M5 Paint layer - top coat

EMVY · 29th September 2007, 17:46

I played around with one of those 3M Liquid Glaze using those Oscillitating polisher from Ultimate detailing machine because I wanted remove some very fine scratches. It's my first time to try it myself. I never done any machine polishing before.

Later I noticed that the pad turned a little bit blue. Not very alarmingly blue. But I really noticed the white pad had now turned a little bluish. And had realized what had happened. Paint is now starting to be polished off. So I immediately stopped it. And applied Carlack68 and acrylic type wax sealant.

The question how much damage have I done to my car paint? Does that mean, I already polished off what they usually call the top coat?

Does anyone know a good DVD teaching how to machine polish your car?

Sebring NL · 29th September 2007, 18:09

IF you have already gone through the entire coat of laqcuer ( clearcoat) , you should see flat spots on the car or a transition.

Although I find it VERY hard to believe this is the case with the products you mention, I'd drive by a bodyshop and ask them to have a look.

You'd surprise me if you have been able to sand through the clearcoat like that. But the clearcoat does not give blue paint, so unless some color wax or something is used, it can't be anything else.

Barry Lausch · 29th September 2007, 18:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebring NL

IF you have already gone through the entire coat of laqcuer ( clearcoat) , you should see flat spots on the car or a transition.

Although I find it VERY hard to believe this is the case with the products you mention, I'd drive by a bodyshop and ask them to have a look.

You'd surprise me if you have been able to sand through the clearcoat like that. But the clearcoat does not give blue paint, so unless some color wax or something is used, it can't be anything else.

=1 What color is the glaze?

Tiauguinho · 29th September 2007, 19:46

Hello EMVY,

Burning through the clearcoat on a new BMW with a Orbital Polisher is a almost impossible task. They are very gentle on the paint, since they generate little heat. Plus, if you were using a glaze, it barely contains any abrasives at all.

Pad and polish combination is very important to keep in mind for your future polishing adventures. The right choice can give you a reflective mirror like surface. The wrong combination will give you a hazy finish, holograms, or barely no correction done to the paint.

I suppose you ordered a your Orbital machine with the SFX pads. If your car is swirled (could you provide a picture of the paint? Try to take it outside in the sun), I would propose for you to look into using the yellow pad (cutting pad) with a product like Menzerna 3.02 or Meguiars #83 and then finish it off with the white pad (polishing pads) and Menzerna 106FA or Meguiars #80. Dominating polishing requires practice and some understanding of how different polishes work, different work times, different results depending on pad, etc.

For a LSP (Last Step Product) its all a matter of basicly two choices; or you go Carnauba Wax, which provides a wet, deep gloss to the paint (which I prefer), or you go sealant way, which is more reflective but more durable, but lacks on the depthness of the color that can be achieved with a good wax. But please keep in mind, that a LSP is only 10% of the finish. What matters is a good preparation, via proper washing, claying and polishing techniques.

Invest in good washing products, good drying microfiber and wash mitts, and you will have a way to keep your good polishing work looking good for a long time.

If you have any questions or doubts that persits, please don't hesitate on posting them up

Here are some late examples of my own:

EMVY · 29th September 2007, 20:53

I used the ultimatedetailing machine. Which was a type of I thin a porter cable machine.

First I used a 3M glaze which was brownish in Color and very liquorish. And put it I think in a blue foam pad. Then I used the microfiber on a foam pad to rub it off.
Then I used a sheet of microfiber to finally clean everything that's when I noticed the blue on it.

I'll check on it this morning and try to send in pics.

I'm becoming a scratch free car freak.... I don't know if this is addiction? Actually a good detailing job in the Philippines only cost $25. I should have just brought it to my detailer. But I couldn't resist taking out those hair line scratches.

How many times in a cars paint life can I keep on sending my car to the detailer to erase those hair lines scratches.

Tiauguinho · 29th September 2007, 22:03

Detailing is an addiction

You can send safely a car up to 3 times for a full on detail. The trick is to NOT send the car that often for a full on detail, since you have a limited amount of clearcoat on your car (around 25% primer, 25% paint, 50% clearcoat in total),reason why I told you to invest in good washing material and to have the proper washing technique.

Always use two buckets when washing your car. One with just water and one with water and shampoo. Buy some Grit Guards, one for each bucket, to avoid the dirt from your washing mitt to be floating around the water. Invest in a good washing mitt, I like to use the ones from Sonüs. Buy a good car shampoo.

Bad washing techniques and tools is what makes swirls!

Some washing tips:

1) Wash your wheels first, since you don't want the dirt from it to go get stuck on just washed car paint. Try to use Acid Free wheel cleaner (like P21S, Autobrite, etc) to save your wheel lacquer. After getting your wheels really really clean, try to seal them with special sealants made for wheels. This will make them look great and protect the wheel from brake dust, not letting it stick to the lacquer. It will also enable you to wash your wheels with normal car shampoo, therefore avoiding agressive wheel cleaners.

2)Rinse your car properly before washing to remove has much dirt as possible.

3)Use the correct amount of shampoo dilution and make sure the shampoo is good quality, lubricity matters a lot, so does cleaning power of course.

4)When washing use the bucket with water and shampoo to wash the car, inserting the mitt like a spoon. Use the bucket with water only to wash your mitt from any dirt that you got on it, to avoid bringing it back to the car when you wash it. Do this often. You want your mitt clean and you want to actually wash your car without inducing swirls. I wash my mitt after doing a panel, and twice on the doors, since the bottom of the side panels always have a lot of road grime.

5) Rinse the car properly. After rinsing try to let a free flow of water from your water hose run on the car, since it will actually reduce around 50% of your drying work. The less you touch the paint, the least is the probability to induce swirls. When drying be sure to use proper high quality microfibers. Sonüs, Aquatouch, Poorboys, you got lot of selection. If car has a soft paint you can "pat dry", by gently patting the MF towel on the water drops.

This sort of washing should keep your car safe from inducing lots of swirls. Of course, we could expand this tip list with claying, using a free flow of RO water to avoid water spots after washing the car, etc.