Wolfgang 3.0 Duo - Quickie test / long review

As many of you know, Wolfgang reformulated their swirl removers with help from Menzerna. I don’t have a whole lot of experience with Menzerna (PG, IP, FP, 106ff, 85u) but I have had better luck with some than others, especially with a PC or UDM. The 106FF is one of my new favorite polishes and works great with both types of machines. IP, on the other hand, sucks with a PC no matter how much or little I use, primed or not, amount of time worked in, etc, yet it works great with a rotary. I have not used SIP but the TSR3.0 may be similar to that. The fine folks at Autogeek generously sent me some to sample out and I was able to do some quick testing this past weekend. The new Wolfgang 3.0 swirl removers come in the typical high quality Wolfgang bottles and don’t have any artificial smells to them. I could tell right off the bat that these are professional products in the Wolfgang bottle. Since the products are still new, I wasn’t 100% positive on how to use them and what techniques worked the best. Just a warning, the paint on the Jeep is very poor with clear coat cracking sporadically across the hood. You can see it in the pictures after the rotary and TSR3.0.

Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover 3.0:
The bottle said that this is a strong polish / compound that will remove a lot of defects yet finish out like a final polish. I can’t argue that point yet, a moderate amount of swirls were removed with no micro marring at all. It left a nice finish. I did use it with a rotary and UDM, hoping it would be more user friendly than Menzerna via UDM.

This first set of pictures is after using the swirl remover with a UDM and a 6” Lake Country CCS polishing pad. I did not know how much product to use and the first picture shows how much I used on the first panel to prime the pad. I did not use any water or pad conditioner ahead of time. Well to say the least, this was too much product. The polish spread very nicely and I worked it in for a very long time with light to no dusting. I never did get the polish to go translucent so I tried wiping it off and it was very difficult. It was obvious that I used too much product and I was paying the price. Even though I used too much product and it didn’t get broken down all of the way, there was no marring. Trying to find the right amount, I moved onto a new panel with less product and primed the pad with Pinnacle Pad Conditioner (3 pea sized dots). This worked better but was still slightly difficult to use. Here are the pictures:

Amount used on fresh pad:


Panel before:


After


Less product used on new panel:



Before:


After (noticed slightly more dusting this time around):


I have learned that Menzerna products work a lot better via rotary so I treated the Wolfgang polishes the same way. The TSR3.0 was used with a 6.5” Lake Country CCS polishing pad. I used a lot less to prime the pad this time around as well. To say the least, I am impressed after using it with the rotary. I used it on two sections of the hood (only one is pictured) and learned less is more with this polish. I will have to change out the Pinnacle Pad Conditioner for straight water for my next test session to see if that helps. Removal of the polish was a lot easier than with a UDM but it was still ‘grabby’.

Amount used on fresh pad:


Panel before (notice cracking):


After:

 

Wolfgang Finishing Glaze 3.0
I did the same sections above with the same machines but this time around with the Finishing Glaze on a 6.5” Lake Country CCS finishing pad. I was expecting this product to lightly polish and clean the paint, and add some gloss and or protection like typical glazes – not the case, this is purely a final polish. I don’t have anything to say about application or removal, everything worked nicely. I still prefer to use the rotary than UDM but the UDM was fairly effective (moreso than TSR3.0). What really surprised me was the amount of correction done by the Finishing Glaze with a finishing pad. I did not polish the front lip of the hood, which left me a perfect spot for 50/50 shots of the correctional abilities of this product.

I sectioned off the hood to see if I could tell any differences (which I did not except on the front lip):


Here is the FG3.0 on the UDM:


After the UDM and finishing pad 50/50:


After the rotary and finishing pad 50/50:


And the rest are pictures from the rotary side (which impressed me the most)








Again, the results are hard to see because the paint on the hood is terrible. Most of the damage that is left will remain until a repaint. It's strange that the rest of the vehicle is decent yet the hood is junk. Also, these are simply my initial feelings about the products, not long term assessments. These products are new to the market and I figured any info given would be better than none at all. This was my first time using them and you may have different experiences. I used these in my garage where it was about 45-50 degrees, if that helps anyone. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

 

Nice review! Thank you for taking your time to make it! I won`t buy these two, no reason to switch from menzerna.

 

Nice review... tahnks for taking the time to do this!

 

Pirex, thats my feeling, why buy that when you can get the real thing.

 

Nice review, appreciate you taking the time to do this..i was wondering about 3.0...i will have to stick with menzerna as well... thanks again!

 

I was hoping that this polish would be a hybrid of the Wolfgang and Menzerna but it is seeming that it is more Menzerna than Wolfgang, which is fine but not quite what I was looking for.

 

Hey budman: Did you mean you were hoping they would be less sensitive to ambient environment?

 

Nice review budman3. Menzerna has been my favorite polish for a while now.

 

To me it seems that menzerna hates cold weather, but has no problems in sun. I have used it in full sun and 30C.

 

Actually the polishes worked fine in the garage 45-50 degrees and dry, but just the overall usability with a PC or UDM isn't user friendly. It's no doubt that Menz and these products are professional products. That being said not everyone can pick them up and get results in an efficient manner with a PC or UDM. With the UDM the TSR3.0 didn't fully break down and was rather difficult to remove. But Menzerna works great with a rotary, which is what it is designed for. I was hoping the Wolfgang would have the Menzerna results with a XMT or SSR working conditions via PC. But that's fine, I have no problems using the rotary with Menz and these products. The glaze is an exceptional product with both machines (Reminds me of 106FF, which works great with both ...)

Edit- I guess I'll wait until it warms up and try it then. Maybe the products will react differently with different weather. I didn't get any gumming or excess dusting which is why I think they worked fine. They were just difficult (grabby) to remove with the UDM.

 

Budman3 so you like Menzerna now after you called it hype in one of your post on AG a little while back. Why the change of heart or is there another reason? There are ways getting around menzerna being a pain in cooler weather.

 

I said I didn't like it with a PC, especially with the Intensive Polish. It works as advertised with a rotary. From my experiences, I don't think newbies with PCs should be using a professional product made for rotary usage, with the exception of 106ff which seems to work fine with both machines. That is where I get a little touchy, when people are constantly suggesting Menz for people who won't use it as it was designed to do.

 

No reason to get touchy, but just because you can't figure out how to use it with a pc doesn't mean other people can't. Actually its not that hard to use with a pc and like I said above you called it hype with or with out the pc. Just wanted know about the change of heart.

 

I disagree that they do not work with a PC...Menz has a pic of them doing correction on a line with a air powered DA polisher..and also one on Youtube...I myself use it with a PC with 5 and 4 inch pads and it works fine...tried it with the flex and works fine....

yes they work quicker with a rotary...but thats the nature of the machine...but alot of PC designed polishes also take 2-4 rounds with it to get the correction done...menzerna designed a 5" pad to be used on a PC for there polishes...the size makes a difference on a PC...so I believe menzerna uses the 5" pad because its the most effective on a DA machine for thier polishes....

AL

 

Well put AL.

 

I never said that Menz doesn't work with a PC. It will work but it won't be fun. Detailing should be fun and not a chore. If I personally can't get a product to work the way I'd like (after playing around with it w/ different techniques), and there is some other product which works perfectly fine, why use the one that is hard to use? I don't care who can get it to work well but if I can't, that's all that matters to me. And from time to time I warn people that Menzerna is made for rotary usage and may not be as effective with a PC or UDM. I have learned a lot on forums and I like to repay the favor with my experiences - whether it is a recent car detail, product info or product reviews. I have nothing to hide and am here to help others by sharing my experiences. If I can't share my experiences or opinions, what will that leave?

 

I agree with Al and Asphalt on this. I used Intensive polish with a PC and an orange pad and did some nice correction work on a black F150. Like Al said it did take a lot longer and many more passes with the PC but it did work and produced some nice correction.

 

But you shouldn't tell people not to use it with a pc or buy it if using with a pc just becuase you can't get it to work. To me you are pushing people away from one of the top polishes or if not the top polish out right now. Good thing there are people on here that know how to use it so people wont get mis-informed about how it can be used correctly.

 

What does it matter to you if someone else doesn't use Menzerna? I have a question, what machine is Menzerna made to be used with?