# Scholl S17 or S20 v Meguiars Ultimate Compund



## mawallace (Apr 18, 2017)

I have a car (which is black) with lots of scratches and it needs a cutting compound.

I have never looked at the Scholl line of products before. 

Am I right that the S17 is a cutting compound -and I will need polish on top - and S20 is a compound plus polish. 

and can I apply Carnauba wax on top?

and is the Scholl going to be better than Meguiars Ultimate.

I am applying both by hand


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

Can't help you with the comparison - do you have the Megs or are you having to buy it ? 

If you have it, then i'd use it and see what results it gives you - if great, problem solved, if not, then you need to be looking at something more aggressive and possibly machine ?


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## ronwash (Mar 26, 2011)

Which car is it?

Which polisher do you work with,DA or rotary?.


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## mawallace (Apr 18, 2017)

It's a Vauxhall Astra - black metallic paint

I do not use a machine but do it by hand


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## Mcpx (Mar 15, 2016)

There is always a lot of confusion over the differences between polish and compounds and what they do. The main problem is that the terms used to describe them are often confused or used differently by different people or in different contexts. Basically, polishing and compounding are the same thing, or more accurately, they are different degrees of the same thing. 

So, at its most basic level, polishing/compounding in this instance refers to a process that uses an abrasive liquid and friction to remove a fine layer of the surface (ie the paint or more commonly the clear coat) in order to give the surface a flatter profile. Think of your paint as a piece of wood, when you saw it you are left with a rough edge, so you might take off the worst of the roughness with something like a surform plane, then switch to a rough sandpaper, followed by gradually finer sandpaper’s until you are left with a nice smooth surface. This is exactly how polishing works, albeit on a much smaller scale. The scratches and swirls in your paint are like the saw marks and your polish/compound is the sandpaper, both abrasives remove the high spots until the surface is more even and flat, which will make it look shinier. 

So in your case, you will first need a stronger abrasive, which is usually referred to as compound, to flatten down to get rid of the scratches. Like the sandpaper, a stronger abrasive will get rid of the scratches but in the process it may introduce finer marks of its own, so at this point you need to switch to a finer abrasive, normally referred to as a polish, to remove these marks. The problem you will have is that clear coat is designed to be a hell of a lot harder than wood, so to remove enough material to make any discernible difference you are going to need a machine to do the work, polishing by hand really won’t cut it. 

The alternative to removing the high spots of course is to fill in the low spots with a glaze or filler polish like Autoglym SRP, this can give results just as good however the downside is that it is only temporary, the fillers that you are adding into the surface to hide the scratches will eventually be washed away, revealing the original damage and requiring reapplication. 

Scholl S20 is more of an all in one product, again designed to be used by machine, but it contains diminishing abrasives which start out like a cutting compound, then as they are worked they get smaller so give the effect of a finishing polish. It is a great product that gives fantastic results and saves a lot of time, it is not quite as good as using separate products but it’s pretty close and the average Joe would be hard pressed to tell the difference.


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

So you are looking for a polish that will improve your paints finish by hand, then look no further than Carpro Essence. This is simple to use by hand and can offen produce a great finish on all paints. It won't remove the deeper scratches, but it has the capability to reduce the swirls in the clear/paint and leave a good protection behind. If you are into detailing then why not step up a gear and start to learn how to machine polish your paint. Once you have mastered the art then you'll be surprised how easy it is.


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## BaileyA3 (Jun 14, 2015)

I can't comment on a comparison between the products mentioned although I once tried meguiars ultimate compound by hand on my black Audi. It did improve the finish but a lot of scratches remained and it was hard work so I ended up getting a machine polisher. As chongo said above, if you're in to detailing then a machine polisher is a worth while investment. You will get a much better finish and it will be a lot easier than doing it by hand.


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## Yellow Dave (Apr 5, 2011)

If you want to use the megs ultimate compound by hand, use it with the firm side of a tdi foam applicator or the white firm pad of the G3 waffle puck applicators from halfords.


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## mawallace (Apr 18, 2017)

BaileyA3 said:


> I can't comment on a comparison between the products mentioned although I once tried meguiars ultimate compound by hand on my black Audi. It did improve the finish but a lot of scratches remained and it was hard work so I ended up getting a machine polisher. As chongo said above, if you're in to detailing then a machine polisher is a worth while investment. You will get a much better finish and it will be a lot easier than doing it by hand.


I have also thought that using a machine would be difficult. Is there a good 'budget' polisher - and any tips?

If I was to use one which compound would give best results on a black car?


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## BaileyA3 (Jun 14, 2015)

mawallace said:


> I have also thought that using a machine would be difficult. Is there a good 'budget' polisher - and any tips?
> 
> If I was to use one which compound would give best results on a black car?


Using a machine polisher is easy once you've had a bit of practice, see if you can get hold of a scrap panel to practice on. There are many machines to suit different budgets, I would recommend a das 6 to start with as they are fairly cheap and capable polishers. You can get one from cleanyourcar for around £80. As for compounds, ultimate compound works great by machine if you already have it, if not then the scholl range is definitely worth looking at. Check out forensic detailing channel on YouTube for some help on deciding which products to use and checkout junkmans videos for a guide on how to use the machine polisher.

Sent from my GT-I9195I using Tapatalk


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## steelghost (Aug 20, 2015)

I have heard S20 described as a finishing polish with really good cut, and that seems to be about right. However unless you have really soft paint (and on a Touran, you probably don't), S20 might well struggle to remove deeper marks - although this will depend on the pad you use, as well as the machine, pressure applied, etc.

Anecdotally, I have struggled with deeper marks on the medium hardness paint on my Toyota, with S20, a Scholl purple spider pad ("heavy polishing") and a DAS6 Pro. It probably needed either a microfibre pad or something like S3XXL.

All of which is to say - S20 is not going to achieve what you want by hand. You will either need a machine, or a different approach by hand.

http://www.safeproductsltd.co.uk/hand-compounding/ is worth a read.


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