** Blue BMW 135i Paint Correction by Unique Car Care **

RickRack · 04-23-09, 05:41

This BMW 1-Series was brought in for a basic 2-stage polishing treatment. The owner bought the car last year and wanted it in tip top shape for the spring. It had accumulated some light scratches / swirl marks over the winter, but overall it was in pretty decent shape. The owner requested not to wax the car because he enjoys doing it himself, so this was strictly just a polishing job with no application of an LSP.

Here is what the car looked like upon arrival:

I started by giving the car a thorough rinse to remove as much dirt, sand and salt as possible to ensure that no additional wash induced damage was caused. As soon as I began rinsing, it was obvious that the car still had a good amount of protection left on it due to the paint beading water as seen below.

Next, I foamed the car down, let it dwell for several minutes and rinsed again. I gave the car a basic hand wash and cleaned the wheels, tires & wheel wells. I foamed the car down again and clayed the exterior using a green Sonus clay bar to remove any bonded contaminants from the surface. I rinsed the car again, which was still beading heavily.

After I finished claying, I used Spray Nine cleaner on a microfiber towel to remove any protection that was present. In the picture below, you can see how the right side of the hood is no longer beading now that the protection has been removed.

After the prep was complete, the defects were much more visible than they were before the wash. Below is what the car looked like after the prep. As you can see, it had its fair share of issues that had to be taken care of.

RickRack · 04-23-09, 05:43

I have detailed quite a few newer BMW’s and find the paint to be extremely hard, besides the non-metallic black. I had a feeling this car would be no exception.

I played around with a few different 2 step pad / product combo’s which didn’t seem to do much since the paint was extremely hard. After some more testing, I decided that it would be easier just to do a 3 step polishing treatment to get the results I was after. It probably would have looked alright with just a 2 step, but since I have serious OCD issues, I opted for the 3 step instead.

For the first polishing step, I used 3m Extra Cut Compound (06060) on an LC orange CCS foam pad. This step took me quite a while since the paint was so hard and some of the scratches were deeper than expected.

To remove the compounding haze left from the previous step, I polished the exterior with Menzerna Power Finish (203s) using an American Buffing green cross cut foam pad. I polished each panel for a lengthy period of time, which really started to amp up the glow and clarity in the paint.

For the final step, I polished the exterior with Menzerna 106fa using a flat black LC pad. All headlights and taillight were polished with this combo as well.

After all of the polishing was complete, I gave the car a thorough wash, making sure all of the polishing residue was removed from all of the jambs, crack , crevices, etc..

Since the owner requested no LSP, I wiped down the complete exterior with 91% alcohol to ensure no polishing residue was present. I followed behind with Zaino Z6 to remove the slight hazing from the alcohol wipedown.

I pulled the car outside to inspect my work and was surprised how amazing the car looked. The color is simply amazing and looks different depending on the lighting. Everything looked great, so I pulled the car back in the shop to complete all of the finishing touches.

Al wheels and exterior glass was cleaned using Werkstatt Prime and sealed with Opti-Seal. I wiped all door, hood and trunk jambs down with Zaino Z8 and dressed the tires with Tuf Shine tire clearcoat. Lastly, all badges, emblems, etc. were detailed using a toothbrush style horse hair brush to remove any possible residue left behind.

Nice reflections…

RickRack · 04-23-09, 05:45

RickRack · 04-23-09, 05:46

jmkiang · 04-23-09, 06:07

Very nice work.

If the owner enjoys waxing, why doesn't he enjoy washing?? Haha

bwalker25 · 04-23-09, 06:23

Rick - that car looks amazing. Great work!

RickRack · 04-23-09, 06:32

Thanks guys!!

dublifecrisis · 04-23-09, 06:40

love those 1 series...nice color too. Great job!

mrclrider · 04-23-09, 06:50

looks great, the body lines on those are awesome.

stiffdogg06 · 04-23-09, 06:58

Rick - Car looks amazing. Can't beat a perfect polished car like that

snowskate · 04-23-09, 06:59

Amazing results Rick! The gloss factor is super high even with no LSP! Great write up and looks like you are settling into that new camera pretty well.
Thanks for sharing info on your technique. It seems Spray Nine works pretty well and I now know how to clear that last bit of streaking during my IPA wipedowns. Z-6!
Really great to look at!

GregCavi · 04-23-09, 07:00

Great work!! The lines on that car are amazing. Truly shows what prep gives you.

Greg