Silver. How much reflection should I expect?

BMW335i

New member
After my recent detail, I am not sure really how much shine/pop to expect from silver without PC polishing. Any pictures of what is considered 'above average paint optics' for silver? This is my best shot (well not really, my camera can shoot much clearer but I had to resize small)...sorry for the small pic, can anyone tell me how I can upload much larger? All detailing was done by hand and was my first exterior detail ever..
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from what I can tell you did a "wash & wax" not a detail..correct?



onr wash with some AJT?



the whole detail thing is all about prep



the pics look very good how about some full sun shots
 
BigJimZ28 said:
from what I can tell you did a "wash & wax" not a detail..correct?



onr wash with some AJT?



the whole detail thing is all about prep



Basically ONR wash, clay, polish, seal. Prime and AJT. This was my first detail ever, and I think I did a thorough prep...
 
Human hands are quite underpowered... a machine will be always superior.



The car looks quite nice and liquid though. But don't expect miracles from silver - even when the finish will improve and get more definition next day (full curing).
 
BMW335i said:
...sorry for the small pic, can anyone tell me how I can upload much larger?..........
Click on the insert image icon
insertimage.gif
and paste in the URL of your pictures.



I think it came out pretty nice, especially for silver :up
 
from my experience, acrylics didn't help much with my space gray. Try a carnuba... natty blue worked well for me :)
 
Looks pretty wet to me. What is important is how it looks to you. It is hard to compare with other pictures because of the photo medium (digital vs film), exposure and camera/lens quality.
 
Scottwax said:
Looks pretty wet to me. What is important is how it looks to you. It is hard to compare with other pictures because of the photo medium (digital vs film), exposure and camera/lens quality.



It could be the lighting. i.e. sun, but most of my other shots I couldn't get nice reflections. I had to get in a good spot to capture the reflective quality.
 
By hand, I think you did a great job. BMW silver is incredible when detailed. It sounds like you're new to detailing, so I would recommend getting a PC polisher and reading up on the forum. It really cuts down the amount of working time with superior results, and it's fairly safe-proof.



Love your car BTW, I'm hoping to purchase one later this year !
 
BMW335i said:
It could be the lighting. i.e. sun, but most of my other shots I couldn't get nice reflections. I had to get in a good spot to capture the reflective quality.



That is typical, especially with lighter metallics and white. Not much you can do about it.
 
Bence said:
Human hands are quite underpowered... a machine will be always superior.

:werd:

Silvers real show power is in paint cleansliness. If you can get as close to the real color without any alterations i.e. glazes (Which tend to hide that particular color) your looking top notch! Polish (which you did), then, just like white, get it as clean as possible (paint cleaner to remove polishing oils).
 
reflection has a lot to do with lighting and angle

detail06.jpg




your car looks nice and wet, don't let yourself think that reflection is the guage of a good detail.
 
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