XMT 360 vs Swirls

(this is a product review from 2007, but I felt the pictures were worth putting on the site)

I tried out a new product this month that I've been doing some testing on. I'm getting really really good results with it and I thought it was time to put the stamp of approval on it. I'm sure that Pinnacle could care less what I think about their products, but I really do like to think that I put a product through the rounds before I'll ever recommend it to anybody. My criteria for approval (again, as if Pinnacle cares) is that it must be easy to use. It can't be some 12 step system that costs $20 bucks a bottle before I can get results. Secondly it has to work. I don't like hit and miss results. I want it to perform consistently. The last thing I need professionally is for a product to fail when I need it to work. And lastly it needs to be worth the price. There is too much competition for products out there to have people wasting money and time on crap that doesn't live up to the price tag. So with those things in mind, I am pleased to put my stamp of approval on Pinnacle XMT 360. (no big head here)

This product was first released a couple months ago and I was so excited to give it a whirl. It was promoted to be the ultimate 'all in one' product that can remove oxidation, remove light swirls, and add polymer protection to your car. Now anything that can do all three of those is a winner in my book. The XMT polishes are very impressive and I had really high expectations for this product. Pinnacle knows they are dealing with a very fanatical market and they have a lot of reputation behind their products. I bought a bottle without any concern that it would fail or disappoint. I just needed to find out what the limits were so that I knew what projects I could use it on.

The first vehicle I tested it on was definitely an Everest. It was a '92 Mazda POS pickup truck. I had it donated by a neighbor for my OCDetails Spring Cleaning Event. The fifth annual one I might add. Anyway, the goal with this truck was to demonstrate and practice oxidation removal. It had terrible oxidation on it.

Unfortunately my camera guy failed to operate the camera properly and I didn't get many pictures that show the work. I do have one that you can see the before/after idea. The left side of the fender is not touched and the right side is. I think you can tell the difference with this. Just imagine how much better the pink truck looked when it was bright red again. The owner is actually washing it on a weekly basis at last!



It handled the oxidation with the greatest of ease. There were just a couple spots that I decided to change pads and go with a little more abrasiveness, but for the most part that entire truck was polished with the Edge 2000 blue pad and XMT 360. I wanted to use a softer pad so I could see the product do as much as possible. I didn't want the results to be because I used a cutting pad and the product be useless. Needless to say, it passed the oxidation removal test.
We then used it on a BMW M3 and noticed great swirl removal abilities. The Bimmer had really really hard paint and it wasn't really the right job for 360, so it was decided that moderate to heavy swirl damage wasn't it's forte.

Moving on to the other day when a '97 Audi A4 was dropped off with massive oxidation and swirl damage. I seriously considered the possibility that 360 was not up to the task and just grabbing a medium cutting compound and maybe a yellow pad to make fast work of it, but curiosity got the best of me and I strapped on the blue pad and grabbed the 360. I was honestly not prepared for the results. I did use the green pad for the hood, but the rest of the car was done with the blue pad and XMT 360. I'll just let the pictures do the talking. This first set is the rear fender in the before, durring, and after stages.







You want to know how long it takes to get results like that? Check this video out and see for yourself. I needed to go over that trunk again with 360 and buff it off a little better, but I've got video of that too.
Here is another short video of that rear fender. You can really see how effective this product is on swirls. Here is that trunk lid after another pass with XMT 360.

Just to give you an idea of how bad these swirls actually are, take a look at this closeup.



I'm sorry for all the ladies and children who might have had to see that image. Terrible neglect... I honestly wasn't expecting what I was using to clear that up, but it did. Much of the swirling must have been in the oxidation, but some of it was in the clear and this product polished it out just fine. Here is one more disturbing picture of the paint. This is where I needed a bit heavier cutting power.



360 still did the trick as you can see from these 'after' pictures. I waxed it with Pinnacle Liquid Souveran spiked with PolyCharger for a little added boost in durability and appearance. That's a topic for another thread.









So anyway, the purpose of this post was to hopefully turn you on to a terrific product that could significantly improve the appearance of your car. It does great on fine swirls and even heavier ones. I would very much like to see how it does on the Legacy paint. Based on the tests that I've done with it, I believe that it would be very effective and not leave the hazing that some products can leave behind. With the Edge 2000 blue pad I think it would be just enough bite to cut the swirls without the need to follow up with a lighter polish.