would love some help-trying to detail a jet black e46

[kidsdoc]

hello all, i'm new here & am looking forward to all the excellent advice! i have a BMW '01 jet black 330i & need lots of advice!

alright, the plethora of detailing sites & products is going to drive me up the wall! i really don't know where to begin, other than the fact that i'm going to buy a porter cable!

alright here's the deal: i purchased my 330i used w/ about ~13K miles on it. it had tons of swirlmarks all over. now it has some scratch marks as well, most if not all of which are relatively superficial.

i want to use products that i can apply w/ the pc (& would like to wax no more often than every 3-4 months) obviously i'd like a wax & other products that would give a "deep" mirror-like shine on my jet black.

i already now that i will need to dawn my car to get rid off old wax (i think), followed by clay bar & polishing/scratch removal, followed finally by wax. the question is, which products? (most importantly, which wax?

here are my thoughts so far:
1) clay bar: not sure which one to get
2) polishing/scratch removal: the 3M products or Meguiars?
3) wax: Klasse or Zaino? others?

or should i go w/ griot's?

PLEASE HELP!!!

also, where is the quickest place to get all this stuff (amazon.com will match any advertised place on the buffer, but they take FOREVER to ship)

[FNG]

Search button.....

[NY detailer]

If you are going to be doing the detailing outside i suggest Vanilla moose.

[bretfraz]

I can't recommend enough the Autopia Guide to Detailing. Download it here at www.autopia-carcare.com and you'll get the first 8 chapters free. It will give you excellent advise about how to detail properly. From there you can decide what products to use.

[gnahc79]

yeah, search and the download help a ton. I've run out of questions to ask after reading a bajillion old threads .
I did a black 330i a couple weeks ago by hand and the results were good, definitely a mirror finish. A few words of advice from a semi-noob: take yer time, more isn't better (polish,wax,etc)...did I say take your time?

[kidsdoc]

ejant, thanks for the welcome;

bretfraz, d/l'ed it before i joined, thanks for the tip;

gnahc79, what products did you use?

yeah, i'm familiar w/ the search button but i don't know where to begin, thought maybe i could get some pointers from you experts!

[FNG]

Clay bar
http://www.autopia.org/forums/search...der=descending

SMR's
http://www.autopia.org/forums/search...der=descending

For the wax, do you want a sealant or carnauba based wax? Do a search for S100 wax.

[kidsdoc]

well, from what i understand, a carnauba based wax won't last as long as i'd like (i've read ~ 60 days max), which would leave a sealant. i know that zaino & griot's are big on the bimmer boards but it seems like i've heard alot about s100 wax here. is s100 a p21s wax or are they 2 different items? i'm currently leaning towards klasse AIO & HSG as i believe that they can be applied w/ the PC.

[Andre']

Remember prep work is the key to a perfect finish. The first thing you need to do is remove any surface contamination, the best way to do that is to use paint cleaning clay. If you want more info on claying do a search.

Next step is scratch and swirlmark removal. If you can feel the swirlmark with your fingernale it's not a swirlmark it's a scratch. The best way to remove light scratches and swirlmarks is to use an abrasive polish. The severity of the the defects will determine the product or products you will need and will use to remove the imperfections.

Light swils 3M SMR.
MED swirls 3M FI2 or DACP. we'll stop hear for now.

Remember to start with the mild polish first, and if it doesn't work use a the more abrasive compound or polishing pad.

Klasse is a very good sealant, you can top it off with a coat of S100 AKA P21S, if you like. You can apply Klasse AIO with the PC, but i recommend applying SG by hand.

I hope this helps.

[Lowejackson]

Welcome to Autopia

Remember prep work is the key to a perfect finish

100% agree

Steven