Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 7
2002 745 BMW paint correction questions?
I get e-mails all the time from people with questions about detailing their cars. While I prefer people to join our forum, become part of our community and then post their questions to the forum I know not everyone in the world is going to do this so I always do my best to share the nutshell version of an answer I would invest the time and resources to type out if I were typing on the forum. That's because you can do so much on the forum and so little in an e-mail and typing time is limited.
Hi Mitchel,
It's never any fun telling people this but here goes anyways....
Clearcoat paints are scratch-sensitive, this means that even while modern clearcoat paints a (generally speaking), harder than traditional single stage paints, they still scratch very easily.
Because they are harder, it's difficult to remove them and thus one of the biggest reasons so many people have switched over to machine polishing instead of hand polishing in the last 30 years.
Here's my article that explains about the scratch-sensitive characteristic of clearcoat paints.
Clearcoats are Scratch-Sensitive
As to your question...
I guess my first question would be...
How did you wash the car or wipe it down?
You see, the way paint gets swirls and scratches is caused by the way it is "touched".
I know that can seem very simple but it all goes back to how clearcoats are scratch-sensitive.
Recently another gentleman send me a similar question via e-mail and I explained how to touch the car carefully and softly.
How to prevent swirls and scratches on black BMW X5
If the scratches just appeared with no touching, i.e. you didn't wash or wipe the car down then it's possible you didn't remove them in the first place and they are now showing back up as the wax or sealant wears off?
The products you used are top notch and capable and able to do the job right the first time. The most important step is the first step as this is where you remove the swirls and scratches.
If you didn't remove them but instead just masked them then this could be either your technique or the pad you used wasn't aggressive enough or both.
In my life, I've demonstrated how to remove swirls and scratches by machine millions of times and often times someone watching will say,
That's what I did wrong
Meaning after watching the correct technique they spotted something that told them they were doing something wrong with their own technique.
Happens a lot....
I get e-mails all the time from people with questions about detailing their cars. While I prefer people to join our forum, become part of our community and then post their questions to the forum I know not everyone in the world is going to do this so I always do my best to share the nutshell version of an answer I would invest the time and resources to type out if I were typing on the forum. That's because you can do so much on the forum and so little in an e-mail and typing time is limited.
Mitchel said:
Hi Mitchel,
It's never any fun telling people this but here goes anyways....
Clearcoat paints are scratch-sensitive, this means that even while modern clearcoat paints a (generally speaking), harder than traditional single stage paints, they still scratch very easily.
Because they are harder, it's difficult to remove them and thus one of the biggest reasons so many people have switched over to machine polishing instead of hand polishing in the last 30 years.
Here's my article that explains about the scratch-sensitive characteristic of clearcoat paints.
Clearcoats are Scratch-Sensitive
As to your question...
Mitchel said:
I guess my first question would be...
How did you wash the car or wipe it down?
You see, the way paint gets swirls and scratches is caused by the way it is "touched".
I know that can seem very simple but it all goes back to how clearcoats are scratch-sensitive.
Recently another gentleman send me a similar question via e-mail and I explained how to touch the car carefully and softly.
How to prevent swirls and scratches on black BMW X5
If the scratches just appeared with no touching, i.e. you didn't wash or wipe the car down then it's possible you didn't remove them in the first place and they are now showing back up as the wax or sealant wears off?
The products you used are top notch and capable and able to do the job right the first time. The most important step is the first step as this is where you remove the swirls and scratches.
If you didn't remove them but instead just masked them then this could be either your technique or the pad you used wasn't aggressive enough or both.
In my life, I've demonstrated how to remove swirls and scratches by machine millions of times and often times someone watching will say,
That's what I did wrong
Meaning after watching the correct technique they spotted something that told them they were doing something wrong with their own technique.
Happens a lot....
