2007 black BMW 330 xi - worst experience so far

Fresh repaired paint is ridiculously soft. You can take all day to figure out how to polish it to perfection and then a bad wipe from a fresh MF can ruin it all. Very frustrating.
 
LOL. Yeah.. I know all about soft paint.. I work at a bodyshop that is factory authorized BMW and Benz repair facility.. I wetsand and polish fresh clear all day.

The factory clear on the new BMWs is applied like a powdercoat, then baked.

I have come across one car JUST like this one in the pics. It would scratch like craazy no matter what. Never could figure out what was the issue .. I dont know about the bake times at the factory. I do remember getting about 4 black Z4's at the same time.. The clear had cloudy Blotchy sections all over it. It was caused from the factory not letting the clear dry enough before they put on the shipping plastic and the moisture from the water based base coat ( color ) would get trapped and clould the clear. I had to wetsand the panel, then put a heat lamp on it to wick out the moisture before I polished it.. worked like a charm.

As far as that 328xi... Usually a good heating will harden the paint .. otherwise it will do that forever.
 
Man, my worst nightmare is that my car gets damaged in shipping and repaired without me knowing it.... Every time I read this thread I get a little more paranoid!
 
Tamás, tell the owner to rent a paint booth and let the car stand there for two days. Or suggest them to drive to Death Valley for a weekend... :-)



Incredible job, congrats!







PS: Watch your spelling; scretch vs. scratch.
 
To the OP, that is a 328 not a 330. I have the 335i, I had very, very light hair line swirls, but nothing to that extent. Just because its an 07 doesn't mean its void from swirls. The dealer washes it ONCE and its over.
 
:eek: What a nightmare! I go through the same deal with the black Cayenne I wash regularly, I have to use Monster Fluffy MFs on it to prevent marring while washing.



Looks like it turned out really well though, the after shots are beautiful! :drool:
 
WOow



that car looked like it got gangbang pretty bad.



The after pic was amazing. great job.

If i could i would fly u to NJ and get u working on my BlackG.



Looking at how bad the car was, how much did you charged the owner?
 
Extremely nice work! I never knew that dealerships would get it repainted without the customers knowing.... that's really disheartening! One BMW I did a while back also had soft paint, but nowhere enar as soft as what you described it as.
 
BMW335i said:
To the OP, that is a 328 not a 330. I have the 335i, I had very, very light hair line swirls, but nothing to that extent. Just because its an 07 doesn't mean its void from swirls. The dealer washes it ONCE and its over.
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I know - you can't edit the title.



This paint is way different from anything I have ever touched. That kind of damage doesn't happen from 2 washes. They are very deep.
 
DiPsAuCe said:
WOow



that car looked like it got gangbang pretty bad.



The after pic was amazing. great job.

If i could i would fly u to NJ and get u working on my BlackG.



Looking at how bad the car was, how much did you charged the owner?
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My fee is $40.00 an hour. worked on it for 9. Charged him $350.00



I'd love to go and would drive up there, but give cleanDean a call. he is in NJ. Much better detailer than me too.



Everyone else: I appreciate the nice replies.



In the spring I will work on the car again to see what happened. I just can't believe that someone at BMW would ok a finish like that. If it is how the flat black bmw paint is, I will turn them all down in the future.
 
Picus said:
Man, my worst nightmare is that my car gets damaged in shipping and repaired without me knowing it.... Every time I read this thread I get a little more paranoid!
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You have every right to be paranoid. My father used to be the terminal manager for Autoport in Concord, where all the imported cars come off the train and go to the dealers in the GTA. There was a disgruntle worker who would key cars, and I'm talking about DEEP scratches. I'm not 100% sure what CN did with the cars that were keyed but since not a lot of people knew about this situation so they COULD HAVE gotten a bodyshop to cover this up. There are other things I've seen happen to "Brand New" cars, especially the Volkswagens (specifically Golfs and Jettas) :secret





Sorry for the hijack.
 
Scottwax said:
:eek: What a nightmare! I go through the same deal with the black Cayenne I wash regularly, I have to use Monster Fluffy MFs on it to prevent marring while washing.



Looks like it turned out really well though, the after shots are beautiful! :drool:
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THAT IS SO TRU. seems that using the sheepskin mitt on a black car causes tons of marring regardless of the 2 bucket method, Scott do u recommend using microfiber towels when washing instead on a black car?
 
I wanted to bump this thread; I am detailing a 328xi (black) right now and am experiencing the same problem. This paint is unbelievably soft, so soft I am sort of at a loss on how to finish down cleanly on it. I don't want to jump to any conclusions on black e92's; I have another Saturday and will report back on it when i see it, but this is troublesome.
 
Update (sorry for the jack, I will post a new one if you like), I just finished working on the hood of this car and it's a total nightmare. I think I have it under control now (106ff/grey/rotary @800rpm); but it's marring while I wipe off polish residue in some cases.



What's weird is I've worked on 2 white e92's, one Sparkling Graphite, and one Monaco blue and all were about average for paint hardness. These black ones are :( :( :( though.
 
Took my car to the BMW dealership where I purchased this problem child. They basically blew me off. One of the managers there even questioned the wisdom of me having a brand new clearcoated car polished and waxed. They had one of their detailers look at it to placate me. They were skeptical of anything posted on the internet and independent detailers in general. Nobody else has complained they said (even though my model the e92 has just been out since early fall). The paint/painting process is the same on all jet black BMWs they said, so the fact that it is a new model is irrelevant. Even, the "before" pictures that Thomas took were unconvincing to them, and Thomas did such a great job on the car (and I haven't had to wash it since the detail) that none of the damage is visible anymore. I should have taken the car back to them (after I washed it one time) before I took it to Thomas. But how was I supposed to know about the inherent problems with the paint. I am no detailing expert. Anyway, I will see what happens the next time I wash it (soon), and if the same type of scratching occurs, I am wondering if it will even be worth it to take it back to the dealership. Hate to be the subject/victim of a cautionary tale, but it looks like I am SOL with my brand new BMW 3 Series as far as the paint job is concerned. Not sure if it is even worth it to escalate it to BMWNA. Picus, thanks for your support on the detailing thread over on Bimmerfest. And Thomas thanks for your painstaking work fixing the paint!
 
Wow - no paint should be so soft that it can't stand up to a gentle wash. After reading this thread, I'm even more glad I opted for the Lexus IS350 over the Bimmer. I had VERY light swirls on my hood after 6 months worth of washing, and they polished out beautifully w/ZPC and a white pad w/a PC.
 
15951 said:
Wow - no paint should be so soft that it can't stand up to a gentle wash. After reading this thread, I'm even more glad I opted for the Lexus IS350 over the Bimmer. I had VERY light swirls on my hood after 6 months worth of washing, and they polished out beautifully w/ZPC and a white pad w/a PC.
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I think it's only flat black. I've worked on two alpine white, one monaco blue, two sparkling graphite, and two metallic black e92's without the same issue. In fact the paint on them was very nice.



07328xi said:
Took my car to the BMW dealership where I purchased this problem child. They basically blew me off. One of the managers there even questioned the wisdom of me having a brand new clearcoated car polished and waxed. They had one of their detailers look at it to placate me. They were skeptical of anything posted on the internet and independent detailers in general. Nobody else has complained they said (even though my model the e92 has just been out since early fall). The paint/painting process is the same on all jet black BMWs they said, so the fact that it is a new model is irrelevant. Even, the "before" pictures that Thomas took were unconvincing to them, and Thomas did such a great job on the car (and I haven't had to wash it since the detail) that none of the damage is visible anymore. I should have taken the car back to them (after I washed it one time) before I took it to Thomas. But how was I supposed to know about the inherent problems with the paint. I am no detailing expert. Anyway, I will see what happens the next time I wash it (soon), and if the same type of scratching occurs, I am wondering if it will even be worth it to take it back to the dealership. Hate to be the subject/victim of a cautionary tale, but it looks like I am SOL with my brand new BMW 3 Series as far as the paint job is concerned. Not sure if it is even worth it to escalate it to BMWNA. THINK LONG AND HARD BEFORE YOU BUY A 2007 JET BLACK E92 BMW. Picus, thanks for your support on the detailing thread over on Bimmerfest. And Thomas thanks for your painstaking work fixing the paint!
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Sadly, that doesn't surprise me at all. Dealers live in the dark ages when it comes to paint care, and think anyone who questions them is an idiot.



Even though the paint on the car I dealt with today is very soft I think it can be washed without inducing marring, you're just going to need to be very careful. I am sure Thomas can help you out with tips. :)
 
15951 said:
Wow - no paint should be so soft that it can't stand up to a gentle wash. After reading this thread, I'm even more glad I opted for the Lexus IS350 over the Bimmer. I had VERY light swirls on my hood after 6 months worth of washing, and they polished out beautifully w/ZPC and a white pad w/a PC.
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Pretty ignorant comment IMO, but it's your choice...
 
Not sure what the big deal is...The swirls on the original pics are dealer installed...and for all we know he could of been having a bad day and decided to wash someones car with a brillo pad...Also, *(not sure if I heard this correctly)*, BMWNA has opted to change the paint in such a way that will reduce the complaints of rocks easily chipping the paint from daily driving. I am led to believe they made the paint softer. I could be wrong.
 
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