Get a new car off on the right foot

Have enjoyed the answers on this thread very much.

Supposing you have just bought a DA (thank you Autogeek) and have both 106FA and 85RD. Which do you recommend for a new (blue) BMW? Or are the two so close that the difference is negligible?
 
prb2 said:
Thanks BobbyG and thanks everyone. Bobby, I'd have to quote your whole post to get everything that was good. I've been looking at the PC 7424xp. I don't have a random orbital yet but expect that's my next move. I thinks I've got a good sense of what I've got to do to get this into shape, but I do have one question I've never seen addressed.

What about outside temps? Right now, it's 40* outside. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 50's. I know I can wash in this kind of weather, but what about the rest. What kind of temps are best for applications. Can you clay in these temps? Polish?

Thanks again for all the good advice. I'd like to out there right now working on it.

Paul :buffing:
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Hi Paul, from the pics you posted, it looks like you know what you are doing!!:props:

If you have the time, could you list the steps you did, and the products used for each step? In particular, I'm curious to know, did you end up buying a DA, or did you polish by hand? If you polished by hand, what product did you use? And, did you do do an IPA wipe after polish, before sealing/waxing?

Being that you have a new car, I wonder if you considered Opti-Coating instead of sealing/waxing?

Thanks,
Jim B.
 
I did buy a PC 7424xp but have not used it yet. I was not 100% sure it needed the polish and the order was coming in late in the week because of a backorder so I wasn't even sure I'd have everything for the weekend. Here's what I did.
1. Washed with ONR and dried with MF waffle towels
2. Clayed using an ultra fine clay and an ONR lube mixture (did the plastic bag test and found the paint to be pretty smooth, not perfect but good enough for this time).
3. Sealed the paint with Menzerna Power Lock sealant using a red foam pad.
4. Waxed just the hood with Blackfire Midnight Sun Ivory Carnauba Paste Wax using the yellow pad that came with the wax. I sealed and waxed by hand because I'd only just gotten the PC the day before and wasn't ready to just jump in when I knew I could do it fine by hand.
5. I used a QD, Optimum OptiClean, to redo the wheels and then sealed with PoorBoys Wheel Sealant (not sure I liked how hard it was to buff this off).
6. Washed the tires with Tuf Shine tire cleaner. I was glad I had sealed the wheels first because a quick rinse and an mf towel brought them right back.
7. Sealed the tires with Tuf Shine clearcoat sealer. Kept an mf towel in one hand to handle splatter from the brush. I really liked how it dressed the tire. I only put on one cost so I could see how shiney it got. The next time I do the tires I will definitely pull them off the car to work on.
8. Put one coat of Aerospace 303 on the black trim. Put a second coat on last night and like it a lot more.

Then I sat back and made of list of what I'd do differently. Not much I'd change. I'm anxious to polish the car so that will be added into my next efforts. I didn't have to clean between polish and sealant because I didn't polish, but I did use a little Isopropyl Alcohol to clean my red sealant and yellow wax pads. 3 tablespoons of the stuff cleaned the pads instantly. I washed them with some soap and water after that. Unless someone has a compelling reason that's how I'll clean these pads the next time as well.

I started Saturday afternoon and finished Sunday evening (worked on my taxes in between). I really enjoyed the experience and look forward to doing even more the next time.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and encouragement. If anyone needs anything more specific or has suggestions let me know.

Paul
 
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Paul (Prb2), thanks for the quick and detailed reply!

I thought you might be interested in a an experienced forum member's comment on the thread below (Bobby G) re: the importance of polishing to get a great wax/sealant look:

Re: Polish, Glaze, Sealants, not sure where to start

Finish preparation is unfortunately underestimated. This is "the" basis for every show car shine. Car polishing before waxing is the trick behind attaining and maintaining that sought after showroom finish on your car. The preparation prior to applying a sealant and wax is paramount to success.....

For me there are a few polishes that stand out in the crowd producing simply stunning results..


Now, your pics showed you did a mighty-fine job without the polish. Just thought you might be interested in what many have said about polish in the forum. I guess the necessity of polish would be the shape of the paint.

Your fellow newbie-in-training, :cheers:
Jim B
 
Thanks Jim. I did purchase the Menzerna 106 (that was the product that they had indicated wouldn't be here till after the weekend) along with the PC. There are so many products out there to choose from, it's good when people can narrow down that list for you to a few products that are proven by the end users.
I've been reading a few posts on AGO about bringing out the best look in a white car, and everyone seemed to agree that the prep work, getting all the contaminants off the car, was critical to getting that look. So I'll definitely pull out the PC next time (probably next weekend).
In the mean time, I do have another question. The black stiles between the windows. How do I protect those? It seems like a plastic so would I just use the sealant on them? Wax? Do they have a clearcoat on them? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks again.

Paul :buffing:
 
KenR said:
Have enjoyed the answers on this thread very much.

Supposing you have just bought a DA (thank you Autogeek) and have both 106FA and 85RD. Which do you recommend for a new (blue) BMW? Or are the two so close that the difference is negligible?
Click to expand...

Hi Ken, check out autopia's website, and search for polish chart. It shows a nice chart of polishes for each product line with their aggressiveness to paint -- and I think it is more up-to-date than a similar chart on AG's forum. Also, if you go to the AG store and select the Menzerna products, you can see a useful chart of Menzerna polishes showing their attributes, what works on Original Equipment, and the pads you should use.

Mike Phillips, the guru at AG who appears in the AG videos, has said in many threads when you can't tell for sure which polish to use, start with a test area, and use the least aggressive first. You can always increase the aggressiveness later, but not necessarily the other way around! And, you should do the same with pads -- less aggressive to more. Me, I am only doing the least aggressive (a finish polish and pad) for my new 2012 Volvo with dk blue paint, after claying. Are you washing then claying before polishing? Did you check your paint with the sandwich bag test? I was surprised how "sandpapery" the finish felt on a new car!

Hope this helps! Hopefully, one of the guru's on this forum can give you some tips from experience that I can't give you...maybe someday!

Jim B
 
prb2 said:
Thanks Jim. I did purchase the Menzerna 106 (that was the product that they had indicated wouldn't be here till after the weekend) along with the PC. There are so many products out there to choose from, it's good when people can narrow down that list for you to a few products that are proven by the end users.
I've been reading a few posts on AGO about bringing out the best look in a white car, and everyone seemed to agree that the prep work, getting all the contaminants off the car, was critical to getting that look. So I'll definitely pull out the PC next time (probably next weekend).
In the mean time, I do have another question. The black stiles between the windows. How do I protect those? It seems like a plastic so would I just use the sealant on them? Wax? Do they have a clearcoat on them? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks again.

Paul :buffing:
Click to expand...

Paul, Good question that I would have tripped over when I got ready. Hope some of the pros can help us with the answer! :help: . Are we supposed to apply polish to the plastic triim between the windows? How about Seal? Wax? Coating (ie, like OC)? Thanks as always!
 
Jim B said:
Hi Ken, check out autopia's website, and search for polish chart. It shows a nice chart of polishes for each product line with their aggressiveness to paint -- and I think it is more up-to-date than a similar chart on AG's forum. Also, if you go to the AG store and select the Menzerna products, you can see a useful chart of Menzerna polishes showing their attributes, what works on Original Equipment, and the pads you should use.

Mike Phillips, the guru at AG who appears in the AG videos, has said in many threads when you can't tell for sure which polish to use, start with a test area, and use the least aggressive first. You can always increase the aggressiveness later, but not necessarily the other way around! And, you should do the same with pads -- less aggressive to more. Me, I am only doing the least aggressive (a finish polish and pad) for my new 2012 Volvo with dk blue paint, after claying. Are you washing then claying before polishing? Did you check your paint with the sandwich bag test? I was surprised how "sandpapery" the finish felt on a new car!

Hope this helps! Hopefully, one of the guru's on this forum can give you some tips from experience that I can't give you...maybe someday!

Jim B
Click to expand...

Thanks. Mercifully I have my daughter's two cars to experiment with before I tackle the new Bimmer.
 
Long time lurker first time poster. I just got a new F150 truck three weeks ago and finally cleaned it up. Didn't clay, just washed and dried, then used OTC Meguiars ultimate polish and NXT 2.0 wax. Very pleased with the results. Really made the red candy metallic pop!
 
I just traded in my F150 for the Edge I bought. When I was at the dealership, I saw a new EccoBoost F150 that almost made me change my mind. Beautiful trucks.
And welcome AGO.

Paul
 
prb2 said:
I just traded in my F150 for the Edge I bought. When I was at the dealership, I saw a new EccoBoost F150 that almost made me change my mind. Beautiful trucks.
And welcome AGO.

Paul
Click to expand...
Kinda funny, but I traded an ' 08 Lincoln MKX for my truck so we went in opposite directions.

Thanks for the welcome.
 
I wasn't using the truck for truck things much and the 14 mpg were bothering me so I traded down in size but up quite a bit in mpg (I'm averaging 24 mgp with the Edge right now).

Paul
 
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