Hey guys,
Had some time and finally got around to washing the "new" car. Brief history. Purchased last June, one owner, older woman, dealer serviced, all records, in very good shape. Got a heck of a deal, and have spent the past 6 months catching up on some maintenance and repair items. Detail has been on the list...but just hasn't happened due to time.
The weather was great this weekend/week, and I decided to tackle her today. I had ordered the Ultima products about 6 months ago, and had yet to use them.
There were a lot of swirls in this paint. A lot of micro-marring, and my guess is that she ran it through the car-wash on a fairly regular basis. Ugh. I knew it would all come out with time and effort though.
Cleaned her up, using the quarter car wash (huge water restrictions here right now), and got most of the crud off over the weekend.
Quick detailed her this morning, then used Sonus Clay and Glyde. Paint is smooth again. It was quite nasty. I threw one clay bar away after dropping it. !DUH! grr.
Started with some of the new UDM pads I purchased on the PC 7424. For compound, all i had around was the Sonus Restore. I used it a couple years ago on an MB and a Porsche, and really liked it. I started with my Orange UDM pad, on speed 5.5. It yielded decent results, but there were still swirls left. I upped the ante to the white UDM pad, speed 6, and went over the entire car twice with this method. I'd say it got rid of about 60% of the swirls. Dang, this paint is *hard*. My white pad started shedding towards the end, and it had lost most of its density. :-(
Realizing that daylight was burning, and that I needed to get a coat of sealant on it before the sun went down, I just accepted things for what they were, and went on. But... I *really* want to get the paint perfect, and will be doing research on what I need to use to do so.
I put on my green pad, grapped the Ultima paint prep, and went to work. this stuff smells like cinnamon. Quite nice. Goes on nicely too. Very easy to work with. But...coming off - wow - that's a bit harder. I used a fresh MF for this process, and I'd do a panel, look at a different angle, and see spots that i missed. All in all, i got it done, but you do have to be careful making sure you get it all off. This is the first polish I've felt like I needed to strap the MF bonnett on the buffer and buff the paint...so I did.
Dust, dust, dust. Gosh, I hate dust. Off to rinse her well, and dry her. Got her back home, made sure everything was clean and dry, and applied the Ultima Paint sealer. This stuff is *SO* easy to use. Damn, it's great. No worries about plastic trim, it went on so well. I used one spray per panel once I got the pad primed. I only have a 4oz bottle...but i bet it would be easy to get 20 applications, maybe more, out of it. And a 5-series wagon is not a small car.
Overall, i'm pleased with the results. The swirls that are left you must look for, and only become readily visible in direct sunlight at the correct angle.
I'll probably put a couple more coats of Ultima on, because I doubt that I haul out the PC again before summer. Especially if she's easy to keep clean.
The first pictures here are what she looked like last week. Don't beat me up too bad. :soscared:
I think in those you can see some of the swirls. There are a couple of general shots, and then a couple of shots attempting to catch the swirls that are left. :nixweiss
Had some time and finally got around to washing the "new" car. Brief history. Purchased last June, one owner, older woman, dealer serviced, all records, in very good shape. Got a heck of a deal, and have spent the past 6 months catching up on some maintenance and repair items. Detail has been on the list...but just hasn't happened due to time.
The weather was great this weekend/week, and I decided to tackle her today. I had ordered the Ultima products about 6 months ago, and had yet to use them.
There were a lot of swirls in this paint. A lot of micro-marring, and my guess is that she ran it through the car-wash on a fairly regular basis. Ugh. I knew it would all come out with time and effort though.
Cleaned her up, using the quarter car wash (huge water restrictions here right now), and got most of the crud off over the weekend.
Quick detailed her this morning, then used Sonus Clay and Glyde. Paint is smooth again. It was quite nasty. I threw one clay bar away after dropping it. !DUH! grr.
Started with some of the new UDM pads I purchased on the PC 7424. For compound, all i had around was the Sonus Restore. I used it a couple years ago on an MB and a Porsche, and really liked it. I started with my Orange UDM pad, on speed 5.5. It yielded decent results, but there were still swirls left. I upped the ante to the white UDM pad, speed 6, and went over the entire car twice with this method. I'd say it got rid of about 60% of the swirls. Dang, this paint is *hard*. My white pad started shedding towards the end, and it had lost most of its density. :-(
Realizing that daylight was burning, and that I needed to get a coat of sealant on it before the sun went down, I just accepted things for what they were, and went on. But... I *really* want to get the paint perfect, and will be doing research on what I need to use to do so.
I put on my green pad, grapped the Ultima paint prep, and went to work. this stuff smells like cinnamon. Quite nice. Goes on nicely too. Very easy to work with. But...coming off - wow - that's a bit harder. I used a fresh MF for this process, and I'd do a panel, look at a different angle, and see spots that i missed. All in all, i got it done, but you do have to be careful making sure you get it all off. This is the first polish I've felt like I needed to strap the MF bonnett on the buffer and buff the paint...so I did.
Dust, dust, dust. Gosh, I hate dust. Off to rinse her well, and dry her. Got her back home, made sure everything was clean and dry, and applied the Ultima Paint sealer. This stuff is *SO* easy to use. Damn, it's great. No worries about plastic trim, it went on so well. I used one spray per panel once I got the pad primed. I only have a 4oz bottle...but i bet it would be easy to get 20 applications, maybe more, out of it. And a 5-series wagon is not a small car.
Overall, i'm pleased with the results. The swirls that are left you must look for, and only become readily visible in direct sunlight at the correct angle.
I'll probably put a couple more coats of Ultima on, because I doubt that I haul out the PC again before summer. Especially if she's easy to keep clean.
The first pictures here are what she looked like last week. Don't beat me up too bad. :soscared:
I think in those you can see some of the swirls. There are a couple of general shots, and then a couple of shots attempting to catch the swirls that are left. :nixweiss
