Help with Finishing Black Sapphire Metallic paint on BMW X3

G

Gray_Panther

New member
Hey Autopia,



I am in dire need of some techniques to finish down this black metallic paint. My current status is that the compounding is done, thank goodness, and now that I am polishing, there still remains some marring. Certain areas are unaffected while others show traces of marring.



My equipment includes:

PC7424XP

Sonax Nano Polish 3/6

Uber Med Polish Pads

Uber Glaze/Final Polish Pads

Uber Glaze/Waxing Pads



My current process is:

Apply polish to medium polish pad and spread over affected area, haze the polish with the speed set to 3. From there set the speed to 5 and apply moderate pressure for 2 passes, then finish with 2 passes at speed 6 with very light pressure.



I have been reading other write ups with Jet Black paint, and people mostly post products used.



I want to give the final polish pads a shot with the Sonax polish, but I am unsure of the technique to use. I was thinking about spreading the polish at 3, then with light pressure set the speed to 5 and finish it down. Thoughts?



I want this to be one of my best corrections to date because it is for my father's car.
 
My BMW is BSM and was painted at the same BMW assembly plant as your X Series (Spartanburg). I've polished it multiple times and its never been "finicky". I've never tried Sonaxs' polish, I usually use Menzerna. Honestly, I'm surprised your having a problem, although how paint reacts can vary, even on the same color/year/car. My paint isn't particularly hard or soft, as the BMWs painted in America are not "ceramic" paints (unless this has changed in the past year or two).



Like all black cars, I find this paint benefits from a fine finishing polish like SF4500 by Menzerna or Optimum Finish Polish on a soft finishing pad after your polishing step. I would follow up with one of those polishes.



Maybe the problem panels have been re-painted?
 
This may or may not help you since your have Black Sapphire Metallic opposed to Jet Black but here's how I finished down my dad's '03 M5 Jet Black to perfection:



PC7424XP with 5.5 Meguiar's Microfiber Cutting Pad and Menzerna FG400



then



PC7424XP with 5.5 Lake Country Orange Flat Light Cutting Pad and Sonax 3/6 Nano Polish



I found this combination worked exceptionally. I was a bit surprised with the second pad, I originally used a White pad and the Sonax polish doing a similar technique to you, 2 firm pressure passes on speed 6 after spreading it out, 2 light pressure passes on speed 5.5, followed by a final pass on speed 4 with just the weight of the machine. Some of the marring was still slightly visible so I stepped up to an orange pad with the same technique and the results came out flawless. Hope this helps.
 
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