Pad/polish advice needed for Saph black e92

[Mark]

Hey folks,

I need advice for detailing my sapphire black metallic BMW e92 which needs paint correction.

I've got a rotary polisher but all of my pads are gone so looking for some advice for paint correction products. I'm also contemplating purchasing a DA polisher for the final finishing work.

For paint correction, I'd like to try and do as much as possible with the products I have - mainly Meguiars #80 and #83 but I do believe that the paint is hard on the BMW, so any suggestions welcome. Not afraid of wet sanding if necessary too so want a product that can handle that.

I have a reasonable amount of experience with the rotary polisher, I've done plenty of pink to red jobs for friends and also used it on my Mercedes and previous metallic cars with good results. Looking to buy a DA to reduce the likelyhood of holograms as I struggled a bit with that on the rotary.

All advice appreciated.

[Curran]

Depends on what you are trying to achieve...
a) light enhancement; to restore depth,1 colour and gloss
b) heavy compounding to remove deep swirls
c) orange peel removal

[Mark]

I think (c) will involve wet sanding the whole car which I doubt will happen, the factory paint is pretty poor! I'm looking for (b) - want to remove scratches and deep swirls from the paint - black shows up every imperfection so I know it won't be perfect but I'd like it to be more presentable than it is. It needs quite a bit of PDR before this though...

[RobH]

I wet sanded my e92 m3 with 2500 and 3000 grit meguiars paper, then used the 3m 3 stage on it and I think finished it with gtechnic p1 on a DA.

[Curran]

Option c) will definitely involve wet sanding the car...there is no other way to remove the orange peel. This is due to the fact that when you polish the car with a regular pad and polish, it will conform to the peaks and hollows of the orange peel, and will remove pretty much equal amounts from the peak and hollow, thus leaving the same finish. What needs to be done, is to shave off the peaks, to level the paint and then polish the finish.

Since you are considering doing a fair amount of work, in removing deep swirls from the paint, it might be worth considering a certain amount of wet sanding. BMW paint is very hard as you know, so compounding can be quite a bit of work in itself. CarPro do Velvet and Denim pads, that are the equivalent to 2500 grit and 3000 grit wet and dry. Therefore it might be worth starting with that, and finishing down as you would be normally. Doing such an intense job, and getting a good finish, but leaving the orange peel as bad as it is currently, might be a bit frustrating. Im not saying to go all out and chase every bit of orange peel, but even if you improve on it 50% would be vast improvement....although, will you be left frustrated, you didnt go the whole hog! :P I suppose thats what is the difficult decision.

Did you struggle with holograms on BMW paint? The rotary should be no problem for finishing down BMW paint...Honda paint for example would be. A very soft pad and a good finishing polishing should leave nothing. Everyone has their own preferences of pad and polish combo when working, but for cutting, I always found Scholl S3 Gold on their Blue pad, great, leaving very little in terms of finishing afterwards. Chemical Guys V38 is a polish that can be worked for quite some time, and that on their Black Hex pads, was usually ideal...even though the Black isnt their softest pad.

[Mark]

Thanks for the advice. Maybe I need to consider wet sanding but it's a ballsy move to do the whole car!

I had problems with holograms on paint on a Jag S-type using cheap pads, it wasn't horrific and mostly where I had rushed the job!

Ever worked with either of the Meguiars polishers I have? I've had them about 6 years now though!

[Curran]

The cut on the #80 and #83 wouldnt be fantastic. And if I remember correctly #83 is actually a Dual Action polisher rated polish, but that said, it'd do a job. You'd need to be looking more towards #105 in the Meg's range.
I'm not sure if Meg's have upgraded their polishes in the range, but seeing as its 6 years old, there are better polishes on the market.

CarPro Fixer polish, is quite versatile; as you just need to change the pad to change the amount of cut. So from anything from heavy compounding, right down to pre-finishing; just change the pad to suit the amount you want to correct. Works well with all type of pads; foam, microfiber, wool - Clicky

One I havent used, as only started to stock their range after I stopped detailing but I have had feedback from a customer who's opinion I'd regard, who is has worked mostly on VAG and BMW paint, is that the Wolf's Chemical range of polishes are brilliant.
Here is the job he did on his son's E60