is my list sufficient?

I

imported_tuffluck

New member
over the holidays i'm going to be polishing/detailing my recently purchased bmw 530i. i have owned a PC for several years and have plenty of experience with my old camaro, but since i did this last on the camaro, new recommended products have surfaced (no surprise). so in a sense, i guess i am kind of a n00b all over again :P



anyway i wanted to post my list of things i plan on using, and if i am leaving anything out i wanted to get some input and have enough time to order and have delivered by the holidays, hence why i am posting this so far in advance.



so far my setup seems pretty simple. my 530i is monaco blue.



1. optimum no rinse to wash

2. mother's clay

3. wash again

4. orange pad + swirl x 2.0 for medium-heavy swirls (or should i even consider using DACP?)

5. black pad + BFWD

6. all done?



some people have suggested a glaze with BFWD, but others said it isn't that necessary. any thoughts are welcome. also i'm going to be buying 6 or so pakshak microfiber towels for this whole process. thanks for any help!
 
tuffluck- I dunno, I suspect the Swirl-X will be to mind and I don't much care for DACP/M83. And *IMO* neither one will finish out quite nice enough with an orange pad for you to go right to LSP. FWIW, I don't think DACP finishes out ready-to-wax period.



I haven't done any recent-vintage BMWs, but my older ones were *so* hard that even M105/orange was barely sufficient, and I'm not talking about really bad scratches either! Harder than my GM clear, which as you know isn't exactly soft.
 
Accumulator said:
tuffluck- I dunno, I suspect the Swirl-X will be to mind and I don't much care for DACP/M83. And *IMO* neither one will finish out quite nice enough with an orange pad for you to go right to LSP. FWIW, I don't think DACP finishes out ready-to-wax period.



I haven't done any recent-vintage BMWs, but my older ones were *so* hard that even M105/orange was barely sufficient, and I'm not talking about really bad scratches either! Harder than my GM clear, which as you know isn't exactly soft.
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thanks accumulator. would you suggest i try the M105 or something else? thanks for your help.
 
doing some quick reading, it sounds like i might be better off using the optimum spray products (hyper compound, hyper polish), then topping with BFWD. i can use orange for the compound, and i have a green polishing pad for the polish.



if you have any disagreement with any of that, let me know your thoughts :) thanks again for the help.
 
tuffluck- I can't really comment on the Optimum Spray products since a) I only bought the compound and b) I haven't tried it yet. But I've heard that it doesn't cut quite as much as M105, for whatever that's worth.



So....I dunno :nixweiss M105 really *works* but it can be a bit of a PIA. More of a PIA than using a less aggressive, but more user friendly product? Hard to say. On my '97 M3 *nothing* was more important than the cut (and I did the aggressive work on that with sanpaper and the rotary/3M Extra Cut!) but your situation might not be the same.
 
Accumulator said:
tuffluck- I can't really comment on the Optimum Spray products since a) I only bought the compound and b) I haven't tried it yet. But I've heard that it doesn't cut quite as much as M105, for whatever that's worth.



So....I dunno :nixweiss M105 really *works* but it can be a bit of a PIA. More of a PIA than using a less aggressive, but more user friendly product? Hard to say. On my '97 M3 *nothing* was more important than the cut (and I did the aggressive work on that with sanpaper and the rotary/3M Extra Cut!) but your situation might not be the same.
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thanks, accumulator. i like having the m105/m205 in smaller sizes since i'm not going to use it that often. i constantly ask myself why i don't just get scottwax to detail my car, because by the time i buy all the stuff myself it's about as expensive :P but then again it's one of those things that you enjoy doing and being able to tell everyone you did it...so it's worth it.



i'll take some detailed photos of the optimum products and hopefully more people will be interested to see how the stuff compares to other products. mainly m105/m205.
 
tuffluck said:
... i constantly ask myself why i don't just get scottwax to detail my car, because by the time i buy all the stuff myself it's about as expensive :P ...
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If I had one of the distinguished Autopians in my area I'd be tempted to just farm out my infrequent corrections.
 
1. optimum no rinse to wash --> I would probably try a shampoo with water for a proper wash (my favourite is FK118SC also Dodo Juice born to be mild is widely accepted).

2. mother's clay --> sounds good. What is your clay lube?

3. wash again --> This depends on the lube used during claying. If you use shampoo+water as lube then you need to wash, otherwise you may be able to skip this with a QD. I would wash in any case anyway.



you seem to have steps after that figured out but i would go (with LC pads)



4. polish with medium cut on orange

5. polish with fine cut in white/grey

6. IPA wipe down.

7. CG EZ.

8. LSP of choice.



Good luck on your nice motor!!!
 
tuffluck said:
1. optimum no rinse to wash

2. mother's clay

3. wash again - SKIP, no need if you are polishing anyway, if anything wash after the polishes

4. orange pad + Grab some Megs Ultimate Compound, its the consumer equivalent of 105 and $7/bottle

5. Swirlx on black pad

6. hand applied BFWD
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Adjusted above...
 
I'd avoid M105 due to the slight learning curve. I'd go with Otimum Spray Compound(orange LS)/Polish(white LC) as they have similar abrasives and are very user friendly. You won't be dissapointed.
 
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