TTBear
Allan F
Hi everyone. Hope the weekend is treating you all well. My wife just took delivery of her new X6M, which replaced a succession of two previous X6Ms (previous model - 2012 and a 2010). To be honest, she didn`t really care about the power, but chose it because she preferred the wheels, seats, and interior trim (carbon fibre). 
The paint was actually in good shape - I specifically requested that the dealership refrain from doing ANYTHING to the paint when it arrived, as their wash procedures have left a lot to be desired in the past (I think this is pretty much the case with all car dealerships, including high-end, exotic car dealers). They were fantastic about it - gladly allowing me to remove all of the protective vinyl, and even let me use their wash bay. I did raise a few eyebrows, when I hauled out my CR Spotless rig, haha.
After washing it down, we drove it home (about 70 miles from our house - thankfully, it was cool, so no bugs! - although just to be sure, I covered the front end with Roadwrap). Once we got home, we parked it, and I got to work on it early the next morning.
There were perhaps four areas on the car that actually needed more than a finesse polish, so I worked these out with a Flex PE8 - orange flex pad, and Menzerna SIP. I then went over the whole car with a blue Lake Country pad, on a Flex 3401, and Menzerna Micro Polish.
Sorry for the lack of before pictures, but there really weren`t any that were significant enough to merit documentation.
Once I got the car home, these are the products that I used:
-CarPro Iron X Snow Soap
-Nanoskin fine grade Autoscrub wash mitt, using ONR as a lubricant.
-Rewash with Zaino Z7 (I have a ton of this, that I am gradually using up, haha)
-Polishing using the stuff I have listed above.
-CarPro Eraser.
I then brought the car to my XPel installer. He used Ultimate, to cover the full hood, front fenders, front bumper, A-pillars, side mirrors, door handles, rocker panels, rear wheel impact areas, and rear bumper, below the trunk. He does INCREDIBLE work - wrapping every single edge around the edge of body panels possible, rather than leaving an edge that could gather residue/wax/etc.
Once home again, I did a ONR rinseless wash, repeated Eraser, and did the following:
-CQuartz UK to all painted and XPel`d surfaces (and once again, THANK YOU to all the guys that encouraged me to take on a nanocoating myself, rather than chastising me for even thinking that anyone other than a professional detailer could do it properly. I appreciate your support, always!)
-PBL Diamond Glass coating to windshield
-Removed wheels, washed with Iron X snow foam, clayed with Zaino claybar (again, leftover Zaino stuff...), Eraser, and coated with Pinnacle Black Label Diamond wheel Coating. I also applied this to the exhaust tips.
Here are a few pics - sorry - I was losing the sun, and they aren`t the best
It`s nice to see that BMW is improving their paint - the orange peel on this car wasn`t nearly as bad as on some of the BMWs that I have seen in recent years!
Thanks for looking - have a great weekend, everyone!!!
Cheers,
Allan
The paint was actually in good shape - I specifically requested that the dealership refrain from doing ANYTHING to the paint when it arrived, as their wash procedures have left a lot to be desired in the past (I think this is pretty much the case with all car dealerships, including high-end, exotic car dealers). They were fantastic about it - gladly allowing me to remove all of the protective vinyl, and even let me use their wash bay. I did raise a few eyebrows, when I hauled out my CR Spotless rig, haha.
After washing it down, we drove it home (about 70 miles from our house - thankfully, it was cool, so no bugs! - although just to be sure, I covered the front end with Roadwrap). Once we got home, we parked it, and I got to work on it early the next morning.
There were perhaps four areas on the car that actually needed more than a finesse polish, so I worked these out with a Flex PE8 - orange flex pad, and Menzerna SIP. I then went over the whole car with a blue Lake Country pad, on a Flex 3401, and Menzerna Micro Polish.
Sorry for the lack of before pictures, but there really weren`t any that were significant enough to merit documentation.
Once I got the car home, these are the products that I used:
-CarPro Iron X Snow Soap
-Nanoskin fine grade Autoscrub wash mitt, using ONR as a lubricant.
-Rewash with Zaino Z7 (I have a ton of this, that I am gradually using up, haha)
-Polishing using the stuff I have listed above.
-CarPro Eraser.
I then brought the car to my XPel installer. He used Ultimate, to cover the full hood, front fenders, front bumper, A-pillars, side mirrors, door handles, rocker panels, rear wheel impact areas, and rear bumper, below the trunk. He does INCREDIBLE work - wrapping every single edge around the edge of body panels possible, rather than leaving an edge that could gather residue/wax/etc.
Once home again, I did a ONR rinseless wash, repeated Eraser, and did the following:
-CQuartz UK to all painted and XPel`d surfaces (and once again, THANK YOU to all the guys that encouraged me to take on a nanocoating myself, rather than chastising me for even thinking that anyone other than a professional detailer could do it properly. I appreciate your support, always!)
-PBL Diamond Glass coating to windshield
-Removed wheels, washed with Iron X snow foam, clayed with Zaino claybar (again, leftover Zaino stuff...), Eraser, and coated with Pinnacle Black Label Diamond wheel Coating. I also applied this to the exhaust tips.
Here are a few pics - sorry - I was losing the sun, and they aren`t the best
It`s nice to see that BMW is improving their paint - the orange peel on this car wasn`t nearly as bad as on some of the BMWs that I have seen in recent years!
Thanks for looking - have a great weekend, everyone!!!
Cheers,
Allan
