About Ready to give up Detailing.... Just too hard.

Jinba ittai said:
:welcome to Autopia!



Being from Hawaii you are lucky because you are in the same state as Pakshak. They have a very good reputation here. Invest in some high quality products and microfibers, along with a sheepskin mitt.



That'll at least help minimalize the spiderwebbing. It's hard to avoid them if you drive the car much but high quality products along with proper technique does help. :)
Click to expand...



Thanks much for the warm welcome. =) Yes, I've been told that living in close proximity to pakshak is enough to make Hawaii an enviable location by itself. Unfortunately, they have no local distribution except out of a local truck center. I still haven't called for availability of most of the products but I'm hoping most, if not all, of the microfiber products are stocked. =)
 
Mystic....



Those are not buffer swirls you have but halo scratches. In reality buffer swirls can be easier to remove than the halo scratches, so be happy that you seemed to have been able to polish well enough not to swirl the poo out of the paint :)



Now personally I would of left the LC cutting pad out of the line up and opted for the orange pad. The 2.5 is a nice product and it alone should do the work. I really don't care for the yellow LC cutting pads as I feel they mar the paint while the orange pads cut the paint and leave little to no marring. Any marring left with the orange pad can be handled with a mild polish and a mild polishing pad.



Now you can do one more rotary step with a finishing pad and a very mild polish like FPII or Optimum and then when satisfied go over it with your PC, finishing pad again and the same fine polish.



There comes a time though when you have to realize that you have done all that you can do and then pull out the glaze :up Also take into account that the hood might be a re-paint, unless of course you know for a fact it isn't.



Hope that helps,

Anthony
 
Man, I feel your pain! I've been detailing my 2000 black 540i for the past 2 days and i'm only half way done with the car! Black is just a PAIN to keep clean and look good! My other car is white and heck, i wash it, wax, and it looks good!



I'm using SSR 2.5, SSR1, EX, and nattys. I first tried 2.5 on the hood with a Sonus green pad but didn't like the results. I then tried a Sonus orange pad and it worked great. Had a little hazing, so used SSR 1 with a blue pad to polish things out. Looks good! Is it perfect? No. I can still still see some swirls in the direct light, but i'm pretty sure EX and Nattys will fill those up.



Guess im just being to anal about things. Im trying to get the paint perfect, but I know when I was it, the swirls will come back. No matter how careful you are, they'll always be there.
 
I've probably got 25+ hours now into my black '99 626 since November '03 and there are still some areas that I have to live with being less than perfect. The car was taken well care of mechanically but rarely washed and never waxed for the 2 1/2 years my brother owned it.



At least at this point, it takes direct sun and the right angle to really see any problems with the paint over about 95% of the car. The other 5% is minor enough I can live with.



Don't give up, just keep at it every few months and you should have it looking really good by spring. Sure, you can do all the polishing now but it might be best to take a break for a while and take it up again later.
 
Thanx for all the great advice from every one. I'm just taking my time to soak in all the great tips and tricks of the trade as well as the mental advice.



I've read numerous times here at Autopia that Black is such a PITA to maintain in excellent shape. However, I was of the feeling, "Well it'll be easy for me." However, reality is sinking in now and I now see the value of those commernts on hard it is to keep Black looking great.



I just had really reaaallllyyy high expectations for my car you know. After i learned about detailing, I had a whole new perspective on cars. Even an old beat-up car can look Fabulous ( cars in click& Brag), so my car can look stupendous and stunning as well. So I jumped into my 7 yr. old black paint with those super high expectations and I was defeated this time



Well, like you all are basically saying, I'll just take my time with it and hope for success in the near future. :o



:bestwish: Thank you.
 
DRG,



Of course. :2thumbs: I love detailing :buffing: :waxing: or else I wouldn't have spent months and months of my time, energy and money into detailing my car. And I still love detailing. I was frustrated with my first attepmt and needed to releieve my mind a bit and get some advice on what I'm doing wrong. Hence this Thread. I still see the potential of my car's paint and I'll continue to work on it it until my hearts content.
 
just be realistic and realize that a daily driver isn't going to have perfect paint. you can make it look good with some work and the right products.
 
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