BMW Black Z3 Detail and reviews 56k warned

IanBMW

New member
Ok this will prolly be edited a few times over the next couple of weeks as I am sure to remember bits and pieces here and there. I had bought this car a couple of months ago and have had a blast. The only thing that really bothered me was the paint. It wasn't fading, but had bad swirls and lacked a deep wet gloss. After trying Megs Gold Class (dissapointment, lasted 4 weeks at best), Megs Hi Tech Yellow wax (best off the shelf wax, but short life at 4 weeks max), and Megs Tech Wax (didn't last at all, but to be fair I don't think it had a chance to properly bond). I was fed up and thanks to autogeek.net I bought some items:
PC 7424/ with pad kit
Microfiber Clothes
SSR 2.5
SSR 1
Wolfgang Deep Gloss Sealant
Pinnacle Souvern

First my car looked like this:
48916852.jpg

48916854.jpg

Swirls bad, and a horrid recent experience in acid rain!!!!!

So I went to AutoZone to pick up a awesome clay bar kit for $9.99 called Clay Magic. You can see in this next pic the before and after of the clay bar. It was simply amazing, and this is saying alot coming from the crap I previously used called Meguires Clay bar kit. It had more clay, and seemed to work a hell of alot better and at half the price to boot.
48916856.jpg

48916858.jpg

Clay did a pretty nice job, although in these pics its hard to tell, but there is still swirls.
48916860.jpg

Wait there they are :chair:

UPS delivered my goods finally near the evening, which meant I wasn't going to get to use my new toys till the next day :(
48916862.jpg


First thing I do is go over the car with the leftover detailing spray from Clay magic and a MicroFiber to clean the car of dust. The I busted out a orange pad (light cutting ability) and SSR2.5 and went to work. I started off with a spray on the pad to wet it followed with lots of SSR2.5 speed 1 to cover the surface and then immediatly bumping it up to speed 5 to get this b*tch taken care of, then back off to speed 1 and off the machine. Followed with buffing off access with microfiber.
48916864.jpg


When I reach the fender I run into a mistake, I accidently scrolled the wrong way and went to speed 6 lifting off and did this!
49127371.jpg

Oh man was I ROYALLY PISSED OFF! The force of the quick spool up pulled ever bit of SSR2.5 out of pad and ALL over the car. It took a solid 15minutes just to clean the area. Not to mention what was a pleasant smell from the SSR2.5 (bubble gum) went up my nose and made me sick to my stomach.
Word to the wise, be careful with speed and make sure you turn off the machine and it is stopped before lifting the pad.

BTW Portal Cable what the hell where you thinking with the location of your buttons!!! :chair:

My review of the SSR2.5 is it removes light swirls (well not remove but makes less noticeable), smells kinda nice (little strong), cheap, but chalks up quite a bit. The chalking up wasn't really a bit surprise and can prolly be said with all compound/polishes of this sort.

I then followed up the car rather quickly (not a good idea), with SSR1. It took quite a bit of the haze out of the car, but I am pretty sure another go would yeild better results, again my fault. It smells better then the SSR2.5 (not strong), and doesn't chalk hardly at all.

I followed the car up with the Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant and garaged the car for a solid day. These are some pics in the garage as outside it was raining.
49127375.jpg

Note in this pic I am using a light that should and does usually show MAD swirls, but strangly they are gone :) .
49127379.jpg

49127380.jpg

Small crop off bigger picture, just to show the reflection.

Overall I am very pleased with the sealant. While not being quite as deep as a carnuba, it does have some qualities that are very nice. Oh and unlike carnuba oddly I have gotten a xxxx load of comments on how water beads up on my car.

I want to take better pictures and add another layer of sealant, but its been raining nonstop sadly. :boat: Regardless Enjoy!
 
Nice finish on the black beemer. I feel your pain with the slinging but I think you had a bit too much product in the pad, it shouldn't be that extensive when it slings. You'll get used to the buttons on the PC, they sort of make sense when you've used the machine for a while. Nice work, I can't wait to see more.
 
Nice work!

I'd wager that you would get better results with SSR2.5 with pad that cuts more. It's pretty hefty stuff w/ the right pad.
 
So the Pinnacle Souveran Wax did a fantastic job on my car. I used the liquid version, because it was cheaper mainly. When I run out I will buy the paste version of it. I could honestly see the difference, between Pinnacle Souveran and just Wolfgang Deep Gloss sealant. My friend Matt who helped me buff it off (btw no dusting and very easy to remove) freaked out over how wett it looked. I had this guy yesterday stare at my hood for like a solid 2 minutes at the stop sign. What else can I say, it's time for the butter baby!

original.jpg


original.jpg


large.jpg


original.jpg


original.jpg


Ian
 
Back
Top