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[ Home > RV Polish & RV Wax > Paint > Compounds, Polishes & Glazes > PO 91E, Menzerna Intensive Polish ]
 PO 91E, Menzerna Intensive Polish
From Germany,
our best swirl
removing polish.
I've been using this product
for the last two months in preparation for writing this review and I'm still
struggling to describe how good this polish is.
Part of the problem is it
doesn't fall into any product niche we have in this country. From anyone else, Menzerna
PO 91E Intensive Polish would be called an abrasive compound. It removes 2000
grit sanding traces, swirls and paint defects. Menzerna calls it a polish
because it removes these defects with minimum or no loss of surface gloss.
On most light colors you can go from Intensive Polish directly to finishing with
your favorite wax or sealant. On dark color paints, a subsequent once over with
Menzerna Final Polish will produce a completely swirl-free, high gloss surface. Not only
that, it can be used on freshly painted surfaces with or without a clear coat.
While this accomplishment isn't turning lead into gold, it's as close to alchemy
as you can get in the car care business!
Lets go back to basics. If you
have swirls in your car's finish, you have three options.
- You can live with them.
- You can hide (fill) them temporarily.
- You can permanently remove them.
Most of us car care
perfectionists had to dismiss option three because it required a circular,
professional polisher and an abrasive compound. You actually abrade away the
paint or clear coat surrounding swirl until the swirl is gone. Compounding,
however, requires a little skill with a polisher and leaves the surface dull.
This dullness, or haze, is normal and part of the compounding process. To remove
this haze, you polish with increasing less abrasive polishes until the paint's
gloss is restored. Even a "non-abrasive" polish can leave micro-fine
trace lines which is why polishes contain fillers. Most of us do not have enough
confidence to tackle this procedure.
That leaves us with option
two. Non-abrasive polishes and "swirl removers" typically contain a
strong solvent base. This solvent rounds off the top edge of the swirl robbing
sunlight of a sharp edge to cause a reflection. Fillers in the polish then fill
the swirl. When you wax over the polish, you seal the fillers in place. In most
lighting conditions, this procedure makes swirls invisible. The downside is,
swirls will re-appear as the wax ages and the whole process will need to be
repeated.
Menzerna Intensive Polish is
on our BLACKFIRE website because if fills a niche between BLACKFIRE Gloss
Enhancing Polish and our two Menzerna/BLACKFIRE polishes designed for scratch
resistant clear coats. If your car has a conventional clear coat (not the new
super-hard, scratch-resistant clear coat) and the finish still looks good,
BLACKFIRE Gloss Enhancing Polish is perfect. It will "wet" the finish
with oils, maximize surface gloss and help hide minor swirls. Follow with Wet
Diamond, All Finish Paint Protection and your car will look better than the day
you bought it.
If your car has a conventional
clear coat and is a little older with deeper swirls, scratches, water spots or
dull, oxidized paint, Gloss Enhancing Polish does not have the cutting power to
deal with these defects. You need a "stronger" polish yet should not
use the polishes designed for the new scratch-resistant clear coats. Menzerna
Intensive Polish is just the ticket. When applied by hand, it will diminish most
paint defects and when applied by machine will fully remove 2000 grit swirls,
spots and scratches. Frankly, I had our BLACKFIRE chemist beef up a sample
of Gloss Enhancing Polish and while it worked as good as most of the "swirl
removers" in the marketplace, it didn't come close to Menzerna Intensive
Polish. If your car is a little older with some swirls and spots, polish
first with Intensive Polish and then apply a coat of Wet Diamond, All Finish
Paint Protection.
| Menzerna Intensive Polish is
unique because it actually removes swirls, like a compound, yet it minimizes or
eliminates haze, like a polish. Unlike domestic compounds and polishes,
Intensive Polish is water-based. It does contain a petroleum distillate
but it's a lubricant, not a solvent. It will not soften or affect the curing of
fresh paint. Also unique is the fact that it contains no fillers of any kind. In
fact, it contains no fillers, no glaze, no wax and no silicones!
What Intensive Polish does
contain are some of the highest quality and uniformly sized, milled abrasives in the
world. These particles can polish out 2000 grit swirls and remove surface oxidation
with minimal or no surface haze. Remember, Intensive Polish is removing swirls,
not just filling and hiding them. |
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When to use Intensive Polish:
Intensive Polish should be
used on older vehicles with dull, oxidized or neglected paint or on any vehicle
when trying to remove specific paint defects (water spots, swirls, scratches not
going through the clear coat, etc.).
So how good is it?
I've used Intensive polish by
hand, with the dual-action, Porter Cable 7424 polisher and with a professional,
circular polisher. Here's the application procedure I used and the results I
obtained:
- By hand -
Mist a Terry or Microfiber applicator pad with water or Black Baron Foam Pad
Lubricant and apply a Quarter size amount of
polish. Work on an area of about 2 square feet. Using a circular or
back-and-forth motion,
wipe polish over the area until almost dry. Wipe off
polishing residues with a damp Terry cloth or Microfiber cloth. Continue
polishing in 2 square foot sections until vehicle is done.
Results - With very little effort, I was able to restore
gloss on a five year old vehicle with a sadly neglected finish. I was not
able, by hand, to remove swirls in the finish or acid-etched water spots.
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Wipe on. |
Buff off. |
With the Porter Cable
7424 polisher:
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- Procedure - Work on areas of about 2 square feet. Apply two, 8
inch lines of polish on the paint. Mist the foam compounding pad with water or
foam pad lubricant and,
with machine off, spread polish over the surface. Set the Porter Cable's speed
control between 3-1/2 and 4. Place the pad on the paint and turn the polisher
on. Work over the area in a figure-8 pattern until almost dry. Mist the surface
with a 50/50 solution of alcohol and water. Wipe off residues and inspect
the surface. If defects and swirls are still present, continue compounding.
If the surface is swirl free, wipe off any remaining residues with a damp Terry cloth or Microfiber cloth. Continue
polishing in 2 square foot sections until vehicle is done.
Results - Using our Yellow Foam Compounding Pad at a speed
setting of 3-1/2 to 4 on the dial, I was able to remove even more oxidation
and all but the deepest swirls. The water spots
looked better but I could not remove them. At this point, the vehicle looked
crisp, clean and shiny, ten times better than when it was brought in. There
was no trace of compounding lines or haze. Further polishing was not needed.
I could put a final coat of wax or sealant on the car at this point and most
people would consider the finish "like new."
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Apply Intensive
Polish to
paint.
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Put foam compounding
pad on
machine's hook and loop backing plate.
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Mist compounding pad
with water
or foam pad lubricant.
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Spread compound with
machine off.
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Set the speed dial
between
3-1/2 and 4,
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Work in a figure-8
pattern.
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Remove residues with
an alcohol/water
solution and inspect the surface. |
Buff off any remaining
residues. |
With a circular polisher:
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Procedure
- Work on areas of about 2 square feet. Apply two, 8
inch lines of polish on the paint. Mist the Yellow Foam Compounding Pad with water
or foam pad lubricant and,
with machine off, spread polish over the surface. Set the polisher's speed
control to 1000 rpm. Place the pad on the paint and turn the polisher
on. Work over the area in a figure-8 pattern until almost dry. Mist the surface
with a 50/50 solution of alcohol and water. Wipe off residues and inspect
the surface. If defects and swirls are still present, continue compounding.
If the surface is swirl free, wipe off any remaining residues with a damp Terry cloth or Microfiber cloth. Continue
polishing in 2 square foot sections until vehicle is done.
Results - I
was able to remove deeper swirls and about half of the water spots. On
some of the deeper water spots, I was bearing down and just starting to see
a little haze form. To remove the remaining water spots I would have had to
increase the polishers speed or switch to a lambswool compounding pad but I felt I was at my competence level and I
didn't want to push it*. I wiped off the polishing residues and
inspected the surface. There were only two spots where I could see a hint of
haze. I could easily have waxed the car and been done with it. The car's
owner would never have noticed the two patches where I really worked the
surface. Not wanting to do a half-way job, I peeled off the compounding pad,
stuck on a white foam polishing pad and went over the surface lightly with
BLACKFIRE Gloss Enhancing Polish. I finished with a coat of wax, applied by hand, and
presented the car's owner with a car that looked as good as the day
it left the showroom.
* Menzerna states that Intensive Polish can be used at speeds
of 1500 to 2500 rpm but I'm not comfortable working at those speeds with any
product.
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Apply Intensive
Polish to
paint surface.
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Attach Yellow Foam
Compounding
Pad to polisher.
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Mist compounding pad
with water.
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Spread compound with
machine off.
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Start with a speed
of 1000 rpm
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Work in a figure-8
pattern.
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Remove residues with
an alcohol/water
solution and inspect the surface. |
Buff off any remaining
residues. |
Clean-up - After compounding, wash all
pads in a bucket of soapy water, rinse and let air dry.
Bottom line:
Intensive Polish is a compound
that thinks it's a polish. It's extremely forgiving and, unless pushed hard,
actually removes minor swirls and paint defects without a trace of surface haze.
This is the best polish I have ever used with the Porter Cable 7424 when it
comes to actually removing swirls and minor paint defects. When followed with
BLACKFIRE Gloss Enhancing Polish, it leaves a polished, high gloss, swirl-free finish
every bit as good as could be achieved at a body shop.
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Note: Scratches deep enough to be felt with your fingernail
can be made to look better but probably can not be entirely removed. You
should not attempt to remove scratches that go all the way through the
paint or clear coat. These scratches require re-painting and should be
repaired by a body shop technician. |
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You should not
attempt to remove
scratches that go through the
top clear coat.
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Intensive Polish is VOC compliant in all 50 states.
Available in a 32
oz.
Made in Germany.
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Need assistance? Speak with one of our car appearance experts at
800-628-7596 or send us an
email.
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