Does anybody know if the Crossfire is painted with the same CeramiClear paint used by Mercedes Benz recently? The paint seemed much harder than that on my 2004 PT Cruiser and I figured since the bodies are by Karmann and the car is mostly MB under the skin, it just may well be. Just curious is all. Anyone know for sure one way or the other?

 

I don't think so. I have always thought that the Crossfire had an extremely hard clearcoat, but now I am beginning to think it is the complete opposite. Since the paint seems extremely difficult to produce a 100% swirl-free finish, I am beginning to think that it's because the surface mar's too easily. At least I heard this is the case with black. Soon I'll be testing different methods on my ssb to see what works best. Oh, and if you are thinking of purchasing Menzerna SIP and 106FF, I'm in the same boat as you. I'm just waiting for the big suppliers to be restocked with it.

 

I won't be purchasing any Menzerna products, I'm a pretty hard core Meguiar's user. I don't bother with their consumer line at all though, just the pro stuff. I know my 2004 PT Cruiser remains totally swirl free pretty easily and other PTs I've detailed for friends have come out swirl free with ease as well. The Miata I just got rid of had the softest paint I've ever seen - it was like a trained dog: just say "scratch" and it did (or was). But it polished out with minimal effort.

I had to take a rotary to the Crossfire to get rid of some things that the DA just wouldn't budge, and I've never had to use the rotary on the PT. The clear on the Crossfire is definitely harder than the PT but I haven't worked on a CeramiClear MB so I wasn't sure.

 

Interesting. I strongly feel that the Crossfire has the oddest paint that I have worked on, period! It's just so annoying. I have tried everything from 3-step polishing to a one-step polish, and the results are very similar, sometimes in favor of the one-step. As for sticking with Meg's...well, they are good, but it can't hurt to try other products now would it? I only hear incredible things about the Menzerna line of polishes from the best of the best detailers. I'll let you decide but I strongly suggest a try, you won't be disappointed. Secondly, I am interested in knowing what pads you use on the PC and the rotary? I am in the process of debating whether to switch to Lake Country pads, as I am simply getting tired of my Edge 2000 pads...the centering spindle is tough for a weak guy like me to remove pads after a while...the simply hook and loop attachment was slightly easier for me to use.

 

My choice to go with Meguiar's products comes after trying all sorts of different things, Menzerna included. I had massive dusting issues with Menzerna polishes, which may in part be due to the constant heat and extremely low humidity often found here in SoCal. Seriously, 10% humidity is not uncommon. Living in SoCal also means I live very close to Meguiar's HQ in Irvine and they do paint care clinics on Saturdays for various car clubs, and on Thursday nights they open their garage for their forum users. You bring your washed car in and you can use any and all products, machines, etc at no cost with Meguiar's personnel there to lend a hand and teach, plus they even feed you. I have never seen a company work so hard to please their customers and, since their products just plain work, they've basically made a customer for life.

Enough of that though. You won't be surprised now to find that I use their pads for both the DA and rotary. I like using the 6.5" pads on both machines, that way if I need to use a polishing pad with M80 on the DA and find I need to step up to the rotary, I just pull the same pad off one machine and on to the other. I know with the DA the Meguiar's pads like a fair amount more pressure than the Lake Country pads do, especially when using the new line of products from Prima. A friend of mine owns a detail shop locally and is a Prima dealer. I'm a bit mixed about the line and find their best stuff (my use of the term "best") doesn't do any better than Meguiar's does for me, the rest doesn't do as well. It does seem to work better with the Lake pads than it does with the Meg's pads though, but at this point I just don't see a reason for me to have multiple lines of pads in my garage! Heck, I just do this for my own vehicles, some friends & family, etc.

 

Thanks for sharing! You lucky people in SoCal...10% humidity!! Meg's certainly has the funds to offer what they do to customers. It's great that they do that. I wish a company like theirs was around here to offer free detail sessions.