Never been touched, just as requested - question inside

Hmm, there sure has been a lot of foam gun praise lately. Maybe in a few months, just bought a UDM and can't really afford one now.



Eleven11, just make sure to let the weight of the mitt do the work and blot it dry. I can not emphasize how crucial the blotting part it, it really cut down on my marring.
 
1. Coat with foam gun using CG's Citrus Wash & Gloss.



2. Let sit for a couple minutes. As long as you can safely let it sit without beginning to dry.



3. Coat it with the foam gun again.



4. let it sit again.



6. Pressure rinse it off (nope, I'm not kidding. You're not going to mar anything with high pressure water. Anyone who says you will is talking from the wrong orifice. Anything you remove from the paint using high pressure water is far less likely to mar being removed with this method than a mitt, sponge, brush, act of God, etc.)



7. Soap it with a foam gun again. Use a very high quality Boar's Hair Brush to remove any remaining contaminants. If you have time, find Accumulator's post where he describes "the jiggle method" of washing your car using a BHB and a Gilmour style foam gun at the same time. IMHO, he has the absolute best method for "reducing the potential". You master his method, and you'll have reduced the potential to the limits of practicality.



8. Do a final rinse with DI water, then use a leaf blower to dry it.



The main problem you're going to face is that new car paint is always contaminated with bonded surface contaminants that won't be doing anything good to your paint if you leave them there long term. In other words, you're going to need to clay it. And if you clay that soft paint, you're gonna end up needing to polish it anyway. If you don't clay it, and some of those contaminants come off while you are applying your LSP....oh, ouch.



As far as the wife and the money spent on detailing goes.... This car is a huge investment, and I don't need to tell you that you need the proper tools and the corresponding techniques to keep that thing mar/swirl free. It's far better to prevent than remove, for sure. That's going to mean investing (IMHO) in a pressure washer, a foam gun, a high quality boar's hair brush, a leaf blower, and an LSP that freely releases whatever contaminants are currently sticking to it. '



Others will disagree (and I'm sure there's gonna be a bunch of rebuttal posts calling me out on it, but I'm sticking to my guns on this), but I'm telling ya, I've spent *alot* of time experimenting with Zaino. As far as LSP's are concerned, it looks *great* has fantastic durability, but (and this is a big "but"), it does not release dirt/contaminants freely. You will most likely be stuck doing touch-based washing on that soft paint for the duration of the time that you use Zaino as your LSP. Stuff sticks to Zaino so hard, that most of the time even using a BHB as your touch media will be too gentle to get it off. You'll need to use a wash mitt. You really want to try and get to a completely touch-free washing system with that paint. Your LSP is nine tenths of that battle, and Zaino isn't gonna help you win. There are many other LSP's that release dirt much more freely than Zaino. Caveat: I have not experimented with Zaino's CS, so I have no idea how well it releases dirt and contaminants. Hopefully, it doesn't have as tight of a grip as Z2 and Z5 does. As a general rule, nuba's do tend to get dusty faster than sealants, but they really let go of the stuff sticking to them easily. And the easier it is to remove a substance from the paint, the more you are "reducing the potential." The downside is of course the lack of durability. I'd much rather have to wax a car often than have to correct it often, though.



Edit: if it were my car (and OMG, I wish it was my car), here's the prep I'd do:



1. Wash it as described above.



2. Clay it. And I mean clay it. Make sure nothing is left behind.



3. Pull out the PC and a black LC pad. Polish with 106ff.



4. Use a good glaze to hide any remaining marring or defects. Chances are probably pretty slim that you're going to be able to produce a 100% completely mar-free finish, especially just using an LC, black pad, and 106ff, so go with the glaze. I think glaze is gonna be your new best friend for that black paint. Unless you want to spend the rest of your free time polishing. :)



5. Use a good, nuba based LSP.



6. Take your family out for a well-deserved drive with your favorite tunes cranked.



Beautiful car, and congratulations, man... nothing drives like a BMW.
 
screw it....



wash like normal, clay, polish, glaze and wax...



taking 3 hours to wash a car is ridiculous...just to minimize a few swirls...IMO, its not worth the extra effort when a quick run of the polisher makes it look better than any wash ever will anyway...



pressure rinse

wash

rinse

leaf blower

clay

polish x 2

glaze x 1

carnuba x 2+

= one damn good looking car!!!!
 
toyotaguy said:
screw it....



wash like normal, clay, polish, glaze and wax...



taking 3 hours to wash a car is ridiculous...just to minimize a few swirls...IMO, its not worth the extra effort when a quick run of the polisher makes it look better than any wash ever will anyway...



pressure rinse

wash

rinse

leaf blower

clay

polish x 2

glaze x 1

carnuba x 2+

= one damn good looking car!!!!



+1 If this is a daily driver, there's no way you'll keep it defect free. You'll just drive yourself nuts. Just wash it like you normally would.



Imagine going through all that time, trouble, and money only to realize the surface needed to be polished anyway. You're making the car's first wash a bigger deal than it should be.
 
There are alot of good suggestions here. But, my question is, what do YOU have in products? $400+ in products...maybe if you list them, others can chime in and give ideas on which products to use. I agree CG Citrus Gloss is a great total auto wash, but if you don't have it, it doesn't matter.
 
I'd just hit it with a foam gun a couple times and let it really dwell each time.



BTW, congrats on the car...I would absolutely love to own a 335. I'm hoping the 135 (same motor) comes in at the low 30k range.
 
Thank you for all of the great responses. I've been really busy recently and thus haven't been on here for a few. I ended up doing the detailing yesterday - about 12 hours worth. Sore today. My novice status definitely added time. After driving from the dealership to my house, the coating wasn't as bad as I had originally anticipated. I rinsed it really well and hand mitt'ed it with very soapy water. Again, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. I was going to purchase a foam gun, but no one around here carries it - and I had to wash it that day. Surprisingly, their actually wasn't a whole lot of stuff pulled by the clay. Car looks great. Sorry no pics yet.



:heelclick
 
You bought a fantastic car, would love to see some pics of it. As others have pointed out, that Jet Black will be difficult to keep looking perfect, but then again, nothing like a challange.



I don't really have much to add on top of what was already said.



Good luck, I'm looking at a 328i Coupe for my wife. And it'll be black, but I'm going to take the easy route and get metallic paint, hah!
 
Congrats on the car! E90s are beautiful machines, and I likewise prefer the darker colors. I won't knock your choice for a minute. Please post pics when you're all done detailing.



Here is a thread about a $30 foamgun. I ordered one and I love it!
 
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