now on my old truck and it worked great (at least compared to the other stuff I tried). Is there some fatal flaw to it or do you just like this other stuff more?

DUCK

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Build the Hell outta Bonfire 2000!

 

DUCK01, The product listed above is not a polish to create shine. It's an "Abrasive", which means it levels the area where etched water sports, or scratchs are present.

Zymol is a decent product, but IMHO it just does'nt come close to Zaino. 3M makes excellent polishing compounds, and I find it extremely easy to use compared to others.