Car is a 2013 BMW 335. Black. It has many swirl marks and small scratches. Pretty typical of the "before" pics I've seen of cars on this site. I've spent hours researching and watching the videos posted by Autogeek. A lot of time. A lot of time. I chose to us the BOSS system from Griots. Machine was the G15 with Griots pads and products. Did a test spot with correcting cream and orange pad and not much happened. Went to white pad with correcting cream and got results. Did the entire car. I did small patches, moved slowly 5 passes at least. left right top bottom with overlap. A lot of the defects were removed but not all. Brilliant shine on paint now. Switched to perfecting cream with yellow pad. Spent about 8 hours on the car. After all this still had small defects. Switched to orange pad with perfecting cream and worked areas that had defects. I did not do the whole car over with orange pad. Defects are still there. Before I did anything car was washed thoroughly, ironx, and clay bar. Paint was clean before any mechanical correction. The car shines brilliantly and has a mirror like finish; I mean really nice but if you look at the car at the correct angle you can still see small scratches and defects. Car looks beautiful in full sun. Most people would not notice any defects but I do and I want them to go away. So, what would be the next step? A different product?? So far I've spent about a week on this car. All work is done inside closed well lit garage. I found a thread about Wolfgang swirl remover. Is this stuff better than Griots?? Or just leave well enough alone. Your thoughts
What am i doing wrong???
- Thread starter FRANK21
- Start date
dlc95
Well-known member
- May 18, 2013
- 6,062
- 26
Probably not the tool or products. It might be a technique adjustment.
I did a black 2010 BMW a few years ago that was really tough. I tried many combinations on the Flex 3401, and Rupes Duetto, but the Porter Cable 7424xp, green Buff and Shine pads, and Meguiar's M100 was the only one to get everything out on 4 passes. Speed 6 with firm pressure.
Finished with M205 on the blue pads, and M21 on red.
Now when I do his car, all I need is M205 on blue Buff and Shine pads and the M21 on red to get it back to life. He takes such good care of it that I've only been back two out of the four years since I've done the car.
You might need to revisit the technique though. I hear nothing but great things about Griot's BOSS line.
I did a black 2010 BMW a few years ago that was really tough. I tried many combinations on the Flex 3401, and Rupes Duetto, but the Porter Cable 7424xp, green Buff and Shine pads, and Meguiar's M100 was the only one to get everything out on 4 passes. Speed 6 with firm pressure.
Finished with M205 on the blue pads, and M21 on red.
Now when I do his car, all I need is M205 on blue Buff and Shine pads and the M21 on red to get it back to life. He takes such good care of it that I've only been back two out of the four years since I've done the car.
You might need to revisit the technique though. I hear nothing but great things about Griot's BOSS line.
rlmccarty2000
New member
- Dec 23, 2013
- 2,002
- 0
On my 2011 335d I had to use Menzerma FG 400 on Megs microfiber cutting pads to get through the tough clear coat and remove all the defects. I followed up with a Rupes yellow pad and the yellow polish to remove the haze left from the microfiber pad. It was an 8 plus hour job to correct everything. It can be done.
TMQ
Active member
- Mar 4, 2015
- 2,243
- 0
This is spot on!
Start with the microfiber pads. Then begin with least aggressive polish and test. Change the polish to a more aggressive polish until you get the results you want.
Tom
- Thread starter
- #7
Thanks for your input. I went over the car again with orange pad and correcting cream with 6 inch Griots DA. More defects came out but still not all. I noticed the smaller machine did not stall (rotation) as much as the G15. Additionally I was able to use more pressure. I'm reluctant to go over the car again with the Fast Correcting Cream. The paint is so much better than before its incredible the difference. Its mirror like. When I first assessed this car I would not have judged the defects to be so bad as to need the most aggressive product and pad to remove. Experience counts. I spent a lot of time on this and learned a lot. Again thanks for your input. Best regards Frank
BMW clear coat is hard. It takes elbow grease to make progress, you are not alone on that. You accomplished job one, you have a brilliant shine. At this point, if you get rid of every last defect, the overall look of the car from 5 feet away will not noticeably improve. You will be the only person on the planet who will know the defects are there. My advice is to relax, enjoy the car for a year, then hit it again next year. Alternately, one thing you can try that is enjoyable is to pick a few defects that bother you, use a 3" pad, and work on those. Every time you wash your car, you can hit a defect or two. The defects come out quickly (minutes, not hours) when you focus on them and you feel like you are making progress.
Eric@CherryOnTop
New member
- Jun 23, 2012
- 1,168
- 0
Pictures would help a bit here.
If your car is jet black and not sapphire black metallic, you have one of the most notorious difficult to work on paints in the automotive industry. It could very well be that you are inducing some marring with your towels when you remove the polish residue. I disagree with other posters that you aren't being aggressive enough, I think you might be too aggressive actually.
It sounds like you are working clean, but I would look to be a little bit cleaner. 1) Make sure you are cleaning your pad of spent product residue and clear coat after each section pass. I like using a terry cloth towel and burying the pad in it with the machine running. 2) Try not using a dry microfiber to remove the polish residue. Use one that's been soaked in rinseless wash solution and wrung out so it's barely wet. This lowers friction and reduces the chances of marring. 3) Sometimes these softer black paints don't respond well to large throw machines like the G15. You said you used a 6" DA and got better results, so I thing that might be your ticket for your final polish. Give it a shot, nothing to lose. Sometimes you have to play around with these things and find different combinations to see what works best. Regardless, dial in your process on one spot before repeating it on the whole car, that way you aren't having to go over the whole car again once you're done.
If your car is jet black and not sapphire black metallic, you have one of the most notorious difficult to work on paints in the automotive industry. It could very well be that you are inducing some marring with your towels when you remove the polish residue. I disagree with other posters that you aren't being aggressive enough, I think you might be too aggressive actually.
It sounds like you are working clean, but I would look to be a little bit cleaner. 1) Make sure you are cleaning your pad of spent product residue and clear coat after each section pass. I like using a terry cloth towel and burying the pad in it with the machine running. 2) Try not using a dry microfiber to remove the polish residue. Use one that's been soaked in rinseless wash solution and wrung out so it's barely wet. This lowers friction and reduces the chances of marring. 3) Sometimes these softer black paints don't respond well to large throw machines like the G15. You said you used a 6" DA and got better results, so I thing that might be your ticket for your final polish. Give it a shot, nothing to lose. Sometimes you have to play around with these things and find different combinations to see what works best. Regardless, dial in your process on one spot before repeating it on the whole car, that way you aren't having to go over the whole car again once you're done.
- Thread starter
- #10
Eric, my thoughts exactly with the towels. I thought it was just me but after I wiped the surface a few times with the microfiber towel I thought I saw a new scratch. I thought that very unlikely but I started to use only one side of the towels. I'm using the Gold Plush Junior MF. I've been cleaning the pads about every other pass and used one MF per panel. I used about 6 pads (per color) per compound (6 white, 6 orange, 6 yellow) on the car for a total of 18 so far. The car is jet black. On the second pass before I put the machine to the car I wiped the panel with quick detailer to get all the dust off. I'm working in an enclosed garage but its dusty in Arizona. The smaller machine worked better than the G15. I'm going to final polish this weekend. I like Chet31 idea also. Frank
Firehouse Mike
Member
- Feb 17, 2014
- 478
- 0
When I do a test spot and find really hard paint, my go to is my G21 with MF pad and Fast Correcting cream. That is about as aggressive as you can get before wet sanding. Normally get great results and even with that combo, it finishes nicely although I will typically go back with orange pads and Finishing Cream for a finial polish. This is what I will use on oxidized gel coat is that tells you how aggressive it is. Slow passes and moderate pressure seems to work the best for me.