Losing my marbles trying to correct thinner curved portions

A

alexjk2356

New member
Hey everybody, I am pretty new to detailing and wanted to try to do some paint correction on my BMW E90 LCI M sport. I am doing the driver side of the front bumper and it is giving me a ton of grief. I have a 6" griot`s garage g9 orbital and I am not sure if I just don`t know how to use it right or its too big, but something is not working correctly. I started out by sanding the area with 3000 grit and then I went over it with the G9 with an optimum purple foam backed wool pad and optimum hyper compound. When I did that it built up in some spots kinda thick. After that I am going over the harder to reach spots with hyper compound and a microfiber towel. Then I use an optimum orange foam pad with hyper polish and a microfiber towel after that. Overall, some spots turned out okay. But a lot of the spots you can still see the sanding marks, they are faded and just generally ugly. I always try and look for the DA to be spinning before I just skip over a spot. I am just not sure if I need a smaller DA to get a lot of these spots or what. Some of these spots (like between the headlight and headlight washer nozzle) are too tight for any DA but at my microfiber compounding seemed incredibly ineffective.

Here is a link to some images. Sorry I am a little all over the place. I am extremely frustrated. This is not my first time attempting to detail and feeling like a complete failure. I really feel like some in person mentoring would help immensely. If someone is in the Chicago area and could help I would pay. Thank you for looking and helping!

https://imgur.com/a/rIRMbGd

Also if it would help, I would be willing to post a detailed video of my exact process. Honestly at this point I would pay for some mentoring even virtually like over skype.
 
Simple solution try by hand maybe pad isn’t making enough contact on corner. If you have glossy spot then you know your combo works. At least by hand you are not worrying about damage if it only a couple spots take your time. If it more than a few spots switch to 3 inch back plate it will work you will have extra vibration but it won’t hurt anything
 
I`m going to lead with I`m no expert, but my observations from reading your post:

You mention sanding with 3000 grit; that`s wet sanding, correct?

Experts can weigh in, but is there a chance the dull look is due to having gone through too much clearcoat?

Also, when you`re doing your hand correction, you`re using the compound just on a microfiber towel? I would think the towel is going to absorb too much of both the abrasives and your physical movement that would do the correction. Like William_Wallace mentions, I`d try applying your compound to a spot on one of your 6" pads and use the pad to manually work the area to see if you get a result.

What speed are you running your G9 on? I`ve done plenty of intricate/contoured spots on my wife`s Q5 with the G9 and a 6.5" pad.
 
alexjk2536:
You have an exceptional BMW E90 LCI M-sport that you want to look like the exceptional vehicle it is. I must applaud your efforts to trying to make it look so.

i think that hand application of compounds and polishes to tight areas and contours MAY be your best bet with what pads (NOT microfiber cloths as other have alluded to) you have on hand and that will be very tedious, strenuous, and time-consuming.
It would be very easy to suggest buying a Griot`s Garage G8 or Rupes Nano I-brid short neck or even a Flex PXE 80 cordless polisher, as that would make perfecting those areas MUCH easier for you, BUT I assume you have your detailing budget set and such polishing machines are not part of that. I would, however, suggest getting a collection of 2" pads of various foam densities (AKA colors or types) for hand purposes that will make it easier for you to get into those ares OR foam pads that fit on your finger tips, although you may be limited to one foam-type.

I also assume that the white specks in those areas are stone chips accumulated from years of daily driving. I say that because you have two choices:
fix them and have those areas applied with protective plastic film (PPF`d) OR just live with it. While it sounds calloused and down-right inconsiderate for me to say that, not knowing how many miles are on your vehicle or its model year, it IS your choice and you know your own level of tolerance for such "imperfections" and how much of your disposable income (AKA money) you have to correct and maintain your vehicle and its appearance.
 
Why are you wetsanding factory clear? Factory clear is really thin. My painter sanded through the clear on the nose of my car trying to remove a run and that had 4 coasts of clear.
 
wannafbody said:
Why are you wetsanding factory clear? Factory clear is really thin..
Click to expand...

And working on painted plastics can be a lot trickier than working on painted metal.

I hesitate to say "that looks like clearcoat damage.." but in some areas it does, to me at least. Hope not!

FWIW, I`ve found that M101 works fine by hand for scratches at least as severe as 3K...quick/easy too, even on very hard clear. Not that I`d be using 3K on a oem-finish bumpercover...just too fragile.

Oh, and I`ve never had any issues from using such products (as M101) with a MF or cotton towel. I use the latter first as it`s a touch more aggressive, then I switch to the MF for the final pass(es) before switching to a milder product on MF. I do virtually all my by-hand correction with towels, haven`t used foam (which can sometimes have its advantages) for years.
 
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