tgui

So my wife has a 9 year old black BMW. Since we're looking to get her in a new car soon I've used her car for my detailing practice. I've had a random orbital polisher and the works for some time and have used it off and on lightly on my own cars in the past. Nothing drastic though since I've been too scared of toasting a paint job.

My wife had this car since before we were married. Shes not been too particular about the paint health.... sigh...

I already detailed the car and thought I did a good job. The swirls and crap were still there. After researching technique, pressure, pads, and compounds I gave it another shot.

Using my polisher, Meguires Swirl-X, Meguires Polish, and a nice caranuba wax I was able to bring out some shine in this seriously abused and older paint.

Here is a lapse from before swirl-x, after swirl-x, and after polish & wax:



Do any of you have suggestions for an even better finish? Its still not perfect but its much better than before!

I realize this is probably in the wrong forum section but I'm using this as a jumping point to detailing my own black IS-F and would like to hear from other owers as to what our paint likes best!

I'm still pretty proud

Just F Me

Since you're using some Meguiars products...it looks like there is some micro hazing that's still on the paint. I would recommend using Meguiars M205 Ultra Finishing Polish. Use that with a black Meguiars finishing pad.

Meguiars polish that you're using...which one is it? Is it Ultimate Polish?

ISF001

Contact Chemical Guys, send a photo, and they will recommend the best products, cutting pads, etc.

www.chemicalguys.com

allst4risf

iTrader: (1)

chemical guys have some good products but select few. dont buy microfiber from them. they sold me a mitten microfiber that came apart after one use.

autopia is a good detailing forum i would use.

daedalus

iTrader: (2)

Based on those photos (and i'm a weekend warrior detailer at best) it looks like the paint needs more correction with a more aggressive pad to remove the swirls. I'd try and Orange pad first (or a microfiber cutting pad) with some of your compound and if that doesn't work, bump it up to a yellow pad to really go at it. Then you'll need to back it out with an actual polish and use a green polish pad to add back the shine and gloss. Then top with your wax.

If you want an alternative to the Meguiars I find the Menzerna FG400 to be the best "all in one" correction compound i've come across to take it from horrible to ready for polishing without a bunch of staggered layers of less and less aggressive compounds to get to the polishing step.

Just F Me

Honestly....after looking and reading again...even though the pictures aren't that good. It's a 9 year old car. Is it daily driven? Are you the one that washes it every weekend/ other weekend? Sometimes, you gotta sit back and think...well...it's this many years old...it's been neglected x amount of years, it's not bad AT ALL what you've done. Sometimes, you just can't remove everything...it's not a concours car right?

ISFPOWER

iTrader: (20)

use an orange pad with menzerna super intensive polish. it's made for ceramic clear coats and ive used it over the years with european clears especially bmw and had great results. if you know what your doing, you can use it as a last step polish but if needed, follow up with a white pad and a finishing polishing such as menzerna 106ff or p085rd for a perfect finish. top it off with a sealant of your choice.

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

^This is sound advice, however from the poor pictures it is hard to tell if what you are seeing afterwards is in fact micro marring or heavier defects remaining from using too mild of polish/pad combo initially.

In the photo below, you can see how the paint has a slight haze to it. This is typically what micro marring will look like. This is caused by a more aggressive product/pad combo which needs to then be followed up with a finishing product/pad combo to eliminate the haze. This was from a black 911 turbo which has very soft paint.


It appears that the black paint you were working with was in fact BMW Jet Black (not Sapphire metallic black)... please correct me if I am wrong, as it is somewhat difficult to see in the photos. If I am correct, however, BMW Jet Black paint is known to be quite soft... much like our Lexus Paint. For this reason, I would believe micro marring will exist if you use an appropriate product/pad required to remove all of the defects. I have worked on several jet black beemers and my favorite combo is Menzerna FG400 on either a cutting or light cutting pad (depending on the severity of defects) followed by Menzerna FF4500 with a blue or crimson finishing pad.

The following photo is of a 2002 Jet Black M3 which was corrected with FG400 w/ MF Cutting Pad and Finished with FF4500 w/ a Crimson Pad. You can obviously see that the vast majority of the defects have been removed and the finish has been restored.


^I would have to agree with this, to me it appears the defects remaining are deeper than micro marring (as I had previously suggested). I will say that FG400 will need to be followed up with a finishing product and pad for best results, especially on this black paint. Remember to do a test spot first to determine what your best course of action will be.

^BMW Jet Black is not a ceramic clear coat... nor are any BMW paints that I am familiar with.



Be sure to ask if you have any questions!

-Zach

tgui

Yes, that polish!

tgui

This is indeed a daily driven, washed weekly (by me) car. I think you might have a point.

Here are some better pics. This was taken with a phone camera, so...

http://imgur.com/a/dg54F

tgui

Mother of god a wealth of info here. I certainly appreciate it. You are correct on the paint color.

The pictures aren't great and yes, there is still some marring. I'm still trying to balance how much work this paint is worth against me still wanting to learn on a car I'm not afraid to make a mistake on. I think I'll regroup with new pads and product and go for the perfect finish so I can then detail my IS-F with confidence (and the wifes future car, we only buy black cars )

tgui

Here is the best picture I have as I'm at work now.

Before:





After:

daedalus

iTrader: (2)

Zach - Your advice is always awesome! Glad we have a resident detail fanatic in the community that knows way more than me. That way I can keep learning!

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

Some things to note:

1st - DA machines are very safe, and the chances of you making a mistake that you cannot correct are very slim with these machines and products, so get some practice under your belt and enjoy it!

2nd - This BMW Jet Black will be very similar to the Obsidian Black used by Lexus. They are both soft paints and will mar easily. With that being said, you need to evaluate how aggressive you need to be to initially remove the defects from the paint. Chances are, if the car needs some work, you will start with a compound and light cutting or cutting pad. This will work great to remove the majority of the defects (ie scratches and swirls) however it will leave behind the haze/micro marring. This is typical and you are doing nothing wrong... it is most evident on softer paints and even more so on black paint. This is why you need to follow up with proper finishing products and pads to remove the haze/micro marring.... if you have ever sanded something, the idea is the same... start with a heavier grit and continue to work with finer grits to produce a perfectly smooth surface.



^Here I circled all of what appears to be the deeper scratches that were not removed. This is not "marring" these appear to be standard scratches or RIDS (random isolated deeper scratches) that were not removed with your initial round of polishing. Seeing this, you should have stepped it up to a more aggressive combo in order to remove the remaining defects. You will notice, however, that even the polish has left some haze (You can tell the reflection of the shop lights are not as sharp as they should be) which is an indication that you are working on soft paint. A more aggressive product/pad will leave more haze, but once again, it can be easily removed with a final polishing step.

Here is an example of my fiance's 2010 mazda cx-7 right after we bought it... the paint was in terrible condition, but I still followed the golden rule and started with the least aggressive method first.

Here is the car before any polishing (simply trashed paint!)


My first test was with a white polishing pad and M205 and yielded these results. Obviously there is some improvement, the swirls were removed/reduced but the majority of the RIDS remained:


This was not acceptable for my expectations for this project so I decided I would need to step it up. Next I tried Menzerna FG400 with an orange light cutting pad. This did the trick, however you can clearly see the haze left over by the compound... once again this is totally normal:


After compounding the rest of the vehicle, I followed up with M205 on a black finishing pad to remove the haze left over... the results were a mirror like finish and a deep, rich black color!



Just remember, practice and patience are key when working with machine polishing. Jet Black and Obsidian Black are some of the trickiest paints to work with, so do not get discouraged!


Always glad to help! I continue to learn new things every day myself... detailing is certainly more of an art rather than a simple cut and dry process!

tgui

I had to get a shot before it started raining. This car will never be this clean again. I wanted a more direct and bright sunligh picture, but that just wasn't going to happen. Thanks all for the notes and ideas!!