BMW Paint Correction - Grrr...

Stainless_Steel

Hi guys,

Tried to polish the Beemer using Kestrel DAS, hexlogic medium and medium polish. Can't remember the polish brand - a German one in small black bottle that came with the machine.

I got nowhere with the swirls. Any tips?

Curran

German paint is very hard in comparison to some softer paints, like Jap paint for example.
Heavy cut pad, heavy cut polish will be the easiest way to improve it, but things will be slow with a DAS-6.
Perhaps consider Microfibre Pads.

Stainless_Steel

Curran wrote: »

German paint is very hard in comparison to some softer paints, like Jap paint for example.
Heavy cut pad, heavy cut polish will be the easiest way to improve it, but things will be slow with a DAS-6.
Perhaps consider Microfibre Pads.

Thanks Curran.

I know this question might result in a "it depends" - how long should I be spending to correct lets say the bonnet using a DAS-6 + heavy cut pad/polish?

My fear is that I'm too impatient!

Curran

Stainless_Steel wrote: »

My fear is that I'm too impatient!

I think thats your problem!!

There is no quick way to correct paintwork, unfortunately. Yes there are quicker ways but they still take time.
Its a 'how long is a piece of string' type question. Depends on the condition of paint...two cars one after another on the production line will have lived vastly different lives and cared for differently. Then it depends on what you consider satisfactory results...you might have totally different standards to the next man!

To give you an example; in average I could spend an hour on a bonnet, using a rotary polisher and still not be happy miving onto the finishing stage!

Stainless_Steel

Curran wrote: »

I think thats your problem!!

There is no quick way to correct paintwork, unfortunately. Yes there are quicker ways but they still take time.
Its a 'how long is a piece of string' type question. Depends on the condition of paint...two cars one after another on the production line will have lived vastly different lives and cared for differently. Then it depends on what you consider satisfactory results...you might have totally different standards to the next man!

To give you an example; in average I could spend an hour on a bonnet, using a rotary polisher and still not be happy miving onto the finishing stage!

Understood. I still have much to learn and more importantly need to practice!

An hour on a bonnet is interesting...I guess my 10 mins was nowhere near enough ha!

Thanks again.

Curran

You could add depth and gloss in 10 minutes, if the car was older and the paint was starting to look a bit tired. But correction work takes time...and plenty of it!

vectra

I used some MF pads with Wolfs Chemicals "The Correction Utility"
Got good results but I could have moved it up a step by starting with Wolfs "The Equaliser"
Then again I am fairly used to the DAS-6.
For someone not used to one you would want to take care not to cut through the lacquer.

Voodoomelon

I've used the DAS-6 Pro on both my last two 7 series for 20 hours + and the clearcoat is rock hard. I use Menzerna coarse pads and polish primarily and then skip to finishing pad and polish.

I'd spend a good half hour with the coarse pads alone per door for example. I find the Menzerna pads don't last very long at all, then again they're big cars.

MetzgerMeister

Voodoo, microfibre pads are the new innovation when it comes to hard paint. They make the job a lot faster according to vectra. I have a few of them here to use when I do correction again.

vectra

I was actually surprised at how much it sped the cutting process.

myshirt

How do you clean the things?

Who has compressed air on the go?

MetzgerMeister

Put them in a sink of hot water, kneed the polish out, rinse, squeeze....job done!

vectra

Washing machine at 40 deg.
Non bio powder

Voodoomelon

Thanks for the tips, might get some microfibre pads for the roof, its yet to be done.