Detailing Products > Polishes/Surface Correction Products

Review: Meguiars M101 Foam Cut Compound

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Merlin:
To start with this in not another recently released hyped up NEW "Product of the week"  . This product has been available in Europe since 2010 and was not available in the US.
It is body shop safe and contains no silicone. The product worked so well that there actually was a "black market" for shipping this product to detailers in the US. Imagine that! So before I start my review here is a little blurb from the Meguiars forum.


--- Quote from: Michael Stoops ---This is the first product that Meguiar's actually developed outside the US. It was still created by our chemists here in Irvine, CA, but we actually shipped our lead man for the project to Europe, along with a mini lab set up, so that he could quickly respond to testing and inputs and tweak the formula as needed. Pretty cool stuff, actually.

* What is M101 designed for? Rotary buffing with a dedicated foam pad on European aftermarket (ie, body shop) paint.

* Why "European" aftermarket paint? Because, unlike factory paint which is the same whether the car is sold in Europe, North America or Asia, aftermarket paints vary in different parts of the world. It's a high solids versus low solids situation with these different paints, and that can require different compound formulations to achieve maximum results. Oh, and for the record, factory paint is vastly different from a chemistry standpoint than the paint used in a body shop. If a body shop, whether in Europe or North America, were to shoot factory paint it would virtually never cure due to a body shops inability to bake it at sufficient heat and for sufficient time. It's just not economically feasible for a body shop to have that sort of equipment.

* Why "dedicated foam pad"? While use of a wool pad is commonplace here in the US for sanding mark and swirl removal, in European body shops they almost never use wool. And rarely do they compound the entire vehicle - it's mostly spot repair following a repaint, and it's almost always with a foam pad. They also tend to run the rotary at fairly low rpm. So we've developed a dedicated foam pad to use with this compound, taking into account the cultural toward low speed rotary and anti wool bias.

* Why did we send a chemist and mini lab to Europe? Lead time, really. Imagine if we sent product over there, had it tested, then had to tweak and send a new batch across the pond, repeat, repeat, repeat? It would have taken months. And we couldn't do the testing here because the aftermarket paint used in Europe is very different from that used here, due to environment regulations.

So basically what we have here is a product developed for a very specific type of paint system and a pretty specific work flow. That a handful of guys have imported this back to the US (it is made domestically, just like all the rest of our products) and are finding success with it using either wool or microfiber pads is interesting, to say the least. At the moment we have no solid plans to introduce this product to the US market.

--- End quote ---



Product Name: Meguiars M101 Foam Cut Compound

Product Container: 32 oz plastic bottle

Product Labeling: The front of the bottle appears similar to all the other Mirror Glaze products. The back is a multi-language booklet. Clear instructions for use on label.

Product Application: The instructions state to use it with a rotary and a foam pad. I used M101 with both a Flex P14-2-150 Rotary Polisher and Porter Cable 7424XP Dual Action Polisher.

With the rotary I used a 5.5" LC orange flat pads. With the 7424xp I used Megs DMC5 DA Microfiber (MF) Cutting Discs set at speed 4-5. This stuff works amazingly well with a MF disc and a DA polisher. Just two dots about the size of a dime are all you need for a 24? by 24? section. A small QD mist can increase the work time.

NOTE: It is it very important to keep your pad(s) clean! After each section and during, if needed, clean you pad(s). For the foam pads I use a Foam Pad Conditioning Brush No on-the-fly cleaning here. The brush removed dust. For the MF discs I use a safe scrub bug sponge or compressed air. Keeping the pad clean is a must!



Product Performance: M101 has a much faster rate of cut and a more intense leveling action than M105. M101's dusting is slightly more than D300 bu a LOT less than M105. I always loved the cutting action of M105 but hated the flashing, splatter, cleanup etc. I love polishing paint but hated cleaning up that M105 splatter.

Additional thoughts: I've always liked M105's cut ability but hated the "mess". With M101 I found excellent cutting with minimal dusting and no "mess". So far, I have only had the opportunity to use M101 on a silver metallic vehicle.The weather was 75 degrees with perfectly clear skies so it was perfect for examining for paint correction.

M105 for me has always left an apparent matte haze that polished out to nice clarity with M205. IMHO M101 finished out so well that it was difficult (if not impossible) to tell where M205 had been done or needed to be done. Now remember this vehicle was silver metallic so I will update this thread as I use it on darker colors red, black etc.

Product Price: $57.99 and well worth every penny. A little goes a long way.

I believe I have found a new one-two go-to combo.

Too Stroked:
Merlin,

I'd heard good rumors about this product and it would appear from your review that all of them are true. I may just have to order a bottle of it. Of course I just went out and bought a new bottle of M105 last week. Wouldn't you know it?  :dope:

Tom

Obsessive Detail:
Have you tried M100 yet Merlin?  I've heard that it has the same amount of cut but dusts less than M101 plus is a lot cheaper.

Merlin:
^^^ I thought the same thing. So I tried M100
Believe me M100 says it's Rotary ONLY on the bottle.
Maybe it works with Bigfoot but not with a PC or GG6"
M100 does not "cut it" for me?  :dunno: Save your money.

Here are my personal findings using M100 with a DA

Megs M100, Bug sponge (for cleaning) and Surbuf pad.


Megs M100, Bug Sponge & Megs 5" MF primed cutting disc.


Finished work: Megs M101, DA and Lake Country 5.5" flat pad
(Sorry, 'bout the cloud..it rolled in right at pic time)

I had to use M101 after the M100 testing to properly correct.

Final Conclusion: M101 wins "Hand Down" against M100 when using it with a DA.

After M101, I used M205 with LC 5.5" white pads and could not tell any difference.
Does M101 cost more? Yes it does, but for me it's one product and a one step finish.
Less time, much friendlier than M105, great finish and only one product!

So if you want to give M101 a try with minimal investment you could try

1) Lake Country Dual Action Flexible 5 inch Backing Plate -$18 US
2) Orange & 1) White Constant Pressure 5.5 Inch Hi-Gloss CCS Foam Pads -$8 each
1) Meguiars M101 Foam Cut Compound 32 oz. -$58 (This is the one big ticket item)
1) Foam Pad Conditioning Brush (Clean on-the-fly and keep the pad CLEAN!) -$13
and see if that gives you the results and a finish that you are happy with.



Bottom Line:
I have used M100 with a rotary/wool and it worked well but IMHO not nearly as good as M101.
Be sure and continually use the Foam Pad Brush with M101. Keep the pad clean & add fresh product.
 

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