Detailing BMW 3 Series

[DogParkGuy]

I will be detailing a neighbor's 3 Series BMW in a week or so. Car appears in very good condition - paint is a light metallic blue. I have never worked on a BMW before; any advice?

[Nappers]

Re: Detailing BMW 3 Series

What products do you have?

What is the condition of the paint if you seen it?

by hand? or PC/DA/Rotary.....

I approach every detail with least aggressive first, dial a process in and go for it.

[DogParkGuy]

Re: Detailing BMW 3 Series

What products do you have?

What is the condition of the paint if you seen it?

by hand? or PC/DA/Rotary.....

I approach every detail with least aggressive first, dial a process in and go for it.

Paint looks very good; I will use DA with 80 (or 83 if needed). My starting process never varies. I wash (using 2-bucket) the car starting with the wheels and wells. Then I wash and rinse the car. While wet, I clay the entire car and then wash and rinse again. Then I dry. At this point I do a small area using the DA and 80 to see what kind of results I can get.

[Nappers]

Re: Detailing BMW 3 Series

80 is a good start! Love it.

The new combo of M105/M205 is catching on like wild fire too.

I recently used Ultimate Compound and SwirlX, great products too!

Keep us posted!

[Bostonsfavson]

Re: Detailing BMW 3 Series

Paint looks very good; I will use DA with 80 (or 83 if needed). My starting process never varies. I wash (using 2-bucket) the car starting with the wheels and wells. Then I wash and rinse the car. While wet, I clay the entire car and then wash and rinse again. Then I dry. At this point I do a small area using the DA and 80 to see what kind of results I can get.

You're adding a lubricant other than the existing water when you're claying, correct? Also, washing after claying is really an unnecessary step. Just wiping the area down with an MF towel and some QD or spray lube will more than suffice, especially if you're polishing afterwards.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Detailing BMW 3 Series

While we don't like to make sweeping generalizations about paint hardness or ease/difficulty of correcting paint, the last few BMWs I've worked on responded better to M83 than they did to M80; defect correction was faster and the finish even looked clearer and crisper after M83. This was working with a G110/W8006 Polishing Pad.

Your mileage may vary.

[Ivan Rajic]

Re: Detailing BMW 3 Series

M80 with a LC white pad works wonders for me on the PC... I've definitely labeled that as my #1 1-step combo... work it for 10-12 passes over an area, whether it's a hard Audi cc or soft ss paint, and defects are gone while the finish is perfect (obviously some harder paints won't clean up as nicely if deep defects are present but still amazing to work with)... I can't wait to try M205 and compare.

M83/LC white works well also, but M83 never finishes down 'good enough' for me on any pad

[DogParkGuy]

Re: Detailing BMW 3 Series

You're adding a lubricant other than the existing water when you're claying, correct? Also, washing after claying is really an unnecessary step. Just wiping the area down with an MF towel and some QD or spray lube will more than suffice, especially if you're polishing afterwards.

I use soapy water from my wash bucket as a lubricant. I find that washing again removes any clay left over. It takes the same amount of time as spraying with QD and wiping with MF towel.

[DogParkGuy]

Re: Detailing BMW 3 Series

While we don't like to make sweeping generalizations about paint hardness or ease/difficulty of correcting paint, the last few BMWs I've worked on responded better to M83 than they did to M80; defect correction was faster and the finish even looked clearer and crisper after M83. This was working with a G110/W8006 Polishing Pad.

Your mileage may vary.

Thanks for the very specific recommendation!

[DogParkGuy]

Re: Detailing BMW 3 Series

While we don't like to make sweeping generalizations about paint hardness or ease/difficulty of correcting paint, the last few BMWs I've worked on responded better to M83 than they did to M80; defect correction was faster and the finish even looked clearer and crisper after M83. This was working with a G110/W8006 Polishing Pad.

Your mileage may vary.

I worked on the paint today using 83. You were right. Even after several applications of M83, I still had some scratches. M90 wouldn't have done anything. I did get rid of the major cob-webbing on the hood and trunk lid. I had no success on the doors just below the windows. After three applications, I still had some cob-webbing. Tried ScratchX with no improvement. Car definitely looks better, which was my objective.

[Ivan Rajic]

Re: Detailing BMW 3 Series

matrix post some photos... I'm not sure what pads you're using but with 5.5" LC pads I'm able to do pretty good correction with M80/M83 with more pressure than normal for the first 4-6 passes... I use my rotary 99% of the time but I was doing some experimenting with the PC on an Audi a few weeks back and M80/LC white did a very good job on its hard clear coat... try spreading on say 1/4 of the hood, then apply some good pressure on the machine (the way I always look at it is I want to have it spinning about half as fast as it does with only light pressure from the machine weight... you can check this by drawing a small line or big dot on the edge of your backing plate, so you can see how fast it's rotating)

In any case, post some pics of the results.

[DogParkGuy]

Re: Detailing BMW 3 Series

Will take some pics tomorrow.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Detailing BMW 3 Series

Sounds like a good plan. The last BMW I did responded very well to #80. I guess it all varies. Good luck.