A few months ago, I started doing some research on paint care, and began buying a few items to assist with that. I just found Autopia about a week ago, and thought I`d run some questions by the gurus.
The car is a 1999 BMW M3 in Estoril blue. My detailing arsenal so far consists of a PC 7424, a 5" backing plate, a set of pads (orange, white, and black from autogeek.net), a sufficient collection of MF towels, some 3M Finesse-It II, Klasse AIO and SG, and some Wolfgang clay and lubricant.
Regarding the clay, I`ve done a few sections that should be plenty contaminated (e.g. the hood), but I can`t tell much - if any - difference. I`ll admit that I haven`t studied claying technique much yet, as paint contamination isn`t my main concern.
The main problem seems to be very shallow scratches (can`t feel them with a fingernail) due to washing with a brush at a DIY car wash. I know now that this is a sin, but at the time I was unaware of the potential for damage. I`ve taken my PC to them, using the orange pad and AIO. After that didn`t yield any noticable gains, I moved to the Finesse-It II. This helped a bit, but there are still plenty of noticable scratches in direct sunlight. Honestly, the only person who will notice them is a detailing buff (no pun intended), but now that I know they`re there, I want them gone.
My technique for the PC involves putting 4-6 drops of polish around the edge of the pad, and then dabbing it around the area to be polished (usually about a 2`x2` area). I started off around speed 3 with really no pressure other than the weight of the PC, but after not seeing much effect from that, I`ve stepped it up to a speed of 4-5 with a slight bit of extra pressure. I spend about 3 minutes per section before buffing the polish out by hand with a MF towel. This has made a slight improvement, but I`m wondering if I need to try a more aggressive pad or polish, or if my technique needs some modification. Any advice?
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