I'm using this combo for the first time & ran into an issue:
I started polishing my car today & found that the Meguiars 105 was drying up extremely fast. And I do mean extremely:
Doing a 1.5 ft by 1.5 area, I could not do 2 passes left to right & up/down before it was dry. I had to use detail juice to keep it working.
I thought maybe I was putting too much pressure on the Flex, so I put it on the scales in the bathroom & found that I was probably hitting 15lbs.
So I worked [in the bathroom] on getting the feel of 10 lbs pressure and then went and gave it a go again. Same problem, but not quite as bad.
However, the improvement was negligible. Maybe 1 extra pass.
It dries up and you get these little ***** of paste, smaller than a pea, probably a little less than 1/2 the size of a pea.

I'm wondering if the stuff had been on the shelf too long?

The 205 I can work forever.....and I do mean forever it seems. I worked it over 5 minutes and it was not coming anywhere close to flashing.

 

it sounds like the 105 has been on the shelf too long. if its balling up or feels really gritty or chunky it could be a sign of it have gone bad. how long have you had it?

 

FEDEX delivered it May 5th, 2014.

 

What type of car? Oem paint? Aftermarket paint? What type of pad? What setting on flex? More details please.

 

2002 Honda Accord OEM paint. Damn good shape for a 12 yr old car. Trunk lids reflects like a mirror now.
Orange Lake Country pad for the 105. Flex setting 5.5

 

105 doesn't like to work too long.

Heat/humidity, and countless out things will affect working time.

Are you brand new to useing M105?

 

Yes I am. Also, I stopped using it and was able to remove the swirl & most scratch marks with the 205 on an orange pad.

 

That's what I was thinking. M105 can be a pain at first.

You'd be surprised what M205 is capable of. I've used it on Meg's MF cutting pads as well. It's a really good product.

Don't give up on the M105 though, just takes some practice to get it right!

 

I hear ya about the 105 being tricky! I even took the bathroom scales [they are large] put them on a bench waist high & practiced putting no more than 10lbs pressure down with my new Flex.
Do you have a favorite brand of lubricant you spritz the pad with when using the 105?
I'm getting a real good shine [i think] for a 12 year old car, but it's painted Naples Gold Metallic, so it's not coming out as deep as a dark color like a dark burgundy, blue & definitely not black!

I believe what I am going to have to do is start over and clay the thing 3 times between serious washes, using detergent & hit it with IronX. I'm reading that the paste works great.

 

I just water if I need some more time.
Actually now that I'm thinking about it. How much product were you using? Prime the pad correctly?

Post some pictures of it!


Ironx and then clay it. That should be plenty.

 

My civic:

 

Civic's shine lookin' good. I have that type reflection in the garage. You can see the grain in the wood boards on the ceiling of the garage reflecting off the car.
However, reflection pales in comparison to this:
I have a camera - just need to learn how to post the pics.

 

Junkman is awesome. lol

That's the thing with dark cars. Looks amazing when done right, but an utter pain in the *** to keep them that way. There's days where I just want to lite my car on fire.

Upload to photobucket, or some other site and copy/paste the image code here.

 

I used the m105-m205 combo... since I used the m105 I don't need to use it for a while as the m205 is really all that is needed once you have all the nasty swirl marks out from using the m105.

m105 has a tendency to dry quick that is why you can just spray some quick detailer on it and keep working it.

Junkman has a video on it and talk in length on how he loves this combo and is what he only uses. Look for a video from him call polishing part 3 it will explain a lot on how to use m105 correctly.

Matt I'm so happy that I don't have a black car anymore for that particular reason lol... but again when clean and detailed hard to beat!!!

 

Keep the pad moist with 105

 

If you notice it's getting dry it's best to spray some quick detailer on the area you are working it on. This will help to get that pad nice and most a lot quicker!

 

Thanks guys. I watched Junkman's video again - found the flaws in my technique and all is well now.

 

You'll love M105 once you get used to it. It took me a few tries and I love it. It's really versatile too. It can be used with all kinds of different pads.

This is m105/205 on Griots orange pads.

 

wow night and day difference!

 

With older honda paint, m105 isn't required unless the paint is really damaged. As a rule, Japanese paint is pretty soft. M205, a med cutting pad and high setting on most das will achieve a near perfect level of correction. I find most people give up a bit early with the product and pad combination and don't let it level the paint.