3M™ introduces a new line of paint finishing products that changes the way we do paint finishing.

We looked at the standard process of finishing paint – 1500 grade abrasives followed by 2 to 3 messy rounds of compounding and polishing, using different pads and chemicals – and tried to find a better way.

Meet the 3M™ Perfect-It™ 1 Paint Finishing System. We’re getting rid of that heavy rotary polisher for most of the project, instead allowing technicians to refine a car’s finish with a DA sander. For many colors of cars, one polishing step is all that is needed to get the ultimate finish.

With Perfect-It 1™, the sanding phase doesn’t end with 1500 grade Finishing Film. Instead, there are two additional rounds of finishing with Trizact™ foam discs in 3000 and 5000 grades. The resulting finish has some gloss, leaving a panel that looks like it has been compounded. Compound results without messy splatter. Without wool pad fibers to clean up. Without the frustration of compound swirl marks.

Then, polish the panel with the smooth-cutting easy-handling Perfect-It™ 1 Finishing Material and a new Perfect-It™ 1 foam Finishing Pad. 3M™ research produced a finishing formula that cuts like a compound, but handles like a polish. The unique shape of the new finishing pad works with the Finishing Material to quickly remove the Trizact™ 5000 scratches and bring out all the gloss and shine customers want.

We still recommend shops use Ultrafine Machine Polish on tricky extra-dark colors to make sure you’re delivering the best high-gloss finish possible