What did I do wrong?

R

rhavyn

New member
Hello everyone,

I`m new here and somewhat new to detailing and need help. A little background on my car, in case it helps: I have a new, 2018 BMW M3 with black sapphire metallic paint. The car was purchased new from the dealer back in December.

On the the story ... Sunday night, after my regular weekly washing (2 bucket method + a wheel bucket), I noticed some scratches on the top of my rear fender (with the angle the sun was at my bumper looked like a rainbow). So I pulled out my orbital polisher and did two or three passes with Megs D300 on a Megs microfiber cutting pad then I removed a tiny bit of remaining haze with a few passes using Megs D302 on a Megs microfiber finishing pad. I thought it was looking pretty perfect when I was done, but it was getting pretty late and the lighting wasn`t perfect anymore. I finished up by putting on a quick coat of CG Jetseal, let it cure for 20 minutes, buffed it off and called it a night.

Unfortunately, I have to park my car outside, and when I left for the office yesterday morning there was a light layer of dew on my car. Then, yesterday afternoon when I got home the sun was at the right angle as I passed my rear bumper and I was horrified because it looked like this:



A quick hose down and wash made zero difference. So after washing I tried putting on another layer of Jetseal which also made no difference.

What did I do wrong? Did I somehow end up with water spotting? Is it a problem with the application of Jetseal? Did I get a car with a bad paint job and the clear coat is already failing? I`d love any thoughts about what is wrong, I`m kinda freaking out!
 
rhavyn- Welcome to Autopia!

Sorry to hear you`re having issues...it`s hard for me to tell from the pic, but that does look kinda alarming. Have you inspected it under magnification? That`s usually my first step when confronted with something worrisome. I`d take a look at the areas like where the sun is highlighting in that pic, see if it really is clearcoat failure. Hope that`s not the situation as remove/refinish/reinstall will cost a bit (but is absolutely doable).

The clear on plastic bumpercovers/etc. is generally a bit more fragile (if only because of how plastic doesn`t absorb heat the way metal does, causing the paint to get too hot) and edges are always potential trouble spots as they tend to be thin and the "working up against the edge" can make the polisher especially aggressive on the surrounding areas.

What you described doing wasn`t goofy-aggressive or anything, so I wouldn`t beat yourself up too much...figure you`ve learned a valuable lesson about the necessity of great lighting when doing any kind of correction, gotta see what`s going on even with reasonable approaches to a new car. The other lesson is just how fragile even new-vehicle paint jobs can be.
 
Welcome to the forum! Hopefully it is not clear failure. It could be that the 302 which is wax based did not bond to the Jet Seal. Go back over the bumper with the 302 which should remove the Jet Seal or water spotting. If the 302 does not clear things up then you know you have a problem. Please let us know your results.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I`m adding two closeup photos of the bumper. I don`t see anything wrong with the paint from these photos, but maybe some else will.

I will try a few passes with D302 when I get home tonight to see if that clears things up and let everyone know what it looks like after.

The affected area didn`t feel rough to me.

Here`s the pics:



(from directly above, the left side is the edge of the bumper so the light should be directly on the effected area in the original photo)




(about the same spot but from a bit of an angle, the bright white line is the edge of the bumper)
 
From the original picture those look like water marks on the bumper. The new pictures don`t show the bad area as well.

Was it a big temperature swing so significant amount of dew and hot sun baking it in? Were the roads wet on the drive to work and it kicked up and some stuff that got on the rear of the car?

I don`t use the products you mentioned, but the process you described is on point. Someone mentioned already that it could a be a reaction between the polish and Jet seal. Did you wipe down the area with an IPA dilution prior to applying the Jet Seal?
 
jatleson said:
Rear fender or bumper? From the picture those look like water marks on the bumper. Was it a big temperature swing so significant amount of dew and hot sun baking it in? Were the roads wet on the drive to work and it kicked up and some stuff that got on the rear of the car?

I don`t use the products you mentioned, but the process you described is on point. Someone mentioned already that it could a be a reaction between the polish and Jet seal. Did you wipe down the area with an IPA dilution prior to applying the Jet Seal?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I sometimes, incorrectly, use fender and bumper interchangeably. To be completely clear the issue is along the top of the rear bumper. I`m in the SF Bay Area, the temp swung from the mid-50`s in the morning when I left for work to the mid-80s when I got home. The roads were dry. I did not do an IPA wipe after polishing, just wiped the polish off and immediately applied Jetseal using a microfiber applicator pad. I tried to take the least aggressive approach possible to clear up the swirls (my paint seem fairly hard which is why I went with D300 but with the absolute minimum number of passes) and I was so happy with the results of polishing that I didn`t want to touch the bumper more than necessary and introduce a new scratch that would require more paint removal to fix.

I`m hoping that it was a reaction between the polish and the sealant and that a few passes with a light polish will clear everything up.
 
I once did some aggressive buffing on a bumper and when I wiped away the residue, it looked like I went through the clear much like in your photo. It turned out to be melted compound which would not wipe off. I used a 50/50 alcohol and water mixture which then wiped off easily. Maybe - hopefully - this is what you have.
 
I agree with watermarks. Looks like residual drainage from trunk shut.

I would try mixing household vinegar 50/50 with DI water. Soak a MF towel in that mix and let it sit on a section for 20 minutes. wash off and dry, if its better but not gone, try again. If its still there, try 100% white vinegar the same way. If its better or gone great. If better repeat. If no difference, what type of polisher are you using and Ill suggest a pad and polish combo.

Good luck

jatleson said:
From the original picture those look like water marks on the bumper. The new pictures don`t show the bad area as well.

Was it a big temperature swing so significant amount of dew and hot sun baking it in? Were the roads wet on the drive to work and it kicked up and some stuff that got on the rear of the car?

I don`t use the products you mentioned, but the process you described is on point. Someone mentioned already that it could a be a reaction between the polish and Jet seal. Did you wipe down the area with an IPA dilution prior to applying the Jet Seal?
Click to expand...
 
DanHen said:
I once did some aggressive buffing on a bumper and when I wiped away the residue, it looked like I went through the clear much like in your photo. It turned out to be melted compound which would not wipe off. I used a 50/50 alcohol and water mixture which then wiped off easily. Maybe - hopefully - this is what you have.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. I`m not sure if my explanation was the best the first time, but it only looks like it went through the clear under super bright sunlight and from an angle.
 
Rhavyn -
Welcome to the Forum !
In the hundreds of Bimmers I have detailed, from the newest year to very old ones, I have never seen clear coat failure in any of them..
They all have really good paint, and are looked at when they come off the ship, then enclosed trucked to the Dealers..

Your first, far away pic looks a little scary, but your subsequent close-up pics show nothing in the paint as far as I can determine..

What machine did you use, what speed did you run it for the entire process, and how much downward pressure did you put on it ?
Do you remember the pad and paint getting real hot ?

As has already been stated above, ( Post #2) all rubber/plastic areas like bumpers have to be treated more carefully because this material does NOT dissipate heat very well at all..

The little experience I have with any of C/G`s LSP`s etc., has been fleeting as the lasting power of these products..
Dan F
 
I`ll have a go at soaking tonight.

I have a Torq 10fx random orbital polisher. I have the entire range of hex logic foam pads and Megs cutting and finishing pads. I have Megs D300 and D302 and Optimum Hyper Polish on hand, and I should be receiving Menzerna 3500 on Thursday or Friday.
 
I used a Torq 10fx polisher with the Megs MF cutting pad. I primed the pad with D300, wiped extra off with a microfiber towel and applied 1 pea sized drop on the pad. I used speed 6 (which is only 4200 OPM on the 10fx) and went across the bumper twice, once left to right, once right to left. After wiping off the residue it looked like I hadn`t quite removed everything so I went across it again after which it looked good. I then used a Megs MF finishing pad with D302 (same procedure as above) and did a couple passes at speed 6 and then dropped to speed 4 and did a couple more to remove a tiny bit of haze. I tried to apply very little pressure, the weight of my hand or a bit more, mostly just letting the machine do the work. I do not remember either the pad or the paint getting particularly hot. It also wasn`t very hot outside, about the high 60s when I was working on it.

I really hoping there isn`t actually clear coat failure, I was only able to see the issue from an angle under very bright light, but I`m newish at this and am probably being overly cautious with my car. I just don`t want to take a situation which is bad (at least for me) and turn it into something catastrophic!
 
rhavyn said:
I`ll have a go at soaking tonight.

I have a Torq 10fx random orbital polisher. I have the entire range of hex logic foam pads and Megs cutting and finishing pads. I have Megs D300 and D302 and Optimum Hyper Polish on hand, and I should be receiving Menzerna 3500 on Thursday or Friday.
Click to expand...

Rhavyn -
Thanks for your reply !
Have lots of hours with Optimum Hyper Polish and it is a great Polish that will continue to work until you let up on the pressure and let it do more polishing as it runs down..

The Menzerna 3500 is also very good at Polishing after correction if needed.. It may be all you will ever need seeing this is a brand new Bimmer..

Your paint is on the hard side as are most all BMW paintwork - except for Jet Black - ..

I tend to use Menzerna products on all German vehicles - Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche - and have always had great results..

Machine technique - you want as much - pad rotation - as possible.

With your random orbital, this means running the speed up higher to achieve it.. Put a vertical black sharpie marker on the back of your backing plate or edge of it so you can see it pass by when you`re using the machine. This will help you see how much rotation you are getting or not getting..

Smaller, thinner, pads rotate easier.. Largest, thickest, pads rotate slowest, take longer, more opportunity to create more heat, which changes all the variables into a much smaller user-friendly window..

Dan F
 
I do not think that is clear coat failure. The close up is too shiney. However it’s a 2018 car you purchased new and I don’t think you caused it if it ends up being clear coat failure.
 
Thank you everyone for the input. My plan was to do a couple passes of D302 on a MF finishing pad to make sure any residual Jetseal didn`t interfere with soaking the spots. Turns out soaking was unnecessary, the spots were half gone. After another 4 or 5 passes the bumper looked clean again! So I finished up with a coat of Jetseal and then put a coat of Pete`s `53 wax on top of that. I need to apply a new coat of wax to the rest of the car, anyways, but I`ll get to that this weekend. I really, really appreciate all the help, this is an awesome community!

Since it`s a black car, and my daily driver, I am starting to see tiny spiderweb scratches. For future polishing my thinking is that I would start with Menzerna 3500 on a white polishing pad (or equivalent if I`m not using hex logic pads) and if that doesn`t take care of things I`ll try Optimum Hyper Polish and an orange pad or a MF finishing pad. Does that seem like a reasonable approach?

Again, thanks for all your help!

 
BMW paint is on the hard side. I would try the Menz 3500 on the microfiber finishing pad and see if you like the results. Glad everything worked out.
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
BMW paint is on the hard side. I would try the Menz 3500 on the microfiber finishing pad and see if you like the results. Glad everything worked out.
Click to expand...

I haven’t done much with diminishing polishes on microfiber, with Menz would I prime the pad with polish or would I use a squeeze of detail spray to prime and 4 or so drops of polish?
 
rhavyn said:
I haven’t done much with diminishing polishes on microfiber, with Menz would I prime the pad with polish or would I use a squeeze of detail spray to prime and 4 or so drops of polish?
Click to expand...

It’s personal preference, but for microfiber pads I prime the whole pad with polish. On foam I use a few drops of polish.
 
I sure hope it is just water/etc. spots and not cc failure, but I`m a bit perplexed why somebody would still note that it looks like that under certain lighting conditions. IME most of the time something`s "only visible under certain lighting conditions" that simply means that the lighting isn`t right for inspection most of the time (and *IS* right when the problem is apparent).
 
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