Tips for Black BMW Detail

sixty7mustang22 · 01-11-07, 07:22

I have a 2006 BMW 750Li that I have detailed about 4 times over the last year. The paint on the car is black. The car is garage kept and washed once a month by the owner. Usually, all I do is apply a paint cleaner by hand and then apply NXT wax. NXT Tire Shine and then Megs Interior QD on the interior.

I got a PC for Christmas and I have been practicing on my cars and my friends cars. But before I got the PC, I used a roatary. So, I am very confidend and comfortable with the PC. The car has no major flaws what so ever. The only thing I know it has are very minor swirls from regular washing. She also uses Megs products and trys to take very good care of her car.

So, my plan of attack for this car is basically the same, except I would like to use the PC to apply the paint cleaner.

Wash - NXT
Clay - Clay Magic
Paint Cleaner - Megs Deep Crystal Step 1 Paint Cleaner with ??? LC pad.
Wax - NXT
Wax - P21s (24 hrs later)
NXT Tire Shine tires - ArmorAll wheel wells - Megs Interior QD interior - Plexus plastic

Do these steps seem OK for a car with near perfect paint? The last time it was clayed was mid last year.

My main question is, which LC pad should I use for the paint cleaner step since essentially, it will be my only polish step? The White Polish pad or the Grey Finishing pad? I want the finish to be ready for the two waxes.

Coupe · 01-11-07, 08:25

I would use a finishing polish instead of DC1.

Other than that your process looks solid.

sixty7mustang22 · 01-11-07, 10:18

OK, I will just use one of my finishing polishes. I might just hit it with Pinnacle XMT #1 with a polishing pad and then hit it with XMT Glaze with a finishing pad. That should remove the fine swirls and leave a great base for the NXT and P21s.

Would it be wise to use the glaze and then wax with NXT or skipt the glaze?

I found out recently that AIO doesn't like the XMT glaze. I dunno how NXT and XMT Glaze like each other.

DSVWGLI · 01-11-07, 10:34

Welcome to Autopia. You say you have used a rotary before, are you proficient with it? The reason I ask is most times a PC on a black car leaves very small half circle marks that only a rotary can remove. I have used a PC for years and last fall switched to a rotary for that very reason. Try the PC first to see if it's acceptable, if not use the rotary. If you are proficient with a rotary I personally don't know why you would want a PC. As for the pads, white for polishing and black or grey for finishing with a fine polish and or glaze.

BigAl3 · 01-11-07, 10:58

here's an excellent detail by a fellow member "1 clean ws6" on a black bmw, this is easily one of the best details ever seen on here... http://autopia.org/forum/click-brag/...=wife+bmw+hell

also, "eric77" does some very nice work on bmw's as well, here's a link to many that he has done... http://autopia.org/forum/search.php?searchid=1038619

JoshVette · 01-11-07, 11:32

Go with an Orange or White pad, finish pads dont' have any cut, you'll need one with slight cut which is the orange pad, white is doable, I just don't think it will pull out as much dirt as the orange.

DSVWGLI · 01-11-07, 12:06

I would like to add something here. Always use the least aggressive pad and polish first. If the car has very light swirls then use the white pad first then step up to an orange pad if necessary, as they can be equally as aggressive as a yellow pad but leave a better finish. You will almost always need to refine the finish of a black car with a finishing pad with a PC. Even though they have little to no cutting ability they make the finish a little clearer which is noticable. The grey finishing pad works very well with a fine polish as well as a glaze. For best results, Try to refine the finish as much as possible before you use a glaze.

sixty7mustang22 · 01-11-07, 02:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSVWGLI

Welcome to Autopia. You say you have used a rotary before, are you proficient with it? The reason I ask is most times a PC on a black car leaves very small half circle marks that only a rotary can remove. I have used a PC for years and last fall switched to a rotary for that very reason. Try the PC first to see if it's acceptable, if not use the rotary. If you are proficient with a rotary I personally don't know why you would want a PC. As for the pads, white for polishing and black or grey for finishing with a fine polish and or glaze.

No disrespect meant here or anything, but I have been a member since April of '06 and have been an avid reader.

Yeah, I have used a rotary before. However, I have limited supplies as far as pads. I have plenty of polished to do almost anything I need to do. I wouldn't say I am proficient, but I am good. I generally only use it to get out major imperfectins. Usually after I have to wet sand. I get good results, but I only have wool pads. So, the paint never shines quite as good as good as I know it can. Don't get me wrong, it looks good, but I know i can get better. I also borrowed it from my Father-in-law to get started. So, I'm not buying stuff for it.

Basicall, I use the rotary to get out the major imperfections and then switch to the PC to finish up. So far, I have had excelent results since investing in the PC. I have done a black MKV GTI hood that I painted and I made the surface totaly scratch free after having to wetsand and compund it. I dunno why people say you can't achieve this without a rotary, but you can. Also, when doing high $$$ cars such as this BMW, I prefer to use a PC because it is my butt on the line if I get happy with the rotary on the edges on accident. I know better and have practiced a lot, but still, accidents happen. I would rather reduce those chances. So, that is why I got a PC.

Also, if you click on the link for the BMW detail for "1 clean ws6" below, I think you would agree that you can achieve amazing results from a PC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigal3

here's an excellent detail by a fellow member "1 clean ws6" on a black bmw, this is easily one of the best details ever seen on here... http://autopia.org/forum/click-brag/...=wife+bmw+hell

Thank you for the link. I agree, he does some of the best work ever. However, this BMW is no where near that bad a shape as the one in the link. There is no need for me to use that abrasive of a polish or the steps that he used. Also, I don't use Ziano products. I just don't have that kind of money and also, I have seen great work done with cheaper product. Plus, I am doing this thing this weekend. I have to use what I got. Which, with what I have done so far, the products that I have bought after reading this site many times will deliver great results.

I mainly just wanted to know which pad is perfered with a paint cleaner.lol I couldn't find a decent answer under search. I'm not a total newb at detailing or searching for answers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoshVette

Go with an Orange or White pad, finish pads dont' have any cut, you'll need one with slight cut which is the orange pad, white is doable, I just don't think it will pull out as much dirt as the orange.

Thank you for your response. I will probably go with the polishing pad as this paint will not need to be touched with a orange pad. I will finish up with a finishing pad before wax with a glaze.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSVWGLI

I would like to add something here. Always use the least aggressive pad and polish first. If the car has very light swirls then use the white pad first then step up to an orange pad if necessary, as they can be equally as aggressive as a yellow pad but leave a better finish. You will almost always need to refine the finish of a black car with a finishing pad with a PC. Even though they have little to no cutting ability they make the finish a little clearer which is noticable. The grey finishing pad works very well with a fine polish as well as a glaze. For best results, Try to refine the finish as much as possible before you use a glaze.

Thanks for the info.

Thanks guys. I believe I have enough information to complete this BMW.

sixty7mustang22 · 01-11-07, 02:48

Oh, I forgot to ask again, will NXT work over XMT Glaze?

Will it haze or anything or will NXT just remove all traces of the glaze? I'm cool if it removes traces. AIO hazed when I put it over XMT glaze and I haven't got to try NXT over it.

DSVWGLI · 01-11-07, 03:44

Sorry I haven't used either of those products. I noticed after my post that you were a member since spring last year, sorry for the "welcome to Autopia" comment. There have been extensive tests here on Autopia on rotary vs PC. Take a look at this thread titled "Rotary vs PC for finishing polish" I don't know how to link it so just do a search. Over 90% of the cars I detail are black and I would say maybe 10% I can make acceptable with a PC and only 1 or 2% which I consider perfect. The softer the paint the more difficult to perfect. So it's not impossible to make a black car almost perfect with a PC, it just depends on the paint. Some black cars you just can't do it and for me thats just not acceptable. The detail you linked for an example looks fine from the pics but only very close inspection will show if those little PC marks are present. It's the jiggling motion of the PC which makes those marks, regardless of pad/polish combo. Just my .02

sixty7mustang22 · 01-11-07, 06:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSVWGLI

Sorry I haven't used either of those products. I noticed after my post that you were a member since spring last year, sorry for the "welcome to Autopia" comment. There have been extensive tests here on Autopia on rotary vs PC. Take a look at this thread titled "Rotary vs PC for finishing polish" I don't know how to link it so just do a search. Over 90% of the cars I detail are black and I would say maybe 10% I can make acceptable with a PC and only 1 or 2% which I consider perfect. The softer the paint the more difficult to perfect. So it's not impossible to make a black car almost perfect with a PC, it just depends on the paint. Some black cars you just can't do it and for me thats just not acceptable. The detail you linked for an example looks fine from the pics but only very close inspection will show if those little PC marks are present. It's the jiggling motion of the PC which makes those marks, regardless of pad/polish combo. Just my .02

It's OK. It was just a misunderstanding.

I have read the thread you are talking about. It is full of good information. An while I know a rotary is superior to a DA, I just feel more confident at this point in my detailing career with a DA. Especially on $75K vehicles. For now. Once I get some more money from detailing in a couple of months, I am going to buy a good rotary with a good set of foam pads and begin using that more and practicing with the foam. I'm sure I will get better results. However, to gain people's confidence in me and appreciate my work, I would rather not burn their paint.lol Not that I will. I mean, I have been using a rotary for about half a year on my vehicles and I haven't burnt anything yet. Even with a wool pad. The DA will give me near perfect results and I'm sure all of my customers will be really happy with the way it turns out. And like I said, I have done black vehicles and what I did with the PC was great. I have seen very well what each can do, and to be honest with you, the average customer will not notice much of a difference if any at all. Not that I don't want to give them the best, I just have to work my way up. I do detail for money, I just wouldn't call myself a pro yet. I will get there.

Like I said before, thanks for the info. It has been helpful.

BTW, you got any mods done to the GLI? What color is it?

DSVWGLI · 01-11-07, 07:39

I'm sure your customers will be very pleased with your work. I have done a great deal of work with my PC and never had a dissatisfied customer. The GLI is black of course, but no I don't have much in the way of mods. The only things my wife and I had done was a rear spoiler and Eibach springs, which lowered it about 1.5" and made it handle a whole lot better. What about your Jetta?