1994 325i alpine white - losing the battle here

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///alpinepower

New member
i have polished my 1998 M3 which is alpine white and have gotten the thing perfect - no scratches, no hazing, no pits.



on my 1994 325i, i am not having the same experience. it is the same color, alpine white, but the paint seems hard as hell. the scratches just aren't coming out.



i'm using a PC with Einzatt Ultra Polish on speed 6. it's barely touching this thing. can anybody recommend a different plan of attack?
 
There are two things that you can do (well actually more, but sticking w/the pc). You can step up the abrasiveness of your polish with one like #83, SSR 2.5, or IP. Or you can step up to the next abrasive pad. You want to work in 2x2' sections to maximize the effectiveness of your work, and be sure to work the polishes until they breakdown completely. Hope this helps.
 
nah, man - i am practically sitting on this thing AND keeping it in maybe a one square foot area at that. I eventually wetsanded part of the trunk and the bad parts of the hood, which came out like my car; it's the roof that killing me.



i don't want to push my luck wetsanding a large area of the roof.
 
I agree with Travis

Try stepping up to a more abrasive polish. It doesnt really matter how much pressure you put on your PC. If the polish doesnt have the cutting ability then it just wont do the job no matter how much pressure. 1Z ultra in my experience is not very abrasive. Try going with #83, SSR3, or 3m Rubbing compound. In my experince 3m is the most abrasive of the 3 and you can normally find it at places like pep boys and such.
 
Sometimes you just have to except the limitations of the machine, the PC is a great tool, but there are certain things that it's not going to completely fix. If these are deep isolated scratches, you would be best to spend your time wetsanding them and following up with a rotary. If you have the confidence in your ability to wetsand, I would go for it especially if you were acheiving good results in other areas. One other trick to try would be to move the pc in back and forth, side to side, and diagonal directions over the scratches. Sorry I can't be of more help.
 
yeah, the PC is moving in overlapping figure 8s, forward/backward, side/side and then diagonally. 3M Heavy Cut is definately not as abrasive as the Ultra Polish - I tried that first.



I guess i'm taking a trip to home depot tomorrow - i'm gonna sprinkle some gravel on a pad and try that
 
///alpinepower said:
yeah, the PC is moving in overlapping figure 8s, forward/backward, side/side and then diagonally. 3M Heavy Cut is definately not as abrasive as the Ultra Polish - I tried that first.



I guess i'm taking a trip to home depot tomorrow - i'm gonna sprinkle some gravel on a pad and try that
Click to expand...



AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I pray that's a joke. Don't give up, keep working at. If it was easy it wouldn't be any fun.
 
///alpinepower said:
yeah, the PC is moving in overlapping figure 8s, forward/backward, side/side and then diagonally. 3M Heavy Cut is definately not as abrasive as the Ultra Polish - I tried that first.



I guess i'm taking a trip to home depot tomorrow - i'm gonna sprinkle some gravel on a pad and try that
Click to expand...

Try some sand from the gardening dept first--least abrasive product before moving to more aggressive, LOL!:shocked :lol



Seriously, I've never encountered what you're facing so don't really know what to suggest except try SSR3 with a yellow cutting pad. Good luck.:nixweiss
 
Please tell me you are joking about the Heavy Cut. That stuff is for body shops, not detailing. I've only used it to deliberately strip down to primer on some wheels for a respray. It didn't take long!
 
Yeah theres no way 3m HC is less agressive than 1Z ultra. From what I understand all their polishes have fillers in them as well, hence they are not as agressive. But if 3m didnt work for you try SSR3, it is a pure polish with no fillers. If that doesnt work, well, I guess a 50/50 mix of sand and fine gravel on a brillo pad will do :o
 
Some of this thread is getting a little scary...



I'm used to working hard paints that require a rotary for any serious correction. I've tested the limits of the PC and they aren't all that high.



1Z Ultra is as aggressive as you can *safely* go with a PC. It's more aggressive than DACP and most of the other products mentioned. 1Z Ultra is some strong stuff. *DO NOT* try Heavy Cut or even "Extra Cut" with a PC. It'll induce marring that'll be worse than the scratches that are in there now. You won't be able to fix it without a rotary. I don't even like those products *with* a rotary.



If a PC isn't doing it with 1Z Ultra, the only thing left to try is using a 4" cutting pad. The smaller pads work much more effectively with the PC but it won't work miracles.



If that doesn't get it , you need to move up to a Cyclo or even a rotary. Or perhaps one of the "forced rotation" DAs.



There are some jobs you just can't do with a PC. Trying to "force things" will make the situation worse, sometimes *much* worse.
 
Interesting the only person to mention pads was accumulator and the author didn't mention the abrasiveness of the pad he used initially. If using 1Z ultra and nothing is happening to the swirls, perhaps the pad you are using doesn't have enough bite ?
 
I think that year is single stage white. I don't know if any of you guys have experience with single stage white, but that **** is HARD. I believe it has to do with what is used as the pgiment which is Titanium Oxide I think?(someone correct me on this). the two single stage white cars I've done both required a rotary and compound(1z extra or ultra whatever it's called now is a compound), and one even required wool for correction. If you were local I could come help out free of charge, but you didn't list a location.
 
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