BMW Jet Black- Sigh

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big_c

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Hi all, I am new to detailing but have been reading up on the forums and appreciate all the knowledge I have gained.

So I have a 2007 BMW Z4 in Jet Black. Production date 03/07. As expected with any 8 year old car, it has pretty noticeable swirl marks in the sun and some light various clearcoat scratches around the car.

My goal is to improve the appearance in sunlight, doesn't need to be concours perfect, but I would like to not notice the swirls on a sunny day.

I've read all the forum posts on this paint and how hard it is to correct, and how easily it scratches. Some people recommended selling the car, setting it on fire, driving off a cliff, etc.

I'd like to get some feedback on my process/materials. I have done a couple panels so far and should finish up this week.

Initial thoughts: it takes absolutely forever with the DA polisher to remove the swirls. I'm spending about 60 seconds on a 12"x12" area to remove the marks and make it look good. Ive tried using the orange pad, slower speeds, and nothing removes the swirls except yellow/M105 and a very slow pace and moderate pressure.

Equipment- Harbor freight DA polisher with 5" backing plate

1. Wash car with dawn (2 bucket method, viking mitt)
2. Clay bar with meguiars kit
3. M105/5.5" LC Foam Yellow pad/DA set to 5-6
4. Remove M105 and repeat (Glass cleaner on microfiber towel)
5. Remove M105 and repeat. (Glass cleaner on microfiber towel)

I haven't gone past this step yet. I'll note here that so far, the M105 has finished very nicely and leaves almost no hazing or swirls. I reapply a few pea sized globs of the M105 once it stops looking wet.

6. M205 with black pad/DA set to 4
7. BF Wet diamond selant on red pad/DA set to 3


Thanks for any input or advice!! Hope this thread helps others with the same color paint. I've read that the menerza twins cut better than M105. Maybe a wool pad would have sped things up for me too. Oh well.
 
I'm interested to know why you use glass cleaner to remove compound residue. The popular choice is usually IPA. Do you think glass cleaner might be interfering with M105?

Do you find the paint to scratch easily when you wipe with a MF towel? Maybe your paint is just that hard and you need to polish an area longer to remove paint.

I have also read Harbor Freight DA is not a very powerful DA compared to GG6/PC

The results does look good though :)
 
Zelfiris said:
I'm interested to know why you use glass cleaner to remove compound residue. The popular choice is usually IPA. Do you think glass cleaner might be interfering with M105?

Do you find the paint to scratch easily when you wipe with a MF towel? Maybe your paint is just that hard and you need to polish an area longer to remove paint.

I have also read Harbor Freight DA is not a very powerful DA compared to GG6/PC

The results does look good though :)
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Actually I haven't even used the glass cleaner yet, I was going to tonight at the recommendation of some forum posts to make the towel softer and less marring chance. I've just been using a new dry microfiber towel. I don't notice scratching too bad when removing the polish.
 
I just did a jet black 3 series this weekend. Spent 18 hrs on it, inside and out. I tried 6 different test spots on the hood to get the most correction I could, no rotary. On this car what worked was Shine supply compound and buff and shine microfiber pad on the flex, followed by HD polish all on the Flex. The hood was swirled up bad, like your last picture. I tried a test spot with a surf buf pad but didn't see any difference, usually that is my sledgehammer to get it all out.
The BMW jet black shows everything, I don't know if it mars easier than a white one, I know you can see it way easier.
Use quality towels and products and you should be fine. If the wipe off is giving you problems get better towels or try some ONR to help.
I prefer the dark colors personally because my eyes have trouble seeing imperfections in white, 20 years of welding has got me.
Take your time and get the test spot down. Use different light sources to double check. Jet black is tough but its my favorite when done.
Good luck
 
I did an e90 about a month ago. Used Menz PF2500 and white polishing pad on GG6. Did not get rid of the deeper rids but did remove the swirls and holograms from previous detailers. From what I read beforehand, the e92 (coupe) is the real pain.
 
Jet Black paint on BMW's is quite soft and can be tricky to get perfect. The middle picture that is posted above has quite a bit of marring on it. I also have a black 3 series that I use as a DD. Honestly if you think 60 seconds is a lot of time when compounding your not doing it right. Proper paint correction is not a quick process and will take quite a bit of time if done properly. Be prepared to spend quite a few hours on the compounding step. I am going to be redoing my car here in the next few months probably and will be going over it with Optimum Hyper Polish.
 
Alright guys, I finished it up.

Followed the same process as above and finished out with the 205 and a coat of Wet diamond (awesome stuff btw)

My yellow pad separated from the velcro backing for some reason, but other than that it went smoothly and I am happy with the results for it being my first time correcting and also being jet black.

I did find that I had to spend a lot of time on it to remove the swirls. I stayed with 12"x12" sections and did several section passes to get it acceptable. Moderate pressure, slow pace, and careful with the compound removal is the best advice.

Let me know what you guys think from the pics. I would say about 90% of defects and swirls removed. It looks really great in direct sunlight.

Like others mentioned would happen- even though its flawless after M205- any clean, newly washed microfiber towel will add very light scratches to the clearcoat. Proper washing is going to be most important on this paint. Sealant helped fill in the marring from the MF towels.

I did my wife's metallic white mazda. I found there is much less satisfaction from polishing a white car compared to black.

Thanks to all for the tips, cant wait to do it again next year!
 
big_c said:
Alright guys, I finished it up.

Followed the same process as above and finished out with the 205 and a coat of Wet diamond (awesome stuff btw)

My yellow pad separated from the velcro backing for some reason, but other than that it went smoothly and I am happy with the results for it being my first time correcting and also being jet black.

I did find that I had to spend a lot of time on it to remove the swirls. I stayed with 12"x12" sections and did several section passes to get it acceptable. Moderate pressure, slow pace, and careful with the compound removal is the best advice.

Let me know what you guys think from the pics. I would say about 90% of defects and swirls removed. It looks really great in direct sunlight.

Like others mentioned would happen- even though its flawless after M205- any clean, newly washed microfiber towel will add very light scratches to the clearcoat. Proper washing is going to be most important on this paint. Sealant helped fill in the marring from the MF towels.

I did my wife's metallic white mazda. I found there is much less satisfaction from polishing a white car compared to black.

Thanks to all for the tips, cant wait to do it again next year!
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Hey dude if your new to detailing you did a great job from what i can see good job dude
 
Hey thanks a lot! Yeah was my first time with a DA but I took my time reading up on here. I hope this thread helps encourage other new people to try it out. I liked the M105 for its ability to cut nicely yet finishing down well, but its sure is a hassle to wipe off if it dries.

Everyone on the other threads says to get rid of the car because correcting is impossible- I didn't find that to be true at all. Just took a while and you have to be really careful and keep your expectations that it won't be 100% flawless...but 90% still looks great and to almost everyone it looks brand new.
 
And yes you are right i do not like doing white cars its so bland.

When you whipe off the polishing step nothing is more satisfying to see that rich black reflection
 
Besides having owned 2 Jet Black cars, 2003 330i ZHP and a 2007 335i coupe, and having detailed at least 4 other Jet Black BMW cars I've had great success with Menzerna FG400 with Hyrbid pads on my flex 3401 and on my GG6". I usually follow up with either Menzerna SF4000 or CarPro Reflect. I get amazing results with these combo's.

You can check out my insta linked below. The somewhat recent pics of the BMW 550i and my 335i are both Jet Black and recently were done with one of the above combo's. The other's I haven't photographed as I only get to take pics of 1/3 or 1/2 of my details because I'm not a photographer by any means haha
 
I would recommend finishing with Menz SF4000.

Guarantee it will look a lot better. M205 doesn't finish down well on Jet Black.
 
Maybe it's me...maybe it's inexperience speaking, but it seems if the paint on that particular car was that hard to correct...that hard (the paint itself being hard), then how on earth would it mar so easy with a microfiber towel? I can see a dry towel marring the paint over time, but not on super hard paint with only a few wipes of polishing residue.

Oh don't get me wrong...I understand about wiping off M105...that can all too often be a bear, but wiping off M205 should be a breeze even with a dry towel.

As far as I know both M105/M205 water based. Why not help yourself by wiping them off with a damp micro fiber towel. That will do two things: help wipe off compounding/polishing residue by softening it, and it will also soften the fibers of the towel which should help keep them from marring the paint. Someone correct me if I'm wrong so I can learn something new.
 
Looks great! Fantastic reflection shots. Man, I had a huge 2011 back Dodge Charger. It was black, and a giant pain in the rear to keep looking good, but when it was all polished out it was a great looking car. Black isn't a color - it's a job. Congrats on the hard work, it paid off.
 
Hoytman said:
Maybe it's me...maybe it's inexperience speaking, but it seems if the paint on that particular car was that hard to correct...that hard (the paint itself being hard), then how on earth would it mar so easy with a microfiber towel? I can see a dry towel marring the paint over time, but not on super hard paint with only a few wipes of polishing residue.

Oh don't get me wrong...I understand about wiping off M105...that can all too often be a bear, but wiping off M205 should be a breeze even with a dry towel.

As far as I know both M105/M205 water based. Why not help yourself by wiping them off with a damp micro fiber towel. That will do two things: help wipe off compounding/polishing residue by softening it, and it will also soften the fibers of the towel which should help keep them from marring the paint. Someone correct me if I'm wrong so I can learn something new.
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Any time I've tried using damp microfibers or misting a car with a dark color trying to avoid marring while removing compound/polish, I've found it leads me to use more pressure as it's actually become HARDER to remove & easier to mar. I will often use 2x the amount of microfibers on dark colors. All you need to do is not break down the polish enough ONE time and collect that in your microfiber & you'll be chasing your own marring all job long.

I rarely have any trouble with M105/M205 removal. The only time I do is when I used too much product & didn't break it down enough. My experience with water on MF's with M105/M205 has turned them into a hard white shell almost.

However M105 can be a bear to work with. I only use it when I feel that it's one of my last resorts.
 
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