Anyone detail an 04' BMW yet?

JasonD

JasonD

New member
Is it just me or is new BMW clear hard as a rock?!?! I was detailing my mother's new bimmer today, which we bought used by the way. It's a 2004 with 8k miles on it. The previous owner was a female that just had a baby and she traded it in for a 7 series. Anyway, she took great care of the car but I don't think she had it detailed even once while she owned it, and the swirls were pretty substantial.



Being a new car and not being swirled as bad as most, I wasn't planning on using anything too aggressive. Boy, was I wrong. 1Z PP w/ green sonus pad didn't even phase them, so I pulled out the orange cutting pad and *old faithful*, 3M PI RC. Even then it took several passes before I could start seeing them disappear. And when I say several passes, I mean *several* very slow passes. I spent about 45 minutes on the hood alone. The sides didn't take too much, but the front bumper and trunk were just as bad.



Anyway, I don't remember BMW clear being this hard. Is this something new or did I just never notice? I can normally knock out almost any light scratch or swirl with two passes of the 3M RC and cutting pad, but this was insane. If Audi clear is anything like this, I now know the headaches you guys go through.



I spent all day compounding with 3M and polishing with 1Z, so I will be finishing it tomorrow and will post pics in the Click and Brag.
 
They might be following Mercedes' Ceramiclear with similar paint technology. Sounds like a Cyclo is almost becoming mandatory short of rotary to make any kind of dent in getting out defects in these paints :eek:
 
Take the plunge...Rozilla or bust :)



Some of the new paints require some aggressive stuff...good luck with it.
 
I'm hoping those Ceramiclear Menzerna polishes Deanski had last year become available to our favorite online vendors
 
Well, I have the brand new rotary and constant pressure LC pads sitting pretty in the garage, but I didn't want my first time out to be on a $51,000 BMW, if you know what I mean. The first victim for the rotary is going to be my beater 97' Explorer. Remember the one with cc failure on the hood? Yeah, that one. Who cares if that one gets messed up. It can't get any worse than it is already. :o



Honestly, I don't think I'm going to have a problem with the rotary I just don't want to go near my mom's new car with it. :p
 
I'm no good at polishing the sides of car with one unfortunately :(



I'll be on the look out for a "rotary seminar" in my area where hopefully I can get better at that.
 
The paint on my 03 BMW is not particularly hard. I have been able to get out significant defects with a polishing pad and my PC using #83. The paint on our 93 Volvo wagon, on the other hand, is hard as rock. I went at the hood with my new Makita rotary using a cutting pad and both Menzerna IP and #83 and was not able to completely remove some defects. I easily spent an hour on the hood alone, not exceeding 1500 RPM. I must say that after practicing on my John Deere lawn tractor, my Kubota tractor, both washers and dryers and the Volvo I am starting to get the feel for the rotary. I really like it on horizontal surfaces; on verticle surfaces it is more of a challenge. I am going to need to use it on the BMW to get some new cat scratches out of the hood.
 
here you go - all by hand, but there were no swirls! :D :D



after_114_1438.jpg
 
I did a new M3 but it was in excellent shape with no visible swirls. Just VM with a polishing pad and EX-P by hand. Very nice paint, really good gloss even untouched.



2004_BMW_M3_frontV2.jpg
 
Both cars look very good.



Getting the car to shine and look great was easy. It was almost as if the paint *wanted* to look good but the defects just didn't want to come off. The color is quite different, it's a black metallic. I think the name is Black Sapphire Metallic, and it hides imperfections extremely well for being a black color. Actually, standing back and looking at the overall package, the car really doesn't look like I even touched it but that's only because the metallic almost blocks your vision, but when you look at it real close in direct sunlight, you can really see what I've done.



Anyway, the car is coming out great, just a lot of work. I'm actually glad the clear is so hard because that means less defects in the long run.
 
Jason, I know what you mean about that metallic. I have a customer who has a 745 with that color and yes, the paint is pretty hard. DACP and a cutting pad is required. I'm not really wild about that color because it doesn't look deep black in the sun.
 
You're exactly right. Looking at it head on, it lacks in the depth dept. It almost looks like its covered in overspray or something, but when you get a good angle view on a fender or the hood, it looks more charcoal gray and is deep as can be. I guess it's all in what lighting and angle you are looking at it. Unlike most colors, the closer you get to this one the more you appreciate it. Most are the other way around.
 
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