Wet Sanding BMW

The holograms can be fixed but at least he is happy and the car does not look repainted anymore.
 
Heres how i look at it.

Even though it could have been done better, the owner wanted it done right away and so if thats what he wants then so be it. I mean if someone comes to you and asks you to do a 1 step on his/her car in 5 hours im pretty sure corners would be cut.

Nonetheless, i have to agree with others in that the holograms and what not looks pretty bad. Although im pretty sure even if he did get it 100% perfect, its not like the owner is going to take care if it, so i assume

I agree and with the Holograms as well also...

The car used to have water spots left and right, plus was washed with Dawn soap normally.

I told the female owner how to properly wash it and to stop using Dawn Soap.

(I need to upload my canon shots because overall the car turned out great, besides the rotary induced swirls)
 
Wow - I understand you worked hard on this, but I think you would have been better off simply declining the job or explaining that you need it for XX hours before even starting. Rushing a job like this produces... well, you can see what it produces in the pics. It does not sound like you enjoyed the process, but I can tell you it may have been a different story if you could have taken the time and done a high quality job. It is hard to not be frustrated when you see that the paint is still trashed after all that work.... Hopefully a lesson learned. :buffing:
 
Reminds me of a few things I heard along the way, "100% clear communication up front", and "It's all in the prep". Sounds to me like neither of these principles were part of this job.

If I were you Art, I'd try to get that car back at the owner's convenience and clean that mess up. If not, that's your rolling billboard.

Having said that, I'll tell you that I've had my share of sour endings early on, and we all should consider that we have room for improvement. If not we become unteachable and more mistakes will surely come for us.

Under promise and over deliver. Be sure to have the vehicle for long enough and get yourself some supplies before taking on such a big job into the future.
 
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Me wet sanding and uncle just watching lol ^

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How bad the repaint was ^

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Me and my cousin buffing away ^

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Cousin being funny put a bunch of poor boys medium polish haha ^ (I was laughing lol)

After shots:

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Did his headlights too

Overall I had a good time, and yes lesson was learned.
 
Thanks guys, yeah a lot of miscommunication was involved. We agreed that I would have the car over the weekend and more days if needed. Plus more supplies if I needed them.
(The supply part he would have still provided, he's not stingy)

However the days were cut while I already had started. After I had sanded the car down.

I should have just left it like that(kidding) :P


And yes I agree, that will be my billboard. We agreed on another day for the future already.

We talked and he said "That I already did so much, he felt bad asking for more, and he is very happy with the results"
 
Thanks guys, yeah a lot of miscommunication was involved. We agreed that I would have the car over the weekend and more days if needed. Plus more supplies if I needed them.
(The supply part he would have still provided, he's not stingy)

However the days were cut while I already had started. After I had sanded the car down.

I should have just left it like that(kidding) :P


And yes I agree, that will be my billboard. We agreed on another day for the future already.

We talked and he said "That I already did so much, he felt bad asking for more, and he is very happy with the results"
That's good Art.

Each time you get it for a maintenance detail, hit it with an AIO like DG #501 or something like that that has some light abrasives and protection using MF pads on your DA. Sooner than later you'll have it looking awesome in direct sunlight.

I know how much work it is to do what you guys were doing and I'm not trying to bust your stones at all, just trying to be supportive of your future success. :dblthumb2:
 
Art with your body shop expierence you should have known that a PC would not be strong enough to take out sanding marks. At the very least you should have put a black Tuff Buff wool pad on it (the best aggressive wool pad for a DA). Maybe even better would be the mf system because it was designed to take out 3000 grit sanding marks. DA sanding and buffing sanding marks wasted a lot of time.

In the end lessons were learned and posted here which took some guts to do. Intenet criticism comes easy as you have learned. Bottom line is this was a family car, the car was improved, your uncle is happy and over time can be taken further.

It's not every day you get to work on a family project together. From your extensive research and posting here you likely know more about what to look for than they do. IMO it's hard to have several people work on the car and have good quality control. You're not set up like Mike in the AG garage!

Get the car back for a proper was and correct one panel at a time that way if he needs it back right away it will still look pretty good.
 
All this criticism I have been getting from you guys has been very constructive and I really appreciate.

His lady didn't even notice the Holograms until I pointed them out (probably shouldn't have done that :D)

I didn't even think twice about posting my concerns here, because a lot of you are very helpful, plus I wanted to hear your guy's advice.

I had to wash the car at 11PM in the dark with lights from their cellphones lol

I washed it with Dawn to remove off any residue or waxes from the polishes. Poor Boys swirl removal polishes, had a long working time but also had waxes in it. (Really liked it)

I then applied Menzerna Power Lock

Would AIO remove the Menzerna?

At body shops all they use are Rotary's. (from what I have seen, I'm sure some might very)

I am new to DA's but not Rotary's, that's why I was unfamiliar with PC's power and just switched to Rotary when he requested the car out that night so it could be ready for the next day.

They were both (cousin/uncle) were putting elbow grease.

When my cousin was leaving, he tried giving him some money for his help. My cousin declined and said "I just came to give a helping hand" (something along those lines)

I just told him "I'm hooking you up, I charge $40 per hour for this type of work" :D

He smiled and said "don't worry I'll take care of you"

We have a strong family bond love thing. We always take care of each other.
 
Art, I think you did a great job considering the situation. If I had to remove sanding marks in a reasonable amount of time, only a rotary would do. I started with a rotary and then got a Flex 3401 20 years later.

Wet sand, wool pad on the rotary, followed by foam pads on the DA is the way to go after repaint. There is a reason why the body shop I went to used a rotary. If only they didn't lay their buffers on the ground.... If only they worked cleaner...

As an aside, I wet sanded my decklid down to 3000 by hand, and then I used the Flex to buff it out, and after hours, they still weren't out. 75% improvement, though. Guess I need a rotary for that. Frustrating. I do have the Megs MF kit, however.
 
All this criticism I have been getting from you guys has been very constructive and I really appreciate. Yea for the most part I think this thread was construstive.

I didn't even think twice about posting my concerns here, because a lot of you are very helpful, plus I wanted to hear your guy's advice. It's nuts to think one wool pad will buff out a car and an old wool pad at that. Wool needs to be cleaner than foam IMO when working on a car.

Would AIO remove the Menzerna? Yep most any AIO will take off the previous layer of wax.

At body shops all they use are Rotary's. (from what I have seen, I'm sure some might very). Yea and most leave buffer trails like crazy depending on glazes to hide the real finish.

We have a strong family bond love thing. We always take care of each other. That's cool. Everyone has a story similar to this in the end looking back it's good for a laugh over a beer.

Next time you get the car your DA can clean things up.
 
I'm going to pick some AIO to finish the job.

There's a local Detailing store that carries a ton of Menzerna products


Is this an All in One?

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(I'll tell the truth I have never used an AIO) :D
 
...In the end lessons were learned and posted here which took some guts to do. Intenet criticism comes easy as you have learned. Bottom line is this was a family car, the car was improved, your uncle is happy and over time can be taken further.

It's not every day you get to work on a family project together. From your extensive research and posting here you likely know more about what to look for than they do. IMO it's hard to have several people work on the car and have good quality control. You're not set up like Mike in the AG garage!

Well said.
Great thread Art.
 
Another question guys,

I posted my BMW pictures on my FB Page. I then got asked how much do I charge for a paint job. :D

I then said "I don't paint cars, I specialize in Detailing Automotive Paint"

I then got asked "What's that?" Lol

I am pretty certain these will not be my customers. However if a potential customer reads that in the future. I want to sound like I do know what I am talking about. (Which I do)

I know you Detailers know the proper terms also, but what wording would you guys recommend for non Detailers.

How can I explain this in layman's terms is basically what I am asking.

Thanks Again,

Art
 
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