zmcgovern45
New member
This car belongs to a forum member who did some mechanical work for me a while back in exchange for a detail. This is the 4th 335i that has come to me from the forum, so they must be pretty popular. This car had the typical scratches and swirls of a daily driven vehicle and was in need of some serious paint correction to restore some shine to the beautiful bright white paint. The owner had just removed the clear bra from the front bumper and 1/3 of the hood, and thankfully the bumper was in very good shape (as you might hope from an area that has been covered for many years), the hood on the other hand was in very bad shape. Luckily, white is a rather forgiving paint color to be working with and it can allow you to be more aggressive than you can be with a darker paint color, while still finishing down well enough to not require an additional polishing step.
Process
-Wheels: CG Diablo Gel (4:1) w/ Wheel Woolies, Soft Wheel Sponge & Various Brushes
-Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner & Tuf Shine Tire Brush
-Bug & Tar Pre-Soak: CG Bug Bugger & Tar Remover (6:1)
-Pre-Soak: CG Citrus Wash (foam left to dwell for 5-7 minutes)
-Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Sheep Skin Wash Mitt
-Decontaminate: Iron X
-Dry: DI Waffle Weave Drying Towels
-Tape: 3M Blue Painters Tape
-Paint Thickness Readings Taken
-Polish: Menzerna PF2500 on Orange Light Cutting Pad via Rupes LHR21ES Sp. 5 (5.5" pads) & PC7424XP Sp. 5-6 (3" & 4" Pads)
-IPA Wipedown (~15% solution)
-Sealant: CG Black Light on Black Finishing Pad via PC7424XP Sp. 4
-Wax: CG Pete's 53 Black Pearl Signature Paste Wax via P21S Signature Wax Applicators
-Tire Dressing: Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel (3 coats due to tires soaking up the dressing)
-Exhaust Tips: CG Metal Wax (polish and protection) via MF Towel
Before
The car was pretty dirty when it showed up, but the defects were still easily visible. Swirls, scratches, water spots, bugs, dirt, etc.
The wheels showed typical levels of dirt and brake dust build up.
During
As always, I began by cleaning the wheels. CG Diablo Gel was left to dwell on the wheel for a minute or so in order to starts cutting through the brake dust and grime.
After the wheel is clean, I move to the tire. Clean tires allow for a better look and longer lasting tire shine. These tires were quite dirty.
After the wheels and tires were cleaned, the car was foamed and washed, it was then treated with Iron X to remove bonded Iron particles from the paint. Iron X is a very useful product that turns purple as it dissolves the iron. It is especially fun to work with on a white car so you can really see the color transformation as the product is working.
Once the paint was clean and free of contamination, I was able to see the real condition of it. It had a lot of swirls and deeper scratches. Here you can see the texture in the paint due to the large amount of swirls.
After a thorough inspection, I began with my test spot on the hood. Here is the spot prior to polishing.
Cleaned up nicely!
Fender prior to correction.
After Correction.
Trunk prior to correction.
After Correction.
Before/After Video of trunk section:
Other fender prior to correction.
After Correction.
Door prior to correction.
After correction.
50/50 Shot comparing the front door (polished) to rear door (not yet polished).
50/50 Shot showing the corrected section vs. uncorrected section on the rear passenger door. Nice improvement!
Nicely Polished paint!
Process
-Wheels: CG Diablo Gel (4:1) w/ Wheel Woolies, Soft Wheel Sponge & Various Brushes
-Tires: Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner & Tuf Shine Tire Brush
-Bug & Tar Pre-Soak: CG Bug Bugger & Tar Remover (6:1)
-Pre-Soak: CG Citrus Wash (foam left to dwell for 5-7 minutes)
-Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Sheep Skin Wash Mitt
-Decontaminate: Iron X
-Dry: DI Waffle Weave Drying Towels
-Tape: 3M Blue Painters Tape
-Paint Thickness Readings Taken
-Polish: Menzerna PF2500 on Orange Light Cutting Pad via Rupes LHR21ES Sp. 5 (5.5" pads) & PC7424XP Sp. 5-6 (3" & 4" Pads)
-IPA Wipedown (~15% solution)
-Sealant: CG Black Light on Black Finishing Pad via PC7424XP Sp. 4
-Wax: CG Pete's 53 Black Pearl Signature Paste Wax via P21S Signature Wax Applicators
-Tire Dressing: Optimum Opti-Bond Tire Gel (3 coats due to tires soaking up the dressing)
-Exhaust Tips: CG Metal Wax (polish and protection) via MF Towel
Before
The car was pretty dirty when it showed up, but the defects were still easily visible. Swirls, scratches, water spots, bugs, dirt, etc.
The wheels showed typical levels of dirt and brake dust build up.
During
As always, I began by cleaning the wheels. CG Diablo Gel was left to dwell on the wheel for a minute or so in order to starts cutting through the brake dust and grime.
After the wheel is clean, I move to the tire. Clean tires allow for a better look and longer lasting tire shine. These tires were quite dirty.
After the wheels and tires were cleaned, the car was foamed and washed, it was then treated with Iron X to remove bonded Iron particles from the paint. Iron X is a very useful product that turns purple as it dissolves the iron. It is especially fun to work with on a white car so you can really see the color transformation as the product is working.
Once the paint was clean and free of contamination, I was able to see the real condition of it. It had a lot of swirls and deeper scratches. Here you can see the texture in the paint due to the large amount of swirls.
After a thorough inspection, I began with my test spot on the hood. Here is the spot prior to polishing.
Cleaned up nicely!
Fender prior to correction.
After Correction.
Trunk prior to correction.
After Correction.
Before/After Video of trunk section:
Other fender prior to correction.
After Correction.
Door prior to correction.
After correction.
50/50 Shot comparing the front door (polished) to rear door (not yet polished).
50/50 Shot showing the corrected section vs. uncorrected section on the rear passenger door. Nice improvement!
Nicely Polished paint!
