ugh, our bimmer

[rammsteinmatt]

so the bimmer comes out from under the car cover (probably the first mistake) as we are looking to sell is. now its a 7 year old car, so i didnt expect it to be perfect. but i have some limits. this is what i found:

headlights with 7 years of sandblasting down socal freeways

what looks to be some sort of cigarette burn, or a birdby product that wasnt removed for months (it wont rub out)

scratch on front passenger quarter panel

big rock chip on front


so what do you guys think about this for a plan of action:
clay the whole thing and see if that helps (doubt it)
plastix for the headlights
heaven knows what that is above the driver door, but you can feel the rough texture of the paint in that area. it might take a rotary, or be unfixable
scratch could maybe be taken out with #80 or 83 with a DA (it gets pretty deep towards the bottom)
and the dreaded big rock chip, i guess just try and get the wax out of it so it doesnt show

or any suggestions?
thanks

[Tenchu2525]

Hello there,

First off I have to say, you have very nice, well written questions, with pictures to accompany them. That will make others help much easier.

You have the right idea:

Headlights can be fixed like you said, PlastX would work. If not, try wetsanding it first w/ high grit paper.
Take a look at Rick's Writeup: http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/sho...&threadid=8011

That burn/poop mark looks like it can be removed...
I would try to clay, paint clean (ScratchX or #1), then wax once removed. Let us know how it turns out.

If you can feel the scratch with your fingernail, it might be too deep for a perfect fix, but I would stick with your suggestion.

Unfortunatly, the only fix for Rockchips would be touch-up paint. And it looks like the chip is to your primer too. I can't give much help other than touch up paint. The only way is prevention with a bra. Personally, I think they are ugly though, but you have to sacrifice looks for your paint's health.

Hope this helps!

[rammsteinmatt]

oh, and it doesnt have proper swirl marks, they seem to be straight lines in random directions (think, swirl marks that are not round, but straight) the weather wasnt good for pictures.

also i dont have a DA or rotary, so if you could direct your reccommendations to products applied by hand, that would be greatly appreciated. although it would be a good excuse to get a DA, but not now

[rammsteinmatt]

Tenchu2525, thanks for the help and complements on my questions (i guess honors classes paid off finally )

when you say wetsand with high grit, how high? i have 2000 that i just used on my car's headlights to remove a semi-deep scratch. when i "wetsand" i use what i have so, 2000 and a fine cut cleaner to remove the scratches i created in the process (or plastix i suppose in this case), it seems to work ok, but whats you're take on my process?