Are these descent results?

G

Gryz

New member
This was my fist time using a PC. I took a whack at my trunk on my BMW 328is. (Clayed first)



I feel that about 99% of swirls were removed. but only about 75% of the scratches.



If you could critique my process that would be great...



First I applied about a nickel size drop of M80 on White LC, spread it on about half the trunk while off and then spread it again on about 3, then went up to 5.5 and worked it for about 5 minutes using a criss-cross pattern. This yielded minimal results, so stepped it up to M83 on Orange LC and did the same thing. Still not satisified so went over it again with M80 on White LC.



After reading a lot on here, I feel that all that switching was not needed, but I had a hard time getting results. I worked the polish for about 5 min each time and went pretty slow and applied moderate pressure. Mustve worked on the tunk for a good 45 min.



The pictures look good, but up close I can definitely still see fine scratches, which look like they would be easy to remove, but I just can't. I would also like to add that not all the time, but only sometimes the polish would "powder" on me....



Any suggestion?
 

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The pictures indicate you had an excellent result. But it is easy to make a car look good in pictures, if you hit just the right angle. Try to take a picture with the sun reflecting directly on the paint. The swirls will usually show up right around the sun halo.



FWIW, some BMW's have notoriously hard clear coat. A yellow pad might be necessary. Especially with a PC. Some will even say that a PC was not designed to remove swirls. Only to minimize their appearance by rounding their edges. The fact that you were able to reduce their appearance by >95% is pretty impressive, if you ask me.



Dusting is a common side effect of most compounds on the market. Optimum's products seem to dust the least, for me.
 
Sometimes all you can do is all you can do, especially with a PC.



I agree it appears you got fantastic results. With experience you'll be able to guage what pad and products will be needed to achieve your desired results. Only then you will do less jumping around with products and be faster.



5 minutes also sounds a little long for M80 try 6-8 sweeps horizontally and 6-8 sweeps vertically (Sweeps meaning vertical and horizotal strokes to cover the entire 2x2 area once.). After that M80 should be fairly broken down.
 
Here is the best I can get at the moment. Maybe tonight I will get the work lights out and try a pic then.



Would you say that my technique/approach was correct?



I guess what I'm asking is if I were to work on a Non-BMW or something with a softer coat and start out with the M83 on White, after that 5min pass, how much greater should my results be?
 

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That is really an excellent result. I wouldn't expect that your results would be any better on a car with softer CC. It just might not take as long to get such stellar results. Good job, man!
 
Thank you for the kind words. I am going to continue practicing...



I am going to try next my friends Dodge Dakota, well see how that turns out.
 
A direct shot with sun glare would definitely reveal swirls and scratches, unless they were negligible. With practice, you'll move faster, but for now you should take your time. Especially when working on someone else's car! The PC is a fairly safe machine, though.
 
I just did the hood a little bit ago....couldn't believe the crud from claying.



I seem to be getting nowhere with M80/White LC on this BMW. Though I do see results with M83 on Orange. Also I see no marring from the orange, so is it OK to do the hood as much as necessary to get desired results with 83 and orange?
 
Gryz- I think it's looking nice, and I'll caution/remind you to let *your* impression of your results be your guide; don't go by what others do. If you're satisfied then all is cool; if you're *not* satisfied then you need to decide whether to try a different approach or redefine satisfactory.



The clear on my '97 E36 is *VERY* hard, even the rotaries take a lot of time and I'm using *much* more aggressive products with cutting pads. You might do better (and faster) with 4" pads and/or a more aggressive product than the #83. If I were doing that car by PC I'd be using 4" orange pads and H-T EC. And I'd expect to spend a *LOT* longer than 45 minutes for a panel like the trunk lid.



As long as you're still seeing marring that you'd like to eliminate, then you're not removing all that much clear, so I don't *think* you need to worry. But, well, you just never know (yeah, that's a disclaimer ;) ).



If you *do* get any light marring from the orange pad the #80/white should take care of it pretty easily.



Oh, and I don't work polishes until they dust, but rather until they're *almost* dry. It's the sort of thing you get a feel for with experience. With #80, as soon as it loses its color and starts to look translucent it's pretty much broken down.
 
Thanks Accumlator. Yeah, this is an E36 also.



I do see some room for improvement on the panels, though I do see signifacant progress.



The most agressive product I have is M83 right now, is there any OTC polishes that would give better results on an Orange LC?
 
Well I just picked up some OC, OP and a yellow pad. Hopefully I will get the results I want.



One question, when I use OC with the yellow LC, will this leave marring that will need to be taken out, if so should I use OP, or M80 on orange or white?
 
Gryz said:
One question, when I use OC with the yellow LC, will this leave marring that will need to be taken out, if so should I use OP, or M80 on orange or white?
Click to expand...



Noting that I haven't used OC, I'd expect the micromarring (I get it with similar products and the yellow pad). Either the OP or the #80 oughta remove it but I'd probably go with the OP just because, well, it's another Optimum product and they're designed to work together that way. I'd probably use the orange pad first and then finish with the white pad.



See how it goes and let us know. FWIW I'm still learning my way around OP...I can't quite get the final finish I want on the M3 with OP/LC white (by rotary). Probably user-error but I'm still a little disappointed.
 
Thanks for the comments guys. I feel like I am getting the hang of it. But so far it seems like doing this to a whole car would take a long time :nixweiss



I've been practing on a Dodge Dakota lately. It was a lot easier to work on than the BMW.

Here is a half and half of the roof.
 

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Yeah, that combo's working *great* on the Dodge! Shows how hard the BMW clear really is.



I like how you're using the incandescent light too :D
 
WOW, very very nice work. I like my dakota's paint too, so easy to correct!



Looks fantastic!! I wish i was that good when first starting out!



Jim
 
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