Polish for Coating

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Pogi

New member
Back in December I got a new Alpine White BMW, as always the car came with Dealer installed swirls.

I have Rupes LHR15II with Yellow pads and couple White pads, I was going to use Sonax Perfect Finish to get the paint corrected but I have read that it uses fillers and that the coating will fail. So I have decided Menzerna would be a better choice to accomplish my goal but I am unsure which polishes to get to?

I am planning on using Kamikaze coating.

Thanks!
 
All polishes leave residue, oils, etc. You`ll just need to wipe the paint down with an IPA solution to get down to clean, bare paint after you polish. Some coatings have a primer polish that goes with their coating. Or there`s products like Essence which polish and are meant to aid in coating application.
 
I have not heard of Sonax Perfect Finish using fillers but whatever polish you end up using you should always follow up with a panel wipe prior to applying coating so that its adhering to the paint and as you said no fillers or polish residue remains on the panel. Panel wipe = Gyeon Prep, CarPro Eraser or IPA wipe. You could also go with a primer polish like CarPro Essence or Gyeon Prime prior to coating. These have some fine polishing abrasives and put down a base layer of Sio2 for your coating. For these you would not need a panel wipe.

You will also want to do some test spots with your polish/ pad combo to ensure you are getting the results you want prior to locking it all in with your coating.
 
RaydiantDetail said:
I have not heard of Sonax Perfect Finish using fillers but whatever polish you end up using you should always follow up with a panel wipe prior to applying coating so that its adhering to the paint and as you said no fillers or polish residue remains on the panel. Panel wipe = Gyeon Prep, CarPro Eraser or IPA wipe. You could also go with a primer polish like CarPro Essence or Gyeon Prime prior to coating. These have some fine polishing abrasives and put down a base layer of Sio2 for your coating. For these you would not need a panel wipe.

You will also want to do some test spots with your polish/ pad combo to ensure you are getting the results you want prior to locking it all in with your coating.
Click to expand...

What polish/pad combo do you suggest on a fairly new car?
 
Pogi said:
What polish/pad combo do you suggest on a fairly new car?
Click to expand...

the best advice is to start with the least aggressive pad polish combo and do a test spot. If you aren`t getting the results you want, step up the pads and polish until it works. You may find the Alpine white to be a very hard paint, and it will need an aggressive approach to remove swirls. My alpine white is hard as a rock. If you already have the Sonax perfect finish, give it a go, but my understanding is that it was developed for rotary polishing (although many use it with a DA type polisher like the Rupes). The Sonax 04-06, and cut max were designed for DA. The yellow Rupes is a polishing pad, so if you need to step up to a compound like cut max you will want a more aggressive pad for best results.
 
It`s more about the condition of the paint and paint hardness that will determine polish and pad combo than whether the car is new or not.
If you have the rupes yellow pads you can start with that and your polish like Menz sf3500 for example. Check your work and if you feel you need to get more aggressive then you could move to your next aggressive pad and polish combo. If you are sticking with the Rupes pads and Menzerna compounds/ polishes:

White - Finishing pad(no mechanical cut) - Menz SF3500 or SF4000
Yellow - polishing pad - Menzerna sf3500 or sf2500 (medium polish)
Green - medium polishing pad - sf2500
Blue - Compounding pad/ heavy cut - FG400
Microfiber Pads like Lake Country or Megs - FG400

There are plenty of combinations you can find it all depends on what you want to achieve but at the end of the day best to keep it simple :)
BMW paint is generally on the hard side so if you are looking to achieve perfect paint you may need FG400 to cut then follow up with Menz SF3500 to finish for example. Again test spots will provide you with the combo`s you will need to achieve the results you want. No other way around it. At the end of the day you want to achieve the greatest results with sacrificing as little clear coat as possible.
 
Pogi said:
I was going to use Sonax Perfect Finish to get the paint corrected but I have read that it uses fillers and that the coating will fail.

I am planning on using Kamikaze coating.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Have used Perfect Finish under a number of coatings (including Miyabi & ISM) with no issues. Just be sure to completely work the Polish thru it`s cycle, just like any DAT polish (like Menzerma). No worries...
 
On my 2011 BMW 335d in Alpine White it took me Menz FG400 and a microfiber cutting disc to remove the defects. I followed with Essence on a Gloss Pad to remove any hazing, then coated with CQuartz. BMW paint is hard, for the most part. I do hear stories about BMW Black being easy to mar.
 
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