Scored This Today At Advanced Auto Parts/Tards

[Metallman56]

its a 3m "paint restore system" which comes with a cutting compound, polish, and wax, 3 pads (cutting polishing and waxing) and a "scratch pad" which is supposed to be like wet sanding.




I saw it marked down for $59.99 to . . . . $17.99. so with my buddys discount after tax I paid a whopping $15 for everything. pretty freaking good considering I cant buy 1 cutting pad for that (after shipping).

now granted I have not tired it yet and 3m claims it will work with just a normal cheap buffer, so I don't know what the results are going to be. I am going to use it with my pc (obviously) but I don't think these are going to last long. if I were you and I were looking for a good starting point, this my friends is a steal.

oh and here is the barcode

[sleepyalero]

17.99 is a steal. Good find!

[Metallman56]

ty sir. i'd recommend going to see if your advance auto has one. and if they don't see if any other stores do. if your getting a PC this is a $20 starting kit, with 2/3 pads your going to need, and starter compound.

[blckgagt]

Well on the website around here, it shows the original price.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

I know that kit...you got a steal.

[Metallman56]

Originally Posted by blckgagt

Well on the website around here, it shows the original price.

try my zip code 46545 if it doesn't show up on sale for mine either, then go in and see

[blckgagt]

Originally Posted by Metallman56

try my zip code 46545 if it doesn't show up on sale for mine either, then go in and see

Hmm yup still the original price. I'll have to check it out tomorrow. Got to pick up a part there anyways.

[Metallman56]

got a link to autogeek with a vid

http://www.autogeek.net/3m-paint-restoration-kit.html

[blckgagt]

Originally Posted by Metallman56

got a link to autogeek with a vid

http://www.autogeek.net/3m-paint-restoration-kit.html

Well I happened to check it out today. The tag showed the original price and when I told them about the price you got it for, she said that no way it would be that cheap. Well she check it out anyways and sure enough it was $17.99! Amazing deal! Apparently it's being discontinued. Anyways thanks man! Now I just need to get me a DA sander/polisher.

[Metallman56]

freakin awesome. others need to jump on this while they can

[1995quad4se]

Only O'rilies and autozone here otherwise i'd go pick one up. I'll be factoring in a rotary and supplies with my forth coming car purchase so this would be a good start.

[Metallman56]

thread fixed, sorry I forgot I moved my photobucket pics around after I posted.

anyone pick up this kit and use it yet besides me?

[blckgagt]

I got it but I'm waiting on my pc

[Metallman56]

very nice

[Metallman56]

did a full detail on my g/fs sisters G6 yesterday using the 3m compound, then Megs 80 and 82. also used the scratch pad that came in the kit. I must say that scratch pad alone imo is worth the $18 this kit costs. its very very good at removing clear coat scratches.

one of the worst parts on the car was her drivers door handle. she likes to get these stupid long nails that hit the paint over and over to open the door. well after a couple of years of this, the handle looked like this




so I used the 3m and the scratch pad on it like such, note how foggy it looks before buffing that's normal don't freak out


and after



as you can see it took about 95% of the scratches out. it worked very very well.

so is there anything I don't like about this 3m kit? yes. the compound gets very dusty. meaning when your applying it, it throws compound dust everywhere. it was caked on the windows so much, that I give the car a bath after I was all done.

this is dust on the hood from the door handle


and more dust on the fender


it got so bad I eventually just stopped using it and went back to my Megs 83. yes Megs 83 does dust, but nothing compared to the 3m. I was really surprised how bad it got.

hood before



and after


can post more pics if you guys want, probably in a different thread though, just let me know.

[TDavis]

Did you do anymore polishing to the hood? Not being anal but the hood still doesn't look 100% swirl free

[Metallman56]

with the polish/pad type I use its almost impossible to get a 100% swirl free shine. however, most of what you see in the pic I did not see in real life. it was my first time using the flashlight to try to see imperfections, guess I didn't do a real good job with that. in real life the "swirl" effect is gone. yes there are some imperfections still, but I would say at least 90% of them are gone.

when she comes back over i'll wash the car and hopefully the sun will be out so you can see just how good it looks. sun what overhead when I started and going down when I finished, so that screwed me a bit.

here is a good example of what the sun shows (best source of lighting imo) vs what my flashlight shows

SUN BEFORE


Flashlight Before see how much more random it looks


Flashlight After swirls are gone in the outer beam


its really not easy to take pics of this stuff and have it show up on camera exactly (or close to) what you see. I think i'm getting better at it, but its going to take some time.

[swebster]

the 3m compound I use is also very dusty as well as the light scratch/ swirl remover but it is worth it in my opinion. not a bad out come for a da that paint was jacked! nice job

[TDavis]

Can't wait to use my DA my car hopefully next Tuesday. Was going to be tomorrow but I'm covering someones shift. Tuesdays are the only days I have free and I want to give myself the whole day to detail my car. I want a decently non humid day and want it to be sunny for a while rather then fkin rain the day after.

Probably going to use the whole "Ultimate" line of meguiars products.

[Metallman56]

Originally Posted by swebster

the 3m compound I use is also very dusty as well as the light scratch/ swirl remover but it is worth it in my opinion. not a bad out come for a da that paint was jacked! nice job

thanks buddy.

also the only other complaint I have is the pad seem harder to clean then my lake city pads. I don't know why that is, but I have to spend 2x the time cleaning them. yes I know there bigger, but I mean I have to clean them 2 times before there really clean. don't know whats that about but whatever, still glad I got the kit.