How well do you think this will work? 95 BMW 325

[whodat]

Hi guys,

I`m planning on giving my black 1995 3 series BMW a good detail in the next few weeks.

The paint on this car is "decent". That is when the sun isn`t hitting the car, it`s a nice, glossy black. In the sun, however, there are prevalent spiderwebs (or swirls) and random light scratches on the deck lid, and doors. I think the marks I see are spiderwebs because they are definitely not the smudge like smears you see on cars that were hit by a novice detailer with a fast rotary buffer.

My main goal is to eliminate as many of the spiderwebs as possible.

Here`s what I plan on doing:
1) wash
2) clay
3) wash
4) Wool or Orange pad with PoorBoy SSR 2 (or 2.5)
5) White pad with 3M SMR for Dark Cars
6) Meguiars #7 Glaze
6) Souveran Wax

Questions:
1) Will my pads work with the backing plate being purchased at coastal tool?
2) What strength SSR do I need from Poorboys? My swirls look a little milder than this, however I think that after a good clay, it will look almost exactly like this: http://www.detailcity.com/showthread.php?t=11209
3) Are my steps right, or am I WAY off!
4) How should I best maintain the car after I am finished.

Here are additional details that may help:
What I have in my garage now:
Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion
Clay kit
Pinnacle Souveran Wax
Meguiar`s #26
Meguiar`s #6 Cleaner Polish
Meguiar`s #7 Show Car Glaze
Meguiars #2 Fine Cut Cleaner (worthless for me as I don`t have an orbital)
3M SMR for Dark Cars
Plenty of MF towels

What I plan on buying:
1) PC 7424 with 6" Hook & Loop Contour Pad And 6" Counterweight (Coastal Tools)
2) Orange Pad (AutoGeek )
3) Wool Pad (AutoGeek )
4) White pad (AutoGeek )
5) PB SSR 2.5 or SSR 2 (not sure which one I need)



Thanks for any input!
Steve

[GregCavi]

Hello!

I think that you might leave get a finishing pad instead of a wool pad. Thats pretty abrasive and will most likely leave some large amount of hazing, But if you have swirls like in that pic ( a ton of swirls ) then you might need a cutting pad. So i belive that is a yellow one. For SSR`s i would reccomend

SSR2.5 via orange or yellow
SSR 1 via white

Your procedure looks to be good. I will let others chime in from here. YOu might end up needing SSR3 if your paint is very badly swriled and scratched.

Greg

[whodat]

Hi Greg,

I`ll be sure to use the Yellow pad instead of wool for the SSR 2.5.

From your post it sounds like you suggest that I should follow the SSR 2.5 (Yellow pad) with SSR 1 (White pad). Do you think I should still follow up with the 3M SMR (White pad)

Thanks again,
Steve

[TraderB]

I`ll just dive right in to this as best I can.
1. The pads will work but are really designed foir a 5" backing plate. I say they work because I use those same pads with the 6" Coastal Tool backing plate but it does take it`s toll by some wear on the edges of the pads.
2 Probably for the age of the car the 2.5 wouldn`t hurt but can`t really answer this one.
3 Your steps are right
4 Wash, wax and sometimes polish

[whodat]

TraderB,

Would you suggest picking up the Dual Action Flexible Backing plate: http://www.autogeek.net/lc43125.html

Steve

[TraderB]

In general in appears to me the 5" backing plate is used a lot. Mequires 6.5" pads are also designed for it. The 6" plate works well with the LC 7.5 varible contact pads. LC has some 6" pads designed for 6" backing plate but I do not know if they are still available. It is best to have both. But generally the 5" plate will work on pads designed for a 6" backing plate as long as it is centered.

[whodat]

Thanks a ton... Good information to get!

[kaos]

When I got all my SSR`s, the 2.5 was out, so I`m missing that one. I was told that DACP (#83) is pretty similar, so I went out and got some of that locally. I kept stepping up the pad until I got results, and they were pretty darn nice. Some pix are in this thread. See the first and last posts. That was with DACP and the yellow medium cutting Edge 2k pad.

It still hasn`t gotten it *completely* perfect, but I figure what the heck, I`m gonna have the truck for a while, so if the next 5 times I detail it, I use the DACP/yellow pad combination, that`ll be the equivalent of 5 passes now, and then it`ll be really nice.

On a side note... Dunno if it`s the product used or just the act of removing all the swirls that did it, but the metal flake really pops out now.

[zannard]

definetly go with the 5" backing plate. The larger plates might make the top edge of you pads come apart.

[whodat]

Kaos,

I saw your thread and was stunned by the results! Thanks for the words of encouragement.

Zannard, I`ll be sure to get the 5" plate. I guess it`s work the extra 17 bucks to get good life from the pads!

I still have a couple questions though. If I modify my steps to be:
1- wash
2- clay
3- wash
4- SSR 2.5 (yellow or orange)
5- SSR 2 (White)
Do I still need to use the 3M SMR as step 6?

What`s the best way to maintain the car after this?

Thanks again!
Steve

[mr2man]

with multiple coats of that Souveran! :headbang

[whodat]

Do you guys suggest I use the 3M SMR after the multiple PB applications, or is this a step I should skip?

Thanks again,
Steve

[jayincali]

Here is a link to a post that shows the two cas I detailed last week. The Acura was in very poor shape. I listed the steps, pads, polish`s used, and speed on the P/C Just some more info I thought I would throw out to ya.

http://detailcity.com/showthread.php?t=11507

[whodat]

Thanks Jay,

The work you did looks awesome! Looks like I`m ready to tackle this baby!

I`ll be sure to post some before and after pictures once I start the job.

Steve

[jayincali]

N/P Steve, let us know how it goes.