Washing away winter - 2006 BMW 550i Jet Black

Tachyon

Tachyon

New member
Nasty winter roads have made my Jet Black car look gray.

dirty0.jpg




So, it was time for an early spring cleaning. Process:

wash with Zaino Z-7

polish with Zaino ZPC on yellow cutting pad (one pass)

polish with Jeffs Prime on white pad (one pass)

one coat of Zaino Z-5 Pro

finish off with Z-8



It did have some light swirls and spider webs, but the ZPC easily took care of those. However, light scratches remain ... maybe it's time to step up to a rotary.



before polish:

Beforepolish-1.jpg




after polish:

afterpolish-1.jpg




some shots of dirty versus final detail:



dirty1.jpg
clean1-1.jpg




dirty2.jpg
clean2.jpg




dirty3.jpg
clean3.jpg




dirty4.jpg
clean4.jpg
 
looks good! I love that car.



Now what made you feel like you needed the yellow pad?



Would it be possible that the scratches that were left over, are actually marring from the yellow pad?



Do you have an orange pad that you could try instead?





looks good!
 
Frugle said:
looks good! I love that car.



Now what made you feel like you needed the yellow pad?



Would it be possible that the scratches that were left over, are actually marring from the yellow pad?



Do you have an orange pad that you could try instead?





looks good!
Click to expand...
Thanks.



The BMW clear coat is hard and you have to really get on it to make a difference. ZPC doesn't have a ton of bite and I've found that using it with the Lake Country 6.5" yellow cutting pad on a PC allows for a nice one-pass effort. It gets all the minor swirls and spidies and it finishes with a great shine (and no dust at all).



I ran it at 3.5-4 with moderate pressure and then 5.5-6 with very little pressure to finish it off clean. When I really need to get on it I go with Menzerna IP on the yellow pad, then ZPC on orange, and finish with Jeffs on white. But I just wanted to do a quick mid-winter touch up yesterday.



The scratches were there before polishing. They are the kind of random scrapes you get - who knows from where? On one trouble spot tried several passes with some IP on a hand pad and it didn't do much. That's why I'm thinking it's time to buy a rotary. The PC takes way too long to make an impact on anything more than common swirls.
 
Tachyon said:
So, it was time for an early spring cleaning.
Click to expand...





I luv your optimism! Car looks good, that's a fine machine. We do our best under trying conditions.





BTW, we've only had two very light dustings here in metro Boston. I'm sure we're not out of the woods yet and I'll still have many opportunities to bond with my ONR :)
 
Very nice! Looks super wet. :)



You might want to try a more aggressive polish before a rotary to see if that will work. It'd definitely be cheaper!
 
Scottwax said:
You might want to try a more aggressive polish before a rotary to see if that will work. It'd definitely be cheaper!
Click to expand...

Scott, what would you recommend as a more aggressive polish? Menzerna IP with a LC yellow cutting pad takes 3+ passes to make a decent impact on this paint. My thinking on the rotary is "time is money" so I don't have much hesitation investing in it.
 
i love starting with such a dirty car. i just washed my black truck today after 2 weeks of winter rainstorms. its like a breath of fresh air!!

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I wish it wasn't so cold recently. All cold and no snow! I love snow, but all we get is frigid temperatures... What a horrible combination!
 
I have a silver BMW and didn't think the orange peel was all that bad, but that 5th pic of the door really shows otherwise. Car looks great though! :2thumbs:
 
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