Recipie for Maintaining Jet Black Paint

[Detail_Dude]

Hi all -

My reearch and recent experience attempting to detail my Jet Black 328xi has left me with the following recipie for an annual or semi-annual overhaul.

Let me know what ya' think!

• Detail & dress engine bay
• Detail & dress jambs
• Clean wheels
• Wash Paint
• Clay
• Tape
• IPA wipedown to remove prior residue (or add CG Wash an Gloss dilution to wash bucket)
• Examine a few hot spots with halogen and take pics for before/after comparison

----------------------------
- Porter Cable time....
----------------------------
IF serious repair is required, evaluate condition and decide on one or more of the following - starting with the least aggressive first:

• Light Duty:
  • Menzerna Power Finish PO203S
    • LC White or LC Green (less cut than white) or......HydroTech Tangerine.
    • 2 passes @ speed 5 , then 1-2 passes @ Speed 6, all with ~ 9 lbs. of pressure, covering ~ 1-2" per second
• Medium Duty:
  • Menzerna Super Intensive Polish
    • LC Orange or LC HydroTech Cyan,
    • 2 passes @ speed 5 , then 1-2 passes @ Speed 6, all with ~ 9 lbs. of pressure, covering ~ 1-2" per second
• Heavy Duty:
  • Meguiars D300 + MF cutting disc ... or....Meguiars M105 Ultra Cut Compound with a Surfbuf pad
    • 3 passes @ speed 4-5 , then 1-2 passes @ Speed 6, all with ~ 9 lbs. of pressure, covering ~ 1-2" per second

OTHERWISE (and resume here after any of the above):

• Menzerna Finish Polish PO85RD
  • Black pad or HT tangerine 2 passes @ speed 5 with 9 lbs of pressure, covering ~1" per second
  • *** This step is NOT really necessary if P0203S was used, since that is a "single step" product - but an option nonetheless***
• Chemical Guys EZ Creme Glaze (CGEZCG)
  • Black pad or HT crimson 2 passes @ speed 4 with 5 lbs. of pressure, covering ~3" per second
• Blackfire Wet Diamond (BFWD)
  • Blue pad or HT crimson 2 passes @ speed 3 with no additional pressure, covering ~3" per second

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Put the PC away and make sure pads are soaking in water with cleaning solution
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Trim dressing (all rubber, etc.)
• Scrub glass

Well, there you have it. Any comments, recommendations, suggestions, etc.?

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

 

[bobble]

What year is the 328? I believe somewhere around 2009/2010 they changed the JB paint structure to be a bit harder so it's not so easy to mar.

With that said, on my 2000 JB bimmer I use 105 orange followed by 205 white if heavier defects are found or

203 on white if just general defect clean up is needed.

I always finsh with 85RD on black followed by EZ Creme on blue and BFWD on a red pad no matter what the first steps are. Now that's for my personal or sons car and JB only. My Monaco blue E90 does not usually get the EZ creme unless I'm taking a short cut to just clean it up for some reason(boredom usually).

Your speeds and pressures are about what I use as well on all dark colors.

I just did a JB bimmer to prep for sale and the owner did not want to spend much nor allot much time to the detail so I simply clayed and used DG 601/105/501 mix to clean it up and make it shiny (her words not mine). Now I did not have much of an expectation but it came out really well. I had detailed this car twice in the last 18 months so it was in ok shape but my point is it can be cleaned up easily depending on what you want (3 hours total spent on that one).

Also I'm not a pro just a hobbyist who happens to do about 20 to 30 cars a year for friends and family. I fuel my product addiction thru those jobs so take what I say with a small grain of truth as the pros might have a better process. No need to be afraid of JB.

 

[Detail_Dude]

What year is the 328? I believe somewhere around 2009/2010 they changed the JB paint structure to be a bit harder so it's not so easy to mar.

With that said, on my 2000 JB bimmer I use 105 orange followed by 205 white if heavier defects are found or

203 on white if just general defect clean up is needed.

I always finsh with 85RD on black followed by EZ Creme on blue and BFWD on a red pad no matter what the first steps are. Now that's for my personal or sons car and JB only. My Monaco blue E90 does not usually get the EZ creme unless I'm taking a short cut to just clean it up for some reason(boredom usually).

Your speeds and pressures are about what I use as well on all dark colors.

I just did a JB bimmer to prep for sale and the owner did not want to spend much nor allot much time to the detail so I simply clayed and used DG 601/105/501 mix to clean it up and make it shiny (her words not mine). Now I did not have much of an expectation but it came out really well. I had detailed this car twice in the last 18 months so it was in ok shape but my point is it can be cleaned up easily depending on what you want (3 hours total spent on that one).

Also I'm not a pro just a hobbyist who happens to do about 20 to 30 cars a year for friends and family. I fuel my product addiction thru those jobs so take what I say with a small grain of truth as the pros might have a better process. No need to be afraid of JB.

Hey - sorry for the delay and thanks for the reply. Mine is kinda new - 2011 What happened is that I mis-washed it the first few times around - before learning better - and am now making a practice of taking good care and planning for either semi or annual polishing with the PC.

Do you ever use LC White or Green pads with Menzerna SIP?