# ASTRA: One Liquid Systems



## Epoch (Jul 30, 2006)

This post is a test of some of the "new" one liquid multi pad defect removal systems available on the market today. Not something I have used myself before, but certainly I felt a great idea for beginners and pro's alike.

The idea for me is simple, learn how to use a polish, the speeds to work it, to fully break down before burning off the lubricants etc once you have this just right vary the pad to obtain more bite.

It's gotta be good, right?

The test was carried out as part of a full detail that can be found here (Link to ASTRA)

The products to be used today were

Meguiars Solo pads (wool and foam)
Meguairs #86
System One X3
Mark V Mystique
T Cut
L200 Goo

So below is a bit of a run down on each test product and test area

The starting point, remember on the meter if the reading is over 70GU you take the 20 degree angle reading if not take the 60 degree angle 





















First up was section off the bonnet and to polish a test section with a known quantity and take achieved gloss readings for a benchmark.

Chosen today Megs #83 by Megs W8006 pad followed by Megs #82 by W9006 pad all on the Rupes rotary with a foam 150mm backing pad.











On to the group test

The Meguiars Solo system - the first of the new breed released at the start of 2007 but I'd not really heard much about it. I'm guessing, due to Megs marketing, that it's for new paint only.

The wool and foam pads were to be used for the majority of product tests as they offered a big variance in cutting power and for these type of products were very good











Shown here

#86 Cut & Polish cream
W66 "Easy Buff" Rotary backing pad
WWHC7 Wool Heavy Cutting Pad
WWLC7 Wool Light Cutting pad
WDFP7 "Diamond" Foam Polishing Pad
WDFF7 "Diamond" Foam Finishing pad

The test section was first tried with the Light Cutting wool pad but we moved onto the Heavy cutting pad to see how much of a difference was evident just playing about really. The Heavy cut pad worked on it's edge was perfect for taking the swirls and scratches out of the bonnet section within a very short space of time.































Although the swirls had been removed the hologramming and micro marring left by the wool pad was very evident











The Foam finishing pad were then loaded up and the micro marring came out with ease.































The technique required with the Solo system is a little different to what I have been learning on. Normally, with diminishing abrasive polishes, you work until the product is broken down, with the Solo it is worked until the defects have gone, then stop and change the pad. The finish that was left looked very good however Megs do state in the instructions that darker colours may require Meg's 80 applied by G220 and a W9006 pad. This would seem to defeat the one liquid system a little. 
However the finish obtained on the now red ASTRA, was more than acceptable for this stage.

Steve described this as a traditional Megs feel polish and something that he instantly felt comfortable with.

I would like to have another bash with the Meguiar's Solo system, but this time finishing off with either a Meguiar's W8006 polishing pad or a Meguiar's W9006 finishing pad. I think that it may be down to my preference for flat pads, but I don't think that the Diamond Meguiar's black pad helped me create the finish that I know that I can. The diamond shape seemed to keep hold of a little too much unworked polish, and prevented me from finishing down to an even finish. Something for round two perhaps??



Next up was the turn of the much hyped System one X3.

I was lucky enough to receive a sample of this from Rubbishboy Ben











Again using a WWHC7 Heavy cut wool pad and finishing using a WDFF7 foam pad.

This polish felt a lot more lubricated, more wet than the Solo and did spatter a little. The machine slid around a little in the polish but in part this extra lube is designed to reduce burn through, as the marketing claims









































The finish obtained by this looked good, the gloss meter telling us so, too. This would probably take a little longer to get used to but a good product.


Next up Mark V Mystique, again a sample from Rubbishboy Ben











Again using a WWHC7 Heavy cut wool pad and finishing using a WDFF7 foam pad.

This polish felt more like the Mequiars one to use, a traditional polish, however it produced a higher gloss reading on the meter than Solo or System one.









































With the principle of technology only ever evolving in circles, Steve had suggested trying the most famous non diminishing abrasive product on the market today, something I picked up in the local Tesco's - Carplan T Cut











This was worked by Mequiars W8006 pad, I know he must have been mad but it wasn't his car!

This actually worked OK. I know however this statement means DW can no longer exist! 
Some observations would be that it dried out quite quickly as technically it's not designed to be machine used!. Even with a polishing pad it chewed through the paint in a short space of time, far more than the others on the heavy cut wool pad. When the tape was removed it had actually left a step in the paint! Some marring was evident but this could be removed by a finishing polish fairly easily unlike the step which required the T cut again to blend out.































I tell you no lies I bought the bottle and watched Steve pour it onto the pad and then I measured the gloss!











By now it had all got a bit out of hand, enter Steve's next idea. 











The conversation went a bit like

Steve "Jon have you got Olive Oil and talcum powder"
Me "why"
Steve "Well on the way over I was thinking…"

So here is L200 Goo in it's first incarnation











This was worked by rotary and a Sonus SFX-2 white pad.

Might be best for Steve to describe how he worked it!

I'd always really wanted to try this, and felt that today was the right day, and the right car to trial on. During my 70 mile commute to Epoch's, I had planned to use salt as the abrasive, but had 'bottled' it at the last minute.

The L200 goo worked a little like a Menzerna polish on a bad day, clumping and not spreading. A little warmth into the polish soon saw it spreading ok. The olive oil gave excellent lubrication, but the filling properties of the talc were a little disappointing. What it did do however was raise the gloss a little, without removing too many swirls or any oxidation. Perhaps this product may have been better saved for the finishing polish test the following day.

I am going to carry out my tests with homemade polish every chance that I get, as this is an area that interests me.

While it didn't remove all the oxidation it did polish it up fairly well (for baby talc and olive oil anyway)






















The bonnet after!











So a little summary

All of the proper machine applied systems worked really well and for me offer the beginners something really good to get your teeth into and a good addition to the arsenal. I will definitely be out again with some of these again soon for a full car and will post up the results.

I feel that Epoch and I need to revist the 'One' polish systems again, but this time by G220. I feel that it may prove beneficial to people starting out machine polishing if they only have to use one polish and a couple of pads. I'm sure that with a little trial and error, that we can get the results needed from this products, even though this isn't the method of use in which they were designed. 

I don't think that any of the 3 main products tested were really that much different from each other, a slight difference in abrasiveness perhaps, but that'd be it. I do think that our technique needs a lot more playing with though.

It's just up to Epoch and I to find free dates that match in our diaries, and a mule car to trial on. Interested???


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## L200 Steve (Oct 25, 2005)

The Meguiar's System One polish by wool pads - Youtube Video

The Meguiar's System One polish by foam diamond pads - Youtube Video

T-Cut comedy classics - Youtube Video

Enjoy, we did:thumb:


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2008)

Wow, a step hey!

But would like to see results using the G220 (PC etc) with sonus pads (mainly because I have a PC and sonus pads lol) and how you find it.


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## rubbishboy (May 6, 2006)

L200 Goo !!!! Steve get yourself to the makeup counter in a department store, I do quite a bit of shopping for detailing supplies there these days. :doublesho You want some face pack clay (kaolin for abrasive), some baby oil (oil for lubrication), some glycerin (carrier for clay), a bit of water and something to emulsify all that together, vegetal works quite well, to make a cream.

Nice work though, interesting read. :thumb:


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## Epoch (Jul 30, 2006)

rubbishboy said:


> L200 Goo !!!! Steve get yourself to the makeup counter in a department store, I do quite a bit of shopping for detailing supplies there these days. :doublesho You want some face pack clay (kaolin for abrasive), some baby oil (oil for lubrication), some glycerin (carrier for clay), a bit of water and something to emulsify all that together, vegetal works quite well, to make a cream.
> 
> Nice work though, interesting read. :thumb:


Your not helping Ben


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## Alex L (Oct 25, 2005)

Great one guys :thumb:

The question is do you think you could be persueded (sp) to swap over to this type of system or stick with what you know but try everything just incase?


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## Epoch (Jul 30, 2006)

I'm a big fan of the one liquid ideaology

I have just noticed, looking at how much it costs, Ben has a Mark V kit on his site

Mystique
Wool pad and adaptor
Polishing pad
Finishing pad

Job done full kit for most work. It's got to be more simple like this


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## Finerdetails (Apr 30, 2006)

another great review.

I've been working simlar with the likes of Ultrafina and some FF polishes. Linking hem to light cut pads to get just the extra before droppin gback for LSP finish.

It does work, and dsaves massive time and effort over some light compounds.


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Excellent - another superb review


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## NKS (Feb 22, 2007)

Great write-up thoroughly enjoyed reading this


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Well done Epoch - very impressive.


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## rubbishboy (May 6, 2006)

Epoch said:


> I'm a big fan of the one liquid ideaology
> 
> I have just noticed, looking at how much it costs, Ben has a Mark V kit on his site
> 
> ...












That kit was put together as a starter kit for anyone wanting to try out the Mystique and have everything ready to go, just add rotary. The items in the kit are the items I have been using myself to try out various one style products.

I started looking for a one style product to add to the web shop late last year because it seemed a perfect idea. One product to do it all, less work time, much more forgiving and easy to use for newbies and experts. Obviously I liked the Mystique best out of the ones I tried, thats why it ended up in the kit.


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## Porta (Jan 3, 2007)

I must say that I am very impressed of your write ups! Very interesting reading, thats for sure.

Mystique is a very nice polish and I hope that many more will discover it.
Top notch.


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## mouthyman (May 1, 2006)

excellent- very informative and entertaining


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## Epoch (Jul 30, 2006)

Porta said:


> I must say that I am very impressed of your write ups! Very interesting reading, thats for sure.
> 
> Mystique is a very nice polish and I hope that many more will discover it.
> Top notch.


Cheers, i will be testing these out a bit more soon



mouthyman said:


> excellent- very informative and entertaining


You couldn't imagine the look on the wife's face when i walked into the house wearing my Megs Apron asking for talcum powder and some olive oil


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## GlynRS2 (Jan 21, 2006)

Another superb review - top work guys :thumb:


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2008)

Will you be doing a test using Farecla products?

Also I have read that T-Cut is an ammonia based formula. and as such the colour will die back after a couple of weeks.

Is this true?

(can you tell I have been reading about G3?)


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## maesal (Nov 24, 2005)

Great reviews !!
I tried today System One X3 and is very nice product. I worked it with LC wool pad and then with 3M 80388. It corrected very good and left a great finish. Very easy to use also. It dusts, but not very much if you use just 2 blobs of product.


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## L200 Steve (Oct 25, 2005)

matt1263 said:


> Will you be doing a test using Farecla products?
> 
> Also I have read that T-Cut is an ammonia based formula. and as such the colour will die back after a couple of weeks.
> 
> ...


That's an interesting comment, and one that we have already discussed. Will the T cut'd section fade back quicker than the rest???

Epoch can see the Astra from his office window, and I'm sure that he'll be on the phone to me if the front nearside section of the bonnet turns pink before the rest.

I don't think that it will though - If you'd have seen the step that was left in the paint when we removed the masking then you'd have know how much paint was removed to rid the panel of oxidation by using t cut. I don't think that ammonia played much part in this, rather the abrasives in the polish did their cut.

The car then received a final polish using Menz PO85RD, and then a good coat of the new (and rather good) Dodo Lime Prime Lite before being sealed using Meguiar's NXT-2.

I wouldn't have thought that there was much chance of it fading back to pink anytime soon.

The Facela products - Yep, I've got a good bit of the range in my garage from earlier experimentation, Epoch's got the full (and very similar) Mirka polish and compound range in his garage. I've also got one or two other manufacturers compounds going back a few years. My opinion, and that's what it is, my opinion - 'I' prefer to use the boutique products, by Meguiar's and Menzerna by default - I like what these products do, and think that I can do a half decent job using them. They work for me most of the time with minimum fuss. Dollop of polish onto the pad, spin the pad on the paint till the polish goes clear, quick rub with an mf and the jobs normally a good one. I work squares, not arcs, and colour the car in as I go round.

I'm not as quick as some of the pro's who use farcela every day, but then I tend not to rush anything these days

If you're tempted by farcela, give it a go. worst case scenario is that you put it down to experience, and who knows, you might really like the way it works over other products.


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2008)

Thank you for the reply, the T-Cut might be a thing with the older product, havnt they done an up-dated product?

As for the G3 etc, having seen it in work in a "bodyshop" I am very cautious of it, and seeing as its the same price (and in some cases more expensive) as 3M I might give it a miss for a while. 

But I am wondering if that range of products (their version of scratch x for instance) is being over looked because of its reputation caused by the "bodyshops"?

After all, its why I am not using it.


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## maesal (Nov 24, 2005)

What do you think about the wool pads?


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## Epoch (Jul 30, 2006)

The Solo ones were very user friendly, for a wool newbie like me, and being able to switch to a foam without changing the backing pad also was a great feature

I will be testing again as soon as i get the chance


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## maesal (Nov 24, 2005)

I saw them in eBay Motors with great prize, maybe I'll order them. I saw the foam pads and I think they're manufactured by American Buffing.


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## Porta (Jan 3, 2007)

maesal said:


> I saw them in eBay Motors with great prize, maybe I'll order them. I saw the foam pads and I think they're manufactured by American Buffing.


Just like the propel pads you like 

I just want to add something about Mark-V. They have a stronger compound called Qwik Cut 350. Cuts faster then Menzerna PG and finishes off much better. I had almost no buffings swirls after twisted wool and 350. I did the same test with Menzerna PG and had much more buffings swirls.

Ooops sorry for going a little bit off topic 

ps. Mario, 350 cuts much faster then Mystique.


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## maesal (Nov 24, 2005)

Porta said:


> Just like the propel pads you like
> 
> I just want to add something about Mark-V. They have a stronger compound called Qwik Cut 350. Cuts faster then Menzerna PG and finishes off much better. I had almost no buffings swirls after twisted wool and 350. I did the same test with Menzerna PG and had much more buffings swirls.
> 
> ...


Then, they will be very good :thumb: 
And the right combo with Mark V will be Qwick Cut 350 (if necessary) and then Mystique?
Thanks Marcus


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## Epoch (Jul 30, 2006)

What's Qwik Cut 150 then in the middle?


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## Porta (Jan 3, 2007)

Epoch said:


> What's Qwik Cut 150 then in the middle?


If you want to test the compounds and polishes from Mark-V then I would go for these products:

Qwik Kut MV-350
Phase V 
Mustique

If we translate the cut from Meguiars then it would be like

MG85
MG83
MG80

I did some serious paint correction with Qwik Kut MV-350 and finished with Mystique, IP200 and sealed with Glisten. All with rotary. The products was very easy to handle and gave results quickly :thumb:


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## maesal (Nov 24, 2005)

What wool pads do you recommend Marcus?
Yesterday I used the purple from LC, is great.


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## Porta (Jan 3, 2007)

maesal said:


> What wool pads do you recommend Marcus?
> Yesterday I used the purple from LC, is great.


We can take this via PM or mail, I have spammed this thread enough


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## maesal (Nov 24, 2005)

Ok Marcus. You know my mail: [email protected]
Sorry about the off-topic


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## Guest (Mar 6, 2008)

I find it on topic and intresting, please dont keep it to email.

after I have learnt of a new product now.


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