BMW Scratches, Optimum Compound not enough?

T

tlsmikey

New member
2004 BMW that I just purchased and of course the previous owner put tons of little scratches into the paint. I'm using my Porter Cable to try and get these out. So far I've used:



1) Orange Pad Optimum Polish

2) Orange Pad Optimum Compound

3) Yellow Pad Optimum Compound



All three of those compounds have failed to remove the scratches even at speeds of up to #6 of the PC. :cry:



In fact, the Orange pad and Optimum compound removed some of the very light scratches but doesn't seem to have much of an affect on anything else.



Can someone recommend a more aggressive compound for me to use?
 
Can you take some pictures? We may be able to help you more if we know the exact condition of your paint.



Optimum Compound with a Yellow pad should be more than enough to remove the little scratches that you are talking about. How much polish did you apply to the pad? How long did you work on each panel? Did you let the polish break down before wiping off?
 
OK, took some pics (lighting sucks, sorry) but you get the idea. BMW1 and BMW1A are after I spent about 5 minutes on the panel with the #6 setting, orange pad and optimum compound. BMW2 is an untouched area to give you an idea of what i'm dealing with.



Hopefully these upload, if not they're in my members galery.



I spent about 5-10 minutes on the panel I started with #3 setting and moved all the way up to #6 in the hopes of making more progress. The really fine scratches go away fairly quickly, but i'm making nice slow passes (up/down and then side/side) but it doesn't seem to be working. My last car had ridiculously soft paint but this car seems to have really hard paint.



BMW1

BMW1.jpg




BMW1A

BMW1B.jpg




BMW2

BMW2.jpg
 
Those dont look bad at all. Are you familiar with the PC?



I would start with Optimum Compound and work my way up through the pads.



Looks like it may be ok for Hyper compound only after wearing out the regular Compound.



I use Edge pads, on a 04 BMW, I'd start with the GREEN and go up or down from there.
 
Usually it's recommended to be on the 5-6 opm setting for 5 minutes or so when polishing. 3 should only be used to spread the polish around the panel. It won't do much correction. So when you said you did 5-10 minutes, was the PC on 6 most of the time or 3?
 
Hmm...hard to say. I think of myself as a novice-intermediate. My last car had horribly soft paint due to a crappy single stage repaint from the previous owner, so i'm used to spending very little time/effort to remove swirl marks. I did buy the autopia CD and i've studied it fairly well, but I still have some questions.



1) How long should I spend on say 1/2 of the roof (2'x2' section)? How many passes? What speed on PC?



2) Can pads lose their bite over time? My orange pad is almost a year old now and has seen some serious work on several vehicles.
 
1. break the roof into 1/4 sections. For a novice, it will take longer than you expect. Working times with a PC are long with optimum products. Keep your eyes on the polish, you will see it start to break down, wipe it away, evaluate. Speed - I never go below 4 on the PC.





2. Lose the bite, I see it, but the pad is the same material all the wat through. They lose some bite when they get damaged, the surface becomes uneven and they seem less effective.
 
BMW paint can be a bit on the hard side depending on year.



Anyway, since you're using a PC, it will take you a bit longer as your're going to have to hold the polish on the panel longer than nomal. The compound should be more than enough with a cutting pad. Try to work the polisher slower movements so the pad/compound has time to cut, otherwise you're just gliding it back and forth only removing light marring due to the hardness of the paint. Hold it firmer to the finish for the compound and pad to cut and then break down. See how far it has corrected it then.



If you had to step up in polishes or compounds for quicker results, you can by using any of the Meguiars line for cutting/leveling paint. Be forwarned that it will haze after this and will have to be once again polished for gloss.



Maybe it may also be in your best interest to bring it to a detailer who is talented with a rotary first to get it corrected, then from there you can maintain it with a PC.



Regards,

Deanski
 
Yea I agree with Dean.... :werd:



I'm almost positive that the Hyper and orange pad will do the trick but maybe asking too much with the PC alone. It may be that you'll need a rotary to level the paint.



Anthony
 
Try hovering over the stratches for just a couple seconds with a little pressure.



With a hard clear coat the PC is almost ineffective no matter what you try.



After you compound it like crazy, try going over it with a good polish or glaze, that should take out a few of those scratchs.:hifive:
 
You might want to consider picking up a 3.5" backing plate and some 4" pads. The 4" pads won't bog down like the larger pads do and will give you more cut with a PC.
 
Anthony Orosco said:
Yea I agree with Dean.... :werd:



I'm almost positive that the Hyper and orange pad will do the trick but maybe asking too much with the PC alone. It may be that you'll need a rotary to level the paint.



Anthony
Click to expand...



No not wierd, just what the Doctor ordered.:lol



Seriously, the OHC should be more than enough cutting power w/o resorting to leveling compounds since these are very minor defects, just hard clear coat.



Cutting pads will do the work. If it's that slow, you can use a wool pad for more bite and switch back to the foam pads to soften the effect and let the polish break down more into a glossing polish as opposed to cutting. Wool pads work wonders for stubborn finishes, but if used too long they can cut too fast and haze, then it's back to foam and polishing it back up.



I've done one BMW that had quite a bit of scratches and had to wetsand one door panel, one fender and one rear quater panel. Finished with Menzerna 106 and 85RD with rotary and it looks stunning. The rest I could get with Power Gloss and a cut pad as this one was hard as nails too. Try a Benz with the new PPG CeramiClear and you want to say hard!



Try it the way I described on the worst area first, then make a choice if you want to continue or stop and seek someone that can correct it for you so from that point, it's just maintaining it. Then all you'll need is the OP and a polish pad.



Regards,

Deanski
 
I did a 01 BMW 325i that had scratches in the clear coat so bad, they looked like a brillo pad made them. You couldn't catch your fingernail on them so I knew it was just in the clear coat and could be removed. At the time all I had was a PC, a wool pad and some Meg's #84. All the experts on Detail City told me it wouldn't work, the owner of the car told me to try, cause he was going to get it repainted if it didn't work or if I f***'d up. I spent hours on that damn car, PC on 6, all the pressure I could put on it without stopping the pad and holding it in the same spot for a minute at a time (yes, I timed it) OK, these were scratches from hell, made by some car wash demon, but in the end, it worked. So, take your time with the compound, nice and slow movements, pressure and speed, repeat as necessary. BTW, that car made me decide to get a rotary. I'm too old to work that hard again!
 
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