BMW Black Sapphire Metallic Paint

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black545i

New member
Hey guys,



I have a Black Sapphire Metallic BMW 545i I recently acquired and I'm trying to keep it looking nice. It's not in perfect shape, there are plenty of swirl marks and some scratches and rock chips that are driving me a little crazy. I'd like to do what I can to get it looking respectable. Right now though, I'm not sure if I should have a go at doing it myself or having one of the pros handle it.



Yesterday I washed using ONR and then clayed and hand applied Klasse AIO, but I still have swirls. I can go out and get a PC, but will that be enough at getting these swirl marks out and taking care of the scratches? If I have to get a rotary instead I think I'm just better off having someone do the work as I don't have the time to learn how to use one/don't want to risk wrecking the paint. If a PC would do the trick, what polish/compounding material/pad combination (is that right?) is a good one to start with for the BMW Black Sapphire Metallic paint? I've done a bit of looking and the various combinations of products available are overwhelming to say the least. Add to that the degree of softness of the BMW paint and I'm pretty much spinning my wheels with respect to what exactly to get. Any help would be appreciated.



Thanks.
 
BMW's paint tends to be pretty hard so you will likely need some Surbuf pads on the DA to get a significant amount of correction. I did this this 2010 528i a couple months ago and M105 on the DA with a Cyan Hydro LC pad was unable to remove the water spots. I ended up having to use a rotary with a PFW pad...



2010 BMW 528i





Guess it really depends on how bad your swirls are though...if not too deep M105 and a Cyan or Orange LC will make a noticeable improvement.



Rasky
 
Yes, the sapphire black is hard. If you get a pc, get the griots one, as that is the most powerful model. You can use a PFW pad on the pc as well. OR, get a flex 3401.



Any pictures?
 
Thanks for the tips guys. Right now I'm leaning towards getting a flex, I think it'll do what I want.



tdekany said:
Yes, the sapphire black is hard. If you get a pc, get the griots one, as that is the most powerful model. You can use a PFW pad on the pc as well. OR, get a flex 3401.



Any pictures?
Click to expand...



Car is in the shop at the moment, getting some things taken care of before it starts snowing over here, will post some pics when I get it back. Thanks.
 
Here are some pictures. First picture captures it best. Swirls like that all over the car.



top of the rear trunk





top of rear trunk again, not sure what the stuff is in the center, will it polish out?





top of the car

 
I'll chime in, as an owner of a Black Sapphire BMW, though you have a lot of very good advice already.



Since I bought my car new, I've only ever needed to use my (10 years old!) Porter Cable with an orange LC pad with 205, followed by Menzerna PO85RD.



You have more issues than that, though it looks workable. A Griot's random orbital, or a Flex would probably work. Rasky's comment on the Surbuf pads is appropriate, too. I've only needed the LC pads on my car, but the Surbuf would be more aggressive, and looks like what you would need.



A common ground seems to be the Meguiar's 105 and 205. I'll second that.



BMW Black Sapphire is on the harder side to work with, so you will need a combo with some cutting ability to start. It's definitely not a one-step polishing job.



You will get to a point where you have gotten the paint "pretty good," and trying to get it perfect would involve removing more clearcoat than would be advisable, particularly since I would assume you bought it to drive it.



Enjoy the car, and be glad you don't have Jet Black, which is infamous for its softness! I steered clear from buying Jet Black after reading all the comments here.
 
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